Love Is….

The first time we went out of ourselves

to reach another – that was  Love

– the hesitant touch

– the guarded phrase

Each was an attempt to express

the inexpressible.

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Aloka, For Peace

I have followed the journey of Walk For Peace including the world famous dog Aloka. Those monks are definitely bringing peace to the world, no politics, no funfare just prayerful walk in several states in the US from Texas ending in Washington DC. They walked under extreme cold and freezing temperatures.

My brother Noel who lives in the US gave me the link and I have followed these monks every day on Facebook.  Aloka served as the guard dog for them until they reached Washington DC.

Photos culled from the official site of Walk For Peace,

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Early Morning at Caleruega

Long before the word selfie was created, I had this photo taken on an early morning walk in Caleruega. There was a time when I was elated just bringing a camera, a journal and a pen on morning walks like this. There is something nice about catching an image and writing about it. That lovely feeling of being in a certain place, alone with nature and listening to the sounds that morning brings. That lovely feeling of discovering something that brings a smile and inspired thoughts that you have to commit on paper. That lovely feeling of just being there to enjoy the beauty of it all.

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When Silence Speaks (Repost)

I originally thought of  naming this site, Silence Speaks which is so far the most often used tag and category I have on all my blogs.  But the words, dreams and escapes have their own meaning in my life, so they got stuck, hence the title Dreams and Escapes.

Sometimes, we wish we could change things in our lives,  but it does not work that way. Everything is destined, everything is planned. It is not just something that happens to you, in a lifetime, not even in a heartbeat.  For the past few months or so, most of the time, I’ve been alone with my thoughts, some are happy ones, some humorous, some quite fearful thoughts of what lies ahead.  Slowly, I am beginning to learn and embrace silence in my life.  I told Lovell, a close friend,  that lately I am getting bored with my own thoughts and company but I am beginning to love silence. Then he wrote back, “Ha, ha! Mongha na“.  I had a good laugh when I read that one.

I wish to share with you a few words taken from No Man Is an Islands, by Thomas Merton, who they say is arguably the most influential Catholic author of the 20th century.

Silence does not exist in our lives merely for its own sake. It is ordered to something else.  Silence is the mother of speech.  We receive Christ’s silence into our hearts when we first speak from our heart the word of faith.  Silence is the strength of our interior life.

There  must be a time of day when the man of prayer goes to pray as if it were the first time in his life he has ever prayed; when the man of resolutions puts his resolutions aside as if they had all been broken, and he learns a different wisdom; distinguishing the sun from the moon, the stars from the darkness, the sea from the dry land and the night sky from the shoulder of the hill.

There must be a time of day when the man who has to speak falls very silent, and his mind forms no more than propositions, and he ask himself: did they have a meaning?

In silence, we learn to make distinctions. those who fly silence also fly from distinctions.  They do not want to see clearly. they prefer confusion.

Slow down, befriend silence in your life.  And when the pressure of making  a living becomes greater than making a life, let silence speaks.

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