Sheep are herded in front of the Eiffel Tower during a demonstration by several hundred stockbreeders in Paris in protest of what they say is insufficient aid to counter surging costs.

Dragon Relief, 6th century BC glazed brick panel, The Babylon Exhibit, British Museum.

Filipino children living atop tombstones play basketball inside a public cemetery in Navotas, northern Manila.

Thanksgiving

Oh God, in deepest gratitude, we say “Thank You”
for all the good you have done and for inspiring us
to respond to your perfect goodness.
Amen.

A social psychologist at the University of Leicester analyzed data from UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, the World Health Organization, and several others to create a global projection of subjective well-being: the first world map of happiness. The top 10 happiest nations of the world are:

1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland (pre-financial collapse)
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada

The USA ranks #23.

Remember the Cuyahoga?

Workers clean waste along the banks of the Yangtze River near the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, Hubei province.
Remember when the Cuyahoga River (near Cleveland, OH) was similarly covered with debris and oil? It caught fire and burned, prompting reclamation efforts.

A creator's sense of humor

Anteaters are known as knuckle-walkers. They lean on their front knuckles and fold their claws beneath their palms as they travel.

An Aztec dancer joins an annual pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City.

Tell me why it is we don’t lift our voices these days
And cry over what is happening. Have you noticed
The plans are made for Iraq and the ice cap is melting?

I say to myself: “Go on, cry. What’s the sense
Of being an adult and having no voice? Cry out!
See who will answer! This is Call and Answer!”

We will have to call especially loud to reach
Our angels, who are hard of hearing; they are hiding
In the jugs of silence filled during our wars.

Have we agreed to so many wars that we can’t
Escape from silence? If we don’t lift our voices, we allow
Others (who are ourselves) to rob the house.

How come we’ve listened to the great criers—Neruda,
Akhmatova, Thoreau, Frederick Douglass—and now
We’re silent as sparrows in the little bushes?

Some masters say our life lasts only seven days.
Where are we in the week? Is it Thursday yet?
Hurry, cry now! Soon Sunday night will come.

- Robert Bly, ’Call and Answer’, August 2002.

Furah carries wood and her 18-month-old daughter Shukyru, on the road linking Rupango to Sake, eastern Congo. She walks the 10 miles every day, crossing from the rebel-controlled area to the government held town of Sake to sell wood.

Jerome Delay/AP

On lying

The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.

How big is your world?

The Map of the World, a 6th century BC clay tablet, on display at The Babylon Exhibit, British Museum.

Fly Me to the Moon

The space shuttle Endeavour lifts off in moonlight, Orlando, November 14, 2008.

REUTERS/Kevin Kolczynski

Patterns II

Skiing, Stubai, Austria
REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler

What's love got to do with it?

A Congolese government soldier wearing a wig smokes by the roadside near the front line, north of Goma in eastern Congo, November 11, 2008.

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Calm Me into a Quietness

Now,
O Lord,
calm me into a quietness
that heals
and listens,
and molds my longings
and passions,
my wounds
and wonderings
into a more holy
and human
shape.

from Guerillas of Grace, Prayers for the Battle, by Ted Loder

A field of wooden crosses commemorating the 4,824 US troops killed in Iraq (Veterans Day, Lafayette, California).

REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

On hope

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

Lin Yutang

photo: mkbilyk

On balance

Some of us need to stop thinking and do,
while others need to stop doing and think.

Some need to stop asking and give,
though others need to cease giving and ask.

Some of us need to stop crying and smile,
yet others need to stop smiling and cry.

Some need to stop confronting and give in,
while others need to quit compromising
and confront.

Some of us need to stop waiting and run,
though others need to stop running and wait.

Some need to practice discipline and organize,
yet others need to cease structuring themselves
into a box and relax.

from: Meditations for Christians Who Try to Be Perfect, Joan C. Webb

Like water which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed.

Indra Devi
photo: mkbilyk

Because we are made in God's image, in fleeing from relationship with a loving God, we are also running from being our most authentic selves.

Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me

On seeing

The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.

William Makepeace Thackeray

photo: Tobias Schwarz/REUTERS

The healing power of presence

With the permission of Kurtis and his family, I am posting photos taken at Walter Reed Hospital. Kurtis (grandson of Walnut Valley parishioners) was severely injured by a rocket launched grenade in Afghanistan. Throughout his recovery he has been surrounded by loving family and visitors, including Emmett Smith and Robin Williams.

Blessings and peace to Kurtis for his continuing recovery. Kudos to the celebrities whose visits are largely unknown to the public.

Our presence -- simply showing up -- makes a difference.

On prayer

"Prayer is not directing God, but directing ourselves toward God; not informing God but conforming to God...In our praying we seek to give ourselves over to what God wants to do in and through us."

from Stretch Out Your Hand, Tilda Norberg & Robert D. Webber
photo: A Sikh devotee offers prayers New Delhi November 5, 2008. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Now

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
John Greenleaf Whittier

Be Here Now
Ram Dass

Heaven or hell? Either place is within our reach, for we carry it within us. Today is the first day, and the last. Heaven or hell: this is the moment, here, now. Make of it what you will.
Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me

A young man went to the rabbi one day. He told the rabbi, “I am disappointed in God because God is not meeting my wants and needs.” The rabbi was silent. The young man went on to say, “I was taught that God’s purpose was to meet human needs.” The rabbi looked at the young man and said, “That’s the trouble with humans. They think God exists to do their bidding. Remember, during the creation story, God only spent one day on humans. There were five other days, too. Yes, it was a full day and God showed how important humans are by spending that much time. But, there were lots of other things in the world that God was interested in and cared about, too. Talk to the plants and the animals, listen to the winds and seas, and stand before the silent snows and the ancient mountain ranges. Then, come back and we’ll talk of God again.”

photo:mkbilyk

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.

Chinese proverb

This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it, or grow in the light and be of service to others.
But what I do with this day is important,
because I have exchanged a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever.

All Souls' Day

Catholics pray in a cemetery in Croix de Bouquet November 2, 2008. Haitians celebrate All Hallows by visiting cemeteries to pay respects to the dead in a two-day national holiday.
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

All Saints' Day

All Saints' Day is celebrated by the Christian church on November 1. It is a time of remembering those who have gone before us in the faith.

The apostle Paul considered everyone who is baptized into the body of Christ a saint.

The Roman catholic church has a rigorous process by which a person is elevated to sainthood. First s/he is declared a "servant of God," then after further examination determined to be "venerable or heroic in nature," followed by more scrutiny and declaration of "blessed," and finally, canonization as saint.

The author Jim Finlay says of a saint, "In them God finds no obstacle."

Someone unknown to me described a saint as "a stained glass window through which God's love shines."

painting: w.a.bouguereau