Luminous is the word of Truth

Luminous is the word of Truth; like a laser beam, it cuts through ignorance and illusion. Lives filled with lies lead to pain and suffering; the face reveals but a mask hiding shame and deception. About face! Listen and know! Blessed are those who choose the Truth. The path is made straight, the spirit freed to soar.

May 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 5)

Blessed be, dear friends! Would that we each knew the amazing deep Truth of who we are and who we are called to be. We usually see but glimpses. Truth is with us. Truth is within us. May we prepare our hearts, souls, and mids to welcome Truth, to receive the Truth of our Being, moment by moment, day by day. Silent be and let the Truth set you free!

An image to ponder: You have a spiritual mailbox and perhaps have been unable to live your truth. Each time this occurs, the number on your mailbox changes, causing the spiritual blessings addressed to you to be undeliverable. God does not reroute blessings if you are the cause of the interference. However, if you remain true to yourself, the heavens can find you even if the outer world seems not to approve of who you are. Always choose to be truthful in the highest sense — and you will find that goodness and inner beauty will accompany you along the way.
~ from A MESSAGE FOR HUMANITY by K. Martin-Kuri
K. Martin-Kuri A Message For Humanity truth Buy on Amazon
To speak the truth through our words and through our lives is the obligation that authenticates spirituality in us humans. Spirituality is mysterious, but this we do know: spirituality is the way wherein we will experience vitality, truth, and transformation.
~ from OUR UNIVERSAL SPIRIT JOURNEY by John P. Cock
John P. Cock Our Universal Spirit Journey truth Buy on Amazon
I seem to have been only like a child playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
~ by Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton truth Buy on Amazon
Silence is a kind of stillness, a place of retreat into which we may enter and, having entered, may know the Truth.
~ by Myrtle Fillmore
Myrtle Fillmore truth Buy on Amazon
Truth and morning become light with time.
~ Ethiopian proverb
Ethiopian proverb truth
True integrity grows from an awareness that we can stand in the honest light of God's unconditional love and be seen in our truth. Integrity, like a muscle, needs to be worked and stretched. As we sit in the center of integrity, our heart and God's heart beat as one. The transparent light of truth filters through, embracing every cell of our being, and we are able to see and speak more clearly. Then, little by little, as the layers of lies and pretending are stripped aside, a genuine simplicity remains. Freed of grandiosity and illusion, we stand radiant and unencumbered in truth as we claim our own voice with which we dare speak our truth and live with integrity.
~ from JOURNEY OF THE SOUL by Doris Klein
Doris Klein Journey Of The Soul truth Buy on Amazon
One of the most pathetic things about us human beings is our touching belief that there are times when the truth is not good enough for us; that it can and must be improved upon. We have to be utterly broken before we can realize that it is impossible to better the truth. It is the truth that we deny which so tenderly and forgivingly picks up the fragments and puts them together again.
~ Laurens van der Post
Laurens van der Post truth Buy on Amazon
Seek within and you will find the answer. Truth is like a many sided diamond: every side belongs to the whole but it all depends where you are as to just how you view it. Every soul views Truth from different angles. There is a time along the pathway of every soul when it has to stand alone and find the I Am within without help or guidance or support from any one else.
~ from FOOTPRINTS ON THE PATH by Eileen Caddy thanks to Bob Blakesley
Eileen Caddy Footprints On The Path truth Buy on Amazon
Luminous is the word of Truth; like a laser beam, it cuts through ignorance and illusion. Lives filled with lies lead to pain and suffering; the face reveals but a mask hiding shame and deception. About face! Listen and know! Blessed are those who choose the Truth. The path is made straight, the spirit freed to soar.
~ from LUMEN CHRISTI ... HOLY WISDOM by Nan Merrilla
Nan Merrill Lumen Christi . . . Holy Wisdom truth Buy on Amazon
TRUTH: knowing we are integral to the Whole. Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise From outward things, whate'er you may believe. There is an inmost centre in us all Where truth abides in fullness; and around Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in, This perfect, clear perception — which is truth. A baffling and perverting carnal mesh Blinds it, and makes all error, and, to KNOW Rather consists in opening out a way Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape, Than in effecting entry for a light Supposed to be without.
~ from "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning
Robert Browning Paracelsus truth Buy on Amazon

It is not enough to seek and care; to pay lip service to all manner of ideals. Real witness is what counts. It is something to do with leaps in the dark. Recognizing that Truth is hidden. But transformation towards truth is something else. It is practice and diligence.

~ from ON PILGRIMAGE by Jennifer Lash
Jennifer Lash On Pilgrimage truth Buy on Amazon

Compassion is an aspect of Divine love that melts all defenses and resistance when anyone's suffering is really seen. There is nothing the personality can do to create compassion, but when we are willing to be completely open and truthful about whatever we are truly feeling, it arises naturally and soothes our hurt. (We could say that truth without compassion is not really truth, and that compassion without truth is not really compassion.) The Divine love that seeks to express itself in the world through us is a powerful force that can break through all of the old barriers and untruths that have accumulated in us.

~ from THE WISDOM OF THE ENNEAGRAM by D.R. Riso and R. Hudson
D.R. Riso, R. Hudson The Wisdom Of The Enneagram truth Buy on Amazon

These are the three steps of truth. We climb to the first by the toil of humility, to the second by the deep feelings of compassion, and to the third by the ecstasy of contemplation. On the first step we experience the severity of truth, on the second its tenderness, on the third its purity. Reason brings us to the first as we judge ourselves; compassion brings us to the second when we have mercy on others; on the third the purity of truth sweeps us up to the sight of things invisible.

~ from BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX ed. by M. Basil Pennington
Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard Of Clairvaux truth Buy on Amazon
I will no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth that I hold deeply on the inside. I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole person I know myself to be.
~ by Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks truth Buy on Amazon

Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.

