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My Lady, Dear,
How could I deny
Your Sweet Voice, so True, yes.
But would I have run to Your arms, so soon, so gladly, if knowing
That first passionate kiss would have ravished so that I
Would never have peace, again, outside Your arms, whether
Such embrace brings solace or pain, yes, ache worse than
Never having been held close to Your supple breasts?
But, I am a man captured, completely! And I long only for You,
Even as You long in Me, with one longing. And all Creatures,
I see in You, and You see in me through them, while
Every eye is a window by which I cannot escape Your watchful gaze.
Thus, my Dear, in choosing You, I surrendered all Choice,
And he who chose, freely, now is a helpless slave. Trapped,
I cry and laugh. With sweet captivity, my Love,
You bless me!
(Brian K. Wilcox)
Hafiz reminds us Love awakens us, loving us from our need to love this Lover, a need prior to our being awakened to the need or the Love. Yes, but more, we are aroused to serve this Beauty, too! For loving is serving and serving is loving. Therefore, true religion, if we can speak of such in regard to this mystical Grace, is to find in the Beloved, as God expresses through the Influx of the Word into time, our true captivity, whereby not only do we love the One, we serve Her, we donate ourselves, through loving all Creatures adorning this earth stage. And, thus, we enter the passion of Christ, the Mystery of His death and resurrection. For we cannot love and serve the One, without loving and serving those whom we are one with in the One, together as one. For they, each one, and we, each one, or of One, or the One would not be One; indeed, this is true, though the One is diverse in Manifestation, as the Trinity teaches us. And how wonderful that the One meets us as the Word in so many ways. And one way that God meets others as the Word is through our love for and service to all sentient beings, all part of the Grand Display of Pure Spirit, in Christ.
Spiritual Exercise
1. Have you ever experienced a Divine Inbreaking? How has it shaped your life, since?
2. Write a short piece of prose or a poem to express your love for God.
3. How can meditation be a means of Loving the Wonderful Presence?
4. What are your favorite images for God?
5. How is seeking to understand persons of different faiths and their ways of referring to God and expressing worship a way of fulfilling Jesus’ command that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves?
6. How might this seeking understanding help bring peace to our world and end war?
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