Compass for a Soul

This week, in chapter 18 of The Monastery of the Heart, “A Listening Heart,” I am struck mute by the clarity and beauty of the first few paragraphs. I shall add nothing.

There is a magnet in a seeker’s heart

whose true north is God.

It bends towards the Voice of God

with the ear of the heart

and, like sunflowers in the sun,

turns all of life toward

the living of the Word.

This listening heart is pure of pride

and free of arrogance.

It seeks wisdom—

everywhere, at all times—

and know wisdom by the way

it echoes

the call of the scriptures.

The compass for God implanted

in the seeker’s heart

stretches toward truth

and signals the way to justice.

It is attuned to the cries

of the poor and oppressed

with a timbre that allows

no interruption,

no smothering

of the Voice of God

on their behalf.