Morgan Lake, in the hills above La Grande OR, is a wonderful place anytime of year. Fall colors are always jubilant. Meg and I were fortunate to be walking there with our dogs just as these paddle boarders were within the golden cottonwood reflections on Morgan Lake.
“There is no end to prayer. It echoes on forever in your soul. Long after the visible demonstration has been made and forgotten, the prayer that produced it continues to work for your spiritual advancement. The creative power of a ‘God thought’ is unlimited and eternal.” Emmett Fox
“Love unites all, whether created or uncreated. The heart of God, the heart of all creation, and our own hearts become one in love. That’s what all the great mystics have been trying to tell us through the ages. Benedict, Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch of Brabant, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Dag Hammarskjöld, Thomas Merton, and many others, all in their own ways and their own languages, have witnessed to the unifying power of the divine love. All of them, however, spoke with a knowledge that came to them not through intellectual arguments but through contemplative prayer. The Spirit of Jesus allowed them to see the heart of God, the heart of the universe, and their own hearts as one. It is in the heart of God that we can come to the full realization of the unity of all that is, created and uncreated.” Henri Nouwen
Troop 514 recently took its annual September backpacking, camping, rock climbing weekend. Eleven Scouts enjoyed their time camping at Hoffer Lake above Anthony Lake and then rock climbing higher up. We have been doing this event since the early eighties.
We set up our tents in the rain. When the clouds cleared in the evening, we enjoyed a spectacular sunset that reflected in Hoffer Lake.
“Prayer is the sum of our relationship with God. We are what we pray. The degree of our faith is the degree of our prayer. The strength of our hope is the strength of our prayer. The warmth our charity is the warmth of our prayer. No more nor less. Our prayer has had a beginning because we have had a beginning. But it will have no end. It will accompany us into eternity and will be completed in our contemplation of God, when we are joined in the harmony of heaven and are filled with the flood of God’s delights. The story of our earthly-heavenly life is the story of our prayer.” Carlo Carretto.
“Practice an extended period of private prayer, reflection, and meditation, pondering, percolating—whatever you want to call it. But do something everyday on a regular basis to engage in a conscious dialogue with your inner self and God. If every waking moment is filled with input and stimulation, your soul’s voice is being drowned out. You’ll eventually b begin to experience spiritual numbness, a blasé feeling…
Beloved, God is love. 1 John 4:7
“It was easy to love God in all that was beautiful. The lessons of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me to embrace God in all things.” St. Francis of Assisi
Meg and I recently saw the excellent movie, “Won’t You be My Neighbor.” This movie, about the life of Mr. Rogers, reminded us that amidst the “not good,” the evil, it is so important consciously to cultivate that which is good and loving. In our lives we must do more than merely avoid that which is bad. We must reach out and build up others, be healers and peacemakers, as best we can.
”As a pilgrim we, we sometimes journey.
We often know not which way to turn.
But there is One who knows the road.
Who’ll help us carry, who’ll help us carry,
our heavy load.”Aretha Franklin, from her album “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism”
