photo/simonmarsh
GLORIOUS WEDDING – the “house team” at St Michael’s are all still glowing with the warmth of it all, even on a cold day. Today’s was a simply wonderful bringing together of Buddhist, Christian and Hindu traditions from Mauritius, Greece and England.
THE PRAYER from the Hindu tradition used in the celebration is here
Listen to the salutation of the dawn.
Look to this day;
in its brief course lie all the verities
and realities of our existence:
The bliss of growth, the glory of action,
the splendour of beauty.
For every yesterday is but a dream
and every tomorrow is only a vision,
but today well lived
makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
and every tomorrow a dream of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day,
for such is the salutation of the dawn.
THE GROOM’S MOTHER read from 1 Corinthians 13.1-13
The Gift of Love
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogantor rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
THE BRIDE’S MOTHER offered the following readings
The four immeasurables, also known as the Brahma Viharas (Sanskrit) are found in one brief and beautiful prayer
May all sentient beings
have happiness and its causes,
May all sentient beings
be free of suffering and its causes,
May all sentient beings never
be separated from bliss without suffering,
May all sentient beings
be in equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger.The Buddha taught the following to his son Rahula
Rahula, practice loving kindness to overcome anger. Loving kindness has the capacity to bring happiness to others without demanding anything in return. Practice compassion to overcome cruelty. Compassion has the capacity to remove the suffering of others without expecting anything in return. Practice sympathetic joy to overcome hatred. Sympathetic joy arises when one rejoices over the happiness of others and wishes others well-being and success. Practice non-attachment to overcome prejudice. Non-attachment is the way of looking at all things openly and equally. This is because that is. Myself and others are not separate. Do not reject one thing only to chase after another. I call these the four immeasurables. Practice them and you will become a refreshing source of vitality and happiness for others.
LOVE
The definition of love in Buddhism is “wanting others to be happy. This love is unconditional and it requires a lot of courage and acceptance – including self-acceptance”
What a joy! What an absolute joy.
photo/simonmarsh
