“In the first reading of the Eucharist today I heard: “I am offering you life or death. . . . Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live in the love of Yahweh, your God, obeying his voice, holding fast to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20).

How do I choose life? I am becoming aware that there are few moments without the opportunity to choose, since death and life are always before me. One aspect of choosing life is choosing joy. Joy is life-giving but sadness brings death. A sad heart is a heart in which something is dying. A joyful heart is a heart in which something new is being born.

I think that joy is much more than a mood. A mood invades us. We do not choose a mood. We often find ourselves in a happy or depressed mood without knowing where it comes from. The spiritual life is a life beyond moods. It is a life in which we choose joy and do not allow ourselves to become victims of passing feelings of happiness or depression.”

Henri Nouwen

“I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –”

Emily Dickinson, born on this day in 1830

“There is nothing that makes men rich and strong but that which they carry inside of them. True wealth is of the heart, not of the hand.”

John Milton, born on this day in 1608

“He was born of the ocean and the earth; his father was Poseidon and his mother was Gaia. He was unrivalled in strength as long as he maintained contact with the earth, his mother. But when a challenger had the wit to lift him off the ground and crush his ribs in mid air, he finally met his death.

He was Antaeus, a little-remembered figure from the story of Hercules. How distanced are you from the planet, and how does that distance weaken you? Like Antaeus, you were born at the intersection of water and earth, and you draw your strength from the land.

If you feel you’re at less than your prime, what can you do to reconnect with your roots?”

Brian Nelson

“Unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.”

Noam Chomsky, born on this day in 1928

“What you contemplate, you touch. What you enter into in imagination, you make yourself one with.”

Dion Fortune, born on this day in 1890

“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, and humility.”

Nelson Mandela, who died on this day in 2013

Winter’s Cloak by Joyce Rupp

“This year I do not want
the dark to leave me.
I need its wrap
of silent stillness,
its cloak
of long-lasting embrace.
Too much light
has pulled me away
from the chamber
of gestation.

Let the dawns
come late,
let the sunsets
arrive early,
let the evenings
extend themselves
while I lean into
the abyss of my being.

Let me lie in the cave
of my soul,
for too much light
blinds me,
steals the source
of revelation.

Let me seek solace
in the empty places
of winter’s passage,
those vast dark nights
that never fail to shelter me.”

“They say angels fly because they take themselves lightly. It would do as well to aspire to mimic the behaviour of the angels and take ourselves lightly. Lightly does not mean less seriously, rather it means always feeling open and ready to learn and be more.”

Rav DovBer Pinson

“The chemistry of the mind is different from the chemistry of love. The mind is careful, suspicious, he advances little by little. He advises, “Be careful, protect yourself,” whereas love says, “Let yourself go!” The mind is strong, never falls down, while love hurts itself, falls into ruins. But isn’t it in ruins that we mostly find the treasures? A broken heart hides many treasures.”

Shams Tabrizi