Here's the Valentine's Day quote I worn to the tubing party last night. Actually, it was more of an arts and crafts "Love Fest" which was fine for me. Just wish we had taken some more photos of the REMARKABLE ARTWORK!
"It happens sometimes that a sweet and joyful love is awakened in the heart and swells like a great wave through the soul by itself without any effort at all on our part. One is so powerfully moved by love, so passionately drawn up into love, so strongly taken by love, so tenderly embraced and utterly mastered by love that she surrenders herself entirely to its power. In this embrace the soul experiences directly the radiance of the Divine, a wonderful bliss, pure freedom, ecstatic sweetness, complete overpowering by love, a waterfall of ineffable delight. She feels that all her senses are sacred and she is so totally engulfed by love and so deeply immersed in love that she is one with love, and will never cease to be love. For the beauty of love has clothed her, the power of love has submerged her, the holiness of love has consumed her, the greatness of love has so sublimely drawn her into herself that she will always love and do nothing but acts of love."
Beatrice of Nazarath, c. 1200 - 1268
Beatrice was a Cistercian nun, school in the tradition of Spiritual Friendship. You can learn more about her on a remarkable web site called, Gratefulness.org. It's worth visiting regularly as is it's sister web site, SpiritualityHealth.com. Their editorial content has won awards for three straight years, and their essay on Practicing Love on Valentine's Day lives up to that action / thought provoking tradition.
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