Angels

Angels of the Creation of Days by Sir Edward Burne Jones

" The more materialistic science becomes, the more I shall paint angels: their wings are my protest in favour of the immortality of the soul."

                                                                                 Sir Edward Burne Jones

The Canticle of the Sun

Most High, all-powerful, all good Lord, all praise is yours, all glory, honour and blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong; no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.

We praise you, Lord, for all your creatures, especially for Brother Sun, who is the day through whom you give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour, of you Most High, he bears your likeness.

We praise you, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars, in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

We praise you, Lord, for Brothers Wind and Air, fair and stormy, all weather's moods, by which you cherish all that you have made.

We praise you, Lord, for Sister Water, so useful, humble, precious and pure.

We praise you., Lord, for Brother Fire, through whom you light the night.
He is beautiful, playful, robust and strong.

We praise you, Lord, for Sister Earth, who sustains us with her fruits, coloured flowers, and herbs.

We praise and bless you, Lord, and give you thanks, and serve you in all humility.

                                              Extract from the Canticle of the Sun, by Saint Francis of Assisi.

" Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years."
Laudato Si' #53

" Yet all is not lost.  Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start."
Laudato Si' #205

Let us sing as we go.  May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope."
Laudato Si' #244

                               Extracts from Pope Francis' Encyclical "Laudato Si' "

Behold a Tree

     Watercolour by Margaret M Brownlow

Behold a tree.  Outwardly it has a hard and rough shell, appearing dead and encrusted, but the body of the tree has a living power, which breaks through the hard and dry bark and generates many young bodies, branches and leaves, which, however, all are rooted in the body of the tree.

Thus it is with the whole house of this world, wherein the holy light of God appears to have died out, because it has withdrawn and seems dead.  But love ever again and again breaks through this very house of death and generates holy and celestial branches in this great tree, and which root in the light.

                                         Jakob Bohme (1575 - 1624)  German Christian mystic and theologian.

To All I Leave

Nothing to give, nothing to leave but life,
Nothing to take, nothing to grasp but eternity.
Material possessions have I non
But a body of skin and bone.
In the vast mountains of my mind, ranging high,
In the deep caverns of my heart, reaching far,
Spiritual possessions have I many
And a soul for the future, ready.

To all I leave the seasons changes
And the ever changing beauty each season brings,
The ocean depths, the mountain ranges,
Each beast, each creature, each bird that wings
Away across earth's beloved surface
To soar to heaven, to greet the eternal.
Stars on courses mapped out in space,
Planets revolving around the sun infernal.
Moon's cool gleam at deep of night,
A beacon for nocturnal creatures.
The grace to accept the gift of sight
And possess all that nature teaches.

For all I ask both real and inner peace,
The sublimation of baser human traits,
Violence, robbery, libel, all to cease,
To civilise man; an acceptance of fates
Decrees and service to all others,
So to receive continued grace.
Seek not the gold that smothers
As foul hands upon a face.
Pollute not youth's happy, carefree years
But rather cleanse the heart of sin,
Of bitter, disillusioned tears,
Bequeathing spiritual peace within.

                                                             REB                                                              

The Sower

Bharadvaja, a wealthy Brahman farmer, was celebrating his harvest-thanksgiving when the Blessed One came with his alms-bowl, begging for food.

Some of the people paid him reverence, but the Brahman was angry and said: "O samana, it would be more fitting for thee to go to work than to beg.  I plough and sow, and having ploughed and sown, I eat.  If thou didst likewise, thou too, wouldst have something to eat."

The Tathagata, answered him and said: "O Brahman, I,too, plough and sow, and having ploughed and sown, I eat."

"Dost thou profess to be a husbandman?" replied the Brahman.  "Where then are thy bullocks?  Where is the seed and the plough?"

The Blessed One said: "Faith is the seed I sow: good works are the rain that fertilizes it; wisdom and modesty are the plough; my mind is the guiding-rein; I lay hold of the handle of the law; earnestness is the goad I use, and exertion is my draught-ox.  This ploughing is ploughed to destroy the weeds of illusion.  The harvest it yields is the immortal fruit of Nirvana, and thus all sorrow ends."

Then the Brahman poured rice-milk into a golden bowl and offered it to the Blessed One, saying: "Let the teacher of mankind partake of the rice-milk, for the venerable Gotama ploughs a ploughing that bears the fruit of immortality."

                                                                           Taken from the Gospel of the Buddha.

Meander 6

The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love,
it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment.

        John Bolam, March 1989.  Essay on bereavement, final sentence.

                 ___________________________________

One only sees clearly with the heart.
What is essential is invisible to the eyes.