~ by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton truth Buy on Amazon

Prayer is listening to the voice of the One who calls you the beloved. It is to constantly go back to the Truth of who we are and claim it for ourselves. I'm not what I do. I'm not what people say about me. I'm not what I have. My life is not rooted in the world, the things the world gives me. My life is rooted in the truth of my spiritual identity. Whatever we do — we have to go back regularly to that place of core identity.

~ by Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen truth Buy on Amazon
Let truth be done in silence "till it is forced to speak," and then should it only whisper; all those whom it may concern will hear.
~ by Caroline Fox
Caroline Fox truth Buy on Amazon

April 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 4)

Friends, let us be blessed in this new Spring season! May Nature teach us the beauty of simplicity and wonder, authentic freedom and Beingness, acceptance and delight in each stage of life, and, the interdependence of our planetary community. May we pause from time to time, breathe in the silence, and let nature's gifts speak to us.

A walk in nature can help bring about one of the most essential acts a human being can perform: the stilling of the mind. For when the cacophony of disturbances, reactions, and self-talk subsides, like a windswept sea suddenly finding calm, the lens of our lives becomes a still, pure crystalline window for the cosmos to experience itself through... A walk in the natural world, with conscious mindfulness, can help bathe the senses in the implicate ordering of existence. Such a direct and immediate reminder does much to help steer us back to the center of ourselves.

~ by David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle nature Buy on Amazon

Silence ... And in the west, the ever-setting sun consumed itself, surrounded by its circling sisters, rushing with the speed of light toward the point systems and cosmic galaxies had been fleeing from the beginning, toward darkness and the primordial Fiat. And across the cold ocean of space, audible as the music of the spheres, the defining cry of creation comes. Maranatha!

~ Unknown
Unknown nature
Grow in silence like the trees find strength in solitude listen to the wind, and living things hear what God speaks in silence.
~ by Jan Sutch Pickard
Jan Sutch Pickard nature Buy on Amazon
NATURE is eternally inviting us to simply BE who we were born to be.
~ Anonymous
Anonymous nature

The Spirit of God
is a life that bestows life,
root of world-tree
and the wind in its boughs.
Scrubbing out sin,
she rubs oil into wounds.
She is glistening life
alluring all praise,
all-awakening,
all-resurrecting.

~ Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen nature Buy on Amazon

I walked through the birches by the river today. Overwhelming! The earth is stripped down to simple designs. The land has become a visual haiku. Sun on the fretwork of twigs. Blood droplets of rose hips clinging to the bushes. The chatter of the creek against trimmings of ice. The skiff of snow. My breath a white cloud like a departing soul... I have always been beguiled by birds. As if there was much they would tell me if they could, but they are only permitted to bear witness with their lives, their song.

~ from STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS by Michael D. O'Brien
Michael D. O'Brien Strangers And Sojourners nature Buy on Amazon
We have the potential to become like a tree planted by the stream. Like the tree, we need nurturance — both of water and of sun if we are to blossom. We need nurturance from all the elements; without the soil, the sun, and the air, our food will not grow. We need nurturance from the plants. We all need human nurturance in the form of friendship and love, and we need God's own divine nurturance which empowers us to trust in the Author of creation.
~ by Alice L. Laffey
Alice L. Laffey nature Buy on Amazon
Spirituality in the ecological epoch will be based on a sense of deep communion with all beings through empathy, through the power of the heart, through our deepest intuition of the sacred pulse of life and the sacred nature of the cosmos.
~ from A SACRED PLACE TO DWELL by Henryk Skolimowski
Henryk Skolimowski A Sacred Place To Dwell nature Buy on Amazon
To discover the universe is a big step toward knowing ourselves. As humans we are born of the Earth, nourished by the Earth, healed by the Earth. The natural world tells us: I will feed you, I will clothe you, I will shelter you, I will heal you. Only do not so devour me or use me that you destroy my capacity to mediate the divine and the human. For I offer you a communication with the divine. In the vastness of the sea, in the snow-covered mountains, in the rivers flowing through the valleys, in the serenity of the landscape, and in the foreboding of the great storms that sweep over the land — I offer you inspiration for your music, your art, your dance. All these benefits the Earth gives to us: individually, communally, and throughout the entire Earth.
~ Thomas Berry in MAKING PEACE ed. by McConnell and van Gelder
Thomas Berry Making Peace nature Buy on Amazon

Walking home, I ponder about a love of art and I think about my love of the land back home, about the healing grace of wildness, and how difficult it is to articulate why conservation matters, why wilderness matters to the health of our souls and how a language of the heart becomes suspect. I wonder how it is we have come to this place where art and nature are spoken in terms of what is optional?

~ from LEAP by Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams Leap nature Buy on Amazon

My daughter, three years old and fearless, loves nothing more than wading along the shallow shoreline outside our house. Holding hands, we walk barefoot upstream quietly in the water, stepping delicately over stones. Besides the water sounds, there is just immense silence. We stop and listen to the water. She asked me for a story; I did not have one. Listening, she turned in delight and announced, "Daddy, this water is talking." In listening to the river a kind of silence prevails, broken only by the rush of water over rocks. Such a silence is more like faint echoes, each a series of dim reverberations. They continue in you, distant yet familiar.

~ by Robert Reese
Robert Reese nature

Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away;
Yet here now, at this moment, at this place,
The world of the flow, the whole of
the world is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower,
the truth of the blossom;
The glory of eternal life is fully shining
here.

~ by Zenkei Shibayama
Zenkei Shibayama nature Buy on Amazon

March 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 3)

Blessed be, dear friends! We will never know how the quality of life has been enhanced in the world through our silence and prayer. Yet, may we continue to offer our silent prayer as seeds of healing and peace sown with radical trust. When the prayer energy of silence is united with Love, the soul consciousness of the world awakens in equal measure.

