The Temple Bell

Remain faithful to the earth, my brothers and sisters,
with the power of your virtue.  Let your gift-giving love
and your knowledge serve the meaning of the earth.
Thus I beg and beseech you.  Do not let them fly away
from earthly things and beat  with their wings against
eternal walls.  Alas, there has always been so much
virtue that has flown away.  Lead back to the earth the
virtue that flew away ... back to the body, back to life,
that it may give the earth a meaning ...
     Verily, the earth shall yet become a site of recovery
and even now a new fragrance surrounds it, bringing
salvation - and a new hope.
                                    - FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

The temple bell

stops ringing

but the sound keeps

coming

out of the flowers.

- BASHO

Staying close to the earth is so healing ... breathing deeply the air, digging toes 

into the sand, running fingers through blades of fresh grass.

Life can be so busy, and this world so electronic!!

Mother Earth carries a deeper history,

a depth of connection,

a true Spirit of life ....

right there for the connection ....

if I so choose!

and, I do!!

cate

Wisdom

I hear Great Grandmother singing,

singing as she always has and always will

for she is the sound of all that lives;

she is the breath of the Earth.

She is the weeping of sadness, sorrow,

betrayal, treachery.

She is the voice of hope, joy, justice,

thunder of the ocean morning

of the river silence

of the cave wisdom

of the other shore.

I hear Great Grandmother singing,

singing through me.

 - FROM  Jewels on a string

Ah, the wisdom of the mother earth,

of the feminine images of God,

of the ages of female intuition and wisdom ...

passed down without our awareness .. and within.

How grateful I am for the many women who have shared

the gift of their love and wisdom with me ...

may I always pass it on!

Peace,

Cate

Resurrection

Resurrection.  The reversal of what was thought to be
absolute.  The turning of midnight into dawn, hatred
into love, dying into living anew.
     If we look more closely into life, we will find that
resurrection is more than hope, it is our experience.
The return from life to death is something we
understand at our innermost depths, something we feel
on the surface of our tender skin.  We have come back
to life, not only when we start to shake off a shroud of
sorrow that has bound us, but when we begin to
believe in all that is still, endlessly possible.
    We give thanks for all those times we have arisen
from the depths or simply taken a tiny step toward
something new.  May we be empowered by
extraordinary second chances. And as we enter the
world anew, let us turn the tides of despair into endless
waves of hope.  
                                               - Molly Fumia

It is always possible ... ALL can be new!!!

What a gift!

Cate

Words are not enough

The Tao that can be told is not the
     eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the
     eternal name;
The Nameless is the origin of Heaven
     and earth;
The Named is the mother of all things.
                    -LAO TU, Translated by
                     Wing-Tsit Chan

This reading reminds me of the wonder and the power of the spiritual experience ... and the inadequacy of words to describe it.  I suppose it is a part of each of us that is so personal that it simply can not be shared, and yet it is shared by each of us in a wordless wonder.  
The call of the Spirit is so fundamental, so  primary ... hardly a breath can be taken without touching into that invitation.  No wonder they say that people breathe too shallowly in our busy busy world....perhaps that is in order to keep moving and moving and not have to slow down and take the time to receive the invitation....the pause.
I find it really does not take that much time ... and it makes all the difference in my life!!  Meditation planned ... a pause here and there throughout the day ... practicing the presence of God ~ like Brother Lawrence!  (Have you ever read that  book?  It is remarkable!!)
Pause ... Breathe ... Be Here Now ..... .... ..... ..... Cate

Be Still

May God, like a mother eagle, spread the wings of Her
love and protection over us throughout this night, and
forever.  Amen
                    -  Marchiene Vroon Rienstra

Knowing that God is always with me, no matter what ... closer than my very breath ...

that makes all the difference!!

Daily meditation keeps me in contact with that truth ...

Be Still

it works!!!!

Cate

in The Light

...to be said while lighting candles

We begin by honoring the Light,

We light these candles for our families, our

beloveds, our friends, for our relations;

For those who are near and for those from whom

we feel unwanted distance;

For the newborn, for the elderly, and for the 

wounded children.

May the candles inspire us to use our powers

to heal and not to harm, to help and not to

hinder, to bless and not to curse.

May their radiance pour out upon our hearts, and

spread light into the darkened corners of our world.

-adapted from A PASSOVER HAGGADAH by

RACHEL ALTMAN AND MARY JANE RYAN

click the link below to hear song for today

Learning to be the light by Newworldson

Such a wonderful imagery springs from this reading ...the love,

the connection, the healing, the warmth.

It brings to my mind so many special memories of 

times softened by the glow of candle light.  Sometimes when I 

am feeling fragmented, I light a candle to help me remember I 

am truly connected to the light ~ a part of the light!

