Whoever Wishes To Be Great

Blessed is he who, dwelling amidst many people, does not turn towards the many, but directs his whole heart to God.

Blessed is he who purchases Christ with all his belongings and has, as his only possession, the cross, which he raises on high.

Blessed is he who, administering his cleanly-gained possessions, extends God's hand to those who are in need...

Blessed is he who, having authority over the people by holy and great sacrifices brings Christ to earthly folk.

Blessed is the one, who, being a child of the flock, a most perfect nursling, keeps the place of the heavenly Christ.

Blessed is he who, by his pure mind's forceful movements, beholds the brilliance of the heavenly lights.

Blessed is he who honors the Lord by much-toiling hands: and for many people, this is the law of life.

All these things fill up the heavenly receptacles in which are stored the fruit of our souls, whilst every several virtue leads to a different place.

For many are the mansions pertaining to different lives.

Blessed is he, whom the mighty Spirit has shown to be poor in passions,

whoever leads a life of repentance;

who can never get his fill of celestial food;

who, by kindness, becomes inheritor to great things;

who, by bowels of mercy, draws down God's great compassion, being a friend of peace and pure in heart;

who, for the sake of the great-famed Christ, has endured many sufferings, and will find great honor.

Keep the way of these people, whichever you prefer.

-- Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Saint Gregory Narzianzen (390) was a monk, a bishop, and a writer of letters, prayers, and poems.

Prayer Of Strength

Have mercy on your people. Lord

In our weakness, grant us your strength.

In our refusal to suffer for your sake, grant us your forgiveness.

In our reluctance to take up the cross, grant us your courage.

O Creator, the source of all our strength, you nourish us to walk the way of the cross that leads us into your kingdom.

Amen.

The Cross and Christ’s Love

Jesus came into this world for one purpose.

He came to give us the Good News that God loves us, that God is love, that he loves you, and he loves me.

He wants us to love one another as he loves each one of us.

Let us love him.

How did the Father love him?

He gave him to us.

How did Jesus love you and me? – by giving his life.

He gave all that he had – his life – for you and me.

He died on the cross because he loves us, and he wants us to love one another as he loves each one of us.

When we look at the cross, we know how he loved us.

When we look at the manger we know how he loves us now, you and me, your family, and everybody’s family with a tender love.

And God loves us with a tender love.

That is all that Jesus came at teach us, the tender love of God.

“I have called you by your nature, your are mine.”

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Seek Him In All Souls

by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

As fruit ripens in the course of nature, so it is in the course of nature that the soul should mature; and it is no use being disappointed or disheartened about ourselves and about those near and dear to us, worrying because our husband, wife, father, or mother does not look at spiritual matters in the same way as we do.

In the first place no man, however wise or pious, has the right to judge another soul.

Who knows what is hidden behind every action, appearance, speech, and manner?

No one.

And when a person begins to know what is hidden in the human soul, in spite of all deluding appearances he will have respect, a respect for mankind, as he realizes that in the depth of every soul is He whom one worships.

Just as the religious person has a religious attitude in a temple, so the Sufi has that attitude before every being, for to him every being is the temple of the divine.

Therefore the Sufi is always before his Lord.

Whether a servant, a master, a friend, or a foe is before him, he is in the presence of God.

For the one whose God is in the high heavens there is a vast gulf between him and God, but the one who has God always before him -- he is always in God's presence, and there is no end to his happiness

God is in all things, and still more He is in all beings.

Seek Him in all souls, good and bad, wise and foolish, attractive or unattractive, for in the depth of each there is God.

Man swimming in the sea does not know the fish living in the sea, so we living in God do not recognize all souls living in God also.

He is all around and about us at every moment, we are living His life, we are breathing His breath, and yet we are ignorant of the perfection of beauty which unites and inspires every soul.

Seek Him in all souls,
good or bad,
wise and foolish,
attractive and unattractive;
in the depths of each there is God.

The Secret Of God

by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The knowledge of God is beyond man's reason.

Man only perceives things he is capable of perceiving.

He cannot raise his imagination above what he is used to, and he cannot reach beyond his imagination to where the being of God is.

The secret of God is hidden in the knowledge of unity.

Man thinks, 'What can unity give me? Can it bring me happiness? What is there in it?'

He can get the answer by observing and studying life more closely.

See what an atmosphere the harmony of ten people can create; the power of love and the influence created by ten people is much greater than that created by one.

Think then what would be the blessing for humanity if nations, races, and communities were united!

The pairs of opposites keep us in an illusion and make us think, 'This is this, and that is that'.

At the same time by throwing a greater light upon things we shall find in the end that they are quite different from what we had thought.

Seeing the nature and character of life, the Sufi says that it is not very important to distinguish between two opposites.

What is most important is to recognize that One which is hiding behind it all.

Naturally after realizing life the Sufi climbs the ladder which leads him to unity, to the idea of unity which comes through the synthesis of life, by seeing One in all things, in all beings.

The knowledge of God is beyond man's reason;
the secret of God is hidden in the knowledge of unity.

The Purpose Of Life

By Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

As to the religion and the moral of the mystic, the mystic has one moral and that is love.

And he has one aim in his religion and that is to make a God a reality.

Therefore, his God becomes a greater God than the God of millions of people who only imagine that there is a God somewhere.

To him God is a reality.

The work of the inner life is to make God a reality, so that He is no more an imagination; that this relationship that man has with God may seem more real than any other relationship in the world; and when this happens, then all relationships, however near and dear, become less binding.

But at the same time, a person does not thus become cold; he becomes more loving. It is the godless man who is cold, impressed by the selfishness and lovelessness of the world, because he partakes of those conditions in which he lives.

But the one who is in love with God, the one who has established his relationship with God, his love becomes living ...

Why is it that among simple and illiterate people a belief in God is to be found, and among the most intellectual, there seems to be a lack of that belief?

The answer is that the intellectual ones have their reason.

They will not believe in what they do not see...

But the process that the wise consider best for the seeker after truth to adopt is the process of first idealizing God and then realizing God.

Among millions of believers in God, there is hardly one who makes God a reality, to so many He is an imagination, to many He is in a mosque, a church, or a temple.

Many wonder if God is really.

Many others think God is goodness, He is a personality separate from us, He is most high, most pure, most beautiful, but He is separate and difficult to reach.

Many think that as it takes so long to reach this planet or that, God must be further away still.

The purpose of one's whole life is to make God a reality.