#stephen whatley

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SACRED HEART

Here’s one quotation to walk with today, a day on which the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

“The Sacred Heart is the heart of the heart of the world, the center of the center of the universe.”

—Teilhard de Chardin S.J (Journal 1950)

Art: Sacred Heart of Love by Stephen Whatley

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WHAT YOU HOLD, MAY YOU ALWAYS HOLD

Here’s another short poem by Clare of Assisi. She wrote this poem in a letter to Saint Agnes of Prague, whom she encouraged into ever deeper states of union with the Divine.  From the letter, one can deduce that what is "held" (see the first line) is the awareness of the God abiding within.  The “do” in the second verse refers Agnes's "many virtues".

What you hold, may you always hold. What you do, may you do and never abandon. But with swift pace, light step,      unswerving feet,      so that even your steps stir no dust, go forward      securely, joyfully, and swiftly, on the path of prudent happiness,      believing nothing      agreeing with nothing      which would dissuade you from this resolution      or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way, so that you may offer your vows to the Most High in the pursuit of that perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you.

by Clare of Assisi. English version by Regis J. Armstrong, OFM CAP & Ignatius C. Brady, OFM— from Francis and Clare: The Complete Works: The Classics of Western Spirituality. TAKING IT FURTHER

What are the exercises and practices that you can engage, what are the things that you can do, to remember how you’re constantly beheld by the Beloved? 

Art credit: St Clare of Assisi (2018) by Stephen Whatley

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DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU

Mary said to the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” 

–John 2:5

Art: Sacred Heart of Mary by Stephen Whatley

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THE SACRED HEART OF THE WORLD

“The great secret, the great mystery, is this: there is a heart of the world and this heart is the heart of Christ.” –Teilhard de Chardin SJ

“The Sacred Heart is the personal heart of the cosmos … the motor of evolution.” –Teilhard de Chardin SJ (Journal 1940)

“The Sacred Heart is the heart of the heart of the world, the center of the center of the universe.”  –Teilhard de Chardin SJ (Journal 1950)

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CONTEMPLATING RESURRECTION IX

“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.” | N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (HarperOne, 2008) page 293

“Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present.” | N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (HarperOne, 2008) page 29

How are you colonizing earth with the life of heaven?

Art | Resurrection by Stephen B Whatley