Daily Signet

Behold, we sit ‘round table in the midst of holy ground
…light on our right hands and light on our left.
O Great I AM, grant us the grace of pure vision
To behold and be held by such a marvelous sight
…each light burning; yet not consumed.
How would that be…if we were to be so graced?
I take off my shoes for not only am I on holy ground
I am holy ground.
And in this ground, my grave and my garden
Where I must die to all I have acquired
That I might open up into all that I am.

Teri Martin

On This Day…

St. Albert The Great (Albertus Magnus): 13C scholar, Bishop of Reginsburg,
Germany and teacher of Thomas Aquinas and many others. Doctor of the Church, he had profound influence on the doctrinal footings of the Catholic Church

Marianne Moore born in 1887 'in Kirkwood, Missouri: poet, translator and editor with many collections of poems published. Died 2-5-72
Quotes: "The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence, not in silence, but restraint."
“There never was a war that was not inward."
"Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads." 

Daily Signet

Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash

To wander and wander and wander—to be lost from your home—this is pain. And even greater pain is to be lost from the home of your mind, from the home of your heart, above all, to be lost from the Home of God. When will you come back?

From the Mystery of Home and Thanksgiving High Service

On This Day…

Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini: first American saint canonized. Became a nun in 1877 and ran orphanages in Italy. In 1880 she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and planned to missionary in China but Pope Leo XIII sent her to America. Arrived in New York City in 1889 and began opening orphanages, hospitals and schools. Became an American citizen in 1909. Traveled widely in Central and South America and Europe. Oversaw the opening of 67 institutions. Her sisters continue to work all over the world.

Robert Louis Stevenson born in 1850 in Edinburgh: born into a family of light house engineers, he became one of the most translated authors in the world; novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer famous for Treasure Island, Kidnapped and the Strange Case of Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde. Died 12-3-94 in Samoa where he and his wife had moved, and he was known as 'Tusitala' (the teller of tales).
Quotes: "The cruelest lies are often told in silence." "Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." "The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean."

Daily Signet

The Enneanean says: “Home is where the soul lives when you have left it behind; and home is where you come back to it, when you must.” I would add home is where you find nourishment and the “where” you come back to when you are hungry. I celebrate the table of Christuman where we have had many feasts of the soul—where I have been challenged to my very roots, where I have heard the call to exceed my ability to exceed, where I have witnessed perseverance in its fullness, where I have experienced the genius of each, and where the combination of “the mountain and the thunder” as the I Ching describes it, has given me openings to new ways in and new ways out. I celebrate the Christuman table where my soul’s journey is enriched and fortified and I am made whole and Human. As the Enneanean says, “In the Spirit we are in the image of the divine.  In the body we are the image of the Earth.  In the human being we are the true synchrony of both.” May we not grow weary, but rather realize the good fortune that awaits those who persevere in providing and finding nourishment, who continue the striving for the synchrony of both. Let this year now be our year to find gratefulness in the middle of our perseverance and find the grace to say grace, to find thanks and to stay in a state of thankfulness, in state of grace throughout our perseverance. Amen.

Benjamin Martin 

On This Day…

Birthday of Baha‘ullah, prophet and founder of Baha’I World Faith and martyr born in Tehran, Persia in 1817

Daily Signet

…But all calls, even this one, this call to home, requires of us a death: a death of our illusion that the greatness of a home is measured in square footage, or the measure of security, a function of home equity.  This call to the place of first calls requires of us a death reminding it as it does of our first attempts to sacrifice our wishing and our first attempts to speak out our believing as we tried to exceed our self-doubting—and to die even to this self-doubting for it is this which keeps us homeless. 

 …And so it appears some homecomings may even feel like death, like a vessel at sea tumbling home,  like being poured out like water as we let go of the illusion that if we plan hard enough and if we hold on tight enough we can secure ourselves against the future….

As we let go of our illusions
of entitlement and birthright,
tumble home we may
and land emptied and there, 
by the grace of God
awaken to the appreciation 
(in the old OED sense) 
of the riches of life.

And there build a hearth, an altar
and upon it, a sacred fire
a re-sourcing of life, of warmth, of friendship
and give thanks…
and the moment we give thanks—
and herein lies the mystery—
the moment we give thanks, 
we are home.                                                               

Teri Martin

On This Day…

Veterans’ Day

Kurt Vonnegut born in 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana: author of 14 novels, five plays, and five works on non-fiction, remembered for Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, and Slaughterhouse Five. Died 4-11-07
Quotes: "I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." "Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." "I tell you, we are here on earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."

Daily Signet

…just as I was about to buckle under the weight of it all, I picked up a small book I’d bought quiteawhile before, but had never opened. I sat down and began to read a series of lectures by Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. From him came my help. He did not give over his life, or engage in sweat combat. He said he just “took refuge.”

Every morning he said, “I take refuge in Buddha. I take refuge in Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha (his spiritual community). That’s all. Rather than giving or wrestling his life away, he draws himself home.

So now, when I awake, I say, “I take refuge in God. I take refuge in Christuman. I take refuge in my spiritual community.” For I have never known anything to be as worthy of my trust as Christuman, as God, as you people here. Together we create The Pure Land, our true home.                                                                     

Donna Leichtling

On This Day…

Vachel Lindsay born in 1879 in Springfield, Massachusetts: poet known for Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, A Handy Guide for Beggars and The Art of the Moving Picture. Died 12-5-31
Quotes: “To live in mankind is far more than to live in a name.” “Except the Christ be born again tonight in dreams of all men, saints and sons of shame, the world will never see his kingdom bright.” “Never be a cynic, even a gentle one. Never help out a sneer, even at the devil.”