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When society is made up of persons who know no interior solitude, it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when people are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, then society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate.
*Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude.
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Cleland McAfee, a Presbyterian Pastor, was living in Chicago when he received word his two nieces had died from diphtheria, and within twenty-four hours of each other. The only place McAfee found solace was in the Book of Psalms in the Christian Bible. As he meditated on verses from Psalms, he wrote the words and tune to the hymn “Near to the Heart of God.” At the funeral McAfee sang the hymn for the first time. Another report says a Park College choir sang the hymn outside the quarantined house.
There is a place of quiet rest,
Near to the heart of God,
A place where sin cannot molest,
Near to the heart of God.
There is a place of comfort sweet,
Near to the heart of God,
A place where we our Savior meet,
Near to the heart of God.
There is a place of full release,
Near to the heart of God,
A place where all is joy and peace,
Near to the heart of God.
Chorus
O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
Sent from the heart of God,
Hold us who wait before Thee,
Near to the heart of God.
For the spiritually-hearted, all flows from this Nearness; the Center is the Replenishing Wellspring for life, for thought and action. This Intimacy with Love is alive, is Life. Grace quiets us to Grace, a Grace beyond thought and, so, beyond religion for before religion. Our seeking the Center relaxes, as the Center itself ceases our seeking. A profound, loving acceptance, then arises, with no thought of needing to resist doing or to do. Here, as I have written often, we find Love is Its own fulfillment. We find our self fulfilled and, so, content and receptive. Receptive to what? To say "receptive" is enough, no content need be assigned to this graced Solitude.
*Arem Nahariim-Samadhi
* * * CLOSING BLESSING * * *
Grace and Peace to All
The Sacred in Me bows to the Sacred in You
*Move your cursor over photos to see photographer and name of photo.
*Lotus of the Heart is a Work of Arem Nahariim-Samadhi. Bless You Each & All!
