Ommony

“ We are but the visionaries of the fleeting phenomena, we perceive only the shadows. But, by Thy grace and mercy, as the eyes are closed, the heart is opened; as the senses are sealed up, the spirit within is unveiled; and we behold Thee behind the phenomena, beyond the shadows, as the One Eternal Reality; and we rejoice that thus we are led even by Thee into the Holy of Holies. There, in the immost shrine of Thine eternal presence, what are we, where are we, except as mere glimpses and as surface-expressions of Thy profound reality? ”

“ We are told in poetry and romance that the human face divine is the index of the spirit. That its ever changing lines express every mood of the mind and every emotion of the soul, from a smile of ineffable beauty to a midnight frown, from the sunshine of hope, and joy, and gladness, to clouds of wrath and hatred. That the spirit looks out through the eye and melts you with a beam of tenderness, or pierces your heart with a flash of electric love, or charms you by revealing in its crystal depths the pearl of purity, or transfixes you with a glance of displeasure. ”

“ What would the soul in its perfection mirror? Would it reflect within itself the myriad life of humanity? Would the spirit mirror the heavens, and the imaginations of the Divine Mind well up within it in mystic and transcendental ideations? ”

“ What a wonderful proof of the beauty of our souls. Twin mirrors of a single singing thought, the face of man looking into the Face of God, soul mingling with Soul in immortal music, bathed in the cool wind of Our Lady's eyes. ”

“ We distinguish the announcements of the soul, its manifestations of its own nature, by the term Revelation. These are always attended by the emotion of the sublime. For this communication is an influx of the Divine mind into our mind. It is an ebb of the individual rivulet before the flowing surges of the sea of life. Every distinct apprehension of this central commandment agitates men with awe and delight. A thrill passes through all men at the reception of new truth, or at the performance of a great action, which comes out of the heart of nature. ”

“ And, beholding in many souls the traits of the divine beauty, and separating in each soul that which is divine from the taint which it has contracted in the world, the lover ascends to the highest beauty, to the love and knowledge of the Divinity, by steps on this ladder of created souls. ”

“ All Nature, with one voice—with one glory,—is set to teach you reverence for the life communicated to you from the Father of Spirits. The song of birds, and their plumage; the scent of flowers, their colour, their very existence, are in direct connection with the mystery of that communicated life: and all the strength, and all the arts of men, are measured by, and founded upon, their reverence for the passion, and their guardianship of the purity, of Love. ”

“ It seemed like a monitor from heaven sent to calm my troubled soul by leading it to that eternal sense of Beauty which is the source of all inspiration, forming an indissoluble bond between man and his Creator; as it is through it the divine perceptions are shadowed forth in visible types of the Infinite, and recognized by a corresponding artistic combination of the immortal attributes of the human soul. ”

“ I felt the unfathomable thought of which the universe is the symbol live and burn within me; I touched, proved, tasted, embraced my nothingness and my immensity; I kissed the hem of the garments of God, and gave Him thanks for being Spirit and for being life. Such moments are glimpses of the divine. They make one conscious of one’s immortality; they bring home to one that an eternity is not too much for the study of the thoughts and works of the eternal; they awaken in us an adoring ecstasy and the ardent humility of love. ”

“ It not only reveals the sublime beauty of that life that is found on the luminous spiritual heights, but also opens the way to the sweetness and glory of those lofty realms. "There is another and a better world," and this is found on the heights. ”

“ Their secret is not learned from one, but from all three; and they give grace only with fulness, buoyancy, and radiancy of soul, or life, united all in one. They are in essence the soul in its fulness of life and sympathy, pouring itself rhythmically through every obstruction, before which the most solid becomes fluid, transparent, and radiant of itself. ”

“ The fluid soul's upbreathed emotion,
Whose light shines clear as a star apart,—
A fairer light of sweeter fame
Than science knows to praise or blame,
Wherein the soul has open vision,
And feels the glow of His holy flame. ”

