“The mystical certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God grows when we ourselves become one with love by placing ourselves, freely and without guarantee of success, on the side of love.”

Dorothee Sölle, quoted in Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox

“God is in us, and He is present everywhere. It is God’s all-encompassing love that manifests itself in us. When this happens, we see no difference between people: everyone is good, everyone is our brother, and we consider ourselves to be the servants of every created thing.”

Elder Thaddeus (1914 – 2003)

Artwork by Carl Larsson

“The noblest joy of the senses,
the holiest peace of the heart,
the most resplendent lustre of all good works
derives from this:
that the creature
puts his or her heart
wholly into what s/he does.”

Mechthild of Magdeburg, 13th century Beguine

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

Elie Wiesel (1928 – 2016), writer, holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate, born on this day

“Michaelmas gales assail the waning year,
And Michael’s scale is true, his blade is bright.
He strips dead leaves; and leaves the living clear
To flourish in the touch and reach of light.
Archangel bring your balance, help me turn
Upon this turning world with you and dance
In the Great Dance. Draw near, help me discern,
And trace the hidden grace in change and chance.”

Malcolm Guite

“”World-mothering air, air wild,
Wound with thee, in thee isled,
Fast home, fast fold thy child.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe

The breath of life has always had a special, sacred meaning for people worldwide, since it is the mark of our mortality. The first and last breaths are marked with particular attention: as air is drawn into a baby’s lungs for the first time, the soul is considered to be truly incarnate; as the death rattle heralds the last exhalation of air, we know that the soul is unhoused, free to return to the unseen world. Our continual breathing in and out is a reminder of these two moments wherein we are recreated anew.

The air that we take for granted is now polluted by industrial production, petroleum fumes, and other unpleasant exhalations. The immensity of this desecration of our atmosphere leaves us feeling powerless, since its cure depends on the whole world cooperatively using wiser strategies to protect the environment from damage. It may mean using our cars less, or switching off the motor when we are waiting; it may involve us influencing governments and industries to use environmental-friendly solutionss, remembering that politicians are in power because they represent the people. But the task that we can each engage in on a daily basis is a respectful acknowledgment of the sacred breath of life.

The Irish expression for taking one’s time translates literally as “drawing one’s breath.” If we make it our practice to spend a short time each day remembering the holy element of air, we restore the original blessedness with our prayerful in-and-out breathing: “Blessed be the precious and preserving air that sustains our life!””

From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews

“In his poem, There Was a Child Went Forth, part of the Autumn Rivulets cycle, Walt Whitman describes the things that a child sees in his daily wanderings – the shadows, the field-sprouts, the wharves and the ferries, the clouds and the apple trees, the workers, and the families both kind and cruel.
He closes with a startling image: “These became part of the child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day.”
Are you like that child who never stops adventuring? What is becoming part of that child within you? Are you incorporating shadows and field-sprouts, workers and wharves – or malls and plastics, televisions and technologies? Today is your chance to let nature become part of you.”

From Earth Bound: Daily Meditations for All Seasons by Brian Nelson

“I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”

From East Coker (Four Quartets) by T. S. Eliot (1888 – 1965), born on this day

“That person who’s kind
Who practices righteousness
Who remains at peace
In the world’s madness
Who feels all sentient beings
As his or her own self –
This person attains
The Deathless One
And is accompanied always
By the true God.”

Kabir, 15th century India, pictured (left) with Guru Nanak and Mardana

“Blessed saint francis
pray for us
now and in the time of despondency
your brother the water is poisoned
children no longer know your brother the fire
the birds shun us

They belittle you
popes and czars
and the Americans buy up Assisi
including you
blessed saint francis
why did you come among us?

In the stony outskirts of the city
I saw you scurrying about
a dog pawing through garbage
even children
choose a plastic car
over you

Blessed saint francis
what have you changed
whom have you helped
Blessed saint francis
pray for us
now and when the rivers run dry
now and when our breath fails us.”

Dorothee Soelle (1929 – 2003), German liberation theologian, quoted in Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox

Artwork by Francisco de Zurbarán (1598 – 1664)