Readings week of May 11th.

Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

Monday, May 11th with Tom

Reading:

Ours is not the work of seeking You here

or there or where we

think you might be,

But of opening the heart's door.

And when we do this,

You cannot resist coming in, since

our opening and Your entering are one:

You knock and wait, and

when we open we find that You were there all along and

will not leave us. — Meister Eckhart

Chant: All I need is here, All I need is here (we, God, Love)

Tuesday, May 12th with LeMel

Reading: O Drop

Listen, O drop, give yourself up without regret,

and in exchange gain the Ocean.

Listen, O drop, bestow upon yourself this honor,

and in the arms of the Sea be secure.

Who indeed should be so fortunate?’ An Ocean wooing a drop!

In God’s name, in God’s name, sell and buy at once!

Give a drop, and take this Sea full of pearls.

— Rumi (translated by Kabir Helminski and Camille Helminski)

Chant: Drop into God

— LeMel's Youtube and Substack (for daily readings and chants)

Wednesday, May 13th with LeMel

Reading: Julian

I hear your voice across the ages

A clear voice and unmistakable

“Our Savior is our true Mother 

in whom we are endlessly born 

and out of whom we shall never come.”

No theologian could say such truth

Any more powerfully

And if there is anything

I need to hear more than

“All shall be well,

And all shall be well, 

And all manner of thing shall be well”

I don’t know what that could be.

I look out at the world

And fear sees all too many things

Practicality, too, is stunned

But Love?

“Love,” she says, “is all there is

and ever has been

and ever shall be.”

Amen. — LeMel Firestone-Palerm

Chant:

All shall be well

All shall be well

All manner of thing

Everything

All shall be well — Susan Latimer

Thursday, May 14th 

Reading: “The contemplative vision perceives God even in the midst of disaster, turmoil, or personal failure. It never loses hope because its hope is not based on human events but on the divine goodness, which is infinitely powerful and infinitely merciful.”

— Thomas Keating, Consenting to God as God Is

Chant: Hold fast the hope, which anchors the soul, which is sure and steadfast, that you may float above the world’s sea.  — Paulette Meier, Wellsprings of Life

Friday, May 15th with LeMel

Reading: Divine Beauty

Each breath we breathe extracts God

and our eyes are workshops

where we offer God back to the world.

And our arms are capable of the whole universe

when they move with love.

Know that your feet are never more alive,

never more true to themselves than when they

stand in defense of good.

So stay near Sophia, the divine beauty.

She will always strengthen you.

She will bring your mouth close to Hers and breathe,

inspiring you the way light does the fields.

The earth inhales God,

so why should you not do the same?

This sacred flame we tend inside our souls

needs the chant of every tongue.

It needs the communion of all beings.

— Thomas Aquinas

Chant:

Tending the sacred flame 

Chanting in every tongue

Begins the communion  

one voice, one breath at a time

— LeMel's Youtube and Substack (for daily readings and chants)

Saturday, May 16th

Reading: “You, eternal Love, all-permeating Holy. You, eternal Love, all-permeating Holy. While all is fading away, you are staying still there. While all is fading away, you are staying still there.” — Kaarina Ruusuvirta, kaiken läpäisevă Rakkaus

Sunday, May 17th

Reading: “There is a subtler and more personal artistry that goes on once the eye of the heart is opened, and it happens whether or not you ever wield a pen or a paintbrush. Most of us might not consider ourselves to be sacred artists or visionaries. But this other gift ripens in us as an inevitable fruit of the journey, and while more modest and intimate, it is no less revolutionary.

It is the artistry of conscience.

Conscience is another of those terms whose meaning in the language of Wisdom is very different from our usual cultural reference points. It is not the conditioned voice of whatever moral upbringing you received as a child. It is not about abstaining from meat on Friday or taking your shoes off at the door. Rather, it is the heart's own ability to see the divine hologram in any situation, no matter how obscured, and to move spontaneously and without regard for its personal well-being in alignment with that divine wholeness. When conscience awakens in a person, it brings not only the obligation but also a mysterious ability to be present in exactly the right way.” — Cynthia Bourgeault

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