Prayer fulfills the need humans have for God, for inspiration, for affirmation of our own spirits. In prayer, we communicate with the essence of everything that exists, including our own essence. We have a message to share with life, with God, and we want to share it with authority. The message is coming directly from our hearts, we are talking with our divinity, with Divinity Itself. The power of prayer can lead us into love, truth, and personal freedom.

~ from PRAYERS by Don Miguel Ruiz
Don Miguel Ruiz Prayers prayer Buy on Amazon
As your prayer and meditation become deeper, they will defend you from the perpetual assaults of the outer world. You will hear the busy hum of that world as a distant exterior melody, and know yourself to be in some way withdrawn from it. You have set a ring of silence between you and it; and behold! within the silence you are free.
~ from PRACTICAL MYSTICISM by Evelyn Underhill
Evelyn Underhill Practical Mysticism prayer Buy on Amazon

PRAYER is a way of sending out love everywhere at once.

~ by Robert Lax
Robert Lax prayer Buy on Amazon

Sacred Friend, be with us this day.
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.

~ by St. Patrick
St. Patrick prayer Buy on Amazon
There are two dimensions to prayer: speech and silence. Of the two, speech is necessary, but silence takes precedence. Silence is the authentic medium of prayer, the rich matrix in which true communion becomes possible. And being a medium, silence has a positive existence. For the one who truly understands prayer, silence also conveys a message; it too speaks... Silence prepares the soul for prayer, to hear the pain of others, the pain of the world.
~ by Geoffrey W. Dennis
Geoffrey W. Dennis prayer Buy on Amazon
I know in my cells that prayer permeates a sick body, makes it shimmer as the new life comes in, making the cells remember how to respond to the harmonic whole. Music is like prayer a mystical bridge between heaven and earth.
~ from BONE by Harion Woodman
Harion Woodman Bone prayer Buy on Amazon
If you cannot meditate, you can repeat one simple word; this is good for the soul. Do not say anything else, just repeat the word over and over, innumerable times. Finally, it will lose all meaning, yet take on an entirely new significance. God will open the doors and you will find yourself using that simple word to say everything you wanted to say. Thus, routine work can be transformed into prayer.
~ by R. Nachman of Breslov
R. Nachman prayer Buy on Amazon

Every moment in life is a prayer, or could be. I think you can pray yourself into the mystery of the moment, or allow for the blessings of the moment to sustain you. Every moment is an invitation, and whatever you do in that moment, if it's dedicated to God, then it is a prayer.

~ from THE WAY OF THE DREAMCATCHER by S. T. Georgiou
S. T. Georgiou The Way Of The Dreamcatcher prayer Buy on Amazon

In the quiet of this place
in the dark of the night
I wait and watch.
In the stillness of my soul
and from its fathomless depths
the senses of my heart are awake to You.
For fresh soundings of life
for new showings of light
I search in the silence of my spirit,
O Blessing God.

~ from CELTIC BENEDICTION by J. Philip Newell
J. Philip Newell Celtic Benediction prayer Buy on Amazon

Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift. Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth enters our hearts, that small familiar pain; then a man will stand stack- still, hearing his youth in the distant Latin chanting of a train. Pray for us now.

~ "Prayer" by Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy Prayer prayer Buy on Amazon
A small seed sowed in the field. I am back to the part of darkness in my prayer. As the seed opens in the ground, so the soul opens in the ground, in the dark. Over the last decade, with each faltering step I took into this darkness, my prayer — a prayer of no words — found deeper roots. This way of prayer is the dark way of silence. This way takes leave of discourse, of the mind, and turns to the heart, the dwelling place of God.
~ from CIRCLING TO THE CENTER by Susan M. Tiberghien
Susan M. Tiberghien Circling To The Center prayer Buy on Amazon
Praying is not necessarily best described always as looking towards God; sometimes and especially in intercession, it is equally a learning to look at the world as if with God's eyes.
~ from PONDER THESE THINGS by Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams Ponder These Things prayer Buy on Amazon

In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty — the duty of prayer — the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. Daily devotions were more important than daily food. Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet Earth, and the Great Silence alone.

~ Ohiyesa -- Santee Tribe
Ohiyesa, Santee Tribe prayer
Praying our experiences is a way into the depth of self-knowledge and acceptance. As we unfold our experiences and become aware of our blessedness and our brokenness, we begin to become more aware of the God who alone can fill all our life with graciousness.
~ from PRAYING OUR EXPERIENCES by Joseph F. Schmidt
Joseph F. Schmidt Buy on Amazon
Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges.
~ by John Vianney
John Vianney prayer Buy on Amazon
Courage is fear that has said its prayer...
~ by Dorothy Bernard
Dorothy Bernard prayer

February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

Warm loving greetings from the northern freeze! We live so we may learn to love; we love so we may learn to live. Mutual reciprocity. Delve into the Eternal Silence deep within your heart, home of the Divine Guest. There you will find Love and learn lessons of living. Blessed be!

Love giving itself, losing itself and finding itself in love, and Love returning to itself, giving itself back in love — this is the eternal pattern of the universe. The nucleus throws out its protons and electrons and they circle round it, held by the attraction of Love. Beyond the molecules and atoms, beyond the protons and electrons, there is an energy, a force of life, continually welling up from the abyss of being in god, continually springing up into the light of the Word, continually flowing back to it source in the bliss of love.

~ from RETURN TO THE CENTER by Bede Griffiths
Bede Griffiths Return The Center love Buy on Amazon

Love begets love. Like a wave, the love of an individual can evoke compassion in another. The active display of concern warms the many hearts who witness it. The love spreads for many to see. Compassion hen generates community. Others are brought into the swirling dynamic of God's revelation of care. The witness to love can inspire others to carry the tide of concern further.

