Reflection
We who are alive today are prophets of a new way, tellers of a new story
where God dwells not on some heavenly throne
but in every breath of living things.
Let us sing out
that the heaven we sought
is within and around us.
That wherever we look,
We find the Holy One looking back.
And let us not lose heart
no matter what storms batter and buffet us.
For we are One with life
and Life holds us firmly in the palm of Its Hand.
Excerpt fromJan Phillips
Prayer
Where shall I go from your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence?
Psalm 139
Action
Reflect on your concept of yourself in relation to God’s presence and the nature of this world. Has it changed? Are you familiar with the impact of the knowledge we now have on our religious explanations? Do some research on the internet on the ideas expressed above.
Suggested Reading
See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
Isaiah 65:17
Behold, I am making all things new.
Rev 21:5
The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.
Pope Francis
Creation is thus God’s presence in creatures. The Greek Orthodox theologian Philip Sherrard has written that “Creation is nothing less than the manifestation of God’s hidden Being.” This means that we and all other creatures live by a sanctity that is inexpressibly intimate, for to every creature, the gift of life is a portion of the breath and spirit of God.
Wendell Berry
Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.
Dalai Lama
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
George Bernard Shaw
The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up.
John C. Maxwell
The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.
Vaclav Havel
Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful, stable and peaceful place.
Natalie Portman
You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
Abraham Lincoln