There is a way of BEING prayer that is fully grounded in a personal relationship with the divine. It is the way of trust, in which we do not feel separate from the Source. The entrance to this way has everything to do with the sincerity and intention of the practice and little to do with the particular form of practice. Being prayer includes time and space for lightness and beauty.
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
BLESSINGS OUT OF THE SILENCE, dear friends! FAITH is in recognizing Love's Will unfolding daily in our lives ... in the Silence ... in mysterious ways. In the depth of silence is hidden the Source of love, the Divine Guest, dwelling within every heart. Faith is the eye that unveils this sweet Treasure and illuminates its eternal love. Where is fear in such faith?Only love remains. Silent be ... and see.
The divine and flaming Word shines in the world in the silence of the soul and "moves" it. This movement is living faith and its light is hope or illumination, while all springs from the Divine Fire which is Love or union with God.
We naturally use our faith to strengthen our relationship with God, to focus our thoughts on what is good, to help us love our neighbor. I ask a lot from my faith. To me, it's not simply a place of comfort; it is a reference point from which I take the indecipherable events of my world and place them in a context that is holy, sacred, and dynamic. It won't make the world go away, but it does have the power to shape one into a person of deep sensitivity and true passion.
My faith was tested. I was my own guinea pig; the years in isolation due to illness were passed in prayer and study of all kinds–like Job on his dunghill. I was to learn that health is also having FAITH in the higher aspects of human nature. Health is having hope, because without hope there is no life. Health is love of our selves and others. In truth, love is the life blood of faith and hope and together they create a healthy body, mind, and spirit: the Trinity of our being.
from THE VOICE OF SILENCE by Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo
In terms of faith, it's the story (and not the facts) that grips the imagination, impregnates the heart, and animates the spirit within bringing meaning and integration into one's experience.
Without faith that it is possible to render reality understandable by means of our theoretical constructs, without faith in an inner harmony of the world, there could be no science. This faith is and always will be the basic motivation behind every creative scientific idea. All our endeavors, all the dramatic conflicts between old and new ideas are supported by the eternal desire for knowledge, the unshakeable faith in cosmic harmony which becomes stronger the more difficulties loom before us.
from THE EVOLUTION OF PHYSICS by Albert Einstein and Leopold Infield
Into my life You came like a storm of monsoon banging down from the eastern sky. And You scattered me, like the wind disperses dry grass and the petals of flowers. Out of myself You scattered me into Nothingness, Beyond the Nowhere, beyond the Beyond.
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