~ from MEDITATIONS WITH MERTON by Nicki V. Vandergrift
Nicki V. Vandergrift Meditations With Merton love Buy on Amazon

Seek refuge in inner silence,
free your thoughts from
the external world and you will feel
the rays of God's goodness and love
pouring over you and the universe.

~ Persian Wisdom
Anonymous Persian Wisdom love

If you would but practice loving, you would make yourself into a fountain of healing energy where others could drink the balm that heals the pain of the soul. For it is love, only love, that can heal all levels of the human being. Remember also that the earth being needs your love. Not only is the earth a living, thinking, feeling entity like yourself, but she needs the love and the thoughts of the human race in these dark years as she has never before needed anything. You can be among the growing number who realize the mother planet is suffering. In your prayers, and in your meditation, send her your love and your thoughts. The darkness of her days can be lifted by the love of the race she has nurtured since its inception.

~ from THRESHOLD -- a letter to a 13 year old child by Hilarion
Hilarion Threshold love Buy on Amazon

Love matters. It matters more than anything else in the world. Yet is is very easy. All you have to do is be who you really are; for you are made of love and made to love because of what you are: an interconnected part of a whole whose life and fiber is love.

~ by Robert S. Ellwood
Robert S. Ellwood love Buy on Amazon

Love is our shared truth.
Peace is our eternal hope.

~ The Museum of World Religions -- Taiwan
Anonymous The Museum Of World Religions In Taiwan love

How many people can you love
before it's too much, she said.

and I said I didn't think
there was any real limit

as long as you didn't care
if they loved you back.

~ from TRAVELING LIGHT by Brian Andreas
Brian Andreas Traveling Light love Buy on Amazon
Love is the opposite of fear. Love is that fire that does not destroy, whereas fear is the fire that burns everything it touches.
~ by Don Miguel Ruiz
Don Miguel Ruiz love Buy on Amazon
To feel something as real in the measure of its full reality is to love. It is love which awakens us to the reality of ourselves, to the reality of others, to the reality of the world, and o the reality of God.
~ Unknown
Unknown love
In the presence of the Ancient Ones, we deliver new vows in whispers by the authority of our own remembered hearts. Standing before these Elders of Time, we entrust ourselves to each other. Our vows are simple, spontaneous. "Yes, we are here to love. Yes, we are here to experience both shadow and light, forgiveness and joy. We return to each other, rejoined. Together we will love this beautiful, broken world of which we are a part."
~ from LEAP by Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams Leap love Buy on Amazon

Encircle me
Enfold me
Entrance me
With Thy peace
That I may pray
and love Thee well.

Encircle me
Embolden me
Enhance me
With Thy power
That I may ever
do Thy will.

~ Celtic Prayer
Anonymous Celtic Prayer love
The important thing is not to think much but to love much. So do that which bestirs you to love.
~ by St. Theresa of Avila
St. Teresa of Avila love Buy on Amazon
Spiritual longing is a sort of loneliness for an unknown yet deeply perceived presence. Some call the presence God; some call it peace; some call it consciousness; some call it Love. It's source rests in the well of our own hearts. When we slow down, quiet the mind, and allow ourselves to feel hungry for something that we do not understand, we are dipping into the abundant well of spiritual longing. If we want to open to doors to life's love and God's peace, we have to learn how to fearlessly explore the full terrain of our human longing.
~ from THE SEEKERS GUIDE by Elizabeth Lesser
Elizabeth Lesser The Seeker's Guide love Buy on Amazon
Take heart! Humanity is wise and, in its rich diversity, possessed of vast reservoirs of creativity, inspiration, and spiritual energy. Be of good cheer. For this is an intentional, life enhancing universe with LOVE as its vital force.
~ from OTHER WAYS OF KNOWING by John Broomfield
John Broomfield Other Ways Of Knowing love Buy on Amazon

Love has given humans very real gifts. The chief one is the divine indwelling, God's own presence within us, sustaining us by this creative action and embracing us, or trying to heal or transform us through the redeeming love that is distinctively motherly. As the spiritual journey progresses, one comes face to face with the divine presence.

~ Thomas Keating
Thomas Keating love Buy on Amazon
How happy you are when you practice silent contemplation filled with wisdom and love! How happy you are when you sit, just being in love!
~ Anonymous
Anonymous love

Both of our families had ben crippled to some degree by prejudice, personal trauma, and tragedy, but in the most important ways both ranches had endured. So it wasn't what we did for a living that counted, nor what kind of china we dined on, nor what our houses looked like. Nor, in this one sense, did our skin color even matter very much. What counted most through the generations far more than any other factor, was how we treated those we loved and how well we loved That seemed the transcendent lesson or moral my search had revealed

~ from PEARL'S SECRET by Neil Henry
Neil Henry Pearl's Secret love Buy on Amazon

January 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 1)

Blessings of the New Year, the beginning of our 17th year of radiating silence out to the world. Let us envision our silences as energetic webs of Light penetrating the darkness as it blankets the globe. And, in the Silence may the Light ever illuminate our souls!

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God. It is in everybody and if we could see it we would see those billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun.

~ from CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER by Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton Conjectures Of A Guilty Bystander light Buy on Amazon

The oak tree in full foliage praises the Creator, but in order to become the oak tree, the acorn has to open in the dark. Its roots have to reach deep into the earth as its branches stretch toward the light. There in the dark the shell has to crack. Only when I let go of my protective shell, when I find the crack makes me vulnerable, that opens me to the Other, only then will the night be radiant, only then will the dark be light... The spark is in everyone's soul: the spark of our Creator shining in the dark. This spark is ours to tend, to take care of until it flares into a brilliant flame, lit by God.

