“Oscar Wilde said that if you know what you want to be, then you inevitably become it – that is your punishment, but if you never know, then you can be anything. There is a truth to that. We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing – an actor, a writer – I am a person who does things – I write, I act – and I never know what I am going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.”

Stephen Fry

Art by Banksy

“Speak well of those who speak evil of you. Pay good for evil. Pray for those who cause you various offences, wrongs, temptations, persecutions. Whatever you do, on no account condemn anyone; do not even try to judge whether a person is good or bad, but keep your eyes on that one person for whom you must give an account before God–yourself.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch

“Each step forwards to become the person we are makes it harder to go backwards, to return to the shadowy, private world of closed doors and shuttered windows. The experience, the awakening of one’s true self, after being so long suppressed, can never be adequately explained with language.”

Lili Elbe (born Einar Wegener), painter and recipient of first gender reassignment surgeries (1882 – 1931), born on this day

Image: Lili painted by her spouse Gerda Wegener

“It is enough, the now, and though it comes without anything, it gives me everything. With it I can repopulate the world. I can bring forth new worlds in underground shelters while the bombs are dropping above; I can do it in lifeboats as the ship goes down; I can do it in prisons without the guard’s permission; and O, when I do it quietly in the lobby while the conference is going on, a lot of states-men will emerge twirling their moustaches, and see the birth blood, and know they have been foiled.

Love is strong as death.”

Elizabeth Smart (1913 – 1986), Canadian writer, born on this day

“Hush now. The wounds run deep,
but the bees are full of knowing.
They know the hive of your heart,
each crooked curled chamber
each hopeful hidden curve,
each darkened holding cell.
They have come with wings and song and pollen.
They have come to harvest each mistake
each broken vessel, to touch the jagged edges
of betrayal and lost chances,
to collect your failures one by one,
making honey from the bitter
making music in the void
making wings where there were wounds.
Hush now. Sleep well.
The night is alive with forgiveness
and your heart is a hive
made for honey made for love.”

Angi Sullins

Christmas Day

“Sing a new song to the Holy One
with all the names and none.
Proclaim our joy and thanksgiving
for creation, for life, for growth, for love.
Turn your face to the light.
Rejoice in God.
Worship God in the beauty of holiness;
let the whole earth tremble in awe.
Call out—
There’s this beautiful world
and all the life in it
and there’s the rule of law in our hearts
and Love at the heart of it All.

The heavens rejoice
The earth dances
The seas roil with life
The fields are glad
The trees of the wood shout for joy.”

Psalm 96 reimagined by Christine Robinson

“Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
round yon Virgin Mother and Child,
Holy infant so tender and mild,
sleep in Heavenly peace!
sleep in Heavenly peace!

Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight;
glories stream from Heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ, the Saviour, is born!
Christ, the Saviour, is born!
Silent night! Holy night!

Son of God, Love’s pure light
radiant, beams from Thy Holy face,
with the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.”

Silent Night Christmas Carol, composed by Franz Gruber, first sung at St Nikolaus Parish Church, Oberndorf, Austria, on this day in 1818

“Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else. Let’s be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.”

Henri Nouwen, professor and theologian

“The universe is composed of subjects to be communed with, not objects to be exploited. Everything has its own voice. Thunder and lightning and stars and planets, flowers, birds, animals, trees – all these have voices, and they constitute a community of existence that is profoundly related.”

Thomas Berry

Winter Solstice

“Great Lady and Lord of the turning wheel of the year’s seasons, by whom the light returns, I call to you. Now, at the darkest time, when all of nature is still and cold, the change is made. There is a pause, as though between breaths, all nature waits, and then – the dawn comes early! There is rebirth of light and we begin again. Let hope and joyfulness be reborn, therefore, in all hearts. And let none be lonely. Let all see, as new light grows, how we may live peacefully and in shared happiness. Let war cease. Let us make a world fit for children.”

Winter Solstice Prayer by Rae Beth