Friday, March 23, 2018
SOLITUDE
HOLY WEEK
We are invited to make a retreat.
We are invited to go into solitude.
We are invited to use the sharings
offered here over the seven days
of this Holy Week to both
understand more deeply and
experience more fully
the centrality and richness of
\ SOLITUDE.
What follows is crafted
for a week long, slow, progressive
prayer and meditation.
We are invited to find quiet time
and space each day
to consider a portion
of what is offered here,
to be in and to savor solitude.
******
Hi There!
So, "solitude" has eight letters to it,
but in our cultural setting,
it's pretty much a dirty, four letter word.
In reality, though, "solitude"
is ever so purifying,
just like its twin, "society."
They are one in different ways,
two ways to be alive in
The Love Who Is God.
"We need society and we need solitude also
as we need summer and winter,
day and night, exercise and rest."
Philip Gilbert Hamerton
In complementary ways solitude and society
help us find ourselves positioned in the
Center and Source of All,
The One Who Is God.
"We must become so alone,
so totally alone,
that we withdraw into our innermost self.
It is a way of bitter suffering.
But then our solitude is overcome,
we are no longer alone,
for we find that our innermost
self is the spirit,
that it is God,
the indivisible.
And suddenly we find ourselves
in the midst of the world,
yet undisturbed by its multiplicity,
for in our innermost soul
we know ourselves
to be one with all being.
Hermann Hesse
Solitude and Society.
Jesus thrived on this complementary oneness.
He was out and about with the folks a- plenty;
connecting, caring, healing,
teaching - enlivening!
He urged us to get out as well
in active people love and care,
"Love each other as I have loved you..."
John 15:12
"I was hungry and
you gave me food,
I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger and
you welcomed me,
I was naked and
you gave me clothing,
I was sick and
you took care of me,
I was in prison and
you visited me...
Whatever you did to the least
you did unto me."
Matthew 25: 35-36 & 40
Jesus also went off by himself to a place apart.
"He got up and slipped away
to a solitary place to pray."
Mark1:35
He ventured into solitude
to be immersed in an intense intimacy
with "Abba," his "Daddy."
That's the literal translation.
"Heavenly Father" is a more formal
and less clear translations.
He encouraged us to go apart into solitude as well:
"But when you pray,
go into your room,
close the door and pray
to your Father,
who is unseen.
Then your Father,
who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you."
Matthew 6:6
We are God centered and sourced
in the twin oneness of society and solitude.
In our current cultural context, though,
solitude is far from the preferred twin,
frequently feared,
often orphaned.
Let's check out both
the problem and the potential,
and see just where we are with solitude
in our spiritual lives out here
on the street of everyday living.
PROBLEM
"One of the greatest necessities
in America is to discover
creative solitude."
Carl Sandburg
"What a commentary on civilization,
when being alone is suspect,
when one has to apologize for it,
make excuses,
hide the fact that one practices it -
like a secret vice."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"Loneliness is such
an omnipotent and painful threat
to many persons,
that they have little conception
of the positive values of solitude,
and even at times are frightened
at the prospect of being alone.
Rollo May
"We live in a world starved for solitude,
silence and the private:
and therefore starved
for meditation and friendship."
C.S. Lewis
"All men's miseries
derive from not being able
to sit still in a quiet room alone."
Blaise Pascal
"How can you hear your soul
if everyone is talking?"
Mary Doria Russell
"Solitude is a necessary protest
to the incursions and false alarms
of society's hysteria,
a period of cure and recovery."
Abraham Joshua Heschal
Check this out.
Check the day's new's.
And get thee to solitude:
"When society is made up of men
who know no interior solitude
it can no longer be held together by love:
and consequently it is held together
by a violent and abusive authority.
But when men are violently deprived
of the solitude and freedom
which are their due,
then society in which they live
becomes putrid,
it festers with servility,
resentment and hate."
Thomas Merton
Oh yes,
Get thee to solitude!!
We not only have a problem,
we are in peril.
Yet, we also have potential
if we will center in solitude.
POTENTIAL
"Your inner voice is the voice of divinity.
To hear it, we need to be in solitude,
even in crowed places."
A. R. Rahman
"Then stirs the feeling infinite,
so felt in solitude,
when we are least alone."
Lord Byron
"The happiest of all lives
is a busy solitude."
Voltaire
"A little while alone in your room
will prove more valuable
than anything else that could be given you."
