Happy Valentine’s Day. As we celebrate Love, love for that special someone, love for ourselves, I wanted to share these poems, taken from various faith traditions, that celebrate the Love of God, of Spirit, of Life.

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”        Mark 12:30-31

 

“May the Lord of Love protect us. / May the Lord of Love nourish us. May the Lord of Love strengthen us. / May we realize the Lord of Love. May we live with love for all; / May we live in peace with all.

OM Shanti Shanti Shanti

The Upanishads (God Makes the Rivers Flow, E. Easwaran)

 

“Love came out of the former Eternity, / Went away in to the Eternity to come, And didn’t see anyone in the eighteen-thousand worlds Worthy to eat even one spoonful of its sweet sherbet – And when Love reached Truth at last, only this word was left: He Loves them; They also love Him.”

~Rabi’a (Doorkeeper of the Heart; Versions of Rabi’a, C. Upton)

 

“Her heart is full of joy with love, / For in the Lord her mind is stilled, She has renounced every selfish attachment / And draws abiding joy and strength From the One within. She lives not for herself, but lives / To serve the Lord of Love in all, And swims across the sea of life / Breasting its rough waves joyfully.”

Saint Teresa of Avila (God Makes the Rivers Flow, E .Easwaran)

 

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I Corinthians 13:4-7

 

“To be united with the Lord of Love / Is to be freed from all conditioning. This is the state of Self-realization, / Far beyond the reach of words and thoughts. To be united with the Lord of Love. / Imperishable, changeless, beyond cause And effect, is to find infinite Joy.”

The Tejabindu Upanishad, The Shining Self. (God Makes the Rivers Flow, E. Easwaran)

 

“That one I love who is incapable of ill will, / And returns love for hatred. Living beyond the reach of I and mine / And of pleasure and pain, full of mercy, Contented, self-controlled, firm in faith, / With all their heart and all their mind given to me. With such people I am in Love”

The Way of Love (Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 12, E. Easwaran)

 

“The Circle of Love is complete. It comprehends all, includes all, and binds all together with cords of Everlasting Unity. I cannot depart from Its Presence nor wander from Its care. / My Love is complete within me. The Love of God binds me to Itself, / and will not let me go. I shall make a home for you, O my wonderful Love, and we shall journey through life hand in hand. I shall sit in your Presence and learn the wondrous things You will tell me; For you are God.              Love sits within me.”

Science of Mind pg. 513. Ernest Holmes

–Love and Blessings to you, Sharon Whealy, RScP