Published 8- 23-10
ON TODAY'S SITE:

M. Basil Pennington, Melody Beattie, Book of Sirach

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Photo by Stephen Bowman     All rights reserved

I remember the Zen story of a terrible outlaw who
was terrorizing villages. Whenever the people
heard he was coming, they fled and left all for him.
As he approached one village, everyone fled, except
one monk. When the outlaw heard that the monk had
remained in his monastery, he was outraged. He broke
down the gates of the monastery and confronted the
monk. "Do you know who I am? I am the one who can
kill you on the spot." The monk looked at him calmly
and replied, "Do you know who I am? I am the one
who can let you kill me on the spot."

Freedom!
Whatever decision I make about my future,
I want to make it freely -- free to let go
or free to go on...

From 'Engaging the World with Merton'
by M. Basil Pennington OCSO
Paraclete Press, 2005

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Learn to let yourself be guided into truth. We will
know what we need to know, when we need to know
that. We don't have to feel badly about taking our own
time to reach our insights. We don't have to force insight
or awareness before it's time ... The most growth-producing
concept we can develop for ourselves and others is to allow
ourselves to have our own process ... When we are ready,
when the time is right and when our Higher Power
is ready -- we will know what we need to know.

Excerpted from "The Language of Letting Go,"
by Melody Beattie
Hazeldon, 1990