Vol. XXV, No. 1
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS, Dear Friends of Silence. What is your deepest, most heartfelt hope for this year? No doubt we all have many hopaes and wishes as we usher in yet another new year. It is traditional to make "New Year's Resolutions" when the year changes, but what if we made a list focused on our hopes for the year instead of making resolutions? What if we made only one resolution: to dwell in hope? How might we (and the world!) change if we truly live in hope? As we sit in silence daily, let's reflect deeply on our hopes, for the world and for ourselves. We may be surprised by how it affects our lives and those around us!
Faith is a gift that comes, the gift of assurance that the powers of light have conquered and will keep on defeating the darkness. Hope is our own attitude of looking steadfastly toward that victory and trying to order our lives toward it. Faith and hope are far easier attitudes to live with than despair and disillusionment . . . so I deliberately choose to hope. Through hope and faith the inner journey has direction and a goal and meditation becomes a process of discovering the reality of Divine Love.
~ from THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE by Morton Kelsey
Hope is what sits by a window and waits for one more dawn, despite the fact that there is not one ounce of proof in tonight's black, black sky that it can possibly come.
~ Joan Chittister
We have only begun to imagine the fullness of life. How could we tire of hope? So much is in the bud.
~ from CANDLES IN BABYLON by Denise Levertov
The hope that is left after all your hopes are gone -- that is pure hope, rooted in the heart.
~ from GRATEFULNESS: THE HEART OF PRAYER by Br. David Steindl-Rast, thanks to Liz Stewart
We cannot avoid the question of integrity or wholeness to which all of us proceed. We cannot exclude anyone from the process of becoming fully human, neither a woman nor a man. Personal experience is essential. God gives us the ability to experience ourselves and to assume relationships. As we develop this, we learn to overcome the tensions and the difficulties in life; and those times when there is a lack of love, we are given hope. We experience hope. The great thing about all this is the hope and the realization that it is within our reach.
~ Ludmilla Javorova
The gift we can offer others is so simple
a thing as hope.~ Daniel Berrigan
Are we not called to communicate
a mystery of hope
to those around us
by the lives we lead?~ Br. Roger of Taize, in "Thin Places" September/October/November 2010
The power of love is in hope,
For by it we await the reward of love.
The failing of hope is the disappearance of love.
Hope is a rest from labors in the midst of labors.
Toils depend on it.
Mercy encircles it.
Experiencing the gifts of the Giver of Life
engenders hope.
But he who is without experience
remains in doubt.~ from CHRIST THE ETERNAL TAO by Hieromonk Damascene
Narrow is the boundary
of "now" and "not-yet"
Deep and dark it stretches
like an ancient passageway
no map has ever marked.
One by one we walk it
step by solitary step.
Not hand in hand,
Not side by side,
But sounding the distance with our tears.
Hope is the chorus sounding, "Come!"
Hope is the embrace, waiting to welcome.
Hope is the companion,
In-Between . . .~ Sr. Mary Frances Fleischaker, thanks to Muriel Benz
Waiting patiently in hope and expectation
~ Simone Weil
is the foundation of the spiritual life.
Silence is the strength of our interior life . . . if we
fill our lives with silence, then we will live in hope.
~ Thomas Merton
Hope is the realization of the inner connectedness of all things; of your life and your daily activity with the cosmic scheme of things. The awareness of who you are, that you are the self—that gives you hope. Faith and hope stem from the same inner, intuitive realization of who you are, that you are here for a purpose and that nothing on earth can shake that.
~ from "Maitreya's Mission" Vol. II by Benjamin Crème
Those who live in hope, dance without music.
~ George Herbert
Hope is rooted in emptiness, in poverty, in a waiting that belongs to the pure in heart. Hopeful silence is patient, thirsty, yet withal dynamic, for it desires to become One with God. In this kind of silence of hope lies our strength.
~ Catherine de Hueck
Hope is essential for us. What the breath is to our physical bodies, hope is to our human spirits.
~ John R. Claypool
True hope is rooted in a Reality beyond ego and illusion. Hope that rises in our hearts is like a buoyant bubble of champagne; for some, it brings tears of relief, while others, may sense a new way to the future that will bring healing to us—personally, communally, nationally, globally—to all of Creation. Hope recognizes that many challenges await us on the path, obstacles and possible pitfalls that may delay outcome. In hope we are made new; for it is a sure and steadfast anchor of our soul that enters "the inner shrine behind the curtain," where the Divine Guest abides. So, in the Silence, let us embrace Love and dare to hope: the promise for all of Creation.
~ Nan Merrill