Meditation

Half an hour's meditation is essential except when you are very busy. Then a full hour is needed. (Francis de Sales in Courage to Change, 22 November)

Entrenched Religious Beliefs

It is the ultimate contradiction that those who are firmly entrenched in their religious beliefs think nothing of killing in the name of their God. (Suzanne Somers, 365 Ways to Change Your Life, Day 354)

Spiritual Life

I pray that I may not be overwhelmed by material things. I pray that I may realize the higher value of spiritual things. (Alan L. Roeck, Look To This Day, 20 November)

Thanksgiving

Father, we around this table thank Thee:

• for Thy great gift of life,
• that Thy love for us is not dependent upon any worthiness of ours,
• for good health,
• that we know neither hunger nor want,
• for warm clothes to wear,
• for those who love us best,
• for friends whose words of encouragement have often chased away dark clouds,
• for the zest of living,
• for many an answered prayer,
• for kindly providences that have preserved us from danger and harm.

(The Prayers of Peter Marshall, p. 84)

Fulfillment of the Law of God

The first and most difficult obstruction to the fulfillment of the law of God is the fact that our society's existing laws are completely opposed to this law. (Anonymous in A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy, 3 November)

God Is Spirit

God is spirit and part of this spirit lives inside me and gives sense to my life. (Anonymous, in A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy, 17 October)

St. Francis

Lord, make me a channel for thy peace --

• that where there is hatred, I may bring love
• that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
• that where there is discord, I may bring harmony
• that where there is error, I may bring truth
• that where there is doubt, I may bring faith
• that where there is despair, I may bring hope
• that where there are shadows, I may bring light
• that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather

• to comfort than to be comforted
• to understand, than to be understood
• to love, than to be loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.
Amen.
(Prayer of St. Francis, Daily Reflections, 21 November)