“Even Kings and Emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare to an ant filled with the love of God.”

Guru Nanak (1469 – 1539), founder and first Guru of Sikhism, born on this day

“There are ways in, journeys to the center of life, through time; through air, matter, dream and thought. The ways are not always mapped or charted, but sometimes being lost, if there is such a thing, is the sweetest place to be. And always, in this search, a person might find that she is already there, at the center of the world. It may be a broken world, but it is glorious nonetheless.”

Linda Hogan, poet, environmentalist and former Chickasaw Nation writer in residence

Palm Sunday

Psalm 31 You as You are by Christine Robinson

“I have come to you, O God, please, take me in.
Hear my prayers, be my rock, my stronghold, my castle.
Help me untangle myself from the web of confusions and self-deceptions that I’m stuck in.
I put my trust in you—I give you my life.

I have turned
from the temptation to trust the ten thousand things.
I have turned
from the temptation to despair of your love and help.
I have learned
to see you in my sorrows and afflictions.
A lot of my life went by before I managed this,
which makes me sad.

Now, I practice trust and open-hearted acceptance
of my life as it is.
Now I practice trust and open-hearted acceptance
of You as You are.”

International Day of Human Space Flight

“Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!”

Yuri Gagarin, first human in space on this day in 1961

“The secret of a full life is to live and relate to others as if they might not be there tomorrow, as if you might not be there tomorrow. It eliminates the vice of procrastination, the sin of postponement, failed communications, failed communions. This thought has made me more and more attentive to all encounters, meetings, introductions, which might contain the seed of depth that might be carelessly overlooked. This feeling has become a rarity, and rarer every day now that we have reached a hastier and more superficial rhythm, now that we believe we are in touch with a greater amount of people, more people, more countries. This is the illusion which might cheat us of being in touch deeply with the one breathing next to us. The dangerous time when mechanical voices, radios, telephones, take the place of human intimacies, and the concept of being in touch with millions brings a greater and greater poverty in intimacy and human vision.”

Anaïs Nin, writer (1903 – 1977)

“You know more of a road by having travelled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world.”

From On the Conduct of Life by William Hazlitt (1778 – 1830), literary critic and essayist, raised Unitarian, born on this day

“The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative. The history of the capitalist era is characterized by the degradation of my people: despoiled of their lands, their true culture destroyed… denied equal protection of the law, and deprived their rightful place in the respect of their fellows.”

Paul Robeson (1989 – 1976), actor, singer and social justice activist, born on this day

“I believe we are all here to help each other and that our individual lives have patterns and purposes. My illness turned out to have a very special purpose — helping save other lives, and I am grateful for what I was able to do.”

Betty Ford (1918 – 2011), US first lady 1974 – 77, alcoholism and breast cancer survivor, born on this day

“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.”

William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850), poet, born on this day

“”Self-love is the form and root of all friendship. Well-ordered self-love is right and natural – so much so that the person who hates himself or herself sins against nature. To know and to appreciate your own worth is no sin.” Thomas Aquinas

Some religious teachers build their theologies around the central idea “What am wretch am I.” Hating oneself, subscribing to a self-hating theology, is not Aquinas’s teaching, and it is not healthy psychology either. Authentic self-love is the very basis of friendship – how can we love others well if we have not learned to love ourselves well?

Aquinas goes further: Self-hatred, he says, is a sin against nature. That is strong language. But consider this self-love in the context of the rest of nature – does any tree or whale, horse or eagle, blade of grass or star hate itself? No. As Mechtild says, they seek only to fulfill their true natures, to do the work of being the best possible tree, whale, horse, eagle, and so on. It is false and pseudo-humility to hate onself. We need to come to ourselves and appreciate our own worth and to help others to do the same. There lies authentic friendship.”

From Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox