O wondrous exchange, eternal life is promised to us by the humility of the Lord, who bowed himself down to our pride. — St. Augustine, Confessions Thank You.
O wondrous exchange, eternal life is promised to us by the humility of the Lord, who bowed himself down to our pride. — St. Augustine, Confessions Thank You.
I occasionally venture into the blogsphere. About a week ago, I found this except posted by Julie from the book, Caring for the Dying With the Help of Your Catholic Faith by Elizabeth Scalia. I immediately copied and pasted it in an email to a friend and co-worker whose father had recently refused treatment after […]
From Thursday’s collect in Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours (emphasis added): My mind is scattered among things, not because of my work, but because I am not detached and I do not attend first of all to God. On the other hand, I do not attend to Him because I am so absorbed in […]
O wondrous exchange, eternal life is promised to us by the humility of the Lord, who bowed himself down to our pride. — Saint Augustine, Confessions
From Br. Joseph — All is gift. Even your next breath is gift if you think about. Everything involves a choice, especially how we spend our time. Is it our time or God’s time? Here is a reflection/prayer on time from Michael Quoist: I went out, Lord. People were coming and going, Walking and running. […]
Near the end of the film Into Great Silence (technically it is a film, but it is something more), there is an interview with an old, blind monk. The years of solitude do not wear heavy on him. He is truly happy, and peace envelopes him, coming to you even through the camera lens. His […]
I rediscovered this piece of dialogue from the movie Matrix between Neo and the Spoon Boy in the waiting room of the Oracle’s apartment: Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth. Neo: What truth? Boy: There is no spoon. Neo: There is no spoon? Boy: […]
If a tree falls, it makes a lot of noise; but if a thousand flowers bloom, it happens in the greatest of silence. — Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J. Something to ponder this Christmas day… Wake me up Father so that I won’t miss you. Purify my heart so that I may see You, so that […]
Ask for repentance in your prayer and nothing else, neither for divine lights, nor miracles, nor prophecies, nor spiritual gifts—nothing but repentance. Repentance will bring you humility, humility will bring you the Grace of God, and God will have in His Grace everything you need for your salvation, or anything you might need to help […]
You realize that prayer takes us beyond the law. When you are praying you are, in a certain sense, an outlaw. There is no law between the heart and God. (Thomas Merton) I have been mulling over this quote I discovered a several days ago. It bothers me. It is from a writer and spiritual sojourner that […]
Found this quote this afternoon. It is a beacon of hope for those lost in between like me. There are always moments when one feels empty and estranged. Such moments are most desirable, for it means the soul has cast its moorings and is sailing for distant places. This is detachment—when the old is over […]
In The Shattered Lantern, Ronald Rolheiser quotes Dag Hammarskjöld: I don’t know Who—or what—put the question, I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone—or Something—and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in […]
From Br. Joseph — Hope keeps faith alive, and faith rekindles hope when all seems lost. At one point in Hannah Hurnard’s allegorical book of the spiritual journey, “Hind’s Feet on High Places”, the protagonist is having a particularly tough time. The Shepherd, an obvious symbol for Christ, says to her: Don’t you know by […]
God refuses to be known except by love. — St. John of the Cross
From the last line of the song “Closing Time” by Semisonic, Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. Life is full of little transitions, little deaths and rebirths. What stays the same? What dies? What is transformed? It is the Paschal Mystery, the mystery of the Cross. What do you get to take […]
The thought that the affairs of the world, like those of the stars, are in God’s hands—and therefore in good hands—apart from being actually true, is something that should give great satisfaction to anyone who looks to the future with hope. It should be the source of faith, joyful hope, and, above all, of deep […]
There are times in life when a person has to rush off in pursuit of hopefulness. — Jean Giono, afterword to The Man Who Planted Trees I want to run and go search for it, but I know it is right here, if I look. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high […]
Found myself with a rare free moment during the day. After a quick check on the internet for something, I found this little signpost for encouragement. It is a strange signpost, but one none the less. And the trick to remember with signposts is to follow where they point, not to collect them or stand […]
We cannot know whether or not we love God, although there are strong indications for recognizing that we do love Him; but we can know whether we love our neighbor. And be certain that the more advanced you see you are in love for your neighbor, the more advanced you will be in the love […]
From the movie, Red Planet: Chantilas: [Suppose] we just finished poisoning the earth and everyone was dead in a hundred years. Then what was the point of anything? Art, beauty—all gone—the Greeks, the Constitution, people dying for freedom, ideas. None of it meant anything? What about religion? Do we give up on God too? Gallagher: […]
At the end of the movie Forrest Gump, Forrest, a man of limited “smarts”, laments the answer to a question that has bothered philosophers and theologians from ancient times. I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating accidental like on a breeze, but I think maybe it’s both. […]
Mother Teresa said, “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” Unfortunately my pencil lead keeps breaking.
Only in love can I find You, my God. In love, the gates of my soul spring open, allowing me to breath a new air of freedom and forget my own petty self. In love, my whole being streams forth out of the rigid confines of narrowness and anxious self-assertion, which make me a prisoner […]
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” - Julian of Norwich
Every day I say to myself—today I will begin. — Saint Anthony of the Desert