Tell God what you wish for!  Then share it with us.

With peace and love,

Frannie

The work place is the perfect “laboratory” to practice the essence of God’s teaching such as compassion, love, non-judgment. We are all challenged by difficult coworkers, customers, patients each of whom offer us an opportunity to be our best and to deal with them from a place of essence.

By leaving ego at the door and trying to work from essence we are able to bring the essence with us and never forget that it’s not you at work …..It’s you and God ….WE make a difference.

~ Frank Hennessy

Recent events in parts of Africa surrounding Somalia horrify us as we see the famine spreading and the victims trapped in their starvation. Though the world wishes to respond dramatically, and should, Islamic fundamentalists associated with Al Qaida prevent food from reaching the starving. This is a moral evil perpetrated by humans professing some form of faith.

In Oslo, Norway a 32 year old Norwegian kills over 90 people to make a point of some sort. This is a moral evil.

How does God stand by and let this happen, we ask.

We easily forget that God, in making us free to love also left us free to hate. God has loved us so much that we are free to reject His love and each other's.

So, while we stand by helpless most of the time to prevent hatred from doing its harm, God stands with us in His own refusal to violate the freedom of even the hateful.

Faith alone allows us to surrender to the mystery of God's all-goodness and evil's sway. We will never know the secret of the knowledge of good and evil any more than did Adam and Eve. In faith, though, we will love with our freedom and at least give evil's sway a run for its money.

~ Bishop Richard Hanifen

OSV retreats provide a great opportunity to ‘recondition’ the way we approach our relationship with God.  People at these retreats often leave feeling inspired and excited to journey with God.  However, sometimes people struggle with putting their mind aside so they can follow their heart.  Since the mind-centered approach was developed as early as childhood, we have been preconditioned to think more with our minds therefore needing to re-teach ourselves to lead more with our heart.  It proves to be a more difficult task for some as opposed to others. Since many of us have children and grand children, we often wonder how we can raise them with more more balance in their lives so they don’t have to re-condition themselves later.  We would prefer that our children grow up in an environment where they are continually hearing Gods voice. 

So as our children and grand-children grow, how can we proactively lead them down a path that is more heart-centered as opposed to mind-centered?

– Marc Crawford

I wish to use this blog to speak to your journey.  Do you have comments on this journey that you wish to share with others?  Do you have a question that you have been struggling with?  Or have you reached a place of confusion where its difficult to move forward on your path?  Post here and you will get a quick response from us!

With peace and love,

Frannie Rose

Funny, it seems infrequent when we take the time to even realize we are not aligned with the greater good or God – instead we are aligned with the good of ourselves and the satisfaction of our own outcomes. I wonder sometimes how we have become so distracted with stress, things to do, technology and things to buy that we do not look deeply at ourselves long enough to see a glimpse of the impermanence of it all. Everything we buy is replaced sooner or later with something else. Everything we do, is replaced with a new thing to do. One stress leads to another stress. Where does it end? When does one reflect about their purpose and meaning in their life or spend a moment to listen for God?

Some of us go to houses of worship and we have moments where we see that there is a greater reality – God! But without this time or effort to reflect, our gods become the things within our sight, the things we want to buy, the problems that we are dealing with and the life situations that need attention right away. Are we not in our actions substituting idols of choice for the real God?

And is it possible He is trying to tell us this, but we do not listen? What is the outcome of a world that appears to be listening only to its own voice? -Frannie Rose

After the recent events in Tucson, all sit in wonder at what really happened. We learn about the life of a young man who stood in the crowd and hatefully altered the lives  and worlds of each of them.   We ask what made him hate so much to spray bullets all over an innocent crowd.  Do you ask what this world is coming to? Do you wonder if there will ever be peace?  Do you look at others as having the solution to this problem?  Aren’t we looking to others to have the “know-how” to solve things that our own minds cannot solve?  Is it possible that the solution to Peace in the world will not come from another human mind?

Ever think about all the pain you view on the television and in the newspapers?  Does it ever depict the peace you long for?  Why is peace not news?  Would a story on peace touch your heart and inspire you?  It might  inspire your heart, but would it entice your mind?  Do you notice it takes more and more hostility to get our attention these days?  Would you say our minds are indifferent and desensitized to pain?

