Quotes for May 2005

The hardness of the human heart…

· 31 May 2005

If there had been any other way to break the hardness of the human heart other than the death of God Himself, God would have used it. …The hardness of the human heart sets diamond to shame.

Steven Riddle

« πλ | God, Sin »

When you’re down to nothing…

· 30 May 2005

When you’re down to nothing, God’s up to something.

— Author unknown [via]

« πλ | Suffering »

Have patience with…

· 29 May 2005

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew.

— St. Francis de Sales [via]

« πλ | Patience »

The first temptation…

· 28 May 2005

Do you know what is the first temptation the devil presents to someone who has begun to serve God better? It is human respect.

— St. John Vianney [via]

« πλ | Evil »

Silence is never-ending speech…

· 27 May 2005

Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. Language is only a medium for communicating one’s thoughts to another. Silence is ever speaking.

— Sri Ramana Maharshi [via]

« πλ | Silence »

Evil is charming and beautiful…

· 26 May 2005

Evil is charming and beautiful. It makes you doubt yourself. It asks for one small compromise after another until it whittles you down, and, it functions best when no one believes in it.

— Joan of Arcadia [via]

« πλ | Evil, Movie »

Prayer need not be…

· 25 May 2005

Prayer need not be a burdensome duty. It is meant to be a joyful and creative privilege.

— Hannah Hurnard

« πλ | Prayer »

It is by the path of love…

· 24 May 2005

It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to humans, and humans to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If then, we possess charity, we possess God, for “God is charity.”

— St. Albert the Great, on 1 John 4:8

« πλ | God, Love »

What did the tree learn…

· 23 May 2005

What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?

— Pablo Neruda [via]

« πλ | Mystery »

In the beginner’s mind…

· 22 May 2005

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.

— Shunryo Suzuki-Roshi [via]

« πλ | Attitude »

We do not remember days…

· 21 May 2005

We do not remember days…we remember moments.

— Cesare Pavese

« πλ | Observation »

All I can do to change…

· 20 May 2005

As a young man, I was determined to change the world. As I matured, I narrowed my goals to changing my community. Still later, I decided to change only my family. Now I realize that it is all I can do to change myself.

— The Rebbe of Apt [via]

« πλ | Character »

Every problem has two handles…

· 19 May 2005

Every problem has two handles. You can grab it by the handle of fear or the handle of hope.

— Margaret Mitchell

« πλ | Fear, Hope »

There are no passengers…

· 18 May 2005

There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.

— Marshall McLuhan [via]

« πλ | Observation »

Better than a thousand useless words…

· 17 May 2005

Better than a thousand useless words is one word that gives peace.

— Buddha [via]

« πλ | Compassion »

God gave us cats…

· 16 May 2005

God gave us cats so that we would have an example of how we treat Him—mainly that we totally ignore Him as we go about our lives, but when we want something we will start to purr and figuratively rub ourselves against His legs to gain His attention for our wants.

Jeff Miller [via]

« πλ | Observation »

Pride makes us…

· 15 May 2005

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.

— Thomas Merton [via]

« πλ | Pride »

Getting a dog is like…

· 14 May 2005

Getting a dog is like getting married. It teaches you to be less self-centered, to accept sudden, surprising outbursts of affection, and not to be upset by a few scratches on your car.

— Will Stanton [via]

« πλ | Observation »

To love someone is to say…

· 13 May 2005

Gabriel Marcel once said: “To love someone is to say, you at least will never die.” That might sound like romantic wishful thinking, but in Christian faith we believe that this is deep insight, an article of faith, a truth of the incarnation. If we take the incarnation seriously, then to love someone is to say to that person: “You will never die because, in this life and the next, you will never be separated from community of life, God’s family, because in accepting my love you are touching the body of Christ just as really as did anyone who touched the historical Jesus. You will never die and you will never go to hell because you are bound to Christ.”

— Ronald Rolheiser

« πλ | Love »

When we leave Mass…

· 12 May 2005

When we leave Mass, we ought to go out the way Moses descended Mt Sinai: with his face shining, with his heart brave and strong to face the world’s difficulties.

— Archbishop Oscar Romero [via]

« πλ | Religion »

A mystic is…

· 11 May 2005

A mystic is someone who aches for, continually searches for, direct contact with God; contact not mediated through the emotions or intellect, but a full melding of spirit and will, believing that this is not only possible but is the entire point of life in this world.

Doug Ferguson

« πλ | Mystery »

Your persistent longing is…

· 10 May 2005

Your persistent longing is your persistent voice. But when love grows cold, the heart grows silent. Burning love is the outcry of the heart! If you are filled with longing all the time, you will keep crying out, and if your love perseveres, your cry will be heard without fail.

— St. Augustine

« πλ | Longing, Love »

The void inside us…

· 9 May 2005

It is grace that forms the void inside us and it is grace that can fill the void.

— Simone Weil

« πλ | Grace »

When we can see the image of God…

· 8 May 2005

When we can see the image of God where we don’t want to see the image of God, then we see with eyes not our own.

— Richard Rohr

« πλ | Compassion, Love »

God is so big…

· 7 May 2005

God is so big He can cover the whole world with His love, and so small He can curl up inside your heart.

— June Masters Bacher (thanks Libby)

« πλ | God, Love »

The boxes we build for God…

· 6 May 2005

God is always bigger than the boxes we build for God, so we should not waste too much time protecting the boxes.

— Richard Rohr

« πλ | Religion, Truth »

Life is a succession of…

· 5 May 2005

Life is a succession of crises and moments when we have to rediscover who we are and what we really want.

— Jean Vanier

« πλ | Identity »

Hope tells us…

· 4 May 2005

Hope tells us that life is stronger than death, light stronger than darkness, and love stronger than hate.

— Jean Vanier

« πλ | Hope »

The risk it took…

· 3 May 2005

And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

— Anais Nin [via]

« πλ | Fear »

We are a living incompleteness…

· 2 May 2005

Prayer is an expression of who we are…. We are a living incompleteness. We are a gap, an emptiness that calls for fullfillment.

— Thomas Merton

« πλ | Prayer »

One prayer of thanksgiving…

· 1 May 2005

One prayer of thanksgiving when things go badly is worth a thousand when things go well.

— St. John of the Cross

« πλ | Prayer, Thanksgiving »