The Great Divorce

"the action of pity will live for ever; the passion of pity will not."
-C.S. Lewis: The Great Divorce, p.111

Theophilus

But if you say,"Show me thy God," I would reply, "Show me yourself, and I will show you my God." Show, then, that the eyes of your soul are capable of seeing, and the ears of your heart able to hear...For God is seen by those who are enabled to see him when they have the eyes of their soul opened...So also when there is sin in man, such a man cannot behold God...The appearance of God is ineffable and indescribable and cannot be seen by eyes of flesh...When thou shalt have put off the mortal and put on incorruption, then shalt thou see God worthily. For God will raise they flesh immortal with they soul; and then, having become imortal, thou shalt see the Imortal, if now you believe in him. --Theophilus to Autolycus

Homily on the Love of God (Man 19)

They ran impetuously along the way of sorrows, bearing the torments of their own hearts. They crucified their members and passions contentedly. They drank the bitterness of gall with pleasure. Beloved! You robbed them of everything, even their own selves. They felt no longer alive, for it was you who lived in them... When harships surrounded them on every side, they no longer sought to be exempted from them. Instead, they asked for more sufferings, they pleaded for the patience to endure them for their Beloved's sake.
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These people were drunk with love. When they heard their Beloved say, "Blessed are those who mourn now," they could not stop mourning.
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What mourning! The man's heart would ignite with love, would explode with living water! When his knees could no longer support him in his prayer he fell on his face. Trying to stand up, he would fall down again. His eyes streamed with flaming tears, burning his cheaks with their fire and flowing down on the earth to purge it from its curse.
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How shall I describe to you, divine love! You have elevated the human soul and seated her in the light of her Maker. You have washed her until she looked like her Master. The loving soul tamed the wildest beasts; they saw in her the image of her Maker, they could breathe his heavenly fragrance.
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It is not only wild beasts who submitted to the [saintly] human soul, but even demons were terrified at seeing her illumined with love. They fled when they saw in her the image of God's authority. ---St. John of Dalyatha, Homily on Love and the Love of God, in "The Homilies of the Spiritual Elder [John of Dalyatha]," Manuscript 19.

Contemplation

In contemplation, it is truth that actually begins to surround one's mind and to overwhelm it. The more the mind is quiet and silent, the more divine truth radiates, shines, and transfigures within it.
--p.56 Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way by Matthew The Poor

Whispers in the Dark; Skillet

Whispers In The Dark Lyrics
Despite the lies that you're making
Your love is mine for the taking
My love is just waiting
To turn your tears to roses
-
Despite the lies that you're making
Your love is mine for the taking
My love is just waiting
To turn your tears to roses
-
I will be the one that's gonna hold you
I will be the one that you run to
My love is a burning, consuming fire
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No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes I'll light the night with stars
Hear the whispers in the dark
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes you know I'm never far
Hear the whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark
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You feel so lonely and ragged
You lay there broken and naked
My love is just waiting
To clothe you in crimson roses
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I will be the one that's gonna find you
I will be the one that's gonna guide you
My love is a burning, consuming fire
-
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes I'll light the night with stars
Hear the whispers in the dark
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes you know I'm never far
Hear the whispers in the dark
-
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes I'll light the night with stars
Hear the whispers in the dark
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes you know I'm never far
Hear the whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_ct6RiJDyQ

Under The Lone Tree

--Kathy Quient
(shhh don't tell...she won 1st place in the Dana Point Branch Library poetry contest)

The sun shines down,

The stream runs quiet,

The distant noise a mere hum,

As the wind steadily wraps me is coolness.

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May I linger here for just a little while longer? May I

intrude upon this sacred consolation?

-

Rest my eyes for just a little while longer;

Perhaps read under the lone tree?

-

And what of this book I hold in my hands?

My mind seeks to take me on some grand adventure,

But I need not allow my body to follow,

Lest I wake from this beloved dream.

-

May I bask in this precious place of solace? May I

grasp this moment just a little while longer,

-

Lest the chaos of my days intrude upon my dwelling.

"God did not create the death of either soul or body. He did not say, 'Die in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' but, 'You will die in the day you eat of it.' Nor did He say, 'Retrun to dust,' but, 'You will return to dust,' foretelling and allowing and not prohibiting what would happen."
--Palamas