Monastic Life Ideals

Could we live, ourselves, with the ideals of (at least aspects of) "those humble yet august souls, who dare to live upon the very confines of the great mystery, waiting between the world closed to them and heaven not yet opened, turned toward the daylight not yet seen, with only the happiness of thinking that they know where it is, their aspirations directed toward the abyss and the unknown, their gaze fixed on the motionless gloom, kneeling, stufefied, shuddering and half borne away at certain times by the deep pulsations of Eternity."
- Victor Hugo, 'Les Miserables"


What would I do if I was 'half borne away at times by the deep pulsations of Eternity?

Colonies of Heaven

The Monastery - "that singular place, from which, as from the summit of a lofty mountain, we perceive, on one side, the abyss in which we are, and on the other, the abyss wherein we are to be; it is a narrow and misty boundary that separates two worlds, where the unfeebled ray of life commingles with the uncertain ray of death."
- Victor Hugo, 'Les Miserables'

Move On

You who would travel the highway of faith
Do not look back, do not stay,
You who have grasped the great circle
Trust God, the world will own His day.

Do not try to recapture, but do not devalue
The vintage once you knew.
The Gospel ever explodes yesterday's vessel,
The wine comes fresh for you.

Two meet, three meet at a turn of the road
Travelling with the one Lord.
Each must move on within the same circle
True together to His Word.

You who would travel God's great highway
Unmapped, ahead, heaven's way,
With the One, with many never at rest,
Do not back nor stay.

- Mervyn Wilson, quoted in The Celtic Way, Ian Bradley

New Eyes for Home

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

- T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets, 'Little Gidding'

All Nature Speaks . . .

There is no plant in the ground
But is full of His virtue,
There is no form in the strand
But is full of His blessing.

There is no life in the sea,
There is no creature in the river,
There is naught in the firmament,
But proclaims His goodness.

There is no bird on the wing,
There is no star in the sky,
There is nothing beneath the sun,
But proclaims His goodness.

- Ancient Irish Poem