“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired…

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910 – 1997), born on this day

“Stillness is our most intense mode of action. It is in our moments of deep quiet that is born every idea, emotion, and drive which we eventually honor with the name of action. We reach highest in meditation, and farthest in prayer. In stillness every human being is great.”

Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990), composer and conductor, born on this day

“O God, may we join the human race in daring to live in the prophetic spirit: seeking inspiration like the seers and sages of this and other lands, judging the past as they, acting on the present like them, envisioning a new and nobler era of the spirit.
May our doctrines and forms fit the soul as the limbs fit the body: growing out of it, growing with it.
May we have communities for the whole person: truth for the mind, good works for the hands, love for the heart; and for the soul that aspiring after perfection, that unfaltering faith in life, which like lightning in the clouds, shines brightest when elsewhere it is most dark.”

Theodore Parker (1810 – 1860), Unitarian minister, transcendentalist, abolitionist and social reformer, born on this day

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

“It is time to abolish human exploitation once and for all, and to recognize the equal and unconditional dignity of each and every individual. Today, let us remember the victims and freedom fighters of the past so that they may inspire future generations to build just societies.”

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO

International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief

“At the center of religion is love. I love you and I forgive you. I am like you and you are like me. I love all people. I love the world. I love creating. Everything in our life should be based on love…

We must move into the universe. Mankind must save itself. We must escape the danger of war and politics. We must become astronauts and go out into the universe and discover the God in ourselves.”

Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012), science fiction writer, born on this day

International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism

“We have to wake up to the fact that everything is connected to everything else. Safety and well-being cannot be individual matters anymore. If another group isn’t safe, there is no way that we can be safe. Taking care of their safety is at the same time taking care of our own safety. Taking care of their well-being is taking care of our own well-being. It’s the mind of discrimination and separation that is at the foundation of all hate and violence.”

From Peace Is This Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh

“We swear by peace and love to stand
Heart to heart and hand in hand
Mark O Spirit and hear us now
Confirming this our Sacred Vow

Druid prayer of unity

The “Sacred Vow” of unity in this prayer is sworn “by peace and love” – the two requisites without which any spiritual communion is invalidated. In every assembly of human beings, there is a wide variety of different opinions, beliefs, and perspectives; each unique viewpoint is essential to prevent abnormal homogenization, wherein people suppress their personal views and maintain a phony unity. A communion of hearts is focalized by an act of intention that includes each unique opinion but goes beyond personal boundaries, entering the circle of Spirit.

The mantle of unity is conferred – can only be conferred – by Spirit, which manifests in many different forms to those who are gathered together. Even to those with a formal religious upbringing, Spirit will be present to each person in the most immediate metaphors and appearances. Like a mountain, Spirit may be approached by many routes, and each route will influence the ways we see the mountain. Spirit offers each of us a vision of unity if we accept what we are uniquely show: that the circle of life in which we stand encircles and includes everything and everyone we have ever known.”

From The Celtic Spirit: Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews

“It is said that if you would have peace of mind, busy yourself with little. But wouldn’t a better saying be do what you must and as required as a rational being created for public life? For this brings not only the peace of mind of doing few things, but the greater peace of doing them well. Since the vast majority of our words and actions are unnecessary, corralling them will create an abundance of leisure and tranquillity. As a result, we shouldn’t forget at each moment to ask, is this one of the unnecessary things? But we must corral not only unnecessary actions but unnecessary thoughts, too, so needless acts don’t tag along after them.”

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.24

“Psalm 34: Taste and See that God is Good
How exactly do I do this?
By opening my heart in gratitude and praise
for all the gifts of life.
By focusing on the astounding intricacy of the world.
By attending to the still small voices of healing and renewal
which save me in times of trouble.
And by loving life and honoring that gift,
speaking truth, doing good, seeking peace.
When I serve the highest I know
I serve whatever God there is.
The joy of this, no matter what my troubles, will keep me whole.”

Christine Robinson, Unitarian Universalist minister

“The need comes on me now
to speak across the years
to those who will finally live here
after the present ruin, in the absence
of most of my kind who by now
are dead, or have given their minds
to machines and become strange,
“over-qualified” for the hard
handwork that must be done
to remake, so far as humans
can remake, all that humans
have unmade. To you, whoever
you may be, I say: Come,
meaning to stay. Come,
willing to learn what this place,
like no other, will ask of you
and your children, if you mean
to stay. “This land responds
to good treatment,” I heard
my father say time and again
in his passion to renew, to make
whole, what ill use had broken.
And so to you, whose lives
taken from the life of this place
I cannot foretell, I say:
Come, and treat it well.”

Wendell Berry, from This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems, 2013

Participants in the Wendell Berry Farming Program