02 September 2011
francis desales
Never be in a hurry. Do everything quietly and with a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever -- even if you world seems upset.
john of the cross
God must work in the soul in secret and darkness because if we fullly knew what was happening and what transformation God would eventually ask of us we would either try to take charge or stop the whole process.
elie wiesel
what hurts the victim the most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the
silence of the bystander.
silence of the bystander.
23 August 2011
08 August 2011
It is good
“Joy, kindness and goodness grow only if the heavens above us are opened. The days aren’t always sunny... sometimes, we must cross through dark valleys.
Even then, though, we can remain joyous and human -- but only if heaven is open for us, only if we can be strengthened in the certainty that God loves us in full, that God is good and, through this, in the certainty that it’s good to be human....
So that people might be able to continue to say yes to life, to the future, it’s important that we don’t lose the splendor of the faith -- that we remain believers, Christians, Catholics, in the sense that Catholic always means “open to the world” -- the world of life and faith together -- something that means being tolerant and open, one to the other, in heartfelt brotherhood to everyone who belongs to our one Father and who are all loved by the one Lord.”
--Pope Benedict XVI
Remarks to a group from Traunstein (Bavaria)
Castel Gandolfo
30 July 2011
Even then, though, we can remain joyous and human -- but only if heaven is open for us, only if we can be strengthened in the certainty that God loves us in full, that God is good and, through this, in the certainty that it’s good to be human....
So that people might be able to continue to say yes to life, to the future, it’s important that we don’t lose the splendor of the faith -- that we remain believers, Christians, Catholics, in the sense that Catholic always means “open to the world” -- the world of life and faith together -- something that means being tolerant and open, one to the other, in heartfelt brotherhood to everyone who belongs to our one Father and who are all loved by the one Lord.”
--Pope Benedict XVI
Remarks to a group from Traunstein (Bavaria)
Castel Gandolfo
30 July 2011
08 July 2011
The earth, my monastery
The sacrifices involved in monastic life are frequently chronicled, but we ought not to forget the hundredfold. There is a certain beauty that is a consequence of spending most of one's life in a single pursuit, attached to one place, and living with the same people. We are at liberty to be ourselves, no longer hiding behind facades or masks.
Yet this self is more than the fleeting persona of the this present moment; it is a self that stretches expansively over many years and decades, full of seeming contradictions and subject to so many vicissitudes. We are surrounded by so many memories of times past, of people now in heaven, of projects completed or left undone, of trees planted, of griefs and joys.
As we pass through the monastery and listen to the echoes embedded in its walls, the refrain we hear is, This is your life. Because of these voices we are compelled to live at a high level of truthfulness, since we cannot escape from what we have been and still are. A strong sense of continuity develops, and a deeper feeling of acceptance. This is where I belong. This is my home. Here I live; here I will die.
Strangers to the City
Reflections on the Beliefs and Values of the Rule of St. Benedict
Michael Casey, OCSO
Yet this self is more than the fleeting persona of the this present moment; it is a self that stretches expansively over many years and decades, full of seeming contradictions and subject to so many vicissitudes. We are surrounded by so many memories of times past, of people now in heaven, of projects completed or left undone, of trees planted, of griefs and joys.
As we pass through the monastery and listen to the echoes embedded in its walls, the refrain we hear is, This is your life. Because of these voices we are compelled to live at a high level of truthfulness, since we cannot escape from what we have been and still are. A strong sense of continuity develops, and a deeper feeling of acceptance. This is where I belong. This is my home. Here I live; here I will die.
Strangers to the City
Reflections on the Beliefs and Values of the Rule of St. Benedict
Michael Casey, OCSO
01 July 2011
Corpus Christi
It is only because God himself is the eternal dialogue of love that he can speak and be spoken to. Only because he himself is relationship can we relate to him; only because he is love can he love and be loved in return. Only because he is threefold can he be the grain of wheat which dies and the bread of eternal life.
Ultimately, then, Corpus Christi is an expression of faith in God, in love, in the fact that God is love. All that is said and done on Corpus Christi is in fact a single variation on the theme of love, what it is and what it does. In one of his Corpus Christi hymns Thomas Aquinas puts it beautifully: love does not consume: it gives and, in giving, receives. And in giving it is not used up but renews itself.
Since Corpus Christi is a confession of faith in love, it is totally appropriate that the day should focus on the mystery of transubstantiation. Love is transubstantiation, transformation. Corpus Christi tells us: Yes, there is such a thing as love, and therefore there is transformation, therefore there is hope. And hope gives us the strength to love and face the world.
Perhaps it was good to have experienced doubts about the meaning of celebrating Corpus Christi, for it has led us to the rediscovery of a feast which, today, we need more than ever.
Benedictus
Pope Benedict XVI
Ultimately, then, Corpus Christi is an expression of faith in God, in love, in the fact that God is love. All that is said and done on Corpus Christi is in fact a single variation on the theme of love, what it is and what it does. In one of his Corpus Christi hymns Thomas Aquinas puts it beautifully: love does not consume: it gives and, in giving, receives. And in giving it is not used up but renews itself.
Since Corpus Christi is a confession of faith in love, it is totally appropriate that the day should focus on the mystery of transubstantiation. Love is transubstantiation, transformation. Corpus Christi tells us: Yes, there is such a thing as love, and therefore there is transformation, therefore there is hope. And hope gives us the strength to love and face the world.
Perhaps it was good to have experienced doubts about the meaning of celebrating Corpus Christi, for it has led us to the rediscovery of a feast which, today, we need more than ever.
Benedictus
Pope Benedict XVI
View from the cross
Always united in the shadow of the Cross,
under the protection of this lovely heart.
E. Bouasse-Jeune
26 June 2011
postsecret.com
God isn't the one who is lost; we all are. God is where He always is... we need to stop trying to "find God" and instead rid ourselves of the things that we use to hide from God.
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