I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not complete this last one but I give myself to it. I circle around God, around the primordial tower. I’ve been circling for thousands of years and I still don’t know: am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song? —Rainer Maria Rilke The mandalas come from various doors and gates in Paris and Vienna.

Today is the Austrian National holiday, and while I am away in Germany attending a conference on Hildegard of Bingen, I share some visual celebration of the beauty of Austria. Photos are from a recent trip to the Benedictine Abbey in Melk and a return by boat through the Wachau wine-growing region along the Danube. Consider joining Kayce S. Hughlett and me for Springtime in Vienna, April 6-13. 2013!

Images are all from the Wienerwald, or Vienna Woods, the large forest on the west side of the city.

When we open the door and go inside, God is there in the temple of our soul, in the ashram of our heart, in the cathedral of our being. Which is not to dismiss the reality of this same loving presence being fully alive in our external world.  The Holy One is with us in all of life. Our purpose for opening the door inward is to help us know and claim who we are so we can more completely join with God in expressing this love in every part of our external world. —Joyce Rupp, Open the Door: A