The Stained Glass Buffalo: July 2010

28 July 2010

the proof is in the pudding

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
--
James 1:22

25 July 2010

23 July 2010

the cross says we need not be slaves to death

The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.

It is the freedom to refrain, withdraw and abstain which makes a
totalitarian regime impossible.
-
Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind

so breathe

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
[Chinese Proverb]

20 July 2010

what are you seeking?

Friends, again I ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free.
--
Pope Benedict XVI
Greeting to Young People
St Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie
19 April 2008

14 July 2010

a lamp unto my feet

So now go do what I'm calling you to!

12 July 2010

just ask Me... and trust

True Love

08 July 2010

Come, be holy!

If we spoke to each other with the mind and heart of Christ - with love that flows out of our essence as His disciples - with words that come from our faith and not our insecurities - words that flow from our union with the Father through the Son, our words would be healing, forgiving, hopeful, and faithful...

If we did this, people would know, and find our words an invitation to holiness.

They could not help but to see the Christ who calls them.

05 July 2010

So trust

Having faith in the system

It's all in how you look at it

03 July 2010

GK Chesterton

"When people cease to believe in God, they don't believe in nothing; they believe in anything"

It is Jesus

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.”
--Pope John Paul II

Carlo Carretto:

How much I must criticize you, my church, and yet how much I love you! You have made me suffer more than anyone and yet I owe more to you than to anyone. I should like to see you destroyed and yet I need your presence. You have given me much scandal and yet you alone have made me understand holiness. Never in this world have I seen anything more compromised, more false, yet never have I touched anything more pure, more generous or more beautiful. Countless times I have felt like slamming the door of my soul in your face - and yet, every night, I have prayed that I might die in your sure arms! No, I cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even if not completely you. Then too - where would I go? To build another church? But I could not build one without the same defects, for they are my defects. And again, if I were to build another church, it would be my church, not Christ's church. No, I am old enough, I know better.