The grain of wheat appearing inert when planted in the ground is Osiris in the tomb. The grain which germinates and produces the head of wheat from which will come the bread and nourishment of man is the god who under the sweet influence of Tu-Shen Tyt comes to life gain in order to heap his favors on earth. Everything in nature lives to die and dies in order to be reborn.
William Boast
On This Day…
Khordad Sal: Jain remembrance of Prophet Zaranthushtra
Tennessee Williams born 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi, died 1983: playwright
Works: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire
Quotes: “When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.” “There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.” “In memory, everything seems to happen to music.”
Robert Frost born 1874 in San Francisco, died 1963: poet
Works: Home Burial, The Runaway, The Road Not Taken
Quotes: “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life; it goes on.” “The best way out is always through.” “Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”
Much as there is a unique pattern on the thumbprint of each individual, there is a thumbprint on the soul—a fiery signet. And this signet is “set like a seal over our hearts” and it is impressioned with a blazing flame of love. As it says in Song of Solomon, “For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame.” So the seal on our soul is as strong as death and as powerful as a blazing flame—stronger than any cultural, time-bound limitation, stronger than any deadness that seems to have locked us, to have blocked us in. The fiery signet, ourorigo, our unique alloy of ancestry, talent and mastery is sealed in a blazing flame of love so that out of the death of the least of us, we might take the Christ born within us, break forth and “Go in Love.” The power that seals our soul is greater than the power that blocks us, defines us, confines us; the seal of the Beloved Spirit is greater than the seal of the Status Quo.
Benjamin Martin
Roots reaching deep into the earth, we suck life greedily.
We are of the earth, we are earth.
Buffeted by wind, watered by storms, we face nature greedily.
We are shaped by nature. We are nature.
Leaves stretching high into heaven, we suck light greedily.
We are of the heavens. We are heaven.
Anchored to earth, joined to heaven, potential flows through us greedily.
We bridge the gap. We connect the poles.
The thunderbolt of God’s Grace strikes searing scars.
Oh, God, How sweet the blessing of life and death.
Ben Leichtling
On This Day…
St. Gabriel, Archangel
St. Oscar Romero: Archbishop of war-torn San Salvador who was murdered while saying mass in his church, 1980
Snow.
From snow water.
From water rain.
From rain new growth.
From new growth oxygen.
From oxygen breath.
From breath spirit.
God.
God grant me now the breath and the spirit
that only comes from the melting
of the oppressive snow that locks me in,
covers me up, and hinders my movement.
Melt, melt, melt.
Jamie Ziegler
In this time of death and resurrection, may we crack the egg, remove the protective shell that has kept us entombed and find the center of gold waiting for discovery. And in that golden center, the potential for renewal: new-found music, a re-awakening of dance, a rebirth of grace and friendship, a discovery of connectedness, a new role, a new place to be, a transformation of those we almost gave up on….May we meet the challenges of these days with faith that what we cannot see and what we cannot know vitalizes what we must see and what we must do. May we seed our imaginations with hope that weeds out the fear, the second guessing and then let the blooming begin. May we reimagine life as a river-fed river flowing into and through us and on into other river-fed rivers. May we convey the love that has fed us, that is feeding us and that will feed us and may it refresh the dark earth around us with a moisture that grows into green.
Benjamin Martin