                                         Atoinne de Saint Exupery

                  __________________________________

Hide not your talents.  They for use were made.
What's a sundial in the shade.

                                        Benjamin Franklin

                ___________________________________

Dependence on the Holy Spirit is sometimes made an excuse for doing no homework before speaking, but the Holy Spirit cannot, of course, work on nothing.
It is the well-stored disciplined mind that is the vehicle of the Spirit.

                                         Denis Duncan

                    _________________________________

The distances between us, so vast and so close, are so easily bridged
not by what we make but by what we feel.

           from 'Worlds Apart'  'The Outer Limits' series BBC2 , 24th.March 1997

                       
                      ___________________________________

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly.

In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom.
It is not always an easy sacrifice.

                                                           Richard Bach

Seeking Truth

Whoever sincerely seeks truth with an open heart will find it revealed in the Master.

We do not need knowledge of Hebrew or Greek, but we do need to be united with the Spirit.
This Spirit guided the prophets and followers who recorded His words, and this Spirit alone can reveal their true meaning to us.

The language of the Master is spiritual, and we can only understand its meaning if we are awake in spirit.  We do not need to know or understand anything about theological questions or criticisms.
Indeed a child can most readily grasp the Master's teaching, for the child is still united with the spiritual world from which it came.  But those who possess wisdom that is only of this world can never understand, for the Master's spirit is not in them.

                                                                                                  Sundar Singh (1889-1929)

Prayer of St.Francis

Peace Rose - photo by Kosebamse

O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace,

Where there is hatred permit that I bring Love,

Where there is offence, that I bring pardon,

Where there is discord, that I bring union,

Where there is doubt, that I bring faith,

Where there is error, that I bring truth,

Where there is despair, that I bring hope,

Where there is sadness, that I bring joy,

Where there is darkness, that I bring light.

O Master, allow it that I do not seek so much

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to Love,

For it is in giving that we receive,

In forgiving that we are forgiven

In dying that we resurrect to Life Eternal.

                                                                            Amen

After the shooting on the beach in Tunisia, the beheading in France and the bombing of the Mosque in Kuwait this is all I can think of to say.  Humankind, what are we doing?

He suffers not.

 House Sparrow photo by Mkummerer

He suffers not a Sparrow's fall, they say..

He is Omnipotent and full of Wonder.

Do these little ones look up and ponder

About their sparrow claws and sparrow limbs today?

Does He remark their place?  When they are found.

Does Glory shine around?

Jonni Stratton-Brooke  -  December 1984

Father's Day

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen

                                                           Book of Common Prayer 1928

_____________________________________________________________


Gracious Spirit, Master, Lord of Light and Love,
Allow the stream of your Holy Spirit to flow through all creation,
Grant that we may partake of you Love, Light, Peace and Healing;
Enable us to forgive, in Love, all our wrongs and all wrongdoers.
Guard and guide us as we unite with you,
For we are Spirit now and seek to be at one with the soul of the universe.
In Love and Peace.
Amen 

                                                                                          R.E.B

Inner Healing

  People may find, perhaps for a time, and very often it is matter of complaint, that they try to attend and cannot; they say the Psalms over with their lips, but their minds are all the while upon their own troubles
  Thus they seem to feel to themselves, and they are tempted to say, 'What good is this worship doing me?'  But if they persevere they will find, bye and bye, that all their wounds have been healing secretly.
  It may be, their seeming weariness is a trial, by which the enemy is permitted to vex them, and if they resolutely refuse to give way to it, it may cease altogether, and they may find, even in this world, what a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.


John Keble (1792-1866) English clergyman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.
               Keble's feast day is kept on 14th. July and a commemoration is observed on 29th.March.

Sweet Star of Hope

Sweet star of hope,so clear and bright,

shine on and cheer my yearning sight,

how dark the world would be to me,

did I not gaze sweet star on thee.

A foretaste of the realm divine,

is given forth by rays of thine,

shine on sweet star above my way, 

and guide me to the perfect day.

When sombre clouds obscure the light,

and all is wrapped in shades of night,

my eyes can pierce the gloom around,

until thy radiant beams are found.

A foretaste of the realm divine,

is given forth by rays of thine,

shine on sweet star above my way,

and guide me to the perfect day.

When fades the light of friendship's smile,

when love and faith no more beguile,

and o'er the earth we blindly grope,

how welcome is thy light, sweet hope.

A foretaste of the realms divine,

is given forth by rays of thine,

shine on sweet star above my way,

and guide me to the perfect day.

by W Dexter Smith Jnr.  (1842-1909)   American songwriter.