Rumi
"I am never less alone than when alone."
Cicero
"The thoughtful soul to solitude retires."
Omar Khayyam
"The reason old souls enjoy spending time alone
is because they never really are."
Unknown
"Solitude gives birth to the original in us."
Thomas Mann
"Solitude is the place of purification."
Martin Buber
"It is only in solitude that I find my core."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"One can be instructed in society,
one is inspired only in solitude."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"By waiting and calm you shall be saved,
in quiet and trust shall be your strength."
Isaiah 30: 15
"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone."
Psalm 62:5
"(Elijah) went into a cave and spent the night.
And the word of the Lord came to him...
a gentle whisper."
1 Kings19:9,12
"Come with me by yourselves
to a quiet place,
and get some rest.
So they went away to a solitary place."
Jesus
( Mark 6:31-32)
"For God alone my soul awaits in silence."
Psalm 62:1
"Nowhere can man find a quieter
or more untroubled retreat than his own soul."
Marcus Aurelius
"Be still and know that I am God."
Psalm 46:10
When we take Jesus up on his invite to solitude,
we go to our room and close the door.
our "room" could be a place in our home.
It could be an alone place
on the beach,
or on a mountain top.
It could be in a quiet church,
or in our garden,
or at the local library.
Our "room" is wherever we can be calm and quiet.
We leave phone and texting behind and turned off.
We open the cage and let our monkey mind clear out:
did I pay the mortgage,
wonder if we'll have sex tonight,
can I close that important deal tomorrow,
having sex tonight might de-stress me
for closing that deal tomorrow !!!
(couldn't resist that, well, I could have,
but I really didn't want to!!),
I wonder how my spiritual life
shapes up compared to others,
should I get a gym membership
and start working out,
so on and so forth.
We let those jumping monkeys out
as we relax into to calm quiet.
Our "room" is where we can be alone,
so that we won't be alone
because we are in God's embrace.
"Soul Solitude" is what lovers do.
They delight in being naked to each other.
Naked, they can be all wrapped up in each other.
Nothing in between.
Sometimes it pulses with passion.
Other times it is wordless and still oneness.
Yet other times there is a pondering together.
Whatever the moment and mode in our "room,"
we are loved alive in its solitude.
We then bring that loving aliveness
to others in society with our caring and sharing.
We live a marriage, we raise kids
and spoil grandkids,
we are single and find ways to spend ourselves
for those who really need what we can be and do,
we car pool our kids soccer team,
we invite left outs to have dinner at our place,
we wrap old times into all our good times,
we do an awesome piece of work on the job,
we are active in our spiritual community
however imperfect it may be.
In a word we do what Jesus did
and wants to do through us, we
ENLIVEN.
Solitude blends into society.
Society blends into solitude.
Yes, two ways of being one.
Social Solitude.
God Bless us every one and every way.
See you next week.
Holding each and all
this Holiest of Weeks in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
Friday, March 16, 2018
JOY
Hi There !
So, how do you do your dishes?
Hope it's with Joy -
not necessarily the detergent, Joy,
but certainly with the spirit of joy.
Joy is to the spirit
as health is to the body,
as happiness is to the emotions -
the result of being right and real.
Things are right as they are meant to be,
properly in place,
harmonized in foundational reality.
When they are not,
the body experiences dis-ease,
the emotions un-happiness,
the spirit dis-stressed dis-quiet.
Conversely, when things are right and real,
the body is healthy,
the emotions are happy,
the spirit is serene.
Happiness and joy are not the same thing.
Happiness is how we feel emotionally.
Joy is how we are at our core
when we really are there,
rooted real and right in God.
Actually, we can be unhappy
and yet joyful at the same time.
Please permit a personal example
of what on the surface
seems to be different than it is.
As a young man
I went through a period
of vocational confusion
and left the seminary.
Back in those so different days,
the 1950's,
that was just this side of a mortal sin.
I was socially suspect,
a failed soul.
On the train home
I was not a happy camper,
yet there was a steadiness of soul,
a rightness down deep,
a joy of spirit.
As emotionally and socially uncomfortable
as things were,
at my core they were real and right,
rooted in God.
They were what they needed to be
at that moment in my evolving spirit.
That was quite a grace and learning.
Joy is a serene steadiness and strength of spirit.
Joy is a zest and exuberance of spirit.
