A Time for Love…
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
As our 4-week book reflection of The Tears of Things comes to a close this week, Fr. Richard Rohr’s closing call speaks to me of where to place my focus. Now I see love all around me.
In spite of the cruelty, devastation, and despair in the news, love is finding its way into the cracks and crevices, transforming all living beings and places wherever it goes.
“Somehow, the loving people I have met all across the world seem to know that if it is love at all, it has to be love for everybody. As soon as you even begin to parcel it out, you are not in the great field of love.” ―Richard Rohr
I see it in the people holding vigil and prayers for the people of Jamaica as Melissa, a Category 5 hurricane, bears down on them. And in those coming to help in the aftermath and in the helpers in many other places digging out from under war and natural disasters.
It’s there in those stepping in to take friends to the doctor when they can’t do it themselves, comforting those who’ve lost a loved one, or offering support to suffering strangers. And in corporations and individuals stepping up to fill the void with donations to food banks and more during the government shutdown.
And it arises when we take a deep breath, pause, and seek higher ground or the middle way before we act out in rage (even when well deserved).
Reminded of a blessing Sharon Dunn shared at last year’s Gala Brunch (that has been posted on my refrigerator door ever since), I offer it to you in honor of the truth that “your love changes everything.” May it grow and change everything for all those suffering.
A Blessing
The world now
is too dangerous
and too beautiful
for anything but love.
I bless your eyes so you see God in everyone.
I bless your ears so you hear the cry of the poor.
I bless your lips so you speak nothing but the truth with love.
I bless your hands so that everything you give
and everything you receive,
is a sacrament,
I bless your feet so you run to those who need you.
And may your heart be so opened,
so set on fire
that your love,
YOUR LOVE,
changes . . .
everything.
―Rev. Brian Baker
Take good care.
Change to Love
“This dualism—the idea of an infinite God being caught up in a naïve reward-punishment worldview—must be undone by the deeper gospel of unconditional love and respect, or nothing will ever change.”
—Richard Rohr
When You Love…
“Understanding and Love are not two separate things, but just one. To develop understanding, you have to practice looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion. When you understand, you cannot help but love. And when you love, you naturally act in a way that can relieve the suffering of people.”
― Thich Nhat Hahn
LOVE
Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills—
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.
Then he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness.
It doesn’t matter whether he knows what he serves:
Who serves best doesn’t always understand.
—Czeslaw Milosz
