Praying

It doesn’t have to be

the blue iris, it could be 

weeds in a vacant lot, or a few 

small stones; just 

pay attention, then patch 

a few words together and don’t try 

to make them elaborate, this isn’t 

a contest but the doorway 

into thanks, and a silence in which 

another voice may speak. 

—Mary Oliver

    Artist: Maureen L. White, www.urbanpasturesart.com

But the silence in the mind

But the silence in the mind

is when we live best, within 

listening distance of the silence 

we call God. This is the deep 

calling to deep of the psalmwriter, 

the bottomless ocean 

We launch the armada of 

our thoughts on, never arriving. 

It is a presence, then, 

whose margins are our margins; 

that calls us out over our 

own fathoms. What to do 

but draw a little nearer to 

such ubiquity by remaining still? 

—R.S. Thomas

    Artist: Maureen L. White, www.urbanpasturesart.com

Open

God, whose love and joy 

are present everywhere, 

can’t come to visit you 

unless you aren’t there. 

—Angelus Silesius

Artist: Maureen L. White, www.urbanpasturesart.com

    

The Madness of Love

The madness of love

is a blessed fate;

and if we understood this

we would seek no other:

It brings into unity

what was divided,

and this is the truth:

Bitterness it makes sweet,

It makes the stranger a neighbor,

And what was lowly it raises on high.

- Hadewijch of Antwerp

    Artist: Maureen L. White, www.urbanpasturesart.com

God Calls Us

"I won't take no for an answer,"

God began to say

to me

when she opened her arms each night

wanting us to

dance.

- Saint Catherine of Sienna - 

    Artist: Maureen L. White, www.urbanpasturesart.com

Words

They

can be a great help -- words.

They can become the Spirit's hands

and lift and

caress

you.

- Meister Eckhart

    Artist: Maureen L. White, www.urbanpasturesart.com

Living Completely

I'm still discovering,

right up to this moment, 

that it is only by living completely in this world 

that one learns to have faith. 

I mean living unreservedly 

in life's duties, problems, 

successes and failures, 

experiences and perplexities. 

In so doing, 

we throw ourselves completely 

into the arms of God.

  - Dietrich Bonhoeffer -

Artist: Maureen L White, www.urbanpasturesart.com