“ Lead us out of untruth into truth, lead us out of darkness into light, lead us out of death into life. Thou the almighty, all-conquering, awe-inspiring One, do Thou, with the radiance of Thy glory, with the charm of Thy beauty, reveal Thyself in our hearts and renew us with Thy eternal love. ”

“ Incalculably rich, indescribably varied and yet marvellously harmonised, this universe is the manifestation of Thy power, wisdom, goodness and holiness. We live in the expansive temple of this world. In the hardness of that which resists, in the softness of that which soothes, in the geniality of the sunshine which awakens new hope in the heart, in the revolving cycle of the seasons which bring tokens of Thy ceaseless mercy, in the unfailing fidelity of the earth's movement and rotation suggestive of the permanence of Thy purpose, even as it is sustained by Thy love, we behold Thee. ”

“ What dignity, what grandeur, what Divine nobility there would be in every thought, in every word, in every deed of all our life on earth, were the consciousness ever glowing in our hearts that we too came from God and are going back to God! ”

“ The delight of such a being, the splendour of a consciousness rushing from the wide open doors of the fountain of existence, the ecstasy of the spiritual sense into which the surge of life essential, immortal, increate, flows in silent fulness from the heart of hearts—what may it, what must it not be, in the great day of God and the individual soul! ”

“ And when heaven uncloses its doors of light, when all its knowledge, its purity, its bliss, rises on the eye and passes into the soul, who then will be looked on as the one who might be envied—he who can, or he who cannot feel? ”

“ In the spiritual world, the world of mind, there were all sweet and innocent affections, and, derived from these, all bright and elegant thoughts—beautiful and sparkling ideas, which would shine and glitter in the light of heaven, just as atmospheric coruscations, beautiful flowers, and gems, glow and sparkle in the light of the natural world. ”

“ And the little spirit asked the angel guide, who with uplifted pinions, looks of love, and rapturous adoration, gazed on that glorious vision—what these things meant.
“Yon radiant vision is the cause of all you see. It is the soul’s true aliment—the emanations of a dying Saviour’s love, reflected from the noble hearts of those who have so prayerfully watched around the sufferer’s couch. This, the bright spirits of the soul perceive, and strive to free themselves from earth’s dull chains, to plume their pinions to yon glorious light. ”

“ Then mind and heart become twin prophets,—clairvoyant concerning what hides behind the veil; comprehending with divine clair-audience what the Three Sisters whisper there—hearing even the whirr of the spindle—the very snipping of the Eternal Shears!
The soul finds itself; the mind knows itself; the heart perfectly understands. ”

“ In our immature sense of spiritual things, let us say of the beauties of the sensuous universe: “I love your promise; and shall know, some time, the spiritual reality and substance of form, light, and color, of what I now through you discern dimly; and knowing this, I shall be satisfied. Matter is a frail conception of mortal mind; and mortal mind is a poorer representative of the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the immortal Mind.” ”

“ Missing the glory of the hope eternal—
⁠The god-like, human dream!
To solace life, there blooms on earth a flower
⁠Whose deathless name is Love. Of its increase
Are born compassion, freedom, beauty, power ”

“ And over all, and on all, and lying in the heart of everything, warming, creating, fashioning the dead matter into all lovely forms, and driving the sweet juices like blood through the veins of the whole of earth, shone the glad sun, free, boundless, loving—life of the world's life, glory of its glory, shaper and creator of its brightest beauty. ”

“ His thoughts, and feelings, and visions, and dreams, and fancies, and imaginations, are all his own, by some divine right which no other mortal shares along with him; and, true as they all are to nature, are all distinguished by some indefinable, but delightful charm peculiar to his own being, which assuredly is the most purely spiritual that ever was enshrined in human dust. ”

“ Nothing, then, would be more shortsighted than to try and keep the soul from a deep, ample, recollective movement, from feeding upon and relishing, from as it were stretching itself out and bathing in, spiritual air and sunshine, in a rapt admiration, in a deep experience of the greatness, the beauty, the truth, and the goodness of the World, of Life, of God. ”

