Our small efforts

As I gaze on the icon of Mother and child, I realize that despite the enormous difficulty the world has always been in, Christ as a child was content to be in the world in the arms of one woman, his mother.

God’s action in the world is sufficient while operating in the limited dimensions of one individual, here shown contented in the arms of his mother.

Paul Quenon, Matter of the Heart, A Monk’s Journal, – a lovely profound book of reflections.

Following the star

The important thing is not the finding, it is the seeking,

it is the devotion with which one spins the wheel of prayer and scripture, discovering the truth little by little.

If this machine gave you the truth immediately, you would not recognize it.

Ursula K. Le Guin

The spark

Do not worry if all the candles in the world flicker and die

we have the spark that starts the fire.

Rumi

a still heart

In the still heart

that refuses nothing,

the world is twice born.  

Jane Hirshfield

Serene

Before the universe was born.
there was something formless and perfect
It is serene. Empty.
Solitary. Unchanging.
Infinite. Eternally present.
It is the mother of the ten thousand things.
For lack of a better name,
I call it the Tao.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 25

Sunday Quote: The secret

Those who are willing to be vulnerable

move among mysteries

Theodore Roethke, American Poet, Straw for the Fire