pieces of God...

"All that really matters these days
is that we safeguard that little piece of you,
God, in ourselves, and in others as well.
Alas, there does not seem to be much
you can do about our circumstances.
Neither do I hold you responsible.
You cannot help us but we can help you
and defend your dwelling place
inside of us to the last."

Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew en route to the death camp.

Pentecost Prayer

Hear the great good news of our faith:

The Spirit is alive!

Breathe, children of God,

breathe the fresh winds of the Spirit.

Taste, children of God,

taste the quenching waters of God's love.

Touch, children of God,

touch the heat of God's passion for justice.

prayer from here.

Who would Jesus exclude?

The Holy Spirit has come in this age
to take away the name of Jesus as exclusive.

Sr. Mary Neil, O.P.

art- Mexican Pentecost icon

imago dei & torture

The following is an excerpt from a powerful piece on the place of torture in a society. Thanks to Beth @ Alive on All Channels. I encourage you to read the rest of the story there.

"...every man, created in the image of God, the imago dei, must--whether he wishes to or not, whether he knows it or not--stand and act in the place of God, with every decision, with every action, in every human relationship. The torturer therefore does not simply betray the laws of war, he betrays the imago dei: he betrays God, he betrays the other, he betrays himself, he betrays Trust itself."

-a reader responds to Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Dish

as for the icon - the further you move away from it the more it comes into focus.

change direction

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS
by Portia Nelson
I
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk I fall in. I am lost ... I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out.
II
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place but, it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
III
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in ... it's a habit. my eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
IV
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
V
I walk down another street.

draw me

Serene light shining in the ground of my being,
draw me to yourself.
Draw me past the snares of the senses,
out of the mazes of the mind,
Free me from symbols, from words
that I may discover the signified:
the word unspoken in the darkness
that veils the ground of my being.

-Byzantine hymn

art: Byzantine mosaic, rome

psalm 53

I'm really enjoying Nan Merrill's "Psalms for Praying - an Invitation to Wholeness" - for it is a wonderful companion to the Hebrew Scriptures. Here is a taste -

Psalm 53

Those lacking in understanding may say,
"There is no Divine Presence."
They have not yet opened their hearts
to the Divine Guest,
to the Beloved, who dwells within.

The Holy Spirit seeks our hearts
that have been broken,
ever ready to heal them with
strength and new life.

Even when a heart remains closed,
seeking its own will,
The Beloved waits with abiding courtesy
to hear the inward call.

Many there are who know not Love,
laboring only for money and power,
Becoming greedy and dissatisfied,
oppressing the poor and
the weak.

There they are; fear besets them-
fear that others will steal their
wealth.
that their riches will be scattered
and lost;
they live in prisons of their own
making.

O, that deliverance would come to them!
For, when they seek the Treasure
within,
they will be blessed and know
the joy, friendship, and love
of the Beloved in all hearts.

p. 99
artwork: "David and the Fool" from here

Memorial Day

"Women who served in WWII are also honored...
From Rosey the Riveter to Navy nurses, like Lorraine Egan, 86, of Crystal Lake, the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. recognizes the war-time contributions of women. Egan was the only female veteran of 80 who traveled to Washington D.C with "Honor Flight Chicago," which brings World War II vets to the World War II Memorial."

(Tribune photo by Dave Pierini / May 12, 2009)

A Thanksgiving for Veterans by Josh Thomas
O God, we thank you for raising up men and women to serve and defend our country in times of war and peace. We thank you for bringing each one home to their families, friends and neighbors, as we mourn those who gave their lives for our freedom. We ask your special blessing on all those in current service at home and abroad, that you keep them safe from all harm; kindle in them a lively faith in your mercy, and shield them from all temptation, that they may return to us unsullied by the aggressions of men; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit reign over all the nations under heaven. Amen.
The prayer was taken from here.

mosquitoes

"The trick to having a happy life is to remember that it all comes down to what we ourselves make of the life we have. "The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so," Ralph Waldo Emerson says, "but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger and mosquitoes and silly people."
Joan Chitister

my dear watson!

"It is as impossible
for man to demonstrate
the existence of God
as it would be for
even Sherlock Holmes
to demonstrate the existence

of Arthur Conan Doyle.”
- F. Buechner

Speaking of which, today is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. I loved reading Sherlock Holmes stories when I was a kid. I just couldn't get enough of them.

I was surprised to learn that Sir Arthur disliked his famous sleuth & killed him off in an attempt to write about more meaningful subjects but had to bring Sherlock back from the dead to appease his reader's demands! In all he wrote 56 short stories and 4 novels about the amazingingly observant Sherlock Holmes. And that strikes me as odd - to dislike a character one has invented to the point of death....

Extra credit: Do any of you know the name of Sherlock's nemesis in this famous painting?

contaminated lenses

"Forgiveness is not a moral issue.