“ No, not alone, for ever in spirit she beholds deep within the pure and liquid wells of those beloved eyes, the fond gaze of unutterable tenderness, for ever she looks beyond this weary vale of tears, and sees in faith, the golden gates unclose through which the radiance of the Divine Sun streams downward, to enlighten the fields of care. ”

“ And added to both these we find the dream vision of the psychic, with the poet's soul of inspiration, sublime ideality and the gentle tender heart, alive with all the common human emotions; and at last, blended and transmuted and made vibrant by that great spiritual insight born on the heights of human revelation we find ourselves whole, grand, developed, humanly divine creatures, walking in glad comradeship with God. ”

“ Whenever he thought of Faith, of her innocence, her high hopes, her pure eyes, and flowerlike beauty, he felt that his feet were on a rock and his soul went after her and everything was changed in his life. ”

“ More pleasing seems than all the past hath been,
And every form, that Fancy can repair
From dark oblivion, glows divinely there.
What potent spirit guides the raptured eye
To pierce the shades of dim futurity ?
Can Wisdom lend, with all her heavenly power,
The pledge of Joy's anticipated hour ?
Ah, no! she darkly sees the fate of man—
Her dim horizon bounded to a span ”

“ From Eternity to Eternity we are conceived in Thy Spirit, cradled in Thy Love, nourished in Thy Mercy, transfigured in Thy grace, embosomed in Thy Holiness. Oh Thou intimate, individual Friend, Guide, Protector, Parent! Wherever we turn, whatever we think of, whatsoever we engage in, whomsoever we lean on, we behold Thee. All, all objects are indwelt, inspirited by Thee. ”

“ Ah! from the soul itself must issue forth, A light, a glory, a fair luminous cloud, Enveloping the Earth— And from the soul itself must there be sent A sweet and potent voice of its own birth, Of all sweet sounds the life and element! ”

“ I discover in men dazzling perspectives, with Paradises in the clouds and distant felicities. I pour into their souls the eternal insanities, projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory, and oaths of love, as well as virtuous resolutions. ”

“ Unpretending, simple in form, devoid of show or ceremony, it appealed directly to the purer emotions of our nature, and through the natural devotion of the heart lifted the mind to the contemplation and inspired the soul with the love of God. ”

“ It is a sufficient account of that Appearance we call the World, that God will teach a human mind, and so makes it the receiver of a certain number of congruent sensations, which we call sun and moon, man and woman, house and trade. In my utter impotence to test the authenticity of the report of my senses, to know whether the impressions they make on me correspond with outlying objects, what difference does it make, whether Orion is up there in heaven, or some god paints the image in the firmament of the soul? ”

“ Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality—infinite Life, Truth, and Love. ”

“ I walked in the fields alone, and found such unspeakable sweetness in God, that I thought, if I must continue still in this evil world, I wanted always to be there to behold God’s glory: my soul dearly loved all mankind, and longed exceedingly that they should enjoy what I enjoyed.—It seemed to be a little resemblance of heaven. ”

“ Piety, curiosity, the love of God and the love of adventure, the natural sentiment which makes one spot of ground more hallowed than another,—a sentiment as old as religion,—the natural restlessness of the human heart, a restlessness as old as humanity. ”

“ We lift our seamed faces to the bright sky and hope again. For if there is still harmony in the heavens, how can the discord of the earth 118 overwhelm us? So we comfort our hearts, foolishly exalting our troubles to the plane of the eternal consonance. ”

“ And from these sensible images of earthly beauty he rises to that which is above sense, and sets before us the ineffable joys of those who see the Divine Beauty face to face, and are filled from the fountains of Eternal charity. The joys of heaven formed, in fact, the constant subject of his meditation, and in one of his prose treatises, speaking on this exhaustless theme, he gives utterance to the sentiment felt by every poet, of the insufficiency of words to express the emotions of the heart. ”