In the very last conversation we ever had, five days before his death, the subject came around to gratitude ...
"If you're quiet enough, as still as that mountain, you can hear in your heart a silent ‘thank you.' The whole universe, if you listen in your heart -- every blade of grass, each bird, each stone -- it is all ‘thank you.' We are born into ‘thank you' ... every step of the way is ‘thank you.' "
Rafe may not have heard the stars move. But I believe he was hearing "the Love that moves the stars and the sun."
~ from LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH by Cynthia Bourgeault
What is the greatest kind of love?
Great Love
does not flow with just tears.
Rather, it burns in the great Fire of Heaven.
In this Fire
it flows and flows swiftly
yet all the while
it remains in itself
in a very great stillness.
Love transforms.
Love makes empty hearts overflow.
This happens even more
when we have to struggle through
without assistance,
all unready
for the play
of Love.
Sisters and brothers, listen. Make your heart crystal clear within. Your senses will be opened and your soul so transparent that you will see into the Love and Wisdom of God ... Spiritual persons who dwell on earth are offered two kinds of spirit: In this way two pure natures come together. The first is the flowing Fire of the Godhead; and the second is gradual growth and expansion of the loving soul.
What is the greatest kind of love?
Great love does not flow with tears.
Rather,
it burns in the great Fire of Heaven.
In this Fire
it flows and flows swiftly
yet all the while
it remains in itself
in a very great stillness.