love in every form

“In love did God (Love) bring the world into existence; in love is God (Love) going to bring it to that wondrous transformed state.” St. Isaac of Syria, 7th century

I had known the kind and gentle Father Irenaeus from the Monastery of St. Marcarius for several years and each time I would ask him “for a word.” In the 3rd and 4th centuries, seekers would travel great distances to ask the Desert Mothers and Fathers for “a word.”

This was not just a word but often a phrase for the seeker to ponder over a lifetime.

In his wisdom, he did not answer me until 2004 and his word to me to contemplate and manifest, was “A life without love is a life without God.”

After 15 years of letting this ripen, I could write a book on this one phrase but for now, God and Love are one and the same. It is beyond any name or concept. Love was before time and space, Love will be after time and space, Love is here now. Love’s manifestation is as grand as the cosmos and is as simple as a kind gesture bringing transformation into the self and the world.

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Fr. Irenaeus died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2016. Prior to becoming a monk, he was a scientist and had a degree in chemistry.