~ from CIRCLING TO THE CENTER by Susan M. Tiberghien
Susan M. Tiberghien Circling To The Center light Buy on Amazon

I said to the one who stood at the Gate of the Year,
Give me a light that I might go safely out into the darkness.
The gatekeeper replied,
Go out into the darkness and put your hand
into the hand of God.
That shall be more to you than a light and safer than a known way.

~ by King George V
King George V light

The light of splendor shines in the middle of the night. Who can see it? A heart which has eyes and watches.

~ by Angelus Silesius
Angelus Silesius light Buy on Amazon

Fountain of Light: from that light flows the light that is essential for the very existence of life, and the light of understanding in which the point of life, its meaning, its purpose and direction, can, within our limited capacity, be grasped. Divine light, not artificial, not intermittent, seasonal, or subject to power cuts. But issuing from God as from a fountain ceaselessly playing, springing up endlessly and joyously, irradiating the uttermost parts of the universe, suffusing the darkest corners of the human heart.

~ from THE EMPIRE OF THE HEART by John F.X. Harriott
John F.X. Harriott The Empire Of The Heart light Buy on Amazon

There is a place in everyone that can carry the light. God has made it this way. God has not only given us the chance to carry the light, but has made it possible for us to kindle and strengthen the light in one another, passing the light along. This way God's light will shine forever in this world.

~ from MY GRANDFATHER'S BLESSINGS by Rachel Naomi Remen
Rachel Naomi Remen My Grandfather's Blessings light Buy on Amazon

The Light that flows through your system is Universal Energy. It is the Light of the Universe. You give Light form. What you feel, what you think, how you behave, what you value and how you live your life reflect the way you are shaping the Light that is flowing through you. They are thought forms, the feeling forms and the outer forms that you have given to Light. They reflect the configuration of your personality, your space-time being.

~ from SEAT OF THE SOUL by Gary Zukav
Gary Zukav Seat Of The Soul light Buy on Amazon

Throughout my whole life, during every minute of it, the world has been gradually lighting up and blazing before my eyes until it has come to surround me, entirely lit up from within.

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin light Buy on Amazon

O Light Invisible, we praise Thee!
Too bright for mortal vision.
O Greater Light, we praise Thee for the less;
The eastern light our spires touch at morning,
The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,
The twilight over stagnant pools at batfly,
Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,
Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.
O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!

~ from "The Rock" by T.S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot The Rock light Buy on Amazon

The light that shines in the eye
is really the light of the heart.
The light that fills the heart
is the light of God, which is pure
and separate from the light of
intellect and senses.

~ Rumi
Rumi light Buy on Amazon

I wish I could show you
when you are lonely or in darkness
the astonishing
light of your own being.

~ by Hafiz
Hafiz light Buy on Amazon

The ancient hieroglyph for adoration is a gesture of opening that signified both the receipt of divine grace and the offering of the self. When a man or woman stands before God with arms opened wide, the heart is vulnerable to penetration. We allow God to slay us, to kill that which is "other" in us, then to enter and inhabit our form in order for God to know the Divine through us, to resurrect and reconstruct us as changed creatures, as bodies more fully filled with the Light of God.

~ by Normandi Ellis
Normandi Ellis light Buy on Amazon

Before the restoration, it was the colors I watched, blue, red, yellow, green, pink; the architecture, the meadow, the hedges, the water. Now, what I see is light. White light. Color has been absorbed into form, Form is in the service of surprise. It is the light, the throbbing illumination, glowing on the horizon, rippling in the waters, blowing through the grasses, that touches my lips. Something has been set in MOTION.

~ from LEAP by Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams Leap light Buy on Amazon

I found light and joy at the same moment, and I can say without hesitation that from that time on light and joy have never been separated in my experience. I have had them or lost them together. I was not light myself, I knew that, but I bathed in it as an element which blindness had suddenly brought much closer. I could feel the light rising, spreading, giving form. Since it was not I who was making the light, since it came to me from the outside, it would never leave me. I was only a passageway, a vestibule for this brightness . The seeing eye was in me.

~ from AND THERE WAS LIGHT by Jacque Lusseyran
Jacque Lusseyran Undefined light Buy on Amazon

Silence is like the sun;
It is always shining.

~ Myrtle Fillmore
Myrtle Fillmore light Buy on Amazon

Once when we were walking together, I saw Teilhard fall to his knees just to study a stone. He held it up to the light and ran his fingers carefully over its surfaces, as if he were trying to read the pattern of matter as a language. Watching him that day in the blessed silence of the field, I saw a man who could see light in the very earth under his feet. Because of him I learned not to hate our enemy, and joined with him in the work of serving those who were in need. And sometimes at sunset when the sky was bright with amazing color, I tried to look beyond the trenches — as he did so often — and see the light in this world of ours.

~ from "Interlude: The Stretcher-Bearer" in NAVIGATING THE TIDES OF CHANGE by David La Chapelle
David La Chapelle Navigating The Tides Of Change light Buy on Amazon

December 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 11)

GREETINGS, dear friends! Have you thanked your angel recently? In our silences, may we ask to awaken to the angelic presences who protect and guide us throughout our lives, who delight in our conscious choice to learn to companion with them daily in the Service of Love.

When we call upon angels to be with us, we tap into an infinite resource of good will. It is as if we plug into the magnetic core of the earth to keep ourselves centered. Archangels represent the God-center of the universe; they draw nourishment from Its infinite supply. The only impediments to connecting with this energy are doubt and cynicism. If we can recognize these as they arise in our minds and find appropriate cubby holes in which to keep them in reserve for the times when they are useful, we can instantly benefit from the sense of angelic presence.

~ from GOD IS A VERB by David A. Cooper
David A. Cooper God Is A Verbe angels Buy on Amazon

Angels show their love for God through their service of other creatures, just as we are enjoined to show our love for God by serving one another. Angels make God's goodness concrete, both in this life and in the life to come.  

