Remember this: without God and what God has done for us in Christ, nothing of who we are matters at all. – Fr. Steve Grunow (source) This quote sheds some light on one of our root sins, pride, that desire to be worthy based on our own existence-being-purpose-meaning, independent of God. That independence from God, […]
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” — Dr. Seuss
A short little reflection on words by Romano Guardini, The Rosary of Our Lady: The word is something very rich, alive, even mysterious: a formation of sounds and consonances by which the speaker gives the listener a glimpse into the inner realm of thought. To a certain degree this might be done by a simple […]
This is what God says to us from The Cross… Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference? — The Doctor, Doctor Who, episode “Dark Water” (Season 8)
But when I love you, what do I love? It is not physical beauty nor temporal glory nor the brightness of light dear to earthly eyes, nor the sweet melodies of all kinds of songs, nor the gentle odour of flowers and ointments and perfumes, nor manna or honey, nor limbs welcoming the embraces of […]
How many people still pursue this? Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians. — A sermon by St. Gregory Nazianzen, “Two bodies, but […]
God warns us against idols not because He is jealous of our misguided affections, but because of their dangerous powers of transformation. Our pursuit of them does more than merely turn us away from Him; it changes us—subtly, but inextricably, altering the way we perceive the world, and destroying our ability to correctly recognize the […]
For you will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John. — C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Jesus warns us [that] charity is not genuine if it seeks human praise (Matthew 6:2-3). Our actions are ‘beautiful’ when they reflect the light of God, so it is therefore right that the merit and praise for this light go to him. — Blessed John Paul II
I remember this night like it was last night. In the midst of all the crying and pain and pleading with God, I heard the words, “Not yet.” Two simple words. Peace enveloped me. Healing from the depression progressed over the next 6 months. Five years later, as I was reading the first part on […]
Why should we consider this power to be transcendent (that is—transcending the universe as a whole)? Because if the universe was nothing prior to its beginning, then the reality which causes it to exist must be completely beyond it (independent of it). This transcendent reality which causes the universe as a whole to exist is […]
“Theology” is not an end in itself. It is always but a way. Theology, and even the “dogmas,” present no more than an “intellectual contour” of the revealed truth, and a “noetic” testimony to it. Only in the act of faith is this “contour” filled with content. Christological formulas are fully meaningful only for those […]
It doesn’t seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle […]
There’s an old saying that goes like this: “To a man with a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail.” That’s where we are today as developed societies. Science is reshaping our morality and social thought, when a genuinely sane culture would have it the other way around. — Archbishop Charles J. Chaput […]
I think there is a choice possible to us at any moment, as long as we live. But there is no sacrifice. There is a choice, and the rest falls away. Second choice does not exist. Beware of those who talk about sacrifice. — Muriel Rukeyser She is mostly correct, but her warning needs clarification. […]
This seems to be the motive for all moral relativists: Because if you can convince me, then suddenly your beliefs become more real. Right? The more people you can get to jump on your…train, the more your mission is made. So until you get me to swallow your world and believe what you believe, you’ll […]
To paraphrase a quote from Flannery O’Connor: Life has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for. What more can one add?!
The power of a good metaphor. Two stories and a poem about water. From a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace: There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two […]
From Fr. Boyer’s homily on Sunday on the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-10): If Peter, James, and John no longer saw a man from Nazareth but the glory of his exaltation, then we no longer see bread on this altar; but what it becomes for us. If Peter, James and John no longer saw the man […]
Found this quote on the internet. It was in reference to technology but holds much spiritual insight. Virtual: Something that you think you have, but you don’t. Transparent: Something that you don’t know you have, but you do. — Tony Karp (via) Ego, pride, control—all virtual. God—transparent. Reminds me of a line from a science […]
I heard this excerpt quoted from Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (who passed away earlier this month) on the radio. It is from his closing address to the annual convention of the National Right to Life Committee held last July. (Read the whole talk). The culture of death is an idea before it is a deed. […]
In a narrative essay titled “Teaching a Stone to Talk” (found in the book by the same name), the author Annie DIllard describes an eccentric man trying to teach a stone how to talk. Several times a day, he removes his stone from the shelf, a dark gray, “palm-sized oval beach cobble”, and proceeds with […]
I’ve been listening (and re-listening) to some of Peter Kreeft’s lectures and speeches. (Free to download in mp3 format.) A basic theme that runs through many of his talks (and books) is that every person seeks truth, goodness, and beauty in some form or another. And all three of these are found in God. They […]
“Angels tremble to gaze at things we yawn at.” (Peter Kreeft)
I think Walker Percy, in Lost in the Cosmos, sums up the situation between man and God via Jesus: If you’re a big enough fool to climb a tree and like a cat refuse to come down, then someone who loves you has to make as big a fool of himself to rescue you.