Ruah Bull - Spiritual Director

  I have a religion; It's called Love. I have a church; It's called Earth. I have a scripture; It's called Heart. I have a prayer; it's called Compassion.

 Awaken me, O Mighty One, in your holy mercy, that I might be free of fear... With boundless confidence, I abandon myself to You... For You deliver me from illusion, and through Love, my heart open to Wisdom.

 Lift the veil that obscures the heart and there you will find what you are  looking for

 The desire of your heart awaits the quiet moment of  creative love. With courage, step into silence.

 How ironic -  that our highest calling is humility to give quietly to pray behind closed doors to live simply to be like the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, to carry our crosses daily to choose the road less traveled to cherish the ordinary day. The only thing we need to do with wild extravagance- is love.

 To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that  love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.

Awaken me, O Mighty One, in your holy mercy, that I might be free of fear... With boundless confidence. I abandon myself to You... For You deliver me from illusion, and through Love, my heart opens to Wisdom. 

 I love you, gentlest of Ways, who ripened us as we wrestled with you. You, the great homesickness we could never shake off, you, the forest that always surrounded us, you, the song we sang in every silence, your dark net threading through us, on the day you made us you created yourself, and we grew sturdy in your sunlight.... Let your hand rest on the rim of Heaven now and mutely bear the darkness we bring over you. 

 Effortlessly, Love flows from God into man, Like a bird Who rivers the air Without moving her wings. Thus we move in His world One in body and soul,  Though outwardly separate in form. As the Source strikes the note, Humanity sings-- The Holy Spirit is our harpist, And all strings  Which are touched in Love Must sound.

Here is all the politics we need: My blue sky pervades each atom of your body. Your blue sky pervades each atom of my body. Where you are, I am. Where I am, you are. All our troubles lie in the veil of a single thought: "I am not you." Love is letting this thought dissolve.

 In a time of hate, Love is an act of resistance. In a time of fear, Faith is an act of resistance.  In a time of misinformation,  Education is an act of resistance. In a time of poor leadership, Community is an act of resistance. In a time like this, Joy is an act of resistance. Resist. Resist. Resist.

 Whether this is the first day of the Apocalypse, or the first day of the Golden Age, the work remains the same: to love each other and ease as much suffering as possible.

      Today it feels so simple- we are here to take care of each other. As if soil could forget it is here to feed the trees. As if trees could forget they are here to feed the soil. How could anything ever get in the way of generosity? How could we ever greet each other with any words besides, How can I help you? As if light could forget it is here to illuminate, And dark is here  to help us heal.

 It is said that the brightness of a star and the singing of angels announced the birth of the god made man, the child born among domestic animals. Whatever is the story of the tragic and glorious trajectory of his life, it all comes to this: he taught love.

 Open unto me - light for my darkness Open unto me - courage for my fear Open unto me - hope for my despair Open unto me - peace for my turmoil Open unto me - joy for my sorrow Open unto me - wisdom for my confusion Open unto me - tenderness for my toughness Open unto me - love for my hates Open unto me - Holy Companion - open unto me 

 Your task is not to seek for love but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it

Consider the lilies, how they use their precious blooming to share beauty with this world. You, too, were born to open in the light. You, too, are given life to cultivate your gifts and let them lift you out of fear and doubt. A vast garden of love is all around you now if you can see beyond the tangled weeds to the mystery and  radiance beneath.

 The world now is too dangerous and too beautiful for anything but love I bless your eyes so you see God in everyone I bless your ears so you hear the cry of the poor I bless your lips so you speak nothing but truth with love I bless your hands so that everything you give and everything you receive is a sacrament I bless your feet so you run to those who need you And may your heart be so opened so set on fire that your love YOUR LOVE changes... everything

 There was a time I would reject those who were not of my faith. But now. my heart has grown capable of taking on all forms. It is a pasture for gazelles, an abbey for monks, a table for the Torah, Kaaba for the pilgrim. My religion is love. Which ever the route love's caravan shall take, That shall be the path of my faith,

 It's as if what is unbreakable - the very pulse of life- waits for everything else to be torn away, and then in the bareness that only silence and suffering and great love can expose, it dares to speak through us and to us. it seems to say, if you want to last, hold on to nothing. if you want to know love, let in everything. if you want to feel the presence of everything, stop counting the  things that break along the way.