from the Cloistered Heart

By Nancy Shuman -
                    

                        'There are not as many souls who go astray,
                        as there are souls who go through life
                        half-perfected,
                        half-formed,
                        half in love with God.
                        There are not as many crosses and trials
                        trampled down and cast back into the face of God,
                        as there are inspirations of grace unheeded,
                        and invitations to intimacy with God
                        declined.'

                       (from In Love With The Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1934, p. 52)

                                              Re-post from The Cloistered Heart

                                            Painting:   Johannes Vermeer, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter

Comments

  1. Lora Dolores5:56 pm, September 22, 2013

    This is so very,very true!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Mad-Eyed Monk6:08 pm, September 22, 2013

    "half-perfected/half-formed/half in love with God." Wow. And again Wow. I love all the quotations from The Divine Outcast you post. This is so powerful and quite rattling. Thank you, once again, Nancy for your wonderful words and image. I wonder what she is reading? From whom? I can feel the paper and love the light coming through the window! God Bless...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nancy Shuman6:35 pm, September 22, 2013

    Thank you both, very much. In my mind (because of the quote :), I see the woman as reading an "invitation to intimacy with God." She looks like she just might accept!

    ReplyDelete

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