The Royal Mountain

"Prayer revives and keeps alive the rare greatness of some past experience in which things glowed with meaning and blessing. It remains important, even when we ignore it for a while, like a candlestick set aside for the day. Night will come, and we shall again gather round its tiny flame. Our affection for the trifles of living will be mixed with longing for the comfort of all men."  -Abraham Joshua Heschel

"To pray is to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live. Who is worthy to be present at the constant unfolding of time? Amidst the meditation of mountains, the humility of flowers--wiser than all alphabets--clouds that die constantly for the sake of His glory, we are hating, hunting, hurting. Suddenly we feel ashamed of our clashes and complaints in the face of the tacit glory in nature. It is so embarrassing to live! How strange we are in the world, and how presumptuous our doings! Only one response can maintain us: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore, and to fulfill. It is gratefulness which makes the soul great." -Abraham Joshua Heschel

"...and we talked then in quiet, the old man and I, about those who go off into the wilderness to pray, to be alone with the Lord, and what it must be like, those lonely nights under the stars with the howling desert wind." - The Road to Cana , Anne Rice

"To the pious man God is as real as life, and as nobody would be satisfied with mere knowing or reading about life, so he is not content to suppose or to prove logically that there is a God; he wants to feel and give himself to Him; not only to obey but to approach Him...He would rather be overwhelmed by the symbols of the inconceivable than wield the definitions of the superficial. Stirred by a yearning for the unattainable, a pious man is not content with being confined to what he is...but to be more than what he is is; to transform the soul into a vessel for the transcendent." -Abraham Joshua Heschel

"When you are compassionate with yourself, you trust in your soul, which you let guide your life. Your soul knows the geography of your destiny better than you do." -John O'Donahue

Vocation at its deepest level is "This is something I can't not do, for reasons I'm unable to explain...and don't fully understand myself but that are nonetheless compelling." -Parker Palmer

If we can learn to read our own responses to our own experience--a text we are writing unconsciously everyday we spend on earth--we will receive the guidance we need to live more authentic lives."  -Parker Palmer

Sometimes the mountain is hidden form me in veils of cloud, sometimes I am hidden from the mountain in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue, when I forget or refuse to go down to the shore or a few yards up the road, on a clear day, to reconfirm that witnessing presence. -Denise Levertov

Tired And lonely, So tired The heart aches. Meltwater trickles Down the rocks, The fingers are numb, The knees tremble. It is now, Now, that you must not give in. On the path of the others Are resting places, Places in the sun Where they can meet, But this Is your path. And it is now, Now, that you must not fail. Weep If you can, Weep But do not complain. The way chose you. And you must be thankful. -Dag Hammarskjoldb

"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? Sleepless questions In the small hours: Have I done right? Why did I act Just as I did? Over and over again The same steps, The same words: Never the answer." -Dag Hammarskjold