May we all be connected by the light,

warmed by the light,

melted into the light that shines forth from everyONE!

Cate

Shanti Shanti Shanti

May there be peace in the higher regions; may there

be peace in the firmament; may there be peace on earth.

May the waters flow peacefully; may the herbs and

plants grow peacefully; may all the divine powers bring

unto us peace.  the supreme Lord is peace.  May we all

 be in peace, peace, and only peace; and may that peace

come unto each of us.

Shanti (peace) - Shanti - Shanti

-THE VERDAS, TRANSLATED

BY RAIMUNDO PANNIKER

It is in the shelter of each other that we live.

I watched Ianyla Vanzant working with a young man who was carrying great pain and anger towards his father due to his abandonment.  He was miserable, and carried this burden within him.  As a part of his healing, she asked him to close his eyes and imagine his father sitting in the chair across from him.  She then asked him to see his father as a broken and wounded man, covered with bandages and splints and stitches.  She asked him to look at this broken man and to realize that he had not hurt him intentionally, but rather was broken himself and his own actions had come from his own brokenness.  Ianyla asked the boy to look at his own responsibilities regarding carrying the resentment, and to forgive himself.  She then asked him to forgive his father, and to know he did the best he could at that time.

I thought the picture of the bandaged man was so powerful ... so true. The image is a clear reminder that people harm others due to their own brokenness, and like the gossip line, each one of us can make the decision to stop passing it on, to forgive and heal.

None of us can be peace when we carry resentment towards others or incomplete  love for ourselves.  And ... it is in realizing our own peace that our world will eventually become peace!!!

Let peace extend from my hand to yours.

- from A Course in Miracles

Cate

You are LOVED

Love is light, the huge mysterious power that enlivens not only our spirits but all of creation around us.  The light falls into our lives because we love and are loved is the light that will truly illumine us forever.  It is the star we follow to stumble on magic, the moonlight of incredible romance and unbelievable passion, the sunlight of healing and growing, of spiritual well-being.


It is the light that enters our eyes when we behold the ones we adore, the light we create with our words, with radiance of our spirits, with the whole beauty of our lives.  Love is the light that will fall on us, now and forever.
                                                      - DAPHNE ROSE KINGMA

I enjoyed watching the interview with Ram Dass on Oprah's Super Soul Sunday this morning.  He wrote the book BE HERE NOW  in 1971, and BE LOVE NOW in 2010.

One of the things that most struck me during his interview was his description of 

his experience with Maharajah he says, "He was  looking at me with unconditional love, he was loving me  totally.  It had never happened before.  People love you because you are a good boy, a good friend ...  He was loving me, all of me, all of the stuff in me I never wanted anybody to know.  He knew me, he loved me.  ... He mirrored my soul and made me identify with my soul, not my ego."   

This was a life transforming moment for him!!

I have received that kind of love from one of my own Spiritual guides ... and it is truly life transforming! 

I wish that experience for everyone ... and I hope we can pass it on!

Love, Cate

Earth

Earth, condolences,
Earth, condolences,
Earth and dust,
The dependable one,
I lean upon you.
Earth, when I am about to die,
I lean upon you.
Earth, while I am alive,
I depend upon you.
Earth, while I am alive,
I depend upon you.
Earth that receives dead bodies,
The Creator's drummer says;
From wherever he went,
He has roused himself,
He has roused himself.

        - ASHANTI DRUM POEM

O Spring, how we've missed you. Stir us from our

slumber.  Blow away  the dark storms of winter with

your gentle breezes so we can see again the mountains

of challenge that inspire us to   climb higher.    They've

been there all winter, but we've been inside.  The

promise of change is all around - may we greet the new

beginning with renewed energy and vigor.

Tomorrow is Earth Day ... reminding me of the amazing power and spiritual lessons our earth brings to us.  Just BEing in the seasons as they flow through each year, the planting ... the growing ... the harvest ... the time of rest ... shows us how to live our lives.  The storms and the droughts, the wildfires and the ice storms: the earth continues to do its thing, simply being the earth ... giving us life through it all...regenerating...living ... simply BEing.

I am trying to spend more and more time living in awareness and presence to this wonderful teacher ... bare foot on the earth.  

I hope we all celebrate earth this day ~ and each day!!
Cate

Such a simple day ...

Let the beauty we love be what we do.  There are a

hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

- Rumi

I thank  You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which  is infinite which is yes.

-E.E. Cummings

Such a simple day today ... cleaning, laundering, cooking, time spent with friends and with kitties ...content and quiet and lovely ...yes, a pat of the spiritual journey!  

Everything is...

each moment counts ...

each a treasure.

I hope you treasured your day!!

Namaste'

Cate

I am content to follow to its source

Every event in action or in thought;

Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!