Joy flows from being rooted right and real in
Being Itself, in Reality Itself, in Existence Itself,
in the Limitless Life and Love Energy
that is God.
"Joy is the infallible sign of God's presence,"
( Leon Bloy in a letter to Jacques Maritain ),
and our presence
rooted real and right in God.
Like all else in the spiritual life,
it comes down to being
as and who and where
we actually and really are -
a being in Being,
a spirit centered in The Source,
endlessly evolving
in The Mystery of God,
in The Mystery of Love/Life.
Our spiritual lives are
a waking up to that,
embracing that,
living that,
and no matter how things are
with the body and emotions,
being exuberantly joyful.
We may or may not like doing the dishes,
but we can always do them
and everything else in life with
JOY.
***************************
After Thought
Metaphor is the only way
to stammer about the divine.
Here's a simple, plain metaphor
for our spirituality out here
on the street of everyday life.
Consider an engine -
told you the metaphor was
plain and simple!!
When all the parts and processes
of an engine
are arranged right and real,
rooted in the reality
of what an engine
is all about,
the engine hums and purses.
Joy is like the hummimg and purring
of an engine.
(Not sure that even Charles Wesley
could work that one into a hymn!!).
******************************************************************************
HOLY WEEK
Next week 's posting here will be both an
INVITATION
and
RESOURCES
for
A HOLY WEEK RETREAT
on
SOLITUDE.
Materials, considerations,
and meditation prompts
will be presented
for a daily time of solitude,
prayer and reflection,
for the entire week.
The posting is not crafted
for a quick or one time exposure.
In other words, it will be
an extensive presentation to be used
part by part for the seven days of Holy Week.
*********************************************************************************
Thanks for the blessing of your company.
See you next week.
Oh yes !
If you have time and interest,
there are all sorts of prompts
for prayer and reflection
in this season of lent
offered the Meditation Markers that follow.
Holding each and all in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
****************************************
MEDITATION MARKERS
Suggestions:
- find a time and place
where you can separate
from the clamor and stimulation of noise
around you and within you
"Be still and know that I am God."
(Psalm 46:10)
- breath slowly, gently, deeply
- just be still in The Still Point.
- in a leisurely manner
start with the first
Meditation Marker.
- if it connects,
say it to yourself
a time or two.
- just sit with it,
let it speak its truth to your spirit.
- if that does not happen,
just move on to the next few
until one does connect.
- consider one or two a day
- do your best not to feel rushed,
or compelled to
"cover them all."
*****
- "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
Nehemiah 8:10
- In joy we
- live simply
- behave humbly
- dress modestly
- pray freely
- think wisely
- worship communally
- act kindly
- smile honestly
- speak trustfully
- love sincerely
- champion justice
- cherish nature
- companion the needful
Adaptation of a piece
from an unknown author
- "...joy is a key indicator of a healthy spirituality.
Joy, in the classic sense, is not a synonym for
happiness, but instead refers to a zest for life.
You can have an underlying zest for life
whether you are happy or whether you are sad.
The opposite of joy is not sorrow,
the opposite of joy is apathy.
01-14-11 (new-wood.blogspot.com)
David Backes
- "Let your joy be in your journey -
not in some distant goal."
Tim Cook
- "If you carry joy in your heart,
you can heal any moment."
Carlos Santana
- "I define joy as a sustained sense
of well being and internal peace -
a connection to what matters"
Oprah Winfrey
- " The prospect of the righteous is joy..."
Proverbs 10:28
- "These things I have spoken to you,
that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be full."
Jesus
( John 15:11 )
- "You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy."
Psalm 16:11
- "For the Kingdom of God
is not a matter of eating and drinking,
but of righteousness, peace,
and joy in the Holy Spirit."
Romans 14:17
*****
Friday, March 9, 2018
" LIGHTEN UP ! "
Hi There!
Come on!
Let's lighten up!
Enough already with the dreary dark of winter.
Let's get into The Spring Thing -
more light and less dark every day,
break out lighter clothing.
diet off winter weight,
lighten up for "Springing."
That sure was the deal last Sunday
during a wonderful high school visit.
It was a bright sunny day outside,
and in a wonderful way
as well inside the beautiful school theater.
In that darkened space the lights paradoxically
went "up" and so did we all.
It was brilliant.
Sixty plus teens upped the amperage
of soul and psyche with their ensemble,
their singing, dancing, acting and stage management,
as they portrayed the victory of light over dark.
