Quotes for April 2004

Past, Present, Future: Learn, Live, Hope

· 29 April 2004

Learn from the past, live in the present, hope for the future.

— Brian Boeckman

« πλ | Spirituality »

A leaf falls in a stream…

· 22 April 2004

A leaf that falls into a stream (or a leaf we intentionally drop into a stream) just where the water disappears into the ground…will come out again at the next opening, because the underground stream has faithfully carried it there, though during this journey it has been beyond the reach of any outside interference. In the same way, an idea that has been introduced into our minds (or that we ourselves have intentionally introduced) will produce its effects after longer or shorter subconscious development.

— Charles Baudouin

Reminds me of an old programmers’ saying, “Junk in means junk out.”

« πλ | Spirituality »

Know Nothing of Calvary Love…

· 17 April 2004

If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve round myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have “a heart at leisure from itself,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.

— Amy Carmichael

« πλ | Faith, Love »

There is a God we want…

· 14 April 2004

There is a God we want, and there is a God who is and they are not the same God. The turning point of our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is.

— Patrick Morley (via a comment at Raw Faith)

« πλ | Faith »

A Personal Equation Between the Cross and Us

· 9 April 2004

There is a personal equation between that Cross and us. Life with its rebellions, its injustices, its sins, all played a role in the Cruxifixion. We can no more wash our hands of our guilt than Pilate could wash his as he held them up under a noonday sun and declared himself innocent.

It was not so much the Cruxifixion that hurt and wounded, it was not Annas, it was not Caiphas, it was not the exectioners, for “they knew not what they did”; it was not his enemies who caused his greatest sorrow: “If my enemies had done this, I could have borne it.” It was us who grieved him most, for we know what we do—we have tasted his sweetmeats; we have broken Bread with him; we are his familiars. That is our sorrow—that he who came to heal the broken hearts had his own Heart broken by us.

But mourning is not despair. If we have crucified Christ, there is pardon: “Father, forgive them”; if we have pierced Mary’s heart, there is pardon still: “Son, behold your mother”; if there are tears in our eyes, they shall be wiped away: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, The Cross and the Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness

« πλ | Faith, Suffering »

Be still…

· 3 April 2004

Be still and know that I am God.

— Psalm 46:10

« πλ | Scripture »

Be fishers of men…

· 3 April 2004

Be fishers of men.
You catch ‘em.
He’ll clean ‘em.

— Seen on a church marque

« πλ | Faith »