Friday, March 14, 2008

Recently read

"And He said, 'My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.'"
Exodus 33:14

THOU hast made me known to friends whom I knew not. THOU hast given me seats in homes not my own. THOU hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger.

I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter, I forget that there abides the old in the new, and that there also, THOU abidest.

Through birth and death, in this world or in others, wherever THOU leadest me, it is THOU the same, the one companion of my endless life, who ever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar.

When one knows THEE then alien there is none, then no door is shut.

Oh! grant me my prayer that I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the ONE in the play of the many.
--Mother Gavrilia, quoted in The Ascetic of Love
(At least I think she wrote it. The book just says that it "was found among her papers," but that it really describes her.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is really something, Phyllis. And, what a thought, coming from you, after all you all have experienced. It is only Him, after all... Love, Julie

Agape said...

Truly I thought those were your words until I got to the end!