It was a masterful production of
Beauty and the Beast.
They made it so easy to
"Lighten Up!"
My favorite character in that so biblical-like story is
Lumiere, the Beast's kindhearted, independent,
quirkie maitre'd. He and his prince and
the whole household have come under
an evil spell making the prince a Beast and
the maitre'd a candelabra. Only love will break the spell.
Lumiere, true to his name, works to shed light
for the Beast to see that, to warm wide his heart
for that love with beautiful Belle.
Yes, love wins, freeing the Beast and his household
for human life renewed through love.
Pardon the pastor in me, but what a Christ parallel.
My "hands up" favorite actor in Sunday's
de-"light"-full performance was
a wonderful young man who played,
well of course, Lumiere.
He brought to his role a just right balance of sparkle,
impishness, and an ever so exquisite
and delightful touch of camp.
What wattage!!
His subtle, focused intensity,
his lightsome manner and twinkle,
was not only an act, it was actual.
It was graced me with an intense connect to
the Christ experience.
That young man was a true Lumiere,
a luminous gift,
in his role and in himself.
He made Love Light incarnate, present and felt.
In a unique and theatrical setting,
he captured the spirit of Jesus,
Jesus,who defies the dark,
radiating a liberating lightness
("I am the light of the world.
Whosoever follows me
will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life."
John 8:12).
The light of life.
That's what filled my mind and heart
Sun Day
thanks to the young Lumiere at the high school.
Sad to say and see there's a lot of darkness out here
on the street of everyday living.
Happy to say and see Jesus lightens things up
right here where we live in people
like the young thespian, you and hopefully me,
each a unique Lumiere.
A few radiances of Lightsome Living:
- being who and how we actually are
down deep, at our most real
and beautiful selves
- encouraging and embracing the same in others
- relishing diversity in unity
- being patrons of the truth
- using our talent and resources
for balanced and generous living
- "lightening" the burden of the poor and overwhelmed
- championing social and environmental justice
- welcoming outsiders in
- respecting and celebrating the various gender blessings
the Creator delights in evolving
- supporting school sports and the arts
- after all, we are invited to be
"...children of the light and children of the day.
We do not belong to the night or the darkness."
( 1 Thessalonians 5:5 ).
Lent is well under way
Like Beauty and the Beast,
Lent focuses on living in the light,
overcoming dreadful dark.
This season of enlightenment will culminate
with the Christ Candle on Holy Saturday Night.
It will be carried into the totally dark church
and pierce that darkness.
Its light will be spread to all present,
reminding us to spread it lavishly
out here on the street of every day living.
Holding the Christ Candle high,
he deacon will intone
"Lumen Christi,"
our call to
"Lighten up!!"
A heartfelt welcome to our newest participants
from Indonesia and Egypt.
We are blessed to be joined with you!
Every goodness be yours.
See you next week.
Holding you in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
PS:
For those new to "frankly speaking":
if you wish, you can sign on for "frankly speaking"
to come to you automatically by email each week
Sign Up is at the top right of the online version.
Online postings are regularly on Friday.
The email version usually reaches folks on Saturday.
Friday, March 2, 2018
BALANCE
Hi There !
So how do we keep our balance
when so many and so much
are flipping out all around us:
- 25 school shootings since Columbine
(Shepard Smith, Fox News, 02-15-18 )
- 64,000 drug death in 2016
(The latest yearly total now available -
National Institute on
Drug Abuse and the CDC) -
more deaths in that one year from drugs than
all the deaths of American military during
the entire Vietnam War of 58,220
(National Archive, Military Records)
The entire current issue of Time magazine
(March 5, 2018) is a report on
this worst addiction crisis in US history
- a stock market that threatens to
"bubble burst"
(pick your economist)
- unthinking extremism left and right
- "America's boys are broken. And it's killing us"
(see "The Boys Are Not Alright ",
Michael Ian Black, The New York Times,
02-21-18) on our lost generation of boys
- hate and fake news outlets
- expanding fascism and neo-nazism,
nationally and internationally
- sinful lying and histrionics across social media
- international cooperation unraveling -
a cold war heating up -
check Putin's new nuclear rattling
- way too many politicians, media and
financial moguls, lacking
clarity, character, moral courage
- artificial intelligence close to directing
much of our living
- family life fraying
- a social media that has yet to grow up
- nuclear threats and brinkmanship
(make that "brinkboyship")
- hacking that steals our privacy and imperils
our democratic election process
- education that doesn't -
teaching to the test that gets an "F."
