A Fourth Order?

by: Ernest Raymond

And as I stood there thinking this, the fancy came to me there there cleaves always to Francis, whether he approves or not, a Fourth Order.  It is the Order of those who do not abjure their fighting and their oaths, who cannot abandon their comfort or their fame, who still like the top table at the feasts and are not in the least eager to return their excess profits, but who, in spite of all this weakness, love Francis of Assisi and wish they were more like him.  Perhaps, in a small way, limp after him, loose fellows though they are.  They look wistfully after his disappearing figure, and wish they were not so like Brother Fly, in that they do not pray too much nor work too hard, but do eat bravely.  The Limping Quaternaries, shall we call them?  I have been a member of the Order for a long time, limping on as well as I may; and I suspect that most of my readers are too, or I should have lost them long before this.  God bless them all, and lead them on to better things. 

Adrift

"The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it." - George Orwell

Good Guy Pope Francis

Mother...

...which always gives us more time...

“In my own life, I have so often seen God’s merciful countenance, his patience; I have also seen so many people find the courage to enter the wounds of Jesus by saying to him: Lord, I am here, accept my poverty, hide my sin in your wounds, wash it away with your blood. And I have always seen that God did just this – he accepted them, consoled them, cleansed them, loved them.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us be enveloped by the mercy of God; let us trust in his patience, which always gives us more time. Let us find the courage to return to his house, to dwell in his loving wounds, allowing ourselves be loved by him and to encounter his mercy in the sacraments. We will feel his wonderful tenderness, we will feel his embrace, and we too will become more capable of mercy, patience, forgiveness and love.”

–Pope Francis
Homily at the Possession of the Chair of the Bishop of Rome
Archbasilica of St John Lateran
7 April 2013

"Then neither do I. Go...

The credits are the best part!

You have to trust God

“God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else—God is in this person’s life.

You can, you must try to seek God in every human life.

Although the life of a person is a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow.

You have to trust God.”

—Francis.

Pope Francis reportedly considering denim vestments

...and other reforms under consideration

:-)

"You gotta kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight..."

“The more you get involved in the groups that are doing wonderful work in the church the more you will be filled with joy in being a Catholic. The corruption, scandal and heresy will fade away like shadows. You will see clearly what you should be doing and it will be positive, life filled and life giving. You will soon see all the good that is going on and the bad you see will fade in importance.

Finally, remember this, we are engaged in a spiritual battle. Why did you think that the church would be free from corruption, scandal, indifference and heresy? It has always been like this and it always will be. Read church history. The complainers and protesters never accomplished very much. The saints did. The saints confronted corruption with radiant lives of simplicity and power. They skewered scandal with radiant lives of purity and goodness. They overwhelmed indifference with radiant lives of zeal and joy. At times they spoke out against the scandal, indifference and corruption, but they always did so based on the authority of their own powerful sanctity.

In other words, overwhelm the world with the light, life and beauty of Christ alive in you.

Don’t curse the dark.

Set alight a life ablaze with glory and goodness.”

– Fr. Dwight Longenecker
(via)

Dear parents with young children in church....

You are doing something really, really important.

St. Peter Claver

“We must speak to them with our hands before we speak to them with our lips.”

Not a day

Not a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows.

-- Charles Reade

Elie Wiesel...

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Beauty

Beauty is rarely soft or conciliatory.  Quite the contrary.  Genuine beauty is always quite alarming."  from Donna Tart's "Secret History"

Mother Teresa

"Love begins at home. Everything depends on how we love each other. Do not be afraid to love until it hurts, for this is how Jesus loved."

Let the stumbling block become the corner stone...

God has done everything possible to make you the unique saint that our world needs right now. The only thing that is in your way is probably yourself.

Good Theology

If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, of self-righteous, or if it led you to kill in God's name, it was bad theology.

~ Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness