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“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

There were lots of wildflowers blooming yesterday as I drove back down Hydetown Road on my way home from Mt. Irenaeus. There is something in the gospel about all that surrounds us and sometimes it seems to speak easily. Peace.

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gospel lilies

Thank you to all the people who visit this blog. When I started this back in January I had no idea where it or I was going. Through this effort I’ve met some beautiful people who’ve enriched my life and I am grateful for that. Peace.

I’ve been reading Andrew Sullivan’s blog ever since I saw him on Larry King last week. I like this post from today. Click here to read it. Peace.

“What is purity, briefly? It is a heart full of compassion for the whole of created nature…And what is a compassionate heart? He tells us: ‘It is a heart that burns for all creation, for the birds, for the beasts, for the devils, for every creature. When he thinks about them, when he looks at them, his eyes fill with tears. So strong, so violent is his compassion…that his heart breaks when he sees the pain and suffering of the humblest creature. That is why he prays with tears every moment…for all the enemies of truth and for all who cause harm that they may be protected and forgiven. He prays even for the serpents in the boundless compassion that wells up in his heart after God’s likeness.’–Isaac of Nineveh Ascetic Treatises, 81 (p.306)

Originally a monk of the monastery of Bethabe in Kurdistan, Isaac was a fruitful ascetical writer and his works were for centuries the main food of Syrian piety.

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purity, compassion, God, Kurdistan

This comes from Just Plain Foolish. Her writing is beautiful. When I returned home last night I looked at those same stars from near my home. Peace.

Just Plain Foolish: Tonight, I fell into the sky

God is using everything that happens to lead me into solitude. Every creature that enters my life, every instant of my days is designed to touch me with a sense of the world’s insufficiency. And that goes for every created thing, including monasteries, including even sensible graces, lights of the mind, ideas, fervor in the will. Everything I touch cauterizes me with a light and healing burn. I can hold on to nothing.

It is useless to get upset over these things that pain me. The pain is the token and the pledge of God’s love for me. It is the promise of his deep and perfect solitude.

Today I seem to be very much assured that this solitude is indeed his will for me, and that it is truly He who is calling me into the desert. Not necessarily a geographical one, but the solitude of his own heart in Which all created joys and light and satisfactions are annihilated and consumed.

Things that should have satisfied me, but did not.–Thomas Merton, June 13, 1947.

At an old temple, in cold weather, he spent the night.
He could not stand the piercing cold of the whirling wind.
If it has no sarira, what is there so special about it?
So he took the wooden Buddha from the hall and burned it.

This is the story of Tan-Hsia, a ninth century Zen Master who was of Thomas Merton’s favorites. This story along many of the Zen stories cause me to smile and to think of what this wisdom means to me. What idols in my life need burning? Peace.

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zen, monk, merton, tan-hsia

Today I was watching C-Span and saw an interesting program that originally was broadcast on Wednesday. I’m not a supporter of the Iraq War but I personally know several young men and women from our community who are serving there. As a parent I know how much their Moms and Dads must worry about the life and welfare of their children.

These helmet upgrades do three things.

If it is more comfortable, it will stay on troop’s head longer and more often. Keeps the helmet firmly on the head and out of the eyes.

Shock-absorbing pads keep the helmet from slapping the skull when hit with blast forces, fragments, or being tumbled along the ground or inside a vehicle. This decreases the chance of brain injury from bombs, RPG’s, vehicle accidents, falls, etc.

As a secondary benefit, the pads make the helmet actually float in water.The cost of one of these helmet inserts is about $75. The cost of caring for a brain-injured veteran for his or her lifetime is about 3 million dollars.

For more information on how you can help click here.

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operation helmet, traumatic brain injury, veterans

This comes from Andrew Sullivan’s blog.

Andrew Sullivan | The Daily Dish: Quote for the Day

“For people in America who are a part of my political tradition, our great sin has often been ignoring religion or denying its power or refusing to engage it because it seemed hostile to us. For … the so-called Christian right and its allies, their great sin has been believing they were in full possession of the truth,” – president Bill Clinton, in one of the wisest formulations I have read on American politics and religion in a long time.

Paula’s post about Edith Stein and feminism got me to thinking of a great book that I read on retreat last year. I later bought copies for my wife and daughter. It’s entitled, Clothed With the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us.
I really enjoyed reading it and I’d recommend it to anyone.

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bible, women, social justice, feminism, christian