As we continue through Passion Week, here are a few thoughts for our minds & hearts to munch on from the amazingly prolific (& one of my absolutely favorite spiritual writers) – the Trappist monk Thomas Merton…
“The desert is the home of despair. And despair, now, is everywhere. Let us not think that our interior solitude consists in the acceptance of defeat. We cannot escape anything by consenting tacitly to be defeated. Despair is an abyss without bottom. Do not think to close it by consenting to it and trying to forget you have consented.
This, then, is our desert: to live facing despair, but not to consent. To trample it down under hope in the Cross. To wage war against despair unceasingly. That war is our wilderness. If we wage it courageously, we will find Christ at our side. If we cannot face it, we will never find Him.” Thomas Merton (Thoughts in Solitude)
Here’s to waging war against despair with COURAGE & HOPE from the Presence of Jesus next to us, above us, below us, around us…& within our hearts, filling us with Love (the Heavenly Kind) that makes flowers grow – even in a desert!
grace, peace & Flowers in the Desert
Virginia : )
Roses in the Rubble 
Thanks, Ginny! These are good words to ponder. Luv u, Cin
Great words from a great, deeply spiritual man! Thanx Cin – we’ll miss you like crazy on Sunday : ( but hope (& pray) that your Easter with Mark will be Extra Blessed!
grace, peace & challenging words – Gin
WoW! What an awesome looking place to get close to God! Very cool, Virginia!
✟ Praying you and yours have a blessed Easter ✟ Keith
Very awesome place (not too far from Jericho, in the West Bank/Palestine) where the Greek Orthodox monks pray & pray… & pray some more!
praying that YOU have a blessed Easter, too — & that you stay WELL after your ER visit (altho flirting with the nurses couldn’t have been TOO awful : )
grace, peace & Easter Blessings – Virginia : )
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