Do you feel peace in your own life?  Do you ever look at the way you view your life?  How do you measure success or failure?  Is it transient or is it permanent?  Our minds are like band aids.  They try to patch things up and their solutions are only temporary.  Our hearts are the parts of us that house the eternal solutions.  All the work to create peace in the world begins within your own heart, your own life. Ask yourself this question, do you FEEL PEACE right now?

It is Einstein who said, “Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved through understanding.”  But isn’t it the understanding of Peace itself that will take us to peace?  And isn’t it that if one has the understanding of what Peace is, in any situation, that understanding can take us to peace?

We cannot strategize peace.  We cannot plan out our armies and fight for peace because it will only be temporary peace. And yet we have been taking that literally to understanding given situations.  Understanding Peace begins with understanding  the Peace within yourself.  And if you don’t feel peace inside your own heart, are you not part of the problem?  For what you are inside is simply what you give to the world! 

God is the Father of Peace.  And no matter what religion, dogma or belief system followed, you realize that our Creator gave us life.  It is to this Center that your heart is aligned.  No matter what religion you believe, you come to this same Center. 

What the world needs now, is to come to this Center.  And what Center is that?  The Center of your very heart.  We must each come to a place in the Center of our hearts where God sits inside us.  Together we must learn to know that Center, feel that Center and hear that Center speak in its loving and kind way, and start to BE that Center.  And then we must let that Center BE what the world sees.  We must GIVE to the world what comes from our Center.

For Peace to happen in the world, it will not come from a human mind, it will come from a collective heart.  Each individual in this world has a part in this.  And if your mind is telling you that it doesn’t want any more work – then there is your answer. You are listening to it and not your own heart. Your mind does not want peace enough to do what is needed to achieve it!  Only you heart does.

Einstein also said,”  I know not with what weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones.”  The anger and unrest in the world right now is a mere reflection of the anger and unrest within each of us!  Know this anger and diffuse this anger  and pain by connecting WITH the God within your own heart and there will be peace ;  peace within your family and peace within our world!

And last but not least – BE IT!

If you wish to SEE IT, BE IT!

If you wish to see Peace, BE PEACE!

With a myriad of blessings, peace and love,

 Frannie Rose

Within each of us is a depth that contains the Power of the Universe, the Power of God.  This depth unknown to many, is the secret that the ancients speak of.  It consists of the seeds of life, planted in us as life itself, by God.  These seeds come to germination within the emptiness of our lives.

Times of struggle and times of loss bring us there instantly for we are forced to face the emptiness, even if it is for a short while. The discomfort in this, brings us often to a place of fear.  But if we push through this and see the beauty of the emptiness for what it is, a invitation from God to go deeper – then we find the seeds sprouting with blossoms and gifts that we could never have imagined.

What our minds tell us about the emptiness are messages of fear and messages of lack.  However, our hearts see the emptiness as an open field of the infinite:  infinite possibilities, infinite hope, infinite love, and infinite goodness.  It is the true art of alchemy that allows us to see from our hearts instead of with our heads the beauty and the depth that the emptiness brings us.

I am Frannie Rose, spiritual teacher for One Simple Voice.  I teach students to uncover their hearts from what messages their minds speak of the emptiness.  I encourage those who struggle to move through the pain, into the the open field of infinite possibilities; that which the emptiness offers their hearts.

I ask you all to reflect on these questions:  Why do you fear loss so much?  Do you see loss as lack?  What is it about the emptiness that makes us walk backwards instead of forward into the depth?

I am wishing to dialogue about the emptiness in your life.  Is it possible that it was meant to be there?

• Become a registered user. Simply click the log in link and sign up. As a registered user you will be able to post comments on our blog, and will receive our email newsletter and updates (if you want). We encourage you to sign up!
• A full featured “blog”. Don’t know what a blog is? That’s OK… it’s literally a “web log“, a page where you can read our frequent posts, and comment as well (You’re lookin’ at it here!).
• Our new Smartphone App. This is wonderful free tool for your smartphone. It enables you to browse and register for events anywhere, anytime.

Please give us your comments! We are excited to hear from you.