mystery

October 2007 (Vol. XX, No. 9)

"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"

May Blessings of the Mystery greet you in the Silence, dear friends! Sacred Mystery abides within us all. As we develop a deeper connection to the Infinite Source of Life, we learn to love the Mystery and trust the Process of its life in us. We become aware that wherever the journey leads, Divine Presence travels in us, through us, and with us amidst the joys, challenges, and diminishments in our lives. We are never alone! So in the Silence, may we make room in our hearts, minds, and souls for the Divine Mystery of all life to more consciously unfold in our lives ...

O Dark Mystery So bright I cannot see

Betty Serafin The Rose of Five Petals

O Dark Mystery
So bright I cannot see
Sometimes hushed
Sometimes clanging in my soul

I enter as You reveal
Darting from tree to tree
Hide and seek
The Mystery

We have not been raised to cultivate a sense of Mystery

Rachel Naomi Remen My Grandfather's Blessings

We have not been raised to cultivate a sense of Mystery. We may even see the unknown as an insult to our competence, a personal failing. Seen this way, the unknown becomes a challenge to action. But Mystery does not require action; Mystery requires our attention. Mystery requires that we listen and become open. When we meet with the unknown in this way, we can be touched by a wisdom that can transform our lives.


The empty pathway by which we venture most surely into the Divine Mystery

Wendy M. Wright The Vigil

To begin to enter into the profound silence that resides in the depths of our beings is to begin to enter the realm of the Godhead beyond God. Beyond speech, beyond apprehension, is a realm of generative actuality, the realm of essential being out of which the Word is eternally begotten. Our silence is both  and the clear road by which the Word proceeds most directly into our hearts.


Incommunicable mysteries that transcend the capacity of language

Anne Dalke Teaching to Learn/Learning to Teach

... when we do not speak, we may listen, hear, understand, even communicate in other ways. If language distorts, silence may open us to revelation. There are mysteries of life known and apprehended only when one refrains from speech, incommunicable mysteries that transcend the capacity of language.

We are surrounded by a profound mystery

Cecil Collins

There is one thing that we are certain about and that is that we are surrounded by a profound mystery. And in some strange way we are asked to participate in this mystery and to collaborate with it.

Sister of Lady Wisdom

Anonymous

Mystery is the sister of Lady Wisdom.

The unfolding of Great Mystery

Jamie Sans Earth Medicine

The quiet mind
Brings calmness,
Infinite, eternal grace.
Born inside silence
Is the will to be.
Chaos becoming order,
The holiness of life,
The unfolding of Great Mystery.

This mystery is not far away, but is hidden within each one of us

Rowan Williams Ponder These Things

The icon bears witness to the nearness yet otherness of the Eternal. It introduces us to a world of mystery, yet at the same time, we discover that this mystery is not far away, but is hidden within each one of us, closer to us than our own heart.

He would rest in this pool of unknowing for as long a time as he was granted

Sonny Brewer The Poet of Tolstoy Park

Henry dropped to his knees, his bare toes finding the damp soil underneath the pine needles and leaves. He remained in that position for a quarter hour, unmoving, breathing slowly and deeply, watching the sky. Listening. The silent edge of dusk spread across the hillside. A luminous dark blue and purple void appeared to welcome the first star. And Henry, with loving respect for things he did not know, for what Cicero had called the unseen force that guides the body and guides the world, yielded to that unknown and unknowable force. He would rest in this pool of unknowing for as long a time as he was granted.

Mystery: it is all around us, and we do not know it

Mary C. Morrison Let Evening Come

Mystery: it is all around us, and we do not know it. But sometimes when we give it time and space, whether in deep peace or great anguish, it will come up behind us, or meet us face to face, or move within us, changing the way we see everything, and filling our hearts with joy and an upspringing of love that needs no direct object because everything is its object.


Show itself and at the same time withdraws

Martin Heidegger

Mystery is that which shows itself and
at the same time withdraws.

Empty of desire

Anonymous

Empty of desire,
the Mystery can be revealed.

When you begin to actively explore the mystery of your own mystery

Guy Finley

When you begin to actively explore the mystery of your own mystery,
God will solve the case.

Never lose a holy curiosity

Albert Einstein

One cannot but be in awe when contemplating the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity.


Remembering that every Mystery points to a high reality

Lawrence Kushner Honey from the Rock

Religion is a more or less organized way of remembering that every Mystery points to a high reality. A reality overarching and infusing this world with splendor. One pulsing through its veins. Unnoticed and unnamed. Of the Nameless One. A holiness so holy that it fills even our everyday illusions with spiritual meaning.

I have no doubt this unnameable Mystery within will finally crowd out the thorns

Macrina Wiederkehr The Song of the Seed

There is something in me that is not content to hang about directionless along the edge of the path ... A thirst in me so deep it will move aside the rocks, seeking moisture. There is a yearning that is intense in its desire to put God first.

It may take a lifetime, but I have no doubt this unnameable Mystery within, the seed that fell at the beginning of creation, will finally crowd out the thorns.

Yes, there is One who believes in me enough to continue singing up the country of my heart.

We are surrounded by a profound mystery

There is one thing that we are certain about and that is that we are surrounded by a profound mystery. And in some strange way we are asked to participate in this mystery and to collaborate with it.

We have not been raised to cultivate a sense of Mystery

We have not been raised to cultivate a sense of Mystery. We may even see the unknown as an insult to our competence, a personal failing. Seen this way, the unknown becomes a challenge to action. But Mystery does not require action; Mystery requires our attention. Mystery requires that we listen and become open. When we meet with the unknown in this way, we can be touched by a wisdom that can transform our lives.


The unfolding of Great Mystery

The quiet mind
Brings calmness,
Infinite, eternal grace.
Born inside silence
Is the will to be.
Chaos becoming order,
The holiness of life,
The unfolding of Great Mystery.

Remembering that every Mystery points to a high reality

Religion is a more or less organized way of remembering that every Mystery points to a high reality. A reality overarching and infusing this world with splendor. One pulsing through its veins. Unnoticed and unnamed. Of the Nameless One. A holiness so holy that it fills even our everyday illusions with spiritual meaning.

Incommunicable mysteries that transcend the capacity of language

... when we do not speak, we may listen, hear, understand, even communicate in other ways. If language distorts, silence may open us to revelation. There are mysteries of life known and apprehended only when one refrains from speech, incommunicable mysteries that transcend the capacity of language.

He would rest in this pool of unknowing for as long a time as he was granted

Henry dropped to his knees, his bare toes finding the damp soil underneath the pine needles and leaves. He remained in that position for a quarter hour, unmoving, breathing slowly and deeply, watching the sky. Listening. The silent edge of dusk spread across the hillside. A luminous dark blue and purple void appeared to welcome the first star. And Henry, with loving respect for things he did not know, for what Cicero had called the unseen force that guides the body and guides the world, yielded to that unknown and unknowable force. He would rest in this pool of unknowing for as long a time as he was granted.

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