Hi Babe!
moon climbing the black sky what is one breath?
When sitting in rapt wonder at the beauty of a full moon slowly climbing the black sky and huddled with a lover beside a campfire: the Earth, the Universe and all that it contains, can seem so overwhelming and filled with grandeur that only silence and awe fill the humbled mind... then one might be tempted to overlook, disregard, or think inconsequential, "one breath"...
But "one breath" is every breath, or our last breath. Every breath is the Holy One breathing the gift of life into us and into every living creature. Every breath and every life is sacred: this precise moment is as holy as any will ever get...
"The saints are those who know how to love, whose lives were transformed by love. The desire deep in the heart of every one of us is to love, to love in such a way that all things become new, that there is a new song in our hearts."
-- Dorothy Day, Saint of the Gutter Beautiful
In this stillness, in this place, is where the heart or essence of life and matter comes into focus -- into the Light -- almost as if from the inside out, the upside down, from the smallest or most fragile, and only then on to the grandest and mightiest. In this stillness, in this place, one may hear the heartbeats, and feel the breath of the Holy One, and see all creation shining with an almost unbearable Light!
"For I created your soul with a capacity for loving -- so much so, that you cannot live without love. Indeed, love is your food." -- Yeshua in a vision to St. Catherine of Siena
What is one breath?
An old woman, to the dismay of many an official and others, found her place: the sidewalk in front of an abandoned building. Some no doubt thought her mentally ill, but truthfully, she just had a "diminished capacity for being normal". Who is to say that doing crossword puzzles, feeding the birds, and living outdoors is not the work of angels -- and possibly saner than many of the habits and pursuits of this post-modern world?
We have leaders in every sphere who have made a very fine art of deception and manipulation and an economy that is daily soaring to newer and evermore incredible heights: while at the very same time, the "misery index" for too many persons, both in America and abroad, also continues to rise at an alarming rate. Yet, "only when we get to heaven will we realize how much we owe the poor for our salvation." (Mother Teresa)
Frequently, even in the midst of a freezing rain, city crews and police would arrive and dismantle the only shelter that Annie knew. The sidewalk would be cleaned and the neighborhood temporarily "improved". A few of us would huddle with the doubly-abandoned and ponder, again with Mother Teresa, "I wonder what the world would be like if there were not these great people who continually suffer, suffer with such dignity and love."
If it is true, as Dostoevsky wrote, that "the world will be saved by beauty", then it is to people like Annie that we must all turn and look. "One does not see anything until one sees its beauty." (Oscar Wilde) This seeing is perhaps the missing ingredient in the global transformation so necessary, that and a very deep listening: only when we can hear the cries of the poor, and all those for whom to live means to suffer, only then, will we be able to light the flame of compassion within our hearts, and only then, will the sacred word "justice" once again enter our consciousness as the driving force of community and civilization...
Finally, if the theories of the mystic-activists are true, we will all someday hear the Voice of the Holy One calling out to us: but if that Voice comes as the disorienting voice of Annie, will we even stop to listen? And more, what if that Voice were to repeat to all of us what Annie said to me everyday for years, "Hi babe!"? Would you still want a hug from That God?
"Hi babe", from Annie tugging at blanket and tarp winter rain
When sitting in rapt wonder at the beauty of a full moon slowly climbing the black sky and huddled with a lover beside a campfire: the Earth, the Universe and all that it contains, can seem so overwhelming and filled with grandeur that only silence and awe fill the humbled mind... then one might be tempted to overlook, disregard, or think inconsequential, "one breath"...
But "one breath" is every breath, or our last breath. Every breath is the Holy One breathing the gift of life into us and into every living creature. Every breath and every life is sacred: this precise moment is as holy as any will ever get...
"The saints are those who know how to love, whose lives were transformed by love. The desire deep in the heart of every one of us is to love, to love in such a way that all things become new, that there is a new song in our hearts."
-- Dorothy Day, Saint of the Gutter Beautiful
In this stillness, in this place, is where the heart or essence of life and matter comes into focus -- into the Light -- almost as if from the inside out, the upside down, from the smallest or most fragile, and only then on to the grandest and mightiest. In this stillness, in this place, one may hear the heartbeats, and feel the breath of the Holy One, and see all creation shining with an almost unbearable Light!
"For I created your soul with a capacity for loving -- so much so, that you cannot live without love. Indeed, love is your food." -- Yeshua in a vision to St. Catherine of Siena
What is one breath?
An old woman, to the dismay of many an official and others, found her place: the sidewalk in front of an abandoned building. Some no doubt thought her mentally ill, but truthfully, she just had a "diminished capacity for being normal". Who is to say that doing crossword puzzles, feeding the birds, and living outdoors is not the work of angels -- and possibly saner than many of the habits and pursuits of this post-modern world?
We have leaders in every sphere who have made a very fine art of deception and manipulation and an economy that is daily soaring to newer and evermore incredible heights: while at the very same time, the "misery index" for too many persons, both in America and abroad, also continues to rise at an alarming rate. Yet, "only when we get to heaven will we realize how much we owe the poor for our salvation." (Mother Teresa)
Frequently, even in the midst of a freezing rain, city crews and police would arrive and dismantle the only shelter that Annie knew. The sidewalk would be cleaned and the neighborhood temporarily "improved". A few of us would huddle with the doubly-abandoned and ponder, again with Mother Teresa, "I wonder what the world would be like if there were not these great people who continually suffer, suffer with such dignity and love."
If it is true, as Dostoevsky wrote, that "the world will be saved by beauty", then it is to people like Annie that we must all turn and look. "One does not see anything until one sees its beauty." (Oscar Wilde) This seeing is perhaps the missing ingredient in the global transformation so necessary, that and a very deep listening: only when we can hear the cries of the poor, and all those for whom to live means to suffer, only then, will we be able to light the flame of compassion within our hearts, and only then, will the sacred word "justice" once again enter our consciousness as the driving force of community and civilization...
Finally, if the theories of the mystic-activists are true, we will all someday hear the Voice of the Holy One calling out to us: but if that Voice comes as the disorienting voice of Annie, will we even stop to listen? And more, what if that Voice were to repeat to all of us what Annie said to me everyday for years, "Hi babe!"? Would you still want a hug from That God?
"Hi babe", from Annie tugging at blanket and tarp winter rain