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LOTUS OF THE HEART
Brian K. Wilcox, a vowed Contemplative in the Christian tradition, offers an interspiritual work focusing on cultivating the Heart of Compassion. His book of mystical Love poetry is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. Brian integrates wisdom from the major spiritual Paths. May you always know that you are blessed!
*Christ the Redeemer in Rio..., Carlos Eduardo, Flickr
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QUOTE
God was not for me a working hypothesis, to fill in gaps left open by a scientific worldview. Nor was He a God enthroned somewhere in outer space. Nor did I ever "feel" any particular "need" for superficial religious routines merely to keep myself happy. I would say that, like most modern men, I have not been much moved by the concept of "getting into heaven" after muddling through this present life.
On the contrary, my conversion ... began with the realization of the presence of God in this present life, in the world and in myself, and that my task as a Christian is to live in full and vital awareness of this ground of my being and of the world's being.
Acts and forms of worship help one to do this, and the Church, with her liturgy and sacraments, give us the essential means of grace. Yet God can work without these means if He so wills.
When I entered the Church I came seeking God, the living God, and not just "the consolations of religion."
*Thomas Merton. Ed. Eileen Taylor. The Modern Spirituality Series. "My conversion."
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Spread-out-like-tent Sky,
Sun adorned, a shining, smiling bride,
Galilee tints, blue and soft too,
arms-open-wide with welcome air,
hospitality immaculate, spectacular,
room to move, space to hear,
ripples of water washing over the feet,
while sounds whirling round celebrate its
center of Love, afire,
orchestrating this dance of deathless Life,
a Resurrection, grand display I often miss
in cramped places,
among filled up spaces,
while Glory is moved into a corner or basement,
maybe just walked around, or on, or over.
To do as Jesus, walking beside
Galilee Sea, a favored place. Why?
To breathe, to be,
close to You.
*Brian Kenneth Wilcox
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Spirit creates spaciousness within and in openness to others. Spaciousness is room for exploration and the joy of new ventures. Spaciousness, ironically, while more expansive, entails a more intimate Intimacy. Spaciousness provides the terrain for the next welcome of Closeness more close.
The Christian posture is the posture of the Cross – a wide openness to all directions, all experience, and in Love. When I open in all directions, abandoning myself in and to Love, I find release from the cramped, stuffy closet of self-constriction. The True Self is already in Love, for the True Self is one with Love. The True Self is this Spaciousness-in-Grace.
Spaciousness is one way of saying "Love." When I am in Love with someone, I say, "Welcome! Come in." When I am in Love with the world, I say, "Welcome! I have room for you." The life of Jesus outdoors, then, mirrors His message: "Come to me all you …," as seen in the Gospel of Matthew.
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*You can order Brian's book An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, from major booksellers. You can contact him at 77ahavah77@gmail.com .
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