~ from THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE COMPLETE by George Maloney
George Maloney That Your Joy May Be Complete angels Buy on Amazon

Many people have shared stories about divine encounters with angels in which they received profound guidance, comfort, or instructions on how to proceed with their lives. And many people describe angelic interventions in which they are given a warning about something or someone in their lives . . . Without a doubt we are surrounded by our angels, invisible beings of light who guide us through the mysteries of our lives.

~ from SACRED CONTRACTS by Caroline Myss
Caroline Myss Sacred Contracts angels Buy on Amazon

There is a church in Umbria, Little Portion, already old eight hundred years ago. Abandoned and in disrepair, it was called St. Mary of the Angels, for it was known to be the haunt of angels. Often at night the country people could hear angels singing there.

What was it like, to listen to the angels, to hear those mountain-fresh, those simple voices, poured out of the bare stones of Little Portion in hymns of joy? No one has told us. Perhaps its needs another language that we have still to learn, an altogether different language.

~ Anne Porter
Anne Porter angels

I didn't know what courage was until I met Harriet Tubman. And I'm telling you I studied hard something fierce 'cause I wanted to know the source of that courage. I asked her once and she said, "It ain't me. It couldn't be. I've got a guardian angel, that's what I have. They come when you think of others more'n yourself. They come like bees to honey."

~ from "Interlude: Harriet Tubman" in NAVIGATING THE TIDES OF CHANGE
David La Chapelle Navigating The Tides Of Change angels Buy on Amazon

In everything we do, in every aspect of our lives, in our thinking and our feelings, all areas, we need to infuse those areas with the Light of God. If we do that, we will experience a wonderful sense of joy. This quality is valued by the angels because it is so very special when humanity uses its free will to replace the energy of darkness with the Light of God, especially out of love. Each time a person does this in his or her own life, it is cause for the angels to rejoice.

~ from A MESSAGE FOR HUMANITY by K. Martin-Kuri
K. Martin-Kuri A Message For Humanity angels Buy on Amazon

To love for the sake of being loved is human,
yet to love for the sake of loving is angelic.

~ Alphonse de LaMartine
Alphonse de LaMartine angels

The Angels keep their ancient places
Turn but a stone and start a wing!
'Tis ye, 'tis ye, your estranged faces
That miss the many-splendored thing.

~ Francis Thompson
Francis Thompson angels

Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you. Invoke them often and trust in their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs.

~ St. Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales angels

Our guardian angels will be present during the time when our souls will exit this world and abandon the material body. They will be there at the moment to offer us solace and support during that transition and then help us adjust to the realms of the spirits when our soul will be directed toward God. It will be at that point that the soul will become conscious of its eternal condition.

~ from THE MOUNTAIN OF SILENCE by K. C. Markides
K. C. Markides The Mountain Of Silence angels Buy on Amazon

According to a Talmudic legend, an angel escorts the soul from its abode in heaven into the tomb and there unites it to the embryo. The angel tutors the new being in the mysteries of the world, transporting it to heaven and darkness to see the heights and depths of creation, revealing to it the ways of beauty, truth, and goodness, disclosing the potential of its future life on earth, even to the time and place of death. As the child matures within the womb, it ponders the wonders it has seen. Then, at the instant of birth, the angel touches the child on the mouth, erasing all memory of these marvelous revelations.

~ in GIFTS OF THE SPIRT by P. Zaleski and P. Kaufman
P. Kaufman, P. Zaleski Gifts Of The Spirit angels Buy on Amazon

When the angels touch our hearts and "kiss our minds," We are forever changed. Our wonder in being human comes back strong with angelic guidance. The magic of nature, the mythic quality of being human, the pain of the soul, the soaring of the spirit, the beauty of compassion, and the grace of reverence all come together, weaving life into a meaningful experience.

~ FROM THE ANGEL EXPERIENCE by Terry Lynn Taylor
Terry Lynn Taylor The Angel Experience angels Buy on Amazon

Her 1ife, which had been a series of pious works, had cloaked her in a kind of transparent whiteness. And in growing old she had acquired a kind of beauty of goodness. What had been thinness in her youth, was in her maturity a transparency, and this ethereal quality permitted glimmers of the angel dancing within.

~ FROM LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo Les Miserables angels Buy on Amazon

What remain constant in every account of angels, from ancient days to the present, is that they are both messengers and companions to humans, sent from a realm beyond usual seeing. Angels appear, and in one way or another, help us, advise us, inspire us, or amaze us.

~ from ANGELS by Armand Eisen
Armand Eisen Angels angels Buy on Amazon

 Everyone entrusted with a mission is an angel.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous angels

The love of the angels be to you --
To guard you and cherish you. 

~ Celtic Prayer
Anonymous angels

CALCUTTA: A beggar, half-conscious, is lying on a mat in a home for the dying. A nun is kneeling by his side, her delicate fingers wiping his forehead with a washcloth. She is a peasant whose eyes shine like the wings of a heron flying around the sun, a silence whose light soars through the darkness.

How can I describe the beggar's eyes as he summons all his strength to motion her to draw close? She obeys.

It takes the beggar a long time to whisper something in her ears: "I have lived . . . like an animal. Now I will die . . . like an angel." The beggar's final words.

~ from DANCHING MADLY BACKWARDS by Paul Marechal
Paul Marechal Dancing Madly Backwards angels Buy on Amazon

November 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 10)

WISHING YOU DEEP BLESSINGS in and of the Silence, dear friends! Listening in the Silence, we receive rest and renewal from the plethora of noise, words, and massive distractions in eery area of daily life. More than ever we NEED many quiet pauses during each day for our physical well-being, our peace of mind, and our spiritual nourishment. Wise are those who companion with Silence regularly. Let the still, small Voice within be a guide.

