happy haiku friday!

solidarity

servants of monotony

solidarity

overheard...

"i beseech you from the bowels of Christ to consider that you may be mistaken." ~oliver cromwell as quoted in robert ludlum's the janson directive

"the pains of community are situated between the joy of this communion and friendship with Jesus and the joy of giving life to others: the mission." ~vanier, community and growth, pg. 84

"mission is revealing to others their fundamental beauty, value and importance in the universe, their capacity to love, to grow and to do beautiful things and to meet God. Mission is transmitting to people a new inner freedom and hope; it is taking away from their shoulders the terrible yoke of fear and guilt. to give life to people is to reveal to them that they are loved just as they are by God..." ibid, pg. 86.

"we did it. he did. i did. we rose to the challenge working together, and the fact that it required all of me, that i was in it with my family and for my family, that i was surrounded by wild, shimmering beauty and it was, well, kind of dangerous made the time...transcendent. i was no longer stasi. i was sacagawea, indian princess of the west, a valiant and strong woman."
~sacagawea, from harried housewife to holy warrior: my personal epic, pg. 3.

overheard...

saint therese's prayer for "Christian singles"

"we who are not committed to you, Jesus, in either a consecrated celibacy or marriage, we who are not committed to our brothers in a community, are coming to renew our covenant with you.

we are still on the road to which you have called us, but whose name you haven't given us; we are carrying the poverty of not knowing where you are leading us.

on this road, there is the pain of not being chosen, not being loved, not being waited for, not being touched. there is the pain of not choosing, not loving, not waiting, not touching. we don't belong. our house is not a home; we have nowhere to lay our head.

even though we have become impatient and depressed when faced with the choices of others, unhappy when faced with their efficiency, we still say 'yes' to our road. we believe that it is the road of our fecundity (def: a word that suggests our potential for growth and fruitfulness. it speaks of our capacity to give life), the road we must take to grow in you.

because our hearts are poor and empty, they are available. we make them a place of welcome for our brothers. because our hearts are poor and empty, they are wounded. we let the cry of our thirst rise to you.

and we thank you, Lord, for the road of fecundity you have chosen for us."
~quoted in vanier's community and growth on page 68

"to accept being rooted in a community is more or less preceded by a recognition that you are already 'at home,' that you are a part of its body. it is rather similar to marriage; couples recognize that something has been born between them and that they are made ready for each other. it is only then that they are ready to commit themselves to marriage and remain faithful to each other.

so in community everything starts with this recognition of being in communion with one another; we are made to be together. you wake up one morning knowing that the bonds have been woven; and then you make the active decision to commit yourself and promise faithfulness, which the community must confirm." ~ibid, 69.

concerning young people who ignore God's call on their lives: "these people do not believe enough in either themselves or the call; they do not know that there is a spring in them waiting to be freed to irrigate our parched world. so many young people do not know the beauty of life that is in them and which can grow." ~ibid, 73.