“I have seen heaven and hell in this life time.”
“Perhaps that was it—it did not matter why, really—we had to get on without Heaven as best we could.”
Source: Ex-wife
“Sorrow and joy belong to humankind;
the soul is nourished by love and strengthened by darkness.”
Source: The Sweetest Defeat: Poems of Devotion, Longing, and Beautiful Surrender
“From the perspective of Christianity’s Desert Tradition, prayer is the most vital aspect of faith. Without prayer and experiences of the infinite, Christianity loses its guts.”
Source: Holistic Mysticism: The Integrated Spiritual Path of the Quakers
“Think! We are prisoners and shall always be.
Fortune has given us this adversity,
Some wicked planetary dispensation,
Some Saturn’s trick or evil constellation
Has given us this, and Heaven, though we had sworn
The contrary, so stood when we were born.
We must endure it, that’s the long and short”
Source: The Knight's Tale
“Als je om acht uur ’s morgens vraagt waar de hemel is, wijzen ze naar boven,’ zei je eens. ‘Vraag het om acht uur ’s avonds nog een keer, dan staan ze wéér naar boven te wijzen, maar dan is de aarde wel mooi een halve slag gedraaid, dus wijzen ze precies de andere kant op. Ze weten het dus niet en wijzen in het wilde weg.”
Source: Gebr.
“We are constantly invited to be what we are.”
“Go to vespers, remember me at your prayers.
They shall find the shepherd here; the flock shall be spared.
I have had a tremour of bliss, a wink of heaven, a whisper,
And I would no longer be denied; all things
Proceed to a joyful consummation.”
Source: Murder in the Cathedral
“I've come to believe that every form of love we experience on earth, no matter how intense, is merely a drop in the ocean of love God created you and me to experience. We can't get enough of love because ours always falls short of what we crave.”
Source: Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You
“Heaven holds out a promise of a time, far longer and more substantial than this time on earth, of wholeness and justice and pleasure and peace.”
Source: Undone: A Modern Rendering of John Donne's Devotions