Reflecting on morning readings.
“Blessed are the ears that catch the breath of the whisper of God, and give no heed to the whisperings of this world—blessed ears indeed, if they are listening to the Truth teaching them in their hearts and not to voices outside them.” Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
“The love of God comes from our conversing with him; our conversation of prayer comes through stillness and stillness arrives with the stripping away of self.” St. Isaac of Syria, as quoted in The End of Suffering by Scott Cairn.
The chirruping of the birds
The wet wheels whirled
The rain made known
The whisperings of this world
To hear God we must be
Stripped of self, naked on the rack
The purpose of the pain,
Said the old Syrian Yitzhak
How do we hear through
The grief, the weight, the theft
Of loss? We are few
Who are not made deaf
By the whisperings of this world.
