February 2009 (Vol. XXII, No. 2)

Blessings to you all . . . friends around the world!

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.
 
“For in hope we are renewed.  Yet hope that is seen is not hope.  Who hopes for what is seen?  Then, if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with trust, patience, and assurance.”  Hebrews 8:24

True hope dwells on the possible

Walter Anderson
True hope dwells on the possible, even when life seems to be a plot written by someone who wants to see how much adversity we can overcome. True hope responds to the real world, to real life; it is an active effort.

I need a hope

Mattie Stepanek Journey Through Heartsongs
I need a hope . . . a new hope.
A hope that reaches for the stars, and
That does not end in violence or war.
A hope that makes peace on our earth,
That does not create evil in the world.
A hope that finds cures for diseases, and
That does not make people hurt,
In their bodies, in their hearts,
Or most of all, in their spirits.
I need a hope . . . a new hope,
A hope that inspires me to live, and
To make all these things happen
So that the world can have
A new hope, too.

So in the end I am left only with hope

Gerald May Dark Night of the Soul

So in the end I am left only with hope.
I hope the nights are transformative.
I hope every dawn brings deeper love,
for each of us individually and for
the world as a whole.  I hope that
John of the Cross was right when
he said the intellect is transformed
into faith, and the will into love
and the memory into—hope.

Hope is not something subjective

Valentin Tomberg
Hope is not something subjective due to an optimistic or sanguine temperament or a desire for compensation. It is a light-force which radiates objectively and which directs creative evolution towards the world’s future. It is the celestial and spiritual counterpart of the natural and terrestrial instinct of reproduction ... In other words, hope is that which moves and directs spiritual evolution in the world.

Hope begins in the dark

Anne Lamott

I heard a preacher say that hope is a revolutionary practice . . . hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up. . .

Those who live in hope

George Herbert
Those who live in hope
dance without music.

Hope is like a road in the country

Lin Yutang

Hope is like a road in the country; there never was a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence...

Hope is for fullness, for completion

Wendy Wright
The hope is for fullness, for completion,
for being one with each other . . .
Our entire lives are a vigil, a keeping watch,
for the fulfillment of this hope.

Hope is a state of mind, not of the world

Vaclav Havel Vol. 25, Share International #3

Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Either we have hope within or we don’t; it is a dimension of the soul not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons.

Hope is an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more propitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper the hope is.

Hope allows the energy of divine love to drive deep

Cynthia Bourgeault Love Is Stronger Than Death
Hope allows the energy of divine love to drive deep into the human condition—the theological condition usually referred to as “grace.” And at the same time, it allows the yearning, outstretched hands of creation to pierce the heart of God and call forth what can only be expressed in the dimension of the sensible. It is the root oneness and interconnectedness of all things in what Kabir Helminski calls “the electro-magnetic field of love.” And because this field does empirically exist, all those who have deeply loved—”to the root”—will be able to make their way to one another in and through it.

Hope Is the Forgotten Virtue Set Between Faith and Love

Robert Ellwood

Hope may be the “forgotten” virtue set between faith and love, but it is the essential link between them that enables them both to work at top efficiency.

All things are possible

Brother Lawrence Practice the Presence
All things are possible to those who believe, yet more to those who hope, more still to those who love, and most of all to those who practice and persevere in these three virtues.

Physician of Each Misery

Irish Proverb

Hope is the physician of each misery.

Each soul is born for love and joy

Nan Merrill Lemen Christi ... Holy Wisdom
Each soul is born for love and joy.
Our Inner Radiance when,
fully uncovered, shines alike
in laughter and in sorrow.
 
Fears, doubts, and despair cloak joy
like darkness blanketing the sun each night.
 
Face your fears and freedom will follow,
dismantle doubts, and loving assurance
and hope become friends;
 
Dark despair diminishes as you turn
toward the Light. Help is ever at hand.
Your guardian angel awaits your call!
 
Dispelling the darkness, you increase hope in the world.
Rejoice! Humanity is inexorably awakening to the energy of Love.

Hope is the source and spring of all the alchemies of transformation

Rumi

Hope is the source and spring of all the alchemies of transformation, the greatest treasure of the heart and mind, the philosopher’s stone that transmutes agony and tragedy into new life. Never abandon hope, or you abandon your closest and most helpful guide, the Friend.