Amore

 Amore..........Love.........What is it? 

     Many people have opinions about love.  The scientist, Albert Einstein, once stated that gravity was not responsible for people falling in love, but then R. Buckminster Fuller, the engineer and humanitarian, claimed that love is metaphyscial gravity.  Others claim that love is related to nature.  Victor Hugo, a literary politician, stated that love is the honey made from flowers.  Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese poet, related love to the blossoms and fruit produced by trees.  Relating to art, Voltaire, a French writer, described love as being a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.  Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish historian and philosopher, wrote that a loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. Even children have their own thoughts about love.  A five year old girl admitted that she thought love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken; and a four year old boy described love to be when you smile even though you're really tired.

     Grammatically, love is both a noun and a verb.  Love is a tangible emotion. It is something which we can hold. It is something which we should give away.  Love is action.  It inspires.  It warms the soul.  According to a well-used college dictionary/thesaurus, LOVE is........ 

• tender
• passionate
• deep
• affectionate
• desiring
• profound
• a term of endearment
• devoting
• a fondness
• reverent
• respectful
• adoring
• steadfast
• loyal
• intense
• enduring
• patient
• persistent
• consistent
• calming
• fulfilling
• exhilarating
• motivating
• natural
• a feeling
• an addiction
• a chemical response
• attracting
• a gift
• infinite
• giving
• friendly
• inspiring
• pleasuring
• sacrificing
• timeless
• romantic
• a grace
• intimate
• joyful
• sexual
• relating
• satisfying
• hopeful
• yearning
• changing
• courageous
• supporting
• familiar
• irresistable
• forgiving
• worldly
• energetic
• communication
• unselfish
• honest
• ethical
• charitable
• merciful

     Can LOVE really be all of the above all of the time in every situation for every person? ......Of course not.....but is love more than sex and romance?......YES!.......Meditate on the above words and pay attention to the ones which have had meaning for you.  Open yourself to learning and experiencing love in ways you may never have dreamed possible.  Think about loving others besides your significant other and your mother. What does it feel like to love your enemy?  

     To me, LOVE is simplicity.  Love simply shared will be simply received.  No expectations....no matter who the recipient of our love
...friend or foe........spouse or sister........Leo Buscaglia, a teacher and author, said it simply......."We don't love to be loved; we love to love."  We must also LOVE ourselves to truly love others. Dr. Wayne Dyer, describes how we can not give what we do not have.  LOVE is food for the soul, and I agree with St. Augustine for he wrote that LOVE is the beauty of the soul.

LOVE is meraviglioso!

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart.
It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
- Judy Garland

Stardust

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour

William Blake (from Auguries of Innocence, c.1800)

 

      What a sentiment!  To see and understand the world from a grain of sand.  How about a grain of stardust?  Having stardust in your eyes is considered being unrealistically optimistic.  Why is it unrealistic to be optimistic?  Aren't we all called to look on the bright side....to be hopeful....no matter what the circumstances?

 

     King David wrote in Psalms 31:24 to be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Is it unrealistic to desire strength for the daily trials we encounter?  We need strength to survive our world which we seek to understand.  Strength provides a capacity to endure....to manifest the energy required to resist negative thoughts and actions.  The energy from our spiritual strength leads to the power of courageous work.....to confident acts of love.  Optimism supports our faith as life beats us down.  Looking for the stardust will keep hope afloat while blessings are being delivered.  Oscar Wilde once stated that what seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. Without the stardust in our eyes, would we ever notice the blessings bestowed upon us? 

 

     The spacecraft STARDUST which was launched in 1999 held a mission of retrieving dust from the traveling Wild 2 comet.  The sampling of stardust retrieved by the spacecraft surprisingly showed evidence that the comet was a mixture of materials made by conditions of both "fire and ice."   One particular material was an amino acid which is a building block of life, so it seems that our existence is dependent upon the heavenly bodies of our solar system.  We are formed from stardust, and our spiritual energies are transformed by the "fire and ice" of our experiences.....the paths we travel.....the choices we make. 

 

     Life can be extreme, and our responses may either hinder our existence....thrusting us into a black hole, or may support our souls .....creating spiritual vigor. Choosing to be optimistic.....hoping for deliverance from our pain, sorrow, and suffering.....fuels positive responses in others.  A happy spirit has healing power, and can be contagious.....but we must have it within us first.  "A cheerful heart is good medicine." - Proverbs 17:22.

