May 1988 (Vol. I, No. 5)

Happy Pentecost season to all friends of Silence! And what gift of the Holy Spirit are you praying to receive over the next thirty weeks -- piety ... counsel ... courage ... fear of the Lord ... knowledge ... understanding ... or, wisdom? There is so much that the Spirit wants to give to us in order that we might die to our inner fears, that we might give birth to our hidden selves which have not yet risen. Our homes, our cities, our countries, our world are in such need of these gifts today. And all that is given to us is for us to use to enrich one another ... to enrich all of creation.

Just as the seed given to Mary by the Holy Spirit brought forth the spiritual birth of Love to our world, the Holy Spirit in every moment awaits our fiat, our total YES to God's word in us, so that the inner womb of our hearts may receive the seed and give birth to that same Love.

Perhaps friends of Silence can be likened in some way to the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth -- a sharing with others, in the Silence of our inner beings, of our joy as a sign of God's presence with us. Can we believe that as we offer ourselves to God in prayer, that the seed of Love growing in us radiates out and quickens the heart of someone we will probably never meet in this life? What a wonder-filled mystery of Grace! For Grace is the kingdom of love, and its laws are the law of love. If the prayer of one pure heart has the power to atone for many, just imagine the energy of all those who are readying their hearts in the Silence! We know we have enough destructive energy to destroy the world. In the Silence we come to know that we have more than enough Love energy to transform the world. How good it is to be counted among those who choose LIFE through LOVE!

Accompaniment

Ginny Senders Out of Nicaragua

As a witness for Peace, our role was to witness in two senses of the word: we SAW, and by our presence we offered affirmation by word or example of a solidarity based on love and faith and the Good News. The word that is much used is "accompaniment." Our contribution was less in our doing than our being-with.

Thou sweet Well for all who thirsteth in the desert

Unknown

Thou sweet Well for all who thirsteth in the desert! It is closed to the one who speaks, but it is open to all who are silent. When the one who is silent comes, lo, that one finds the Well.

As the river enters into the ocean

Kabir

"As the river enters into the ocean, so my heart touches Thee, O God."

What God wants

The Talmud

God wants the heart.

I have a dream

I have a dream

  • of people recognizing the giftedness uniquely theirs,
  • of people standing tall in their gifts and using them to enrich the lives of others;
  • of people coming to a deeper union of God dwelling within them and a deeper communion with one another.
  • of peace and harmony reigning -- for power would be in docility to expressing one's gifts ...

I have a dream

  • of a people drawn together out of a shared vision, a new way of living together,
  • of each individual in their rightful place based on gifts,
  • of men and women standing side by side serving together to bring peace and justice to the city,
  • of a society based on deep trust that within each person
  • is a well of goodness, beauty and truth longing to express itself for the good of all ... and in freeing this inner well, an ocean of love that could fill the world.

We must be still and still moving

In the stillness, empty spaces occur and new possibilities are searching their way to the surface of the mind. A connection is made, new relationships are formed and new patterns emerge. This process of being still and moving at the same time to something new is the way the experience of creative thinking comes about in our minds. T.S. Eliot alludes to this process in the middle of the "Four Quartets."

We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion.

The desire and pursuit of the whole

Plato
The desire and pursuit of the whole is called love.

Something of supreme rightness

Pat Munk

Something of supreme rightness
Lies at the heart of Life...
Like a star or a single white rose
Sufficient in Itself...
Yet It reaches everywhere
Whispering Itself.

I believe that God is in me

Helen Keller

I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower -- the Light in my darkness, the Voice in my silence.