Sunday July 28: The Path of Conscious Love

To Practice:

• Choose love and peace above all options.  Practice humility, patience, gentleness and forgiveness in your interactions and relationships.  The Welcoming Prayer practice can be a great assist to this intention.

If you wish, you may re-read the full email reflection here: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2024-word-of-the-week-july28

“The love of God is manifested in sheer vulnerability”. Yesterday the Jesuit community in Sacramento gathered to celebrate the life of Father Art who took his own life on July 4. All were reminded of human fragility, even in – especially in – those we look to for strength. It was a time of shared humility before the great mystery of life and death and life after death. None of us can do this thing we call “life” alone.

This week these two phrases on a  a walk though of my life back to my childhood: “the way of conscious love” and :”the most excellent way” via the image. Some thirty or so years ago I began to explore the significance of colors and shapes as in naming one’s experiences. The color brown signifies fertilization for me; the brown letters reminds me of branding ( cattle for instance or soldiers in the Roman Army). The seal of the Divine is being branded deep within my being. Those brown shapes perhaps searing of branding flames  around the heart. Where I live fertilizers are very important in  producing plants of all sorts. Could it be that the evacuations of my Indwelling Spirit produces a fertilizer, searing more deeply into me the very image of God deep within. It seems each time I consent to confront the insufficiencies of my ego/shadow self,  something is burned away making room for more letting go  to claim the gem of  mercy: “By showing mercy, we increase the mercy we receive.” My heart is being challenged to lavish mercy and to be open the receiving of mercy in the depth of my being.

Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences, Adeline. In Wednesday’s prayer group, I observed that the image reflected the existence of Divine Love in each human heart, smoldering with potential. It is only with our conscious choice (consent) does this Love burst into flame, burning away all that is not love in the self. I feel this burning more and more. But then I wondered why the heart is upside down? It came to me later that it represents a different order and experience of Love, one beyond the norm of human experience and comprehension. The radiating power of this image is felt in my body, and feels like it is both a light from within and without — “over all, through all and in all.” – Pamela

Choosing love and peace above all options this week, I found I had more compassion for those in pain, physically and emotionally. I pray peace into situations that appear in the news. My breath prayer: “surrender all judgment to God.” <3 linda

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