In music, in the sea, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness... I see what people call God in all these things.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the idea that divinity can be found in the beauty and kindness present in the world around us.
Pablo Casals highlights the notion that the presence of God can be perceived in various aspects of life, such as music, nature, and acts of kindness. Instead of seeking divinity in abstract concepts or dogmas, he emphasizes that one can experience and connect with the divine through the beauty and love that surround us in everyday experiences.
In practice
This quote can be used in a reflection on spirituality during a community gathering.
Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it in the most perfect way.
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.
I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.
To the whole world you might be just one person, but to one person you might just be the whole world.
How could anybody think of Bach as 'cold' when these [cello] suites seem to shine with the most glittering kind of poetry," Casals said. "As I got on with the study I discovered a new world of space and beauty... the feelings I experienced were among the purest and most intense in my artistic life!
I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.
...the only thing that makes the Church endurable is that it is somehow the body of Christ and that on this we are fed. It seems to be a fact that you have to suffer as much from the Church as for it but if you believe in the divinity of Christ, you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.
I am often asked what can people do to become a good global citizen? I reply that it begins in your own community.
My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.
O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.
A distracted existence leads us to no goal
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