Thank You

It is written that "Everywhere, hands lie open to catch

us when we fall."   Let us give thanks tonight 

for this invisible support.

Thank You!!

Cate

Blessings

Give me everything mangled and bruised, and I will
make a light of it to make you weep, and we will have
rain and we will have begun again.
                                        - DEENA METZGER

Tonight we reflect o paradox;

Water wears away rock

Spirit overcomes force

The weak will undo the mighty.

May we learn to see thing backwards, inside out, and

upside down.

- ADAPTED FROM THE TAO TE CHING

Dewdrop, let me cleanse

in your brief

sweet waters...

These dark hands of life.

      - BASHO

I watched "The Dhamma Brothers" tonight, where two men move into

a maximum security prison to teach Buddhist meditation to the inmates...

and the most feared and dangerous of our citizens melted into softened

humanity, inner awareness and true contrition.

That inner peace, guidance, awareness of oneness ...

it is there for each and everyONE of us!

We truly are more alike than we are different.

please click the link below to listen to Blessings ...

BLESSINGS: By Laura Story


So often, it is from the darkest nights that 
the brightest lights are born.


aLL iS gIFT
aLL iS
aLL

cate

IN THE UNIVERSAL SUN

Radiant Sister of the Day,
Awake! arise! and come away!
To the wild woods and the plains,
And the pools where winter rains
Image all their roof of leaves,
Where the pine its garden weaves
Of sapless green and ivy dun
Round stems that never kiss the sun;
Where the lawns and pastures be,
And the sandhills of the sea -
Where the melting hoar-frost wets
The daisy star that never sets,
And wind-flowers, and violets,
Which yet join not scent to hue,
Crown the pale year weak and new;
When the light is left behind,
And the blue moon is over us,
And the multitudinous
Billows murmur at our feet,
Where the earth and ocean meet,
All things seem only one
In the universal sun.
     -PERCY BYSSHE SHELLY
           "TO JANE;  THE INVITATION"

Dear Sister Friends ... please take moments out of your busy care-taking lives to care for your essence.  Breathe in moments of peace, beauty, nature, the arts ... meet me in those moments of oneness aware ...I will be waiting for you there....cate

Becomes more ...

Blessings of a kind heart upon you;
Blessings of the eyes of compassion upon you;
Blessings of giving to the earth upon you;
Blessings of the wisdom of the seasons upon you;
Blessings of breathing freely upon you;
Blessings of this moment upon you.
                          - Jack Kornfield

i know so many people who are struggling right now ...

sometimes the sadness can feel almost overwhelming ...

until I sit quietly with them in prayer ...

remember the truth about them ...

and remember that they are right here they are supposed to be on their 

journey right now  ...

and always closer than hands and feet to the grace of God!

and I breathe peace 

and i become peace

and that is the gift I can give today, no matter what!!

The fruit of silence is prayer,

The fruit of prayer is faith,

The fruit of faith is love,

The fruit of love is silence.

-  Mother Teresa

cate

...that familiar song

Nothing is as beautiful as spring -
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and
     lovely and lush;
Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so
     rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue, that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have
     fair their fling.
                       - gerard manley hopkins

- a phantom view, dew, a bubble,

A dream, a flash if lightening, and a cloud;

Thus we should look upon all that was made.

       -  The Buddah

Life, being as generous as it always is, continues to reach out to grab my attention!!

Today, after a long day of hard work, with a plan to work even more as soon as I got home ...

I jumped into the car with a list of things to do on my mind!

And then ... I heard it ... that familiar song ...

the honking of geese flying overhead!!

A smile sneaked out from my focus ...

a pause in my step ...

and I looked overhead to greet the feathered pair 

as they journeyed through our small town.

I'm so grateful for those small reminders

to pause ...

breathe ...

be here now ...

and give thanks!!

Life is generous, indeed!!!

Cate

...the grace to live it out

Ghandi once said, "What I am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of Truth, my God, from moment to moment, no matter how inconsistent it may appear.  My commitment is to Truth, not to consistency."  May we, like Ghandi, see our lives as a series of experiments with truth and make every effort to align our choices with the deeper truths of the universe.

May we do what we can each day, as impeccably as possible

and then be at peace,

for the results are out of our hands.

Listen ... listen each moment ..your inner voice will guide you!  

I have found that I absolutely must make a practice of listening,

I must make a daily ritual in which I simply listen ...

until I listening becomes my natural way of living.

When I listen, the answers  arrive ...

the guidance is always there ...

and comes with the grace to live that out!!

I choose to live the path of Spirit,

and pray to travel this journey each and every day.

See you on the road,

lets travel 'shoulder to shoulder'!!

Cate 

Be Joy!!!

Saint Augustine once said, "Men go abroad to wonder

at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the

sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast

compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the

stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering."

Tonight we acknowledge the wonder of our physical

incarnation - that we are here, in these particular

bodies, at this particular time, in these particular

circumstances.  May we never take for granted the gift

of our individuality.

Dear Mother,

Hear and bless

Thy beasts

And singing birds;

And guard with tenderness

Small things

That have no words.

-adapted from a traditional Christian Prayer

Breathing in, I know I am

breathing in.

Breathing out, I now I am

breathing out.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Be Here Now ... all IS well!!!!!

Love,

Cate