“May the love hidden deep inside your heart find the love waiting in your dreams. May the laughter that you find in your tomorrow wipe away the pain you find in your yesterdays.”
- author unknown

 

I HOPE that all my dearest loved ones whom reside in "mo chride" always remain optimistic even through the darkest hours.
May I listen to my own advice.

 

Passione

     Fruits are receptacles of seeds and contain the sweet food source required for the development of the seeds.  Seeds are the source of life. The passion fruit is said to be named for the plant's flowers resemblance to symbols of Christ's crucifixion.  Christ's Passion is the food source for the growth of  faith seeds.  As faiths grow, souls are sweetly nourished.  

      

Without passion, man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint
which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.
~Amiel, Journal, 17 December 1856

    Each of us also have passions which can nourish our souls.  Some passions are blessings while others are crosses to bear. Passion can be an intense driving force....an enthusiasm or affection......which moves us to our true purpose, or it can be a dangerously violent emotion of the ego which moves us further away from our destiny.  The passions which I refer to are those which involve a strong affinity, desire, or devotion to an activity, object, or concept that leads us to elation....a strong sense of happiness.  Happiness catapults us to our destiny and to a pure love for what we do.

      How is a passion identified?  Look around ........REFLECT.........
What holds your attention or interest? What gets you off of the sofa of slothfulness?  What brings out the best in you?  What are you willing to do for no compensation or personal gain?  What do you enjoy discussing?  What abilities come naturally to you?  What inspires you.......speaks to your soul.....producing a warm feeling in your heart? 

      Oliver Wendell Holmes once stated that as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.   Doesn't it make sense that as we experience our passion, we share our passionate actions with others in order to continue the transformation of energy behind the catapult of happiness and love?.....in order to sweetly nourish the hearts and souls of others?......Christ's passion nourishes our hearts, but we are not meant to keep that nourishment to ourselves.  Just as the passion fruit nourishes its seeds to continue its life, we should share our love and passion with others in order to support humanity. 

As passions develop and grow, a balance of its actions should be maintained.  Passions should not go to extreme monopolizing time, and keeping us from our responsibilities.  St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis de Sales always emphasized temperance which is simply a disposition of the mind which binds passion........restrains passion. Passions should help our faiths to grow...........engaging our souls to guide others to their faiths.........not away from their faiths.  An unbalanced passion leads to an emphasis on the ego which can extinguish the energy of our soul, then we are back at square one with empty receptacles of happiness.  Energy and motion are interconnected. IF we want to be moved.....IF we want to move others.....our soul's energy must flow, so remember BALANCE.  

 Rest in reason.  Move in passion.
- Kahlil Gibran 

What moves me?  reading and discussing a good book, quiet time, playing in the rain, expressing myself on canvas, teaching, a Salesian smile, writing, playing a game with my family, keeping up with old friends, a mountain top, meaningful music, and paying attention to God "winks".

Un amico

     Mark Twain once stated that grief can take care of itself which I don't actually agree....but I do agree with how he stated that to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with.....that somebody is a friend.  When it comes to how I have come to this spot on the path which I am traveling, it is due to the few blessed friends whom have graced my heart. The depths of my heart can not find the words to describe how my few dear friends have affected and influenced.....the growth of my faith.....the path which I travel.....and the choices which I make. Aristotle didn't know how accurate he was when he stated that a friend is a single soul in two bodies, and the joy comes when you are blessed with sharing a single soul with a few special friends....intertwined like the strength of a spider web.....capturing the moments which take your breath away.  

     According to Albert Einstein, the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.......... a friendship.......un amico. How true! Each of my few dear friendships which I hold in high esteem and respect is a mystery in its own right.  One is a childhood friendship which has withstood the test of time as we each traveled our individual stormy waters....holding each other up in prayer and words of wisdom....allowing our affection to support one another
.....giving a foundation for our tears and joys.  Another is a friendship where time and age makes no difference.  We understand one another......despite a generation gap.....our affection closes in on the truths of life. The final friendship is ambiguous.....a sweet egnima. It sparked into existence a lifetime ago, and then disappeared into the cosmos.  Miracle of miracle....our hearts heard the calling of our souls through the far depths of the universe, and we found each other through the cluttering network of the world. Through the brokenness.....we remain "unbroken" (Liam Flaherty). 


     "A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."  (~Arabian Proverb).....This is what these three friends do for me.  They bring out the best in me in their own unique graceful manner......Well....ok....maybe not always so graceful.....LOL....but with full trustworthy affectionate hearts.  Our friendships are responsibilities not opportunities (Kahlil Gibran).  These friends take my breath away leaving fulfilling peace and happiness....a contentment only compared to the Holy Joy of God's loving embrace.