We are all joined in the holiness of the mind that God created. I therefore never consider myself one in the silence. I'm 88 and live alone in a four room house surrounded by open space. I have no TV and have always luxuriated in silence. The exterior silence is here. The interior silence is a work in progress.

~ from Hazel, a Friend of Silence
Hazel silence

Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your Name.
 

~ by Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton silence Buy on Amazon

Sitting in silence
Circle of arms linked as One
The way towards Peace.

~ by Justin R. Cannon
Justin R. Cannon silence

Silence makes us pilgrims. It guards the fire within. It teaches us how to speak.

~ by Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen silence Buy on Amazon

We need to "find" God, who cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is a friend of silence. The more we engage in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us.

~ by Mother Theresa
Mother Theresa silence

Before we determine what God wants to hear from us, we need to think about keeping still in order to hear from God. Our culture is drowning in noise. Such a culture cries out for a ministry of silence. It needs to re-learn that silence is an indispensible discipline of the spiritual life . . . to discover the voice of Love speaks most powerfully in the still small voice of silence.

~ from THE JOY OF WORSHIP by Marianne H. Micks, thanks to B. Goyer
Marianne H. Micks The Joy Of Worship silence Buy on Amazon

Fasting from words, fasting from a volume of speech, being willing to humbly accept the yoke of silence and quietude deprives the tongue of the mastery of our hearts and minds. The tongue is a very useful tool for the art of love and for the art of prayer, but it is also the means by which we afflict others and even our own selves so often. So it must be called into holy obedience.

~ from JOURNEY BACK TO EDEN by Mark Gruber
Mark Gruber Journey Back To Eden silence Buy on Amazon

In silence the scattered pieces of my life fall into place, and I see again where I am going.

~ by Susan Muto
Susan Muto silence Buy on Amazon

The Word must be heard in the silence of the heart, the place in which it can be welcomed and given space so that it may become creative. From earliest times the advice given to those who wanted to learn the monastic way was always "to return to your own heart." This is the interior space for which there are so many different concepts: the inner cloister, the poustinia, the cave of the heart. It is simply "the place of God in us" which each of us will understand in a unique and mysterious way.

~ from THE WAY OF SIMPLICITY by Esther de Waal thanks to G. Grissom
Esher de Waal The Way Of Simplicity silence Buy on Amazon

 Real revelation comes through silence.

~ by "Mr. Rogers"
Mr. Rogers silence

Take great care to restrain your tongue and be circumspect. Let only discretion and charity open your mouth. And practice the advice of all the Saints to break silence only with words that are worth more than silence. Silence is one of the most certain signs that God dwells in a soul.

~ by Edith Wallace
Edith Wallace silence

In the midst of the tintinnabulation and hurly-burly I see a silence overflowing with absence of all but Thee and me. I seek an interior place of listening to the divine where even the unspoken, but thought, words of prayer shatter silence.

~ by William J. K. Drumm
William J. K. Drumm silence

Be still. In the silence become empty,
let us create space for Holy Wisdom
to enter in and through us,
expanding our horizons.

Here we will be peaceful, calm, in harmony
with the universe,
in unity with all beings.

~ from Meditations and Mandalas by Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill Meditations And Mandalas silence Buy on Amazon

 All that which maintains a perfect balance in life must have a center. The scales of life never balance by but one side. As you become interested in the secrets of lie, you will find life holds no secrets. Silence, silence, and in the silence of the soul, desire to become conscious of the oneness of being. Then further desire to become in greater consciousness, the fullness of being.

~ by George Graham Price
George Graham Price silence

Outside my window the storm has passed. There was silence. Silence as thick as the blanket of snow that fell during that night. I sat up on my bed and entered the stillness. I had no more questions. I had no answers either. But I was filled with grace. With an inward silence, blessed by my angel after wrestling in the dark. The faith of this family, resonating with the steps in the stairwell, had quieted my fear and taken me by the hand.

~ from CIRCLING TO THE CENTER by Susan M. Tiberghien
Susan M. Tiberghien Circling To The Center silence Buy on Amazon

Meditating in silence is a little like donning black robes. You turn off your internal music and distracting narrative, and stop worrying about whether you fit in. You realize that stillness can offer another way of learning and communication. Rather than marching to a different drummer, you walk along quietly at your own pace, not leading, not following, just trying to experience the entire parade.

~ from SWEEPING CHANGES by Gary Thorp
Gary Thorp Sweeping Changes silence Buy on Amazon

Silence without, stillness within:
you have entered the Unmanifested.

~ from Omnihead Treasuries
Omnihead Treasuries silence

Concentration in the silence without effort is the state of consciousness of perfect calm, accompanied by the complete relaxation of the nerves and muscles of the body. One may say that the entire being becomes like the surface of calm water, reflecting the immense presence of the starry sky and its indescribable harmony.

And the waters are deep, so deep! And the silence grows, ever increasing. . .  What silence! . . . One wave of silence followed by another wave of more profound silence, then again a wave of still more profound silence.

Have you ever DRUNK SILENCE? If so, you know what meditation without effort is.

~ Anonymous Russian mystic
Anonymous Russian Mystic Meditations On The Tarot silence Buy on Amazon

Be still

Be still. In the silence become empty,
let us create space for Holy Wisdom
to enter in and through us,
expanding our horizons.

Here we will be peaceful, calm, in harmony
with the universe,
in unity with all beings.

October 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 9)

WARM AUTUMN GREETINGS, dear friends! every season is a new opportunity for soul-growth. As we enter our times of silence and prayer, may we be mindful that the condition of our planet is a reflection of the consciousness of the World-Soul. As our own soul grows in peace, harmony, and love, it radiates blessing to the World-Soul ... a daily gift we can offer to ALL.

