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The Kingdom of heaven is within, and it can be preserved only when the life within us has no death in it. Hell’s spirit must be kept out of every heart if Rajska Polja is to be preserved in peace.
kingdom of heaven is within
“Satan was a liar and a murderer from the beginning”, he concludes. “Wherever there is murder, there will always be falsehood with it. For this reason we must live in the truth. It
satan is a liar and a murderer
It is what Christ asks of each of us. For the remainder of your life, do good to those who harm you. Bless your enemies, and do not hate them. Pray for them, and do not hold them to account.”
do good to your ememies pray for those who harm you
the sins committed against you are most grievous and would test the greatest of souls, you have been given a cross and a blessing that few can receive. Will you ask each day for the grace to forgive?” “I will ask—for without God’s help it is not possible. Each day of my life I will ask for the impossible.” “He is Master of the Impossible.”
Each day forgive those that harm you. Ask God to help you forgive
“Love?” Caleb rolls his eyes. “Yes, Caleb, love. Love costs. It always costs. Sometimes it costs everything.”
love always has a cost
It must remain a mysterious parting of the veil.
mysterious parting f the veil
Though his vocation in life never materialized because all possible forms of it were atomized by the malice of God’s enemies, he can still offer what remains, offer it for others, the known and the unknown.
malice of God's enemies
he need not banish the sadness of her absence, for sadness is part of love in this world, and it is even part of the joy he feels this day. She is alive and has had a long and happy marriage,
sadness is part of love in this world
The good have died, and the evil have prospered, grown fat on the riches of this world.
the good have died and the evil have prospered
Christ, he had learned, always drew his followers into deep waters, even, at certain points, to the brink of literal drowning, for in this immersion was the beginning of wisdom. It pulled the soul from the merely horizontal perspective into the vertical, the cosmic one, which is so much higher than it is broad.
Christg draws followers into deep waters
The only certainty is that it will contain pain. Yet this pain is life. If drowning contains the promise of rebirth, then pain contains the promise of joy. He hopes for this. Yes,
pain contains the promise of joy
drowning rebirth
He is conscious that this is extraordinary, that it is given to him only at the most pivotal moments: when time ceases, but motion continues in the world around him. He feels an unusual calm. There is pain in it, and sorrow, but there is also the throb of joy, for in this very place was his beginning and his end. The end that led to
time ceases
Josip kneels. He experiences again the sense of suspension, where the frontier of time dissolves into eternity. As on the day before, it is not prayer with words, but absorption into the presence.
prayer absorbtion into the present presence
There is no love
there is no love without truth
Is there one such child in each station of the human dream? Filled with inarticulate longings, indifferent to the ordinary dreams of warriors and drawn beyond them to less visible conflicts, the existence of which he can only dimly apprehend? And is there a confraternity of these few, scattered like seed throughout all nations, ensuring the preservation of man’s diversity?
a child who is called by God and nature
Ho-ho, he yawns again, rubbing his eyes. Get up, now, Josip, make the coffee. Check out the window. Oh, too bad, a gray day. Low pressure, sluggishness, and a little tug toward depression. Not a big problem, just something to push against.
depression
The world is simply empty, like
silence
Much good begins in us before we learn to know its name, sighs the old man. Our Father is patient with us, for he loves.
God can be a slow process