"I count myself in nothing else so happy

As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends."

- William Shakespeare

"No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence."     - George Eliot

"The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?"

- Henry David Thoreau

Grazie.....mo chairde.

("I Would Die for You" - Mercy Me)

Indulging in Joy

Do not let yourself indulge in any sadness......Why then should a soul be sad, when it serves Him who is our Joy forever? 
- St. Francis de Sales

What is JOY?......It is a delightful, happy emotion full of felicity, satisfaction, keen pleasure, elation, and festive gaiety.  It is having breathe-taking moments which produce rapture, bliss, and pleasure.  It involves allowing God to add bliss to our lives.  He desires for JOY to reside in our hearts. 

In this fast-pace roller coaster world, it can be difficult to maintain a high level of JOY within our hearts and souls.  We are bombarded with disappointments, challenges, rudeness, self-centeredness, crankiness and loneliness.  It is easy to be knocked off course and loose sight of His JOY.  We are then left with desperately  grasping the floating boat of hope while we squint for a glimpse of distant deep contentment on the horizon.  We don't need to wait to reach the destination of JOY.

 How do we stop squinting and maintain our focus on JOY?  Well.....I wish I knew......because squinting gives me a headache.  I do have my opinion on the matter.  The problem is not our focus, but the location of our JOY.  Where have we placed our JOY?  If we keep our JOY in front of us like a target, then it will be easy to loose our focus in the crowd of emotions which we experience during the day. Events will block our view of JOY like a lady with a big hat in church, or a tall man in a movie theater; or knock JOY off of our path all together like a toy train jumping its track.  Maybe, we need to consider storing JOY in our hearts.....put it in our pocket......in our safe place.....so its always there for us to savor......to grab a hold of during those moments of turmoil like a lucky rabbit foot, a pocket rosary or a devotional medal.  JOY is more than an emotion.  It is a state of mind....a perspective which we can choose to accept and apply to our actions as different circumstances arise......the good, the bad, and the ugly.

JOY is meant to be shared.  God gives it freely to us, and it grows in our hearts.  As JOY grows in our hearts, it begins to branch out looking for another heart to latch on to like the tendrils of a vine.  JOY needs room to grow, or it will stop blooming, so we need to give JOY to others through our actions or service.  No matter what trial God sends our way, let's put on our robes of JOY (Judith 10) and share the JOY.  The  JOY of our souls will be nourished.  We won't have to wait for JOY to find us or worry about keeping focused.  

'Who am I', Judith replied, 'to resist my lord? I shall not hesitate to do whatever he wishes, and doing this will be my joy to my dying day.' - Judith 12

Sad Souls

Looking around the meeting room, it was amazing to see such an array of facial expressions.  Faces can tell the stories of our lives....from brief synopses to epic chapters.  Even though it takes less effort and energy to smile and express happiness, the majority of faces in the meeting told stories of sadness or unhappiness.  Why?......Now, my own life has its tales of sadness and sources of unhappiness, but I had a WOW! moment while observing the sadness in front of me. Is there really that much sadness and unhappiness in this world?  Has it been this way since the beginning of time, or is this epidemic due to our current social issues? What is God thinking about the state of our souls?  He is probably thinking that we are a sorry bunch of bananas with our dejected, somber, doleful, woebegone, desolate brown spots of melancholy, sorrow, gloom, regret, forlornness, loneliness, and misery.

St. Pio, a mystic priest, once stated that we should not allow any sadness to dwell in our souls for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely. The sadness becomes a cork which blocks the sweetness of God's love to pour forth, and seals our hearts away from the swirling Holy Spirit's healing effects.  I think St. Pio is saying that it is one thing to acknowledge and feel a wound of sadness, but the sadness should not take up residence in our hearts. We should be hospitable to sadness for a brief period of time, and then, we should send the overwhelming emotion to a hotel where it can take advantage of the free breakfast service instead of taking advantage of our generous natures....sucking our souls dry of all joy.  

Sadness is not a healing emotion.  It is more like a "service engine light" that won't turn off even after the car has been fixed.  Joy is a healing emotion......so we need to give sadness....that perpetuating unhappiness the boot....and invite joy to visit our hearts for a long while.  Joy is the matrix of the Holy Spirit's healing power for our souls. 

