Friday, February 15, 2008

Valentine Reflection

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, let me share this reflection that I received from the leader of our spiritual direction group. It's by one of my favorite writers, Feodor Dostoevsky.

Love all that has been created by God, both the whole and every grain of sand.
Love every leaf and every ray of light.
Love the beasts and the birds, love the plants, and every separate fragment.
If you love each separate fragment, you will understand the mystery of the whole resting in God.
When you perceive this, your understanding of this mystery will grow from day to day until you come to love the whole world with a love that includes everything and excludes nothing.

2 comments:

Maryellen said...

Oh El, that quotation is marvelous. It caused my heart to soar to think of love in that beautiful way.

Thank you for sharing these words from Dostoevsky. I've only heard of him, but have never read his works.

How wonderful it would be .."to love the whole world with a love that includes everything and excludes nothing."

Have a blessed Lent.

teresa_anawim2 said...

Not your general run-of-the-mill mushy-lovey-dovey commercial hearts-n-flowers kind of love we all just endured...!
FD suffered through life(his works always seemed so dark to me, yet so full of truth)...it seems that those who suffered can speak of love in a deeper way and urge us to go that way.
Thanks for posting this , Inner Elder.