When such as I cast out remorse

So great a sweetness flows into the breast

We must laugh and we must sing,

Wd ae blest by everything

Everything we look upon is blest.

-W.B. Yeats, From "A Dialogue 

of Self and Soul"

You must speak well ...

The ancient Africans taught that if a person is good to

you,  you must forever speak good of them ... In order

to keep the good flowing, you must speak of it ...

Everything we receive in life is food for our growth.  If

we eat from the plate, we must give thanks.

Remembering, without that food, at that time, we may

have starved.

- IVANLA VANZANT

If you eat well, you must speak well.

-YORUBA PROVERB

When I was a little girl, there were no fast food restaurants in town,

we never heard of pizza or carry out Chinese, 

and eating out was a very rare experience.

The world changed dramatically after that ...

as well as our health!

Today we get to choose ...

today I chose healthy green fresh food I made in my own home!

I feel great, and grateful!!!

How about you?

Cate

HOW CAN I HELP?

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with

firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right,

let us ... achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace

among ourselves, and with all nations.

- ABRAHAM LINCOLN

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

As the election season grows closer  and closer,

the negative messages and the sales of fear 

continue to fill the airways.

So often I have been critical of our elected leaders ...

until a friend simply pointed out the extreme

difficulties they face,

and her response was to pray for them.

Pure and simple.

What a better choice ....

cate

Space, Time and Quiet

The highest good is like water.

Water gives life to ten thousand things and

does not strive.

It flows in places men reject and so is like

the Tao (way).

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;

It is the center hole that makes it useful.

Shape clay into a vessel;

It is the space within that makes it useful.

Cut doors and windows for a room;

it is the holes which make it useful.

Therefore benefit comes from what is there;

usefulness from what is not there.

-Tao Te Ching

Wow  ... what a timely reminder for me!!  
Form and space ...
activity and quiet ...
emptiness and fullness ...
it takes a balance of both to make it work!!


Like so many in our culture ...
I find  I am over done and over tired ...
and I am hugely in need of space and time and quiet.


I can not hear the voice of God  in the midst of so much ...
I am letting go ...
of too much tv,
too many projects,
too much stuff.


Quiet ... space ... time ... listening ... shhhhhhhh         Cate

Beautiful Things

Holy Creator,
thank you for artists:
visual, verbal,
musical, kinesthetic,
spiritual...
Within their creative process
may we recognize
the divine in all creation
and be moved to awe
and wonder and worship.
                     - Chris Glaser

At a "nun convention" many years ago I was struck by Sr. Agnes sharing about her experience of the vow of chastity ... she said she had flying home from Africa and had looked out of the window and the clouds were so beautiful they took her breath away!  And, the first person she wanted to share this wonderful experience with was God!!


That has always stayed with me ... I rely on nature and art and music  etc to remind me of  God in all things.  I remember to turn to God in times of trouble, less often I remember to turn God in times of gratitude and wonder.  Yet, wonder is truly all around me ... and truly, is one so different from the other?  


I love this simple song ... a reminder of the transformative power of God, always at work!!
Try this link (below)

Beautiful Things ~ Gungor

Cate

Peace

Before me peaceful

Behind me peaceful

Under me peaceful

Over me peaceful

Around me peaceful.

This is such a simple reminder ...

it brings me to center ... to peace.

This is what I need more than anything!!!

Namaste'

cate

Persevere

It is the wind and the rain, O God, the cold and the
storm that make this earth of thine to blossom and
bear its fruit.  So, in our lives it is storm and stress and
hurt and suffering that make real men and women
bring the world's work to its highest perfection.  Let us
learn then in these growing years to respect the harder
sterner aspects of life together with its joy and laughter,
and to weave them all into the great web which hangs
holy to the Lord.
                      - W. E. B. DU BOIS

I remember hearing once that life itself is what smooths out our rough edges and polishes us into those beautiful polished gems that glow with the truth of who we really are.  The roughest days tumble us about like stones in a polishing mill, and as we are rolling around the sharp edges begin to break down and our inner glow begins to shine through   ... at the same time, as the rough edges are worn down, we begin to live life more smoothly.  We have fewer rough edges to get caught up on people  and life on a daily basis ... we have a growing smoothness of wisdom that guides us through life more  gently.
Life ... it is always giving and growing, isn't  it?  No matter what ...it is generous ... and when you begin to feel buried in the cement, suddenly a beautiful flower will pop through to remind you that life is truly alive and well and loving you on and on ...no matter what lies before you.
Special blessings today for Mary Ellen and Lee.                         Love to all ~ Cate

Silence

Tonight, let us honor silence, "the perennial flow of language, 
interrupted by words,"  as Ramana Maharishi calls it.  May
we respect the need for silence in our lives.