Let the Holy Spirit guide you.  Pray and implore God for help. Put a smile on your face even if the sadness feels like a ton.  Do an act of kindness.  Get the focus off of the sad circumstances.  Share some happiness with a neighbor or stranger, and joy will find its way back into your heart. Your soul will be uplifted.  Remember that a smile takes less energy and effort than a sad expression.  Smiles are also contagious, so share a smile and the world will smile back.

God desires for us to experience the joy of His love.  "He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone." - Revelations 21.

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Stony Paths and Strong Shoes

 
Have you ever felt overburdened by the path which you are traveling?  Does your soul ever want to leave the path to find rest for your weary feet?  Do you ever feel like you are lost because the stony path which you are traveling never seems to smooth out or level off? 

Well, there is an old Irish saying, "If God sends you down a stony path, may he give you strong shoes."  Truthfully, God is the strong shoes.  From my stony path experience, God has persistently comforted my weary feet.....and He has carried me without my acknowledgment.  My soul would be in worst shape without His supporting love.  The secret is to praise Him with each step you take....to offer your suffering up for His glory.  The suffering experienced along a stony path is the sacrificial love you have for your family and friends.  This is the mystery of God's love.  Suffering isn't always considered apart of loving someone, but how can we reject it when Jesus sacrificed His life for us on Calvary.  He walked a stony path for us as he also carried the cross.  He bore the weight of suffering from all directions of his body....not just His weary feet.  He did this for He loves us.

This morning, my foot hit a stone unexpectently along my path, but instead of remembering to call out to God for help, I practically threw the stone....not such a loving response, but I do recognize my error....so I praise God for showing me this mistake which strengthened my shoes.  The next time a stone appears along my path...and believe me it will.....for my life has been nothing but a stony path.....I will call upon God for His supporting heart strengthens my heart which allows compassion to flow from my soul to others who are traveling the path with me. Compassion is a glorious result of God's mysterious suffering love.

"You heard me on the day when I called, and you gave new strength to my heart." - Psalm 138

My Ransomed Soul He Is Leading

 

The King of love my sheperd is,

whose goodness fails me never;

I nothing lack if I am his,
And He is mine forever.

How many times will I need to be reminded of His unfailing love? Seven times seventy?  God is the King of love and He desires so deeply for His children to search and find this truth.....to live this truth.  For if we lived the truth of His undying love for us, then we would never desire the love of worldly objects and actions. God's undiminishing love empowers, so why do I not anchor myself to His love.  He has always been housed in my heart. His love is in my heart.  Why do I forget or avoid His love?  Why do I make love so hard to achieve?   My ignorance is harder to understand than finding the goodness of His love. If only my heart would be satisfied with His overflowing love, then maybe my heart would be content with my love blessings.

Where streams of living water flow
my ransomed soul he is leading

And where the verdant pastures grow

With food celestial feeding.

Flowing streams bring living water to God's creations.  Living water sustains and nourishes like God's love.  Daily God leads my restless heart to Him.  My restless heart searches for Him....searches for His love....only I forget that He is already within me. No matter how far down the stream I may travel, His love resides within my heart.....with every beat.....with every water fall.

When the power of a flowing stream encounters the landscape's rock and soil, it will be the stream's living water that conquers....not through strength, but by persistent compassion.  God's love perseveres through every bend of my path......every challenge, every accomplishment, every fear, every joy, every disappointment,.......and with every drop of a tear.  If only I would allow His love to feed my soul....to refresh my soul.....when it has fallen in the pasture.  God's love is the only food which can refresh my soul and empower my heart to embrace my love blessings.

 

Confused and foolish oft I strayed,

But yet in love he sought me;

And on his shoulder gently laid,

And home, rejoicing, brought me.

My ignorance of  God's persevering love for me is born of an inability to love myself.....an inability to accept that I am worthy of His love......which is so foolish for His Holy Presence has been within me since He breathed my soul into my heart.....since He breathed His empowering Love into my being.  God's home is my heart.....if only my soul would accept the gentle nudge of His love to lay within His loving embrace,....so I could fully rejoice in my love blessings.

Sono disperata senza di te.

I am desperate for you. 

Io sono perso con te.

I am lost without you.

Il tuo amore mi giunge.
Your love reaches me. 

Vi porterà la mia anima riscattati.

You lead my ransomed soul.

Ti amo.

 - pamela, the little petunia

Hymn Reference:  The King of Love My Shepherd Is; Psalm 23; Henry W. Baker
                         Tune: St. Columbia 8787; Gaelic Downside Abbey
                         Harmony by A. Gregory Murray, OSB 1904-1992