St. Francis and the Wolf by Christine Valters Paintner “The city trembled at the wolf outside its gates, fangs fierce, howling with hunger, fur thick with blood. Francis approaches softly, palms open. When the wolf lunges his breath stays slow and steady, looks with eyes of love, smiles and bows and the beast whimpers, licks the monk’s salty face, tail a brown banner waving, and follows Francis through the streets like an old friend, to the wonder of all. Except perhaps it’s not such a wonder that when we open the gate to all that is fierce and fearful inside us, when we hold our hands like begging bowls, our hearts like candles, the wolf within will want to lay its soft head upon our laps and we see there is no more wolf and me just one wild love, one wild hunger.”
“Every one makes his feast as he thinks best, to please the Great Spirit, who has the care of all beings created. Others believe in two Spirits, one good and one bad, and make feasts for the Bad Spirit, to keep him quiet. They think that if they can make peace with him, the Good Spirit will not hurt them. For my part I am of the opinion, that so far as we have reason, we have a right to use it in determining what is right or wrong, and we should always pursue that path which we believe to be right, believing that “whatsoever is, is right.” If the Great and Good Spirit wished us to believe and do as the whites, he could easily change our opinions, so that we could see, and think, and act as they do. We are nothing compared to his power, and we feel and know it. We have men among us, like the whites, who pretend to know the right path, but will not consent to show it without pay. I have no faith in their paths, but believe that every man must make his own path.”
Black Hawk, Sauk leader, who died on this day in 1838
“A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the right place, and when we expect nothing in return.” The Bhagavad Gita
“I do not agree or disagree in everything with either one party or the other. Because all seem to me to have some truth and some error, but everyone recognizes the other’s error and nobody discerns his own.” Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian and physician, author of On the Errors of the Trinity, born on this day in 1511 (burned at the stake for heresy in 1553)
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Confucius, Chinese philosopher, born on this day in 551 BCE
A double-header from theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) to start our week. On this day in 1905, the physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein’s paper “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”, introducing the equation E=mc². “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day..” “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”
“To be silent with another person is a deep expression of trust and confidence, and it is only when we are unconfident that we feel compelled to talk. To be silent with another person is truly to be with that other person… We do not have to create silence. The silence is there within us. What we have to do is to become silent, to become the silence. The purpose of meditation is to allow ourselves to become silent enough to allow this interior silence to emerge. Silence is the language of the spirit.” Benedictine monk John Main (1926 – 1982), quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection
From The Two Winged Soul by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, “There is a basic notion that every soul has two ‘wings.’ These’ wings of the soul ‘ are Love and Awe. When the soul is free, fresh and open, and available for inspiration, it flies on these two wings. With one wing it is hard to fly; you must have two.”
I found it by Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqan (1917 – 2003), translated by Charlie Huntington,
“I found it on a beautiful, sunny day. I found it after great loss: Fresh verdant soil, Wet and flourishing. I found it as the sun passed over palm trees Scattering over the grassy gardens Its golden bouquets. It was an April generous and fertile In seeds, warmth, and the spring sun.
I found it after great loss: An evergreen-fresh bough In which birds seek refuge, So it lodges them in its protective shade. If a violent wind crosses it someday, Thunderous and trembling, It bends slightly, Twists before the wind lightly. As the thunderstorm dies down The limb levels out, Its water-heavy leaves quenched of thirst; Its pliant body did not shatter Under the wind’s hand: The branch remains as it was. As if its trials did not break it It laughs, with the beauty in all that it Sees, in the radiance of a star, In the lightness of a breeze, In the sun, the dew, and the clouds.
I found it on a beautiful, sunny day, After loss, after a long search: A lake, clear and tranquil. If at times its pure heart Was lapped at by the wolves of mankind, Or the winds of fate played in the lake And muddied it briefly, It cleared with the clarity of a crystal And became the moon’s face: A pool of blueness and light Where the guiding stars bathe.
I found it! Oh you tempest, blow And mask the sun’s face with clouds As you like, and you days, turn my fate From sunny and cheerful To sullen and gloomy; Even then my lights do not fade And all the darkness that has been Extending blackly through my life, Enfolding it night after night, Is gone, buried in the grave of the past, Since the day my soul found itself.”
King Edward Street Chapel 