The Writings of Robert Daniel Smith
Everyday: Chop Wood, Carry Water
-- Chinese Taoist Sage
Come to my home. I will make tea. Noodles. We can talk poetry. -- Tsung Tsai
Iona House
The Catholic Worker Movement, Celtic and Creation Spirituality
The Primordial Tao, St. Hildegard, Rumi, Sts. Francis and Clare, Gandhi, Findhorn, Ram Dass, Matthew Fox, Yogananda and the World Mystics
"It is not what you believe that matters; it is how you respond with your heart and your actions. It is not believing in Christ that matters; it is becoming like him." -- Pelagius
"Beauty is unity in the diversity." -- Eriugena
How then shall we live?
Is there not an heretical imperative implicit in the Gospel?
Is it not true that the Gospel, and the Heart of Every Religion, calls us to live a life of compassion, service, justice, and nonviolence? Is it not true that the Gospel, and the Heart of Every Religion, calls us to save Planet Earth by living in such a way that we serve all species and the re-generation of our Home? Is it not true that the Gospel, and the Heart of Every Religion, calls us to gender equality as the foundation of social transformation towards the just, the good, and the beautiful? Is it not true that the Gospel, and the Heart of Every Religion, calls us to live lives of contemplative prayer, gratitude of mind, availability and vulnerability of heart, and a harmony of body, mind, and soul? And finally, is it not true that the very Heart of the Gospel is, as it were, a roadmap of the Way -- into our surrender to the Divine Beloved and our growing / greening identification with Jesus the Poet of Nazareth -- and then our ultimate transformation through the Cosmic Christ? -- Iona House, Core Questions / A Way of Life in Community
"Divinity is aimed at humanity." -- St. Hildegard
"The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity." -- St. Hildegard
"Every creature is a word of God and a book about God." -- Meister Eckhart
"There is no creation that does not have a radiance, be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty -- it could not be creation without it."
-- St. Hildegard
"We find our souls all soaked in grace..." -- Thomas Merton
"Everything matters. Everything we do counts. Everything is prelude, stepping stone, and promise."
-- Matthew Fox
"The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of heart, a revolution that has to start with each one of us?"
-- Dorothy Day, Saint of the Gutter Beautiful
"We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love." -- Simone Weil
The Song of St. Francis
Holy Moly! You are beyond my imagination!
You are praise, wonder, beauty and every blessing!
All good, every kindness, is your shining
And your Name is the secret of creation!
I rejoice in my darkness to know your Light
in dear Brother Sun!
He brings the day to enlighten our hearts!
Brother Sun is beauty shining
Shining as your Holy Moly sign!
I rejoice in my darkness to know your Light
in dear Sister Moon and Brilliant Stars!
In the sky they shine
Brilliant, precious, and beautiful!
I rejoice in my darkness to know your Light
in dear Brother Wind!
In every movement of air and cloud
In every movement in delight you Shine!
I rejoice in my darkness to know your Light
in wonderful Sister Water!
She is so precious and humble
in accepting the kiss of our lips!
I rejoice in my darkness to know your Light
in robust Brother Fire!
He is so vibrant and bold
to hold back the night for our praise!
I rejoice in my darkness to know your Light
in our sacred Mother Earth!
She holds us to her breast,
She lifts us up in our weakness,
She gifts us with fruits, flowers, and herbs,
in her embrace we are held by you!
I rejoice in my darkness to know your Light
in all persons who know the beauty
of a bended knee, can ask for forgiveness,
and who can lift up the harmed in the beauty of peace,
for it is in this living of peace, that is the crown of lasting Light
and the wonder of an endless Holy Moly!
-- Version by Robert Daniel Smith
Stunning love is where the soup boils. Justice and Mercy stand in the breadline. The Blissful Mother receives there Her bowl of soup and piece of bread. Kitchen theology is getting up out of the easy chair and going where the onions need to be chopped! Kitchen theology is the understanding that "salvation" is not the profession of a creed or a "personal relationship" with Jesus, Allah, Krishna, the Buddha, the Torah, the Way or even the Goddess. Rather, it is the radical commitment to not enter Paradise until everyone among us has found their fill of bread and roses, and entered first. -- Robert Daniel Smith Resplendent In Rags
If we believe in the Incarnation of the Son of God, there should be no one on earth in whom we are not prepared to see, in mystery, the presence of Christ. -- Thomas Merton
If we believe in the Incarnation of the Son of God, there should be no one on earth in whom we are not prepared to see, in mystery, the presence of Christ. -- Thomas Merton
Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day founded the Catholic Worker Movement which continues to operate Houses of Hospitality throughout the world, with the workers publishing newspapers, building farms, serving and advocating for the poor, and witnessing for peace and justice.
The price of the kingdom is the food you give to those who need it. -- St. Leo the Great
Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system. -- Dorothy Day, Saint of the Gutter Beautiful
The price of the kingdom is the food you give to those who need it. -- St. Leo the Great
Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system. -- Dorothy Day, Saint of the Gutter Beautiful
I care, therefore I am
I care, therefore I build community
I care, therefore I practice beauty
I care, therefore I build the New Creation
Creation was fashioned to be adorned, to be showered, to be gifted with the love of the Creator. The entire world has been embraced by this kiss. Limitless love, from the depths to the stars, flooding all, loving all. It is the royal kiss of peace. God hugs you. You are encircled by the arms of the mystery of God. -- St. Hildegard of Bingen
Divinity is everywhere and within everything: it is the Holy of Holies, the Secret of Secrets. It is both above and beneath, within and without. It is before and it is behind: it lurks behind every veil -- always ready and waiting for the perfect moment, the surprise of the perfect pounce... -- Robert Daniel Smith Resplendent In Rags
I care, therefore I build community
I care, therefore I practice beauty
I care, therefore I build the New Creation
Creation was fashioned to be adorned, to be showered, to be gifted with the love of the Creator. The entire world has been embraced by this kiss. Limitless love, from the depths to the stars, flooding all, loving all. It is the royal kiss of peace. God hugs you. You are encircled by the arms of the mystery of God. -- St. Hildegard of Bingen
Divinity is everywhere and within everything: it is the Holy of Holies, the Secret of Secrets. It is both above and beneath, within and without. It is before and it is behind: it lurks behind every veil -- always ready and waiting for the perfect moment, the surprise of the perfect pounce... -- Robert Daniel Smith Resplendent In Rags
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Every single act of kindness is a call into Being for the Divine Beloved -- the Source is born -- again and again throughout all of time -- by every moment and movement of Love from "one" to "another". We become the Mothers of G-d by our Love and through our Love! We give birth to G-d when through a thought, word, or action we exist -- in that specific and precious moment -- not for ourselves, but only for the "other"...
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The whole universe is contained within a single human being... you. -- Rumi I raise up my voice -- not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard... we cannot succeed when half of us are held back. -- Malala Yousafzai |
