Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Gospel of Thomas: Logion 14


Yeshua says...

If you fast
you will only be giving birth to sin in yourself.
If you pray,
your prayers will come back to haunt you.
If you give to charity,
you will create evil within your own spirit.

If, however, you travel through a region
and they welcome you,
eat whatever is put in front of you,
and heal their sick.
For it is not what goes into your mouth which contaminates you,
but what comes out of it.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Steps of Love


The first step in love is losing your head.
After that, the petty ego,
you then give up your life and bear its calamities.
With this behind you, go, go…
polish the residue left upon the mirror of your heart.

—Fakhr al-Din Iraqi

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Gospel of Thomas: Logion 13


Yeshua asked his students,

Tell me, then, who am I like?
To whom will you compare me?

Simon Peter said, “You are like a just angel.”

Matthew said, “You are a philosopher of wisdom.”

Thomas said, “Master, I cannot find words
to express who you really are.”

Yeshua said, “Thomas, it is no longer necessary
for me to be your Master, for you are drinking
from the gushing spring I have opened for you,
and you have become intoxicated.”

Then Yeshua took Thomas aside
and spoke three sayings to him in private.
When Thomas returned to the company of his companions
they, of course, asked him,
“What did Yeshua say to you?”
“If I were to tell you
even one of the things he spoke to me,” Thomas replied,
“you would pick up these rocks and stone me,
and then fire would blaze out of them and burn you.”

Monday, September 12, 2011

Psalm 13


How Long?

1. How long will I feel this deep, deep sense of loss,
O God,
that I’m a forgotten one, abandoned and alone?

2. How long must I suffer this deep grief of soul,
this path of pain that fills my days
and all my nights?
How long will my enemies take advantage of my woe?
How long?

3. You, it seems, have turned your face away;
turn back, I pray, and answer me.
Fill up my eyes with light again,
before I fall asleep in death.

4. How long will all my foes prevail, rejoicing in my fate?
Let not my many failings be
their last and final word.


5. I’ve thrown everything I am and have
upon your mercy, Lord,
I’ve put my trust in you and in your loving care,

6. So at the last may my prayer be praise
for a mercy ever sure.



Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Scent of Non-Being


Today I feel trapped,
tightly bound in the cage of my own existence.
I need the scent of you -—
beyond time,
beyond being --
to set me free.


So just for a moment
lend me the polish of your grace,
your presence,
so I can scour the rust from the mirror of my heart -—
my own deepest Reality.

—Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawadi

Friday, September 9, 2011

Psalm 12


1. Help us, Lord!
Where in this world has all the goodness gone?

2. Where are those who speak for truth, not lies?
It’s all flattery, smooth speech,
and double-heartedness.

3. O that you would cut loose these lying lips,
and gag the braggart’s mouth.

4. O that you would stop all those who think or say,
“I’ll take advantage with my tongue!
Who owns these lips but me?”

5. God says, it is for the poor and needy ones I come,
their cries of grief I hear.
I’ll rise for them and make a place of peace,
a place secure.

6. Your words, O God, are pure as silver refined from ore,
as good as gold, tried seven times in refiner’s fire.

7. Watch over us, protect us all,
in this sad world we pray,

8. Where evil rises up on every side,
and prowls the hidden alleys of the heart;
Where worthlessness is highly prized
and made the king of all.


Monday, September 5, 2011

Checkmate



You are the Sovereign, and you have checkmated every beautiful soul.
You are the Light, and all else are the rays of your Sun.
You are the Fire, and every created thing is your burning lamp.
You are the Essence, and this entire world is your living sign.

—Tuti Hamadani

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Psalm 11


Fly, Fly Away Like a Bird

1. Fly, fly away like a bird into the mountains, you said.
But I had already fled for refuge into God.

2. Look at evil, how it takes its bow in hand
and sets an arrow to the string.
It aims to kill the good of heart!

3. See, the foundations of the world are crumbling now,
broken into bits.
So what are the righteous ones to do?

4. Lift up your eyes to the Lord of heaven.
Fix them on the One enthroned forever there.

5. Behold the gaze of God rests on all humankind.
God takes our measure at a glance.

6. Test all of us, O God, the wicked and the good.
You hate our love of violence.

7. Rain fire and burning coals upon all wickedness.
Sweep clean with your hot burning breath.

8. Take delight in justice done, for God is just.
You shall see the face of God and live.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Gospel of Thomas: Logion 11


Yeshua says,

The sky and all that lies
in the dimensions above it
will cease to exist.

The dead know nothing of life,
and the living will never die.
When you consume that which is already dead,
you are turning it back into life.

So, then, when you too re-emerge into the Light,
what will you do?
For on the day when you were created one,
you also became two,
but when you come to realize your twoness again,
what will you do?


Friday, September 2, 2011

Throat-song


Let your throat-song be so clear and so strong
that it will make even an emperor
fall full length and prostrate
at the door of the Beloved One.

—Rumi