It goes on and on.
It's pretty chaotic, quite frightening,
terribly difficult to keep our balance
out here on the street of everyday living.
How many will be left standing,
and how long?
Most of us are middle and
upper middle class people,
and we are having
the patina of order and safety
ripped off our way of life.
It exposes terrifying flaws and fissures
in our situation, as well as
a questionable future.
We now know and feel that
we are endangered,
and that on many fronts,
as indeed the poor and marginalized
among us, and most of the world,
have been for every so painfully long.
A metaphor for our moment
might be that we are like a couple
that worked hard,
mortgaged themselves to the hilt,
and finally got their own pricey house
in a pricey place only to find
it sits on a toxic dump.
A poignant, telling icon of our plight was
a father sharing
with his pastor friend over lunch
that he dreaded putting his son
on the school bus each morning
and wondering if he would ever see him again
(Sermon of Rev. Rob Myallis, St. Paul's Church,
Lititz, PA, 02-25-18 ).
So, yes, how do we live out our spiritual life,
keep our balance,
in this fearsome time out here on the street
of everyday living?
What do we say
to that fearful father, and to all of us
who have had our middle class patina
of order and safety so perilously pealed away?
The troubles aren't going away nor can we.
The only way ahead is through and that's
going to be a rougher and rougher road.
So, how do we go ahead and get through
on that rough road ahead?
Buddha and Jesus have been down that road.
They got through and can guide us through.
The Buddha had the patina of privilege ripped off
his plush, princely life as he encountered
the harshness of illness, old age and death.
He walked away from the illusions
of comfort and indulgence - literally.
He set out to find enlightenment.
It was a long, painful journey,
but it brought him to a life of compassion:
- "A generous heart, kind speech and a life
of service and compassion are
the things which renew humanity."
- "Our sorrows and wounds are healed
only when we touch them
with compassion."
Jesus, the poor man of Nazareth, rich in love,
spent it all in a life of compassion:
- "Jesus went through all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom
and healing every disease and sickness.
When he saw the crowds,
he had compassion on them,
because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd."
(Matthew 9:35-36)
"Harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd."
Try that shoe on the foot of today's walking
out here on the street of everyday living.
Spot on!!!
Jesus' way ahead was through disorder and pain
and that meant active embrace and support
as he taught, encouraged, helped and healed
the hurt and needful.
That kind of active compassion
for the the masses brought him
into the crosshairs of the power elite
and they went gunning for him.
Eventually they nailed him - literally.
It broke him, broke him wide open
and let flow a current of reality and power
(aka Grace)
that lifts from deadly entombment,
that soars beyond the shy,
uniting all in the pulsating realness
of love and life without limit.
What a "Springing" is Resurrection.
Compassion and community.
The Latin root of the word compassion
tell the tale.
"Compati" means "to suffer/feel with."
A life of compassion gets us right and tight
with our true selves,
with every being in creation as it evolves,
with every frightened parent,
with war ravaged Syrians,
with every molecule of every tree,
with every hurt,
with every beauty,
with every potentiality,
with every enemy,
whether they realize it or not,
with ALL,
so much so that we are one with them.
Yes, that's such a "lift"
it sure does mean resurrection.
That's what compassion does.
The "lift" of compassion elevates us into unity,
into community with All.
Again, the Latin roots help.
"Cum" meaning "with" and
"Unio" meaning "one" -
Community - one with.
Community means
"Other is me otherwise,"
us united and me wise enough
to embrace and be embraced
by every other form of
who we are - Love.
A spirituality of compassion and community
means things like:
- caring about every other driver
on the road during rush,
and rushed, hour
- clearing space for a life of
lived and actual community
with our nuclear and extended families,
and with our neighbors
- caring and sharing in
our religious or ethical circles,
really mixing it up into a vibrant
community of compassion - truly a
Holy Communion
- in that community, a welcome nurture
for the left outs of our sphere:
- lonely old people
- overwhelmed single parents
and their children
- querkie oddballs
- the unemployed
- the homeless
- gay children and teens
- inner city, suburban, rural poor
one way or fifty to get in close and tight,
to touch, to more and more find ways
as a compassionate community
to throw block buster parties of
care, support and unity
- for fathers to learn how to raise a son
- for men to mentor boys adrift in their
fog of nowhere, walking with them
into a healthy manhood.
