A Call to Prayer
by Hildegard of Bingen
The earth is at the same time mother,
She is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.
The earth of humankind contains all moistness, all verdancy, all germinating power.
It is in so many ways fruitful.
All creation comes from it. Yet it forms not only the basic raw material for humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation
of God's son.
by Hildegard of Bingen
The earth is at the same time mother,
She is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.
The earth of humankind contains all moistness, all verdancy, all germinating power.
It is in so many ways fruitful.
All creation comes from it. Yet it forms not only the basic raw material for humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation
of God's son.
It is not you or I who shapes God,
it is God that shapes you and me.
If then you are the work of God,
await the hand of the artist who does all things in due season.
Offer him your heart,
soft and tractable, and keep the form in which the artist has fashioned for you.
Let the clay be moist,
so it won’t be hardened
and lose the imprint of God’s fingers.
Attributed to St. Irenaeus
it is God that shapes you and me.
If then you are the work of God,
await the hand of the artist who does all things in due season.
Offer him your heart,
soft and tractable, and keep the form in which the artist has fashioned for you.
Let the clay be moist,
so it won’t be hardened
and lose the imprint of God’s fingers.
Attributed to St. Irenaeus
It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him.- from Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation