April Theme surrender

4-13-08
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty,my memory, my understanding and my whole will.All that I am and all that I possess You have given me.I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will.Give me only Your love and Your grace;with these I will be rich enough,and will desire nothing more.
Jesuit - St.. Ignatius Loyola - 16th century





What you are you do not see.
What you see – that you are not.
Tagore

The Journey Starts Here
Don’t go off sight seeing.
The real journey is right here.
The great excursion starts
from exactly were you are.
You are the world.
You have everything you need.
You are the secret.
You are the wide opened.

Don’t look for the remedy for your troubles
outside yourself.
You are the medicine.
You are the cure for your own sorrow.
Rumi

Surrender
There is really nothing else in life more worth doing. And to assent to the spiritual journey is to say “yes” to our own ultimate growth as well as that of others. … a cause of enormous joy.
Wayne Teasdale


To surrender oneself is something morethan to devote oneself, more than to give oneself,it is even more than to abandon oneself to God.To surrender oneself is to die to everything and to self,to keep it continually turned towards God.Self-surrender is no longer to seek self-satisfaction in anythingbut solely God's good pleasure.It should be added that self-surrender is to followthat complete spirit of detachmentwhich holds to nothing;neither to persons nor to things,neither to time nor to place.It means to accept everything, to submit to everything.
But perhaps you will think this is a difficult thing.Do not let yourself be deceived; there is nothing so easy to do,nothing so sweet to put into practice.The whole thing consists in making a generous act at the very beginning,by saying with all the sincerity of your heart:"My God, I wish to be entirely thine; deign to accept my offering"— then all is said. ...You must always remember that you have surrendered yourself.
St. Therese Couderc – 1864



In days of yore, an older master was traveling along a country road, followed by a disciple carrying his bags. As they walked, they saw lands being plowed while farmers and oxen were strained to the utmost. Countless worms and insects were killed in the process, and birds were swooping to eat them. This led the disciple to wonder to himself, "How hard it is to make a living. I will cultivate with all my strength, become a Buddha and save all these creatures." Immediately the Master, an Arhat able to read the thoughts of others, turned around and said, "Let me have those heavy bags and I will follow you." The disciple was puzzled but did as instructed and walked in front. As they continued on their way with the hot sun bearing down on them, dust swirling all around them, the road stretching endlessly in front, the disciple grew more and more tired. It wasn't long before he thought to himself, "There are so many sentient beings and there is so much suffering, how can I possibly help them all? Perhaps I should try to help myself only." Immediately, the Master behind him said, "Stop. Now you carry the bags and follow me." The puzzled disciple did as told, knowing he was not supposed to ask questions. He took up the bags again and walked behind. This sequence repeated itself several times. The Master walked in front with the disciple carrying the bags, then the disciple in front with the Master carrying the bags, back and forth, until they stopped for lunch. Then the disciple gathered his courage and asked the reason why. The Master said, "When you had exalted thoughts of saving all sentient beings, you had the Bodhi Mind, the mind of a Bodhisattva, and I as an Arhat had to follow you. But as soon as you had selfish thoughts, you were no longer a Bodhisattva, and being junior to me in years and cultivation, you had to carry my bags!"
Buddhist story




And what of truth? We don’t tend to see the truth as something that could set us free because it means embracing pain, acknowledging our differences and conflict, taking our real situation into account.
Kathleen Norris




From the cowardice that dare not face new truth,
From the laziness that is contented with half-truth,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
God, deliver us.
Modern prayer from Kenya