- to refocus, reconfigure our life styles
to be Gospel compatible -
chemicals aren't the only addiction
drugging us into soul stupor.
For those of us in the
Christian Tradition and Life,
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
We delight to accept him loving us to life,
a life of compassion in community,
one that makes that life and love of Jesus
present and personal for others through us.
We model ourselves and our living on him.
Of all our current difficulties, this one
is perhaps the most frightening as many of us
in the middle/upper middle classes
have quiet some miles to go
from comfortable religion
to catching up with the real Jesus
- to eschew every vestige of violence,
violence of thought, attitude, word,
action, reaction,e.g. a bumper sticker:
"Get behind our troops,
or get in front of them."
- as we would never allow liars, predators,
perverts, the im or amoral,
the characterless, valueless deal makers
to influence our children,
to do the same for ourselves
as we carefully discern
the media we select
the groups we join
the leaders we follow in
religion
career
politics
fashion
finance
sports/entertainment
life style.
These are days for some really deep meditation
and prayer.Without them we will loose balance,
fall and fail, careen into ever more chaos.
With them we will be clarified and strengthened
to go "through" the perils and pains
of our vulnerable now and the nows ahead,
and that by The Source and Center of All.
That will lead us to compassion and community.
They will give balance.
A few Mediation Markers follow this.
Please use them and the considerations
offered in above in this posting,
or anything else/other that helps you
over the course of the next lenten week.
Inertia and inaction will take us down
when so many and much are flipping out
all around us.
Please know this posting has been difficult
to compose and fashion.
What is offered here is not pleasant or easy,
and let's be honest:
We want pleasant and easy.
It's not going to be pleasant or easy ahead.
Too much unrealness for too many years
in too many ways has brought us to the edge.
That unrealness has corrupted into the breakdowns
all around and underneath.
Our social structures will continue to cave.
Some will stay on top of the pile for a while,
have "nice' a bit longer,
and that may seduce too many into
more comlpacency and slide.
The hard fact is that
a lot is falling apart, and more will.
Sit still and we will fall through.
Let The Source draw us into intimacy
through prayer and meditation.
With the clarity and strength that comes
from that embrace, community and compassion
will germinate and flower.
In small groups of
genuine community and compassion
we will balance out and help
our society regain its balance.
I am an old man who loves you
and all of God's Creation rather passionately!!.
Thank you for allowing me to share with you.
Looking forward to seeing you all next week.
Committing all to All,
holding you and all in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
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MEDITATION MARKERS
As we pray and ponder over the above and the following,
let's be sure to ask what does that look like
in the practically of our right now, right here?
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- "In compassion lies the world's true strength."
Buddha
-"Therefore, as God's chosen people,
holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves
with compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness and patience."
Colossians 3:12
- " They will neither hunger nor thirst,
nor will the desert heat or the sun
beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them
will guide them and lead them
springs of water."
Isaiah 49:10
- "Conquer anger wit non-anger.
Conquer badness with goodness.
Conquer meanness with generosity.
Conquer dishonesty with truth."
Buddha
- "As you know, we count as blessed
those who have persevered.
You have heard of Job's perseverance
and have seen what the Lord
finally brought about.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."
James 5:11
"In the beginning compassion is like the seed
without which we cannot have any fruits;
in the middle compassion is like water
to nourish the seed you have planted.
In the end compassion is like the warmth
the sun that brings the fruit to ripening.
Buddha
- " This we know, all things are connected.
Like the blood which unites one family,
all things are connected.
Our God is the same God,
whose compassion is the same to all."
Chief Seattle
- "What sort of religion can it be
without compassion?
You need to show compassion to all living beings.
Compassion is the root of all religious faith."
Hindu
Basavanna, Vachana 247
- "In everything, do to others as you would have them
do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.:
Jesus
Matthew 7:12
- "In this earth,
in this immaculate field,
we shall not plant any seeds
except for compassion,
except for love."
Rumi
Sufi Mystic
- "Radiate boundless love towards the entire world -
above , below, and across - unhindered,
without ill will, without enmity."
Buddha
- " Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion
and God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles,
so that we can comfort those
in any trouble with the comfort
we ourselves receive from God."
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
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