life

Hope deprives us

 

Hope deprives us of everything that is not God, in order that all things may serve their true purpose as means to bring us to God.

— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island, Sentences on Hope

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What is this hope that dashes all hopes,
yet is the only sure remedy for hopelessness?

An anchor that holds us, drowns us,
baptizes us clean, clean,
cleaner than we ever wanted to be
(but always wanted to be)
in water that is life itself
if we will only drown ourselves in it,
suck it in knowing it is the death of us,
us as beings with the right to choose,
for our own selves,
what we hope for,
even if what we hope for
would be the death of us.

dw

Copyright © 2018, becomingflame.com

The empty place

I think…there is…hope that, if not tomorrow or the next day, then some fine day, somehow, life will finally give us the present that, when we open it, will turn out to be the one we have waited for so long, the one that will fill the empty place, which is the peace that passeth all understanding, which is the truth, salvation, whatever we want to call it. But one by one, as we open the presents, no matter how rich and wondrous they are, we discover that not one of them by itself, nor even all of them taken together, is the one of our deepest desiring — that ultimately, although her face is beautiful and draws us to her, life by herself does not have that final present to give.

Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “The Sign by the Highway”

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The place of decision

 

The heart is the dwelling–place where I am, where I live…the place “to which I withdraw.” The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others…The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death.

“…only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully.”

— Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2563


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What did we do?

 

What happened in January?

becomingflame.com went live

On January 1st, becomingflame.com went live with its first post and About page.

scripture

We focused on scriptures that talk about light (as opposed to darkness), beginning with the first ‘word’ of creation in Genesis, moving on to the Word who was with God before creation, who is the light of the world, the life of all people. We talked about the choice between light and darkness. Finally, we talked about being the light of the world ourselves.

prayers

We looked at a few prayers for different situations.

other writings

We looked at writings from Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, and Frederick Buechner that emphasized how the anxiety and concerns of daily life can snuff out our flame, the flicker of our ‘real self’. We were repeatedly encouraged to pay attention in order tend to that flame.

comments

It’s been great to have a conversation with Robert (whose blog I follow and enjoy). Would be great to have others join in 🙂

thank you

Finally, it’s been a joy for me to do this and to know that you take the time to check in.  Grace and peace to all…

dw

Photo by João Silas on Unsplash – cropped to fit theme by dw