Structure

Character

I love this picture because, though it doesn't show the entire church, the composition highlights the church and portrays it as an actor, not a setting. The church has a strong, almost lifelike presence. The church is somewhat of a beloved legend in this community and I've certainly felt it as something alive in the short time I've "known" it, even though it's been undergoing interior renovations and I've never attended a Mass or service inside. During this time, it is no less present and no less alive.

Twilight

End of the day, end of the summer.

Deireadh lá, deireadh seachtaine, deireadh shamhradh; is lag é an grian, is laidir é mo chroí.

Clash of the Ash

Lace

Balancing on the Edge

This thought kept me in balance this week:


The First Principle and Foundation

The goal of our life is to live with God forever.

God, who loves us, gave us life.

Our own response of love allows God's life to flow into us without limit.

All the things in this world are gifts of God,

presented to us so that we can know God more easily

and make a return of love more readily.

As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God

insofar as they help us develop as loving persons.

But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, 

they displace God

 and so hinder our growth toward our goal.

In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance

before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice

and are not bound by some obligation.

We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,

wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.

For everything has the potential of calling forth in us 

a deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our one choice should be this:

I want and I choose what better leads

to God deepening God's life in me.

-St. Ignatius of Loyola as paraphrased by David L. Fleming, SJ

Morning and then Evening

At the end of the day the rain that woke me up this morning has stopped.
I watch the twilight seep around the curtains,
and listen to the tap of the collected rainwater and the dew
drop from the fire escape.