Posts by Ralph Patrick

“Be still . . . and know that I Am God.”  Psalm 46 “Empty yourself of everything.  Let the mind become still. . . Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.”  Verse 16, The Tao Te Ching Today I awoke to stillness.  Quiet.  No traffic sounds.  The first real snow…

“But I say to you love your enemies . . . Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Jesus the Christ, The Gospel of Matthew, chapter five. “He is his own worst enemy.”  Are you familiar with that phrase?  I first heard it spoken by my parents.  I don’t recall the context, but it…

“Love is a vow”  Christ the Eternal Tao “Love is patient, kind, longsuffering . . .” St. Paul “Nothing is so hungry as the human heart.”  Those words of Mariana Caplan concisely describe the simultaneous joy and sorrow, the agony and ecstasy that comes with love; the rocket fuel for human life. But what is…

I rise today in Heavens might; In Sun’s brightness; In Moon’s radiance; In Fire’s glory; in Lightning’s quickness; In Wind’s swiftness; In Sea’s depth; In Earth’s stability; in Rock’s fixity. I rise today with the power of God to pilot me; God’s strength to sustain me; God’s wisdom to guide me; God’s eye to look…

“John came clothed in camel’s hair saying . . . He must become greater, I must become less.”  The Gospel According to St. Mark “Whoever exalts himself will be lowered, and whoever lowers herself will be exalted.” Jesus the Christ in The Gospel According to St. Luke Iona is never far from my thoughts.  I…

“As much as you have done it unto the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me.” “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” I almost never watch TV and seldom read the news.  Both are toxic to the soul.  For me it’s like intentionally visiting a waste disposal…

“You shall love God . . . and love your neighbor as yourself” Jesus the Christ “I found the greatest love of all inside of me . . . learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all”  Whitney Houston It’s true, what Whitney sang.  I wonder, did she believe it?   If she did…

“Just as I Am . . .”  Amazing Grace “Be Yourself . . . Everyone else is already taken.” “I Am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.”  Psalm 139 This last week I watched “The Master” staring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Juaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams.  They are all amazing at their craft.  They are the type of…

“Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs, appearing beautiful on the outside but filled with dead bones on the inside.” Jesus the Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 23 Hypocrite: From the Greek “hypokrites” meaning “actor” or “one who wears a mask”. My dear mother Jean recounted the…

“A sword shall pierce your soul . . .”  Simeon to Mary “The Way reveals His love by giving hope where this no hope.  The Way reveals Himself, but only in a reign of stillness, when the soul is alone, imprisoned in the heart, seeking Him alone in her pain.”  Christ the Eternal Tao There…