It is an energy dynamic...

Forgiveness means that you do not carry
the baggage of an experience.

When you choose not to forgive,

the experience that you do not forgive

sticks with you.

When you choose not to forgive,

it is like agreeing to wear

dark, gruesome sunglasses
that distort everything,

and it is you who are forced every day

to look at life through those contaminated lenses

because you have chosen to keep them."

~ Gary Zukav from 'The Seat Of The Soul ~

boomerangs

Thoughts are boomerangs,

returning with precision
to their source.

Choose wisely
which ones you throw.

~ Author Unknown ~

got wisdom?

"Knowledge is learning something new every day.
Wisdom is letting go of something every day."
~Zen proverb

Lord, I need Your wisdom
to let go of that
which does not produce Love.

the taste of salt

"In forgiveness,
the salt of bitterness
becomes
the salt of wisdom."

Carl Jung

Listen...

"Teach me to listen, My Caring God, to those nearest me, my family, my friends,
my co-workers.

Help me to be aware that no matter what words I hear, the message is, "Accept the person I am. Listen to me."

Teach me to listen, My Caring God, to those far from me -- the whisper of the hopeless, the plea of the forgotten, the cry of the anguished.

Teach me to listen, O God my Mother, to myself. Help me to be less afraid, to trust the voice inside -- in the deepest part of me.

Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, for your
voice--in the busyness and in boredom, in
certainty and in doubt, in noise and in silence. Teach me, O God, to listen."

from John Veltri, SJ Orientations

circular truths

"Forming a circle
is a symbolic way
of asserting that
the true teacher
is always invisible
and always
in our midst."

Alice O. Howell

hell hath no fury?

Harrowing of Hell icon -
written by iconographer Wayne Hajos


"I saw the fires of hell
and people were not burning there.
All that was burning was what they
had refused to let go of on earth.
And the flames were not punishing;
they were liberating.

- Meister Eckhart

Gee, this is not quite what Sister Brendan
taught in 8th grade @ St. Philips!

100 blessings

"Jewish tradition gives us a goal. We should say one hundred blessings each day. When we try it, we discover that it's quite difficult to find one hundred things each day for which to be thankful. So difficult, in fact, that we spend most of our time looking."

D.L. Schwartz & M. Hass

climbing the walls

"The fears we
cannot climb
become our
walls."
Noah Ben Shea

(Looks like this couple is
attempting to overcome theirs!)

This is actually a real climbing wall
for a home, designed by Nendo

Happy Mother's Day

And Nothing says Happy Mother's Day quite like a Uterus Cake!

Thanks to Jody at QG for directing me to this gem!
For more marvelous Cake Wrecks click here

ribbon & wraps

"Every created being is
the Holy wrapped in the ordinary
and the wrapping is not really
very thick or very tight.
Just untie the ribbon."
Macrina Weiederkehr

warning: some ribbons may be double-knotted:)

be patient - especially with your own ribbon

Wonder = gratitude

"If our religion is based on salvation,
our chief emotions will be
fear and trembling.

If our religion is based on wonder,
our chief emotion will be
gratitude."

Carl Jung

i'm looking out my window at the lilacs and the birds and wondering how God imagined such creations that bring so much delight and gratitude.

show me the money

"Two friends (are) walking past a church that has a large sign that reads, "Become a Christian and receive $100." Upon seeing the strange
advertisement one of the friends dares the other to go inside and get the money. The friend agrees and enters the building. After about half an hour he comes back out. "Well," says his friend, "did you get the cash?" In response the man looks down at his friend, shakes his head in disapproval, and replies, "Is money the only thing you non-Christians ever think about?"

taken from The Fidelity of Betrayal by Peter Rollins, p. 103

(MY APOLOGIES TO ALL BAPTISTS)

adult children

"If your happiness depends on your children being happy, that makes them your hostages. So stay out of their business, stop using them for your happiness, and be your own happiness. And that way you are the teacher for your children: someone who knows how to live a happy life."
byron katie

If only my grandmother had understood this - she would have had a much softer outlook on life - many of my recollections of her involve her sitting at my mom's, waiting for her other two children who lived very far away to call her. If they called, she was happy, if they didn't, none of us were!

Addicted

We had a nasty wind storm roll through Sequim on Saturday and we lost our Internet connection. So I had no internet access on Saturday, Sunday and this morning. I was ok on Saturday but by Sunday afternoon I was cranky, agitated, and restless. This morning I was dismayed that I was STILL not connected! Hello! Am I really that addicted to the Web? YES.


As for the cartoon, It's a good thing my children are grown and no longer live at home!

!!!

If I think

you're my problem,

I'm insane.

Byron Katie

May Day

It's May Day once again! Which always makes me smile as I have such fond memories from my childhood. And shouldn't we treasure all good memories of being a child?

"While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about."
~Angela Schwindt