From today’s entry in God Calling: Not our wills but Thine, O Lord. Man has so misunderstood Me in this. I want no will laid grudgingly upon My Altar. I want you to desire and love My Will, because therein lies your happiness and the Spirit-rest. When you feel that you cannot leave the choice […]
I heard the song “Pretending” by Eric Clapton on the radio this morning. It’s about ones heart ache due to another pretending to love in the relationship. O Father, please do not let my love for you, for others, be for pretend. Please help me make it genuine, honest, real, deep, authentic—like your love.
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. — St. Thérèse of Lisieux
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. — Galatians 5:22-25
I think of this verse from Micah 6:8 in some of my darker or confused moments: You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. The “walk humbly” part […]
Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love. — Thomas Merton
Kevin, one my students, asked me a single interview-type question for his religion class. He asked, “Why is your relationship with Jesus life-giving for you?” My reply: Jesus is love, peace, and energy. Love—I know that I’m am loved by Him (and by others); thus, I am able to love others. Through Him, I can […]
Love, do you tend to see it as a noun or as a verb? [Be honest. Answer this question in your mind before you read further.]
I have a friend who says that there is no such things as coincidences. Everything happens for a reason. The mathematician inside of me is skeptical with images of probability calculations and statistical charts. I am resistant to ascribe a higher meaning to why I ran into a former student yesterday, but it feels at […]
Many Christians believe that faith alone is enough. I would like to rephrase that and say “just enough”, as in the bare minimum. Maybe they are right, but in light of my previous entry, I think that it is only half of the story. Jesus gave us two commandments, love God first and foremost, and […]
Last Monday, my wife Roberta, our 8-month old son, and I were in a car accident. It was the other driver’s fault. At about the last possible moment, the other driver had attempted to pull out in front of me from a side road and make a left turn across my lane. Her transmission slipped, […]
Sunday’s readings (Ephesians 2:4-10 and John 3:14-21) reminded me of the old debate between faith vs. works. One side of the argument says that faith alone is enough to save you and get into heaven (see Ephesians 2:8). The other side says that you need faith plus good works to get you into heaven (see […]
At Wednesday night’s RCIA class, Father used a set of concentric rings to describe how an individual develops friendship (see diagram below). People in the outer ring are considered acquaintances, and there are many of them. You just chit-chat with acquaintances. You talk about everyday kind of things, like the weather or how green the […]
At last night’s RCIA class, we talked about the sacrament of marriage. It reminded me of something I heard many months ago that has resulted in a shift in my attitude toward marriage. Someone was listing the seven sacraments, and they described marriage as one of the sacraments of service. Service?! That was not in […]
Yesterday’s entry reminds me of a concept called “Third in Line”. God first, others second, and me third.
The wizard said to the tin man, “Remember my friend, Love is not measured by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” — from “The Wizard of Oz”
Someone asked a question about Limbo and Purgatory. Father’s response was surprising, a bit reassuring, and also down right scary. When you die, be an infant or an old person, God will ask you one question—did you love me to the best of your ability? He knows who you are. He knows how you are. […]