Our culture is losing the art of silence, and with it the intrinsic human understanding and capacity for prayer. Silent dwellers, by creating spacious times of physical silence in their lives, slowly recover the human capacity to be with themselves in a caring gentle way. For, it is in silence and solitude that one learns – or regains – the human quality of being in God's presence always.
Take time to play . . .
it is the secret of youth.
Take time for friendship . . .
it strengthens the spirit.
Take time to think . . .
it is the source of power.
Take time to dream . . .
it hitches the soul to the stars.
Take time.
Snow crystals on a trembling leaf, along the river where we talked at the tip of Spring; fresh air, moist lavender sky--the silence following a blessed rain that came, bringing us to beauty; a tiny wild flower under the shadows of a moss-covered log; as if to say, I am the first smile, the new beginning of heaven.
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!
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.
The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals, but from the legitimate demands and needs of the world's dispossessed.
No deep darkness in the world Can overcome the light. A single candle flame will burn Against the darkest night. Let all the world of darkness come ... Resentment, envy, fears. Then light the single flame of love the darkness disappears!
God is love, and God is my life. Divine love, as me, continually gives of itself in sacred relationship. As I keep open the door of my heart and behold the face of God as everyone I meet, true friends abound in my life. With divine insight and a compassionate heart, I witness the sacred reality of each friend. I am grateful for God's love as my life.
I weave a silence on my lips
I weave a silence into my mind
I weave a silence within my heart
I close my ears to distractions
I close my eyes to attractions
I close my heart to temptations.
Calm me, O God, as You stilled the storm
Still me, O God, keep me from harm
Let all tumult within me cease
Enfold me, O God, in your peace.
