Silent Advent

Proper discernment is done in silence. This will be a summary of mine. Twenty-four days of twenty-four hours. See I'm not copping out, not copping out, not copping out When You're raising the dead in me Oh, oh I am the second man Oh, oh I am the second man now Oh, oh I am the second man now

[vangoghcore]

by lhackett

[and-her-saints]

Maybe I was praying for him then, in my own way. Does God have a set way of prayer, a way that He expects each of us to follow? I doubt it. I believe some people-- lots of people-- pray through the witness of their lives, through the work they do, the friendships they have, the love they offer people and receive from people. Since when are words the only acceptable form of prayer?

— Dorothy Day

[litverve]

“The only clear line I draw these days is this: when my religion tries to come between me and my neighbor, I will choose my neighbor… Jesus never commanded me to love my religion.”

— Barbara Brown Taylor, Holy Envy

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

the two halves of life

“Remember this: no one can keep you from the second half of life except yourself. Nothing can inhibit your second journey except your own lack of courage, patience, and imagination. Your second journey is all yours to walk or to avoid. My conviction is that some falling apart of the first journey is necessary for this to happen, so do not waste a moment of time lamenting poor parenting, lost jobs, failed relationships, physical handicaps, gender identity, economic poverty, or even the tragedy of any kind of abuse. Pain is part of the deal. If you don’t walk into the second half of your own life, it is you who do not want it. God will always give you exactly what you truly want and desire. So make sure you desire, desire deeply, desire yourself, desire God, and desire everything good, true, and beautiful.”

— Richard Rohr: Adapted from Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

[votedami]

The thing I hate most about depression is that it tricks you into thinking you don’t have depression. It makes you think that nothing is wrong with you, that you just feel this way because you lack value as a person. Whether that’s in your relationships, your academics, or a view of yourself, it makes you think you aren’t good enough for any of that.

“It’s not the illness,” it says, “You feel this way because it’s who you are.”

[beguines]

If all your spiritual activities have grown empty and you are compelled to walk away, says John, tie yourself to one practice only: contemplative silence. Abandon discursive prayer if it has become mechanical and meaningless. Let go of holy images if they no longer evoke the sacred. Refrain from spiritual discourse if it tastes like idle gossip in your mouth. But do not turn away from the silence.

Mirabai Starr, introduction to her translation of St. John of the Cross' The Dark Night of the Soul

[sheholdsyoucaptivated]

Ironically enough, when you make peace with the fact that the purpose of life is not happiness, but rather experience and growth, happiness comes as a natural byproduct. Once you let go, release your attachment to it (and remain detached from the desired outcome in general), and stop seeking it as the objective, it will find its way to you.

[aspiritualwarrior]

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

[maplemachiato]

[ambermaitrejean]

[plantahmane]

The world you live in. Credit: LGGP75

[pedromgabriel]

- Walking at the place where dreams are still possible -

by Pedro Gabriel

Instagram

[estrellablogg]

Her kalp, kendi içindeki çiçeğin kokusunu verir. ✨

[jmojellybeans]

[stephiramona]

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[beguines]

We are afraid of religion because it interprets rather than just observes. Religion does not confirm that there are hungry people in the world; it interprets the hungry to be our brethren whom we have allowed to starve.

- Dorothee Solle, The Inward Road and the Way Back

[freelance-philosopher]

“We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image we long for, need, love or desire, often against reality, against their benefit, and always, in the end, a disappointment, because it does not fit them.”

— Anaïs Nin