February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

Nan Merrill

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 losing itself and finding itself

Bede Griffiths | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

Love begets love

Nicki V. Vandergrift | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

Seek refuge in inner silence

Anonymous | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

If you would but practice loving

Hilarion | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

Love matters

Robert S. Ellwood | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

Love is our shared truth

Anonymous | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

~ The Museum of World Religions -- Taiwan

How many people can you love?

Brian Andreas | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

Love is that fire that does not destroy

Don Miguel Ruiz | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)
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

To feel something as real in the measure of its full reality is to love

Unknown | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)
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

Yes we are here to love

Terry Tempest Williams | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)
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

Encircle me

Anonymous | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

The important thing

St. Teresa of Avila | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)
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

The abundant well of spiritual longing

Elizabeth Lesser | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)
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

This is an intentional life enhancing universe with LOVE as its vital force

John Broomfield | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)
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

Love has given humans very real gifts

Thomas Keating | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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

How happy are you just being in love

Anonymous | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)
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

What counted was how well we loved

Neil Henry | February 2004 (Vol. XVII, No. 2)

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