Soul-making is allowing the eternal essence to enter and experience the outer world through all the senses of the body — seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, touching — so that the soul grows during its time on Earth. Soul-making is constantly confronting the paradox that an eternal being is dwelling in a temporal body.

~ from LEAVING MY FATHER'S HOUSE by Marion Woodman
Marion Woodman Leaving My Father's House soul Buy on Amazon

The soul of an individual is the longing inside each person for a greater sense of belonging, for a new country. We go through most workdays forgetting that this grand migratory force exists within us. We may feel a small satisfaction in a step taken, while the soul feels as if it is anchored off the promised land, wit just a short row to bring it home. At the level of our souls, no matter the difficulty in our work, or the responsibilities, or the possibility of failure, entire new worlds are coming into being.

~ from CROSSING THE UNKNOWN SEA by David Whyte
David Whyte Crossing The Unknown Sea soul Buy on Amazon

In our soul's Magnificat, we become conscious of the cosmos with us. We hear the music of peace, we hear the music of cooperation, we hear the music of love. In our soul's forgetting, we become unconscious of our cosmic birthright, plighted with disharmony, disunity, torn asunder from the stars.

~ by Dennis Kucinich
Dennis Kucinich soul

Every soul is part of One Soul. 

~ Anonymous
Anonymous soul

I hear the bells! It seems as though they are inviting me to rise higher than this earth into infinite spaces where there is nothing but Thou. I should like to be utterly silent . . . O my God, may I live entirely within, in the cell Thou are building in my heart. Establish my soul in peace; make it Thy cherished abode, the place of Thy rest. Let me never leave Thee there alone, but remain ever there absorbed in Thee in living faith and wholly yielded up Thy creative action!

~ from "The Dream of My Soul" by S. Elizabeth
S. Elizabeth The Dream Of My Soul soul

There are great treasures in the soul: there's faith and love, there's awe and wisdom. All these things you can dig — but if you don't know where to dig, you dig up mud. If you want to get to the gold — awe before God, and the silver — the love, and the diamonds — the faith, then you have to find the geologist of the soul who tells you where to dig. But the digging you have to do yourself.

~ by Zalman Schachter
Zalman Schachter soul Buy on Amazon

To direct a soul is to lead it in the ways of God, is to teach the soul to listen for Divine inspiration, and to respond to it; it is to suggest to the soul the practice of all the virtues proper for its particular state; it is not only to preserve that soul in purity and innocence, but to help it advance in wholeness: in a word, it is to contribute as much as possible in raising that soul to the degree of sanctity destined for it.

~ by Jean Grou
Jean Grou soul Buy on Amazon

Thank God our time is now when wrong
Comes up to meet us everywhere
Never to leave us till we take
The longest stride of soul humanity ever took —
Affairs are now soul size.
The enterprise
Is exploration into God.

~ by Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry soul Buy on Amazon

The soul knows its own experience;
it needs only a little awakening
to make itself conscious.

~ by Inayat Khan
Inayat Khan soul Buy on Amazon

Now is the time to seek intimate union with the Soul of the universe.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous soul

Oh, when a soul is hid in Thee
For what adventure can it yearn
Save love and still more love to learn,
And thus to love increasingly,
So deep does love within it burn?
My God, I pray Thee for a love
That years until I see Thy face.
And builds itself a nest above
Within its true abiding place.

~ by St. Teresa of Avila
St. Teresa of Avila soul Buy on Amazon

Fold your wings, my soul,
those wings you had spread wide to soar
to the terrestrial peaks where light is
most ardent: it is for you to simply waith
the descent of the Fire —
supposing it to be willing to take possession of you.

~ by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin soul Buy on Amazon

Saints are not saints by chance, nor by choice, but by necessity — because there is a hunger in their soul which can not be satisfied by anything less than the divine.

~ from THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL by Nancy Pope Mayorga
Nancy Pope Mayorga The Hunger Of The Soul soul Buy on Amazon

Our culture has lost touch with the soul and with any way to meet it. It becomes more difficult all the time simply to be quiet: mobile phones, faxes, and e-mail make us more accessible to the intrusions of information. Being reflective may soon seem a radical act. Without being reflective, without entering into moments of silence, we cannot let the soul in. The soul's voice is a still, soft one, and we must be quiet if we are to hear it.

~ from A FIELD GUIDE TO THE SOUL by James Thornton
James Thornton A Field Guide To The Soul soul Buy on Amazon

The Windforest is the giver and sustainer of the Rainforest's abundant life as well as the means by which the byproducts of living are universally shared. It is the conquerer of inanimate space and time, and it is the soul of the living world.

~ from WINDFOREST by Ellen Fremedon
Ellen Fremedon Windforest soul Buy on Amazon

The canary began to sing again. The sun had struck it, and its throat and tiny breast had filled with son. Francis gazed at it for a long time, not speaking, his eyes dimmed with tears.

"The canary is like our soul. It sees bars around it, but instead of despairing it sings, and see: one day its song shall break the bars."

~ from SAINT FRANCIS by Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis St. Francis soul Buy on Amazon

Education in soul leads to the enchantment of the world and the attunement of self ...

~ by Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore soul Buy on Amazon

A prescription for continued SOUL growth
SILENCE in large doses
BREATHING deeply and consiously throughout the day
LISTENING and ATUNING to the inner Voice of Love
GIVING THANKS always for all things
RESTING IN PRAYER regularly each day
DISCOVER your INTERCONNECTEDNESS with ALL
STAYING CONNECTED to your guardian angel
ASKING, IMAGINING, DREAMING, ENVISIONING a peace-filled world
SINGING your unique heart-song daily
LOVING the Mystery . . . TRUSTING the Process
ever SERVING in the Divine Plan!

~ Anonymous
Anonymous soul

Pages