Wedding Day

Stained glass window of symbols of marriage at St.Blasius Church, Mosbruch.

Photo by Reinhardhauke.

The fountains mingle with the river,

And the rivers with the ocean.

The winds of heaven mix forever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle

Why not I with thine?

by Percy Bysshe Shelley  (1792-1822)

Today my great-niece Valerie Shexnayder will be married to Austin DeArmond in Louisiana.

Statements of Intent

I have no one thing left to hold me,
No tie, no blood familiarity,
No mark upon my head, no forelock, no race.
I am colourless, odourless and unclassified,
I am flawless,
Prime

My estates are entailed, my baggage packed,
And discarded,
My money changed and my gold coined.
I have no memory
And no hindsight,
No alliance, no allegiance.
I own nothing, I owe nothing,
I am clear,
Transparent.

I have broken the circle
And stepped the line;
I have burnt the bridge
That brought me to this shore,
My trail ends here, confronted by this sea.
I shall step, I will not be diverted,
I will leap, I will not be dismayed,
I shall thrust, I cannot be harmed or hindered now;
I am winged,
Unfolding.

I am willing.
I shall take nothing
And follow nothing,
Only the unperceiving, burning line.
I will move and I will motivate,
I will bring light
Into the dark places,
And burn there as a beacon,
I will not be extinguished.
Without conceit or concealment,
With hope and trust alone,
I am truly and totally
Ready to go.
   
                                                   by John Edmonstone

I have had the above in my scrapbook since the 1980's but the only reference I can find to a John Edmonstone is to the scientist who taught taxidermy to students in Edinburgh University including Charles Darwin. Whether this is by that John Edmonstone I do not know.

A Quiet Place

Each one must make a quiet place

Within his heart, where he can go

To find himself, and for a space

Drink deeply where still waters flow.

by Inga Gilson Caldwell

I shall live beyond death.

I shall live beyond death, and I shall sing in your ears even after the vast sea-wave carries me back to the vast sea-depth.
I shall sit at your board though without a body, and I shall go with you to your fields, a spirit invisible.
I shall come to you at your fireside, a guest unseen.

Death changes nothing but the masks that cover our faces.
The woodsman shall be still a woodsman, the ploughman, a ploughman.
And he who sang his song to the wind shall sing it also to the moving spheres.


                                                   Extract from 'The Garden of the Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran

Camphill Prayers 5

Bread is not our food.

  What feeds us in the bread

Is God's eternal Word,

  His Spirit and His Life

____________________________

To Thee, oh higher life,

  Give thanks our life,

That our body, through Thy body,

  May be nourished.

_____________________________

May the deed become strength,

  May the light become wisdom,

May the word become goodness,

  When faithfully we serve the Spirit.

_____________________________

May our endeavour turn into strength,

  May the light we received shine on as wisdom,

May the word we have spoken engender goodness,

 When faithfully we serve the Spirit.

The Concern of Men

Gilgamesh, whither are you wandering?
Life, which you look for, you will never find.
For when the gods created man, they let
Death be his share, and withheld life
In their own hands.

Gilgamesh, fill your belly ---
Day and night make merry,
Let days be full of joy.
Dance and make music day and night,
And wear fresh clothes,
And wash your head and bathe.

Look at the child that is holding your hand,
And let your wife delight in your embrace.
These things alone are the concern of men

                          Taken from 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' - Mesopotamia

(Sent to me one birthday by my son Ashley)

A Celtic Prayer

The Invocation of Light

Kindle this little light on the earth-plane.

I dedicate it to the service of the Spirit.

I guard and cherish this light as a living symbol,

And an act of faith in the reality of the powers of light.

The Life that I Have.

The life that I have is all that I have,
And the life that I have is yours.
The love that I have of the life that I have,
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have,
Yet death will be but a pause,
For the peace of my years in the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.

                                                                         by Leo Marks    

Leo Marks wrote, in 1989 :  
'By March 1944 agents were using codes printed on silk.  But if agents lost them they had to rely on poems they had memorised.  For security reasons, it was important that these poems were original compositions.  In all I wrote 28 poems for agents.  To me they are codes rather than poems.
Violette (for whom this poem was composed) was executed at Ravensbruck.  Many of the other agents for whom I wrote poems did not return from the field, and I resolved never to write another.'

                                      Violette Szabo GC  (b1921 - executed February 1945)


Today is the 70th. Anniversary of VE Day, which was celebrated just four days before my ninth birthday and which I remember for the street parties, but today I also remember, with sadness, the terrible loss of lives, civilian and military on all sides.