Thursday, October 20, 2011

Go deeper still

"Only in your depths can you come to know the love that surrounds you on all sides. And the most direct way to your depths are silence and prayer."
Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen, "This is the Day the Lord Has Made"

I remember coming away from my silent retreat feeling as though I'd met a new friend and not wanting to leave that friend. There, in the silence and quiet, I felt a peace I'd never known before. I remember asking my new friend to please travel with me back to Idaho so the peace would last. So, when I read this today, I understood well what Fr. Stinissen was saying. We can't appreciate ourselves if we don't know ourselves and the REAL selves we need to get to know are deep inside. There, is the True self, the Authentic self, the self that God knows and touches. That self is so often lost in the world, amid all of our daily doings. Our daily doings are essential, of course, but still, we need to take the time to go deep. Fr. Stinissen also says, "The deepest human longing is to be completely affirmed as we are, and to be loved unconditionally." And my favorite quotation is, "All human longing is longing for God." (Goethe) And they are so much the same. Only God can love us unconditionally and as we really are--the way we long to be loved. And the way to find that, to experience that deep love is to find the Silence. Love, heidi

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