surrender

Music needs the hollowness of the flute

Anthony de Mello | October 1991 (Vol. IV, No. 9)

Music needs the hollowness of the flute;
Letters, the blankness of the page;
Light, the void called a window;
Holiness, the absence of the self.

~ from TAKING FLIGHT by Anthony de Mello

To be empty

Bruce Davis | October 1991 (Vol. IV, No. 9)

To be empty is to practice letting go of the fears that possess us and to be more attached to the substance of life, the love in the silence. To be empty is to be available for the riches of the hidden harmony instead of the substitutions our fears would have us settle for. With emptiness as a friend we are brought to a new fullness of quiet, a fullness that comes from our commitment to a life in the silence. We make more room for emptiness as we value the wonder, the grand heights, and quiet recesses of silence. We find more emptiness as we commit ourselves to the mysteries worth beholding, to the inner life that has more space and appreciation to expand in our emptiness.

~from MONASTERY WITHOUT WALLS by Bruce Davis

Do not pray for easy lives

Fr. Solanus Casey | October 1991 (Vol. IV, No. 9)

Life is to live and life is to give and talents are
to use for good if you choose.
Do not pray for easy lives.
Pray to be stronger.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.
Pray for powers equal to your tasks --
then the doing of your work shall be no
miracle but you shall be a miracle.
Every day you shall wonder at yourself ...
at the richness of life which has come
to you by the grace of God. But everyone
needs someone -- knowing that
somewhere someone is thinking of you.

~ Fr. Solanus Casey, Capuchin
Syndicate content