let  us sit together in silence ... cate

Blessing on All

We envoke your blessing on all the men and women
who have toiled to build and warm our homes, to
fashion our clothing, and to wrest from sea and land
the food that nourishes us and our children.
     We pray you that they may have health and joy, and
hope and love, even as we desire for our loved ones.
     Grant us wisdom to deal justly with every man and
woman whom we face in the business of life.
     May we not unknowingly inflict suffering through
selfish indifference or the willful ignorance of a callous
heart ...
                           -Walter Rauschenbusch

I was driving through town tonight as the rescue squad was pulling out of the station on the way to a rescue ~ I looked into the faces of the two men in the truck and wondered what they were thinking.  These men were on their way to help someone in need, possibly a life and death situation.  They do this every day ... they are only a phone call away!  
This is their work, this is their contribution to the village of people ... we all have a calling and a contribution that is uniquely our own.  
What a reminder this is to me to say thank you to each and 
everyONE ... we are all a necessary part of the whole ... 
it takes a village  ... Cate

We pray for children

We pray for children
     who sneak popsicles before supper,
     who erase holes in math workbooks,
     who can never find their shoes.
And we pray for those
     who stare at photographers  from behind
          barbed wire,
     who can't bound down the street in a new
          pair pod sneakers,
     who never "counted potatoes"
     who were born in places we wouldn't be
          caught dead,
      who never go to the circus,
      who live in a X-rated world.
We pray for children
     who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of
     dandelions,
     who hug us in a hurry and forget their
     lunch money.
And we pray for those
     who never get dessert,
     who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
     who watch their parents watch them die,
     who can't find any bread to steal,
     who don't have any rooms to clean up,
     whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
     whose monsters are real.
We pray for children 
     who spend all their allowances before Tuesday,
     who throw tantrums in the grocery store
          and pick at their food,
     who like ghost stories,
     who shove dirty clothes under the bed, and
          never rinse out the tub,
     who get visits from the tooth fairy,
     who don't like to be kissed in front of the
          carpool,
     who squirm in church or temple and scream
          in the phone,
     whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
     whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray for those
     whose nightmares come in the
          daytime,
     who will eat anything,
     who have never seen a dentist,
     whom aren't spoiled by anybody,
     who go to bed hungry and cry themselves
           to sleep
     who live and move, but have no being.
We pray for children who want to be carried
     and for those who must,
     for those we never give up on and for those
     who don't get a second chance.
For those we smother ... and for those who will grab
     the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.
                             - INA  J.  HUGHS

From one line to the next ... one breath to another ...

one child to their neighbor ...

this prayer points out how we are each a part of each other,

all closer than our very breath.

What a reminder this is that what I may do for anyONE

effects  everyONE.

May this day find me loving and tolerant of all ...

generous and kind to all ...

present and kind to all ...

we are all ONE!!!

cate

God's love is on this earth

This world is nothing more than

Beauty's chance to show Herself.

And what are we?

Nothing more than Beauty's chance to see Herself.

For if Beauty were not seeking Herself

we would not exist.

Every particle of creation

sings its own song

of what is, and what is not.

The wise hear what is;

The mad hear what is not.

And only a cracked mirror 

will show a difference.

All your knowledge

leads you in the wrong direction;

All your worship

only puts you to sleep.

Insipid is this world

which only believes in what is seen;

Here, taste the wine from this Cup

which cannot be seen.

The one who has adorned himself

with the Creator's form

is the only one fit to guard

the purity

of both worlds.

On account of those who repeat His name

This Earth has become a paradise,

an honored place

in the order of creation.

God's love is on this earth,

And the heavens forever bend over to greet her.

- GHALIB, Translated by Jonathon Star

There are so many images and invitations

within this writing ~

we could talk about it for a long time.

Of course, who has that kind of time during a busy work week?

Instead, I received it as a simple invitation

to be aware of God in nature!

I saw the most incredible tulips today!

They centered me

and gave birth to a smile.

When I don't take the time to notice something as beautiful

as that ... I know I am too busy!!

Are you too busy?

Love,

Cate

Pray to Begin the Day

Empower me
     to be a bold participant.
     rather than a timid saint in waiting,
     in the difficult ordinariness of now;
     to exercise the authority of honesty,
     rather than to defer to power,
     or deceive to get it;
     to influence someone for justice,
     rather than impress someone for gain;
     and, by grace, to find treasures
     of joy, or friendship, of peace
     hidden in the fields of the daily
     you give me to plow.
                              - Ted Loder

This beautiful prayer by Ted reminds me of the different ways 

I can live each day..... each cross road can present me with

another choice about how I will live my day,

who I will be in the decisions I make.

My day always goes so much better

when I begin it in prayer ...

and ask God to guide it

and prioritize it for me.

It is a simple prayer .... it makes a huge difference!!!

Love, Cate