From a letter written by Fra Gionvanni Giocondo (1435-1515) to Contessina Allagia Dela Aldobrandeschi
I am your friend and my love for you runs deep. There is nothing I can give you that you don't already have, but there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.
No Heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant. Take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see; and to see, we have only to look.
Contessina, I beseech you to look.
Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven with love, wisdom, and power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it to you.
Believe me, the angel's hand is in everything that we call trial, sorrow, or duty. The gift is there as well as the wonder of an overshadowing Presence. And as for our joys, be not content with them merely as joys, for they, too, conceal divine gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and of purpose, so full of beauty - beneath its covering - that you will find that earth but cloaks your heaven. Have courage, then, to claim it.
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Photo: Baan Salaklong, Uthaitani province
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