Saturday, March 29, 2008

From Hildegard of Bingen

The earth is at the same time mother,
she is mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human.
She is mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.
The earth of humankind contains all moisture,
all verdancy, all germinating power.
It is in so many ways fruitful.
All creation comes from it.
yet it forms not only the basic raw materials
for humanity, but also
the substance of Incarnation.

Second Sunday of Easter

+ It was fear caused disciples
to abandon Jesus at the crucial time

Fear still gripped them

+ Jesus comes through the close door of their fear
No recriminations ‘Peace be with you’

+ Each of us knows what it is like to be crippled by fear
- Gerald May and the bear

Fear of death basic underlying
Fear of failure – looking foolish
Fear of not having done enough

+ Jesus liberates us from our fear
- To live fully and joyfully in freedom

“By your cross and resurrection you have set us free”

Liberating Christ
Your break the bonds
Of our enslaving fear
That we may be free
To dance in the Spirit
Of your breathing life
That gives us a sure hope
And is the cause of a great joy
In the fullness of life.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Some quotes for you today

I have just started to look once again at a wonderful writer/poet called Angelus Silesius. He was born Johann Scheffler in 1624 to Protestant parents in the Silesian capital of Breslau. At the age of 29 after graduating from Padua University he became a Roman catholic and took the name Angelus. These excerts come from his collection of poems entitled " The Cherubinic Wanderer" Some sound a bit like Japanese Haiku to me! Do you like them? What is your reaction to them?

God is the purest naught, untouched by time and space.
The more you reach for him, the more he will escape.

God far exceeds all words that we can here express
In silence he is heard, in silence worshipped best

One knows not what God is. Not spirit and not light,
Not one, truth, unity, not what we call divine.
Not reason and not wisdom, not goodness, love or will,
No thing, no nothing either, not being or concern.
He is what I or you, or any other creature
Has never come to know before we were created.