The Power That Fuels Your Purpose (mostly the music and links) April 12, 2022
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Bhakti, Books, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Lent, Music, Mysticism, Peace, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Wisdom, Women, Yoga.Tags: Anthony of Sourozh, Gary Soto, Holy Tuesday, joy, Passion Tuesday
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Many blessings to all, and especially to those celebrating or observing Holy Week or Great Lent! “Ramadān Mubarak, Blessed Ramadān!” to anyone who was observing the holy month of Ramadān.
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“Contrary to what many think or feel, Lent is a time of joy. It is a time when we come back to life. It is a time when we shake off what is bad and dead in us in order to become able to live, to live with all the vastness, all the depth, and all the intensity to which we are called. Unless we understand this quality of joy in Lent, we will make of it a monstrous caricature, a time when in God’s own name we make our life a misery.
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This notion of joy connected with effort, with ascetical endeavour, with strenuous effort may indeed seem strange, and yet it runs through the whole of our spiritual life, through the life of the Church and the life of the Gospel. The Kingdom of God is something to be conquered. It is not simply given to those who leisurely, lazily wait for it to come. To those who wait for it in that spirit, it will come indeed: it will come at midnight; it will come like the Judgement of God, like the thief who enters when he is not expected, like the bridegroom, who arrives while the foolish virgins are asleep.”
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– quoted from “An Introduction to Lent” (dated February 17, 1968) by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
Please join me today (Tuesday, April 12th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “Passion Tuesday April 7, 2020” or “04072020 Passion Tuesday.”]
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
“How strange that we can begin at any time.
With two feet we get down the street.
With a hand we undo the rose.
With an eye we lift up the peach tree
And hold it up to the wind – white blossoms
At our feet. Like today. I started”
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– quoted from the poem “Looking Around, Believing” by Gary Soto (born 4/12/1952)
I plan to post an expanded and “renewed” post about Passion Tuesday, but there still won’t be a lot about Gary Soto. If you’re interested in him and his insightful poetry, you can click on the year for posts (and poses) from 2018, 2019, and 2021.
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A Joyful Practice 
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