Christ is all…

Thou, Oh Christ, art the Kingdom of Heaven;

Thou, Oh Christ, art the kingdom of Heaven;

Thou, the land promised to the meek; Thou, the meadowland of paradise;

Thou, the hall of the celestial banquet;

Thou, the ineffable bridal chamber;

Thou, the table set for all,

Thou, the bread of life; Thou, the unheard of drink;

Thou, both the urn for the water and the life-giving water;

Thou, moreover, the inextinguishable lamp for each one of the saints;

Thou, the garment and the crown and the One Who bestoweth the crowns; Thou, the joy and rest;

Thou, the delight and glory; Thou, the gladness and mirth;

And Thy grace, the grace of the Spirit of all sanctity, will shine like the sun in all the saints;

And Thou, the unapproachable Sun, wilt shine in their midst; and all will shine brightly, according to the measure of their faith, their asceticism, their hope and their love, their purification, and their illumination by Thy Spirit.

st symeon

a fervant and unstoppable love…

“Because rapture in God is insatiable, the extent of one’s savoring it and partaking of spiritual blessings is the measure by which the hunger for it is increased. Such people have a fervent and unstoppable love for God. The more they succeed and acquire, the more they acknowledge themselves as beggars”

-st macarius

possible answers to prayer…

Your petitions—though they continue to bear

just the one signature—have been duly recorded.

Your anxieties—despite their constant,

relatively narrow scope and inadvertent

entertainment value—nonetheless serve

to bring your person vividly to mind.

Your repentance—all but obscured beneath

a burgeoning, yellow fog of frankly more

conspicuous resentment—is sufficient.

Your intermittent concern for the sick,

the suffering, the needy poor is sometimes

recognizable to me, if not to them.

Your angers, your zeal, your lipsmackingly

righteous indignation toward the many

whose habits and sympathies offend you—

these must burn away before you’ll apprehend

how near I am, with what fervor I adore

precisely these, the several who rouse your passions.

-scott cairns

my evening [a haiku]…

keys locked in the car

the battery slowly dies

…just one of those days.

beauty bids…

Beauty bids all things come

to itself (and thus

we call it beauty).

Just so, it gathers

all things trembling

fully to itself.

We speak of it as beauty

since it is

the all-comely,

and also tenders

a compelling glimpse

of Beauty-Beyond-All.

-scott cairs [and st denys]

st paul…

When I was Saul, and sat among the cloaks,

My eyes were stones, I saw no sight of heaven,

Open to take the spirit of the twisting Stephen.

When I was Saul, and sat among the rocks,

I locked my eyes, and made my brain my tomb,

Sealed with what boulders rolled across my reason!

When I was Saul and walked upon the blazing desert

My road was quiet as a trap.

I feared what word would split high noon with light

And lock my life, and try to drive me mad:

And thus I saw the Voice that struck me dead.

Tie up my breath, and wind me in white sheets of

anguish,

And lay me in my three days’ sepulcher

Until I find my Easter in a vision.

Oh Christ! Give me back my life, go, cross Damascus,

Find my Ananias in that other room:

Command him, as you do, in this my dream;

He knows my locks, and owns my ransom,

Waits for Your word to take his keys and come.

mr merton

in my darkness…

In my lowlinesss Thou art my height to Whom i gaze;

In my darkness,

Thou art my dawn for which i long.

May Thy smile shine

In my tears;

O Jesus Conqueror,

Save me.

-st nikolai

a fire in the center of my heart…

In the midst of that night, in my darkness,
I saw the awesome sight of Christ
opening the heavens for me.
And he bent down to me and showed himself to me
with the Father and the Holy Spirit
in the thrice holy light –
a single light in three, and a threefold light in one,
for they are altogether light,
and the three are but one light,.
And he illumined my soul
more radiantly than the sun,
and he lit up my mind,
which had until then been in darkness.
Never before had my mind seen such things.
I was blind, you should know it, and I saw nothing.
That was why this strange wonder
was so astonishing to me,
when Christ, as it were, opened the eye of my mind,
when he gave me sight, as it were,
and it was him that I saw.
He is Light within Light, who appears
to those who contemplate him,
and contemplatives see him in light –
see him, that is, in the light of the Spirit…
And now, as if from far off,
I still see that unseeable beauty,
that unapproachable light, that unbearable glory.
My mind is completely astounded.
I tremble with fear.
Is this a small taste from the abyss,
which like a drop of water
serves to make all water known
in all its qualities and aspects?…
I found him, the One whom I had seen from afar,
the one whom Stephen saw
when the heavens opened,
and later whose vision blinded Paul.
Truly, he was as a fire in the center of my heart.
I was outside myself, broken down, lost to myself,
and unable to bear the unendurable brightness of that glory.
And so, I turned
and fled into the night of the senses.

-st symeon the new

questions answered…

The lord bids us love Him with all our hearts

And all our souls-

But how is it possible to love Him

Whom we have never seen,

And how may we learn

Of this love?

The lord is made known by His effect

On the Soul.

When the lord has visited her,

The soul knows that a dear Guest

Has come and gone,

And she yearns for Him…

And seeks Him…

With tears;

Crying:

“where aren’t Thou, my Light?

Where aren’t Thou my Joy?

Thy trace

Is fragrant in my soul

But Thou art not there

And my Soul yearns

For Thee,

And my heart aches,

And is sad,

And nothing rejoices

Me because I have grieved my Lord

And He hath hidden Himself

From my sight.

I know now, Lord,

Why You utter no answer.

You are yourself

The Answer.

Before Your face

Questions die away.

What other answer would suffice?

-st silouan and mr cs lewis

stranger…

When no one listens

To the quiet trees

When no one notices

The sun in the pool.

Where no one feels

The first drop of rain

Or sees the last star

Or hails the first morning

Of a giant world

Where peace begins

And rages end:

One bird sits still

Watching the work of God:

One turning leaf,

Two falling blossoms,

Ten circles upon the pond.

One cloud upon the hillside,

Two shadows in the valley

And the light strikes home.

Now dawn commands the capture

Of the tallest fortune,

The surrender

Of no less marvelous prize!

Closer and clearer

Than any wordy master,

Thou inward Stranger

Whom I have never seen,

Deeper and cleaner

Than the clamorous ocean,

Seize up my silence

Hold me in Thy Hand!

Now act is waste

And suffering undone

Laws become prodigals

Limits are torn down

For envy has no property

And passion is none.

Look, the vast

Light stands still

Our cleanest Light is One!

-merton