Celebrating Mervyn Brady on Valentines' Day

This week we honor Mervyn on his birthday – he was a man who was all heart.  He used to remind us that our inner Work was not of the thinking type, but of the feeling type – specifically from the heart, an open one.  He often used metaphors of the heart to speak to us.  Once he likened the sun to the heart, in the same way the sun illuminates and warms its planets in the solar system, so does the heart which sends blood throughout the organs of the body. He encouraged us to attend meetings on a regular basis as they are the heartbeat of the school.  

My view of a ‘meeting’ has been expanded recently since taking the Prayer Workshop (TOV en Mexico) in which we were given the assignment to spend at least thirty minutes a day alone in sacred time with God (or as Annalisa  refers to it as the soul breakfast).  Whether it be a meeting, meditation or retreat, all of these times are meant to encourage us to connect to our inner world, open our hearts, and deepen our relationship with our God.

In many ways a meeting works similarly to the heart, it’s about receiving and giving.  Through suffering as well as from making efforts to avoid acting upon negative and mechanical impulses, we have the possibility to start to peel off the layers, and rid ourselves of our baggage.  In a state of solitude through self remembering and prayer, we have the opportunity to become empty like the hollow organ of the heart. This opens the heart, and through God’s grace one may be filled with divine inspiration.  

The job of the heart organ is to pump fresh blood that comes from the lungs after inspiration.  The heart disperses the oxygen rich blood to feed every living cell in the body.   On the scale of the heart and soul, it is lovely to see students leaving meetings  with a smile on their faces and joy in their hearts after being fed.  Filled with inspiration, we are encouraged to share and disperse this higher love with others.   

When I leave the sacred space of a meeting or personal meditation, and return to the day to day encounters, the challenge is to be able integrate my Work through such attitudes as kindness, respect and patience towards friends, foes, students, strangers and myself.   

In Caroline’s recent email, she reminds us the soul grows by giving it away.  As Mervyn wrote about sharing the higher love from the heart,  “Next time the Gods speak to you, please share it. No more having moments alone.”

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.  [Matthew 5)

With Love on St. Valentine’s Day,

L

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