01 January 2011
12 life lessons
From Fr. James Martin at the Huffington Post, who marked his 50th birthday by tweeting these life lessons to his friends:
1. First up: Stop worrying so much! It’s useless. (I.e. Jesus was right.)
2. Being a saint means being yourself. Stop trying to be someone else and just be your best self. Saves you heartache.
3. There’s no right way to pray, any more than there’s a right way to be a friend. What’s “best” is what works best for you.
4. Remember three things and save yourself lots of unneeded heartache: You’re not God. This ain’t heaven. Don’t act like a jerk.
5. Your deepest, most heartfelt desires are God’s desires for you. And vice versa. Listen. And follow them.
6. Within you is the idea of your best self. Act as if you were that person and you will become that person, with God’s grace.
7. Don’t worry too much about the worst that can happen. Even if it happens, God is with you, and you can handle it. Really.
8. You can’t force people to approve of you, agree with you, be impressed with you, love you or even like you. Stop trying.
9. When we compare, we are usually imagining someone else’s life falsely. So our real-life loses out. I.e. Compare and despair.
10. Even when you finally realized the right thing, or the Christian thing, to do, it can still be hard to do. Do it anyway.
11. Seven things to say frequently: I love you. Thank you. Thank you, God. Forgive me. I’m so happy for you! Why not? Yes.
12. Peace and joy come after asking God to free you — from anything that keeps you from being loving and compassionate.
1. First up: Stop worrying so much! It’s useless. (I.e. Jesus was right.)
2. Being a saint means being yourself. Stop trying to be someone else and just be your best self. Saves you heartache.
3. There’s no right way to pray, any more than there’s a right way to be a friend. What’s “best” is what works best for you.
4. Remember three things and save yourself lots of unneeded heartache: You’re not God. This ain’t heaven. Don’t act like a jerk.
5. Your deepest, most heartfelt desires are God’s desires for you. And vice versa. Listen. And follow them.
6. Within you is the idea of your best self. Act as if you were that person and you will become that person, with God’s grace.
7. Don’t worry too much about the worst that can happen. Even if it happens, God is with you, and you can handle it. Really.
8. You can’t force people to approve of you, agree with you, be impressed with you, love you or even like you. Stop trying.
9. When we compare, we are usually imagining someone else’s life falsely. So our real-life loses out. I.e. Compare and despair.
10. Even when you finally realized the right thing, or the Christian thing, to do, it can still be hard to do. Do it anyway.
11. Seven things to say frequently: I love you. Thank you. Thank you, God. Forgive me. I’m so happy for you! Why not? Yes.
12. Peace and joy come after asking God to free you — from anything that keeps you from being loving and compassionate.
2011 Motto
We are the shepherds.
We are keeping watch over our flock the best we can.
And the angel of the Lord says to us:
"Do not be afraid..."
via WR
We are keeping watch over our flock the best we can.
And the angel of the Lord says to us:
"Do not be afraid..."
via WR
24 December 2010
Christmas
May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown
02 December 2010
bigger... and better...
"Yes, dear brothers and sisters, God's promises are always greater than our hopes," Benedict XVI
23 November 2010
22 November 2010
i guess i'm learning a lot about myself today
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. - Carl Jung
20 November 2010
and loved by the unmoved mover as well
We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. -William Somerset Maugham
13 November 2010
you have put salt in our mouths
All that we call human history - money, poverty, ambition, war,
prostitution, classes, empires, slavery - [is] the long terrible story
of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
- CS Lewis
prostitution, classes, empires, slavery - [is] the long terrible story
of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
- CS Lewis
08 November 2010
02 November 2010
Ten things you wish you could say to ten different people right now
1. I have always and will always have this inexplicable soft spot in my heart for you. Even when you insult me and mock me and are rude to me. I think it’s because I know you’re just pushing me to see if I’ll leave. But I won’t. I’m here, for good, and even though everyone else has given up on you and written you off, I haven’t. So you can keep kicking me to the ground, but I’m going to keep waiting for you to pick me back up. Because you always do.
2. You loved me more than I loved you. I’m sorry for that. But I think this will be good for you, and for me, too. You can’t make one person the center of your world.
3. I’m glad our friendship has morphed into what it is. I’m so much more comfortable talking about things with you now. Even though you’re far away, you’re still my best friend.
4. I will always be in love with you, and you will always be in love with me, but it will never work out. I’m glad we figured the last part out early on, it makes everything easier.
5. I am so unbelievably proud of you. Just thinking about the amazing young man you’ve grown into makes me tear up. And the fact that you attribute who you are now in part to me makes me feel so unworthy to be your older sister. You are a better person than I will ever be, and even though you’re younger than me, I will always look up to you. I love you so much, and I miss you more than I ever thought I could now that I’m up here. I hope you make all the right choices that I never did, and I also hope you fuck up a lot of them. I will never try to teach you a lesson before you’ve had the chance to learn it yourself, I promise. But I’m always here for you, buddy. Always, always, always.
6. Thank you for letting me talk to you about everything and anything at any time. You are always understanding and never judgmental and I appreciate that so much. If you ever need me, I’m here.
7. I look up to you so much. You are directly responsible for any sense of responsibility, leadership, and integrity that I have now. You always pushed me to be my very best, and I cannot thank you enough for that. You were the best coach I have ever had, and I am so grateful that you are still a part of my life. I hope everything works out for you, you deserve the very best.
8. I’m sorry that I ever thought poorly of you. You have a good heart, and you are the best friend a girl could ask for. You’re always there for me, and being able to rely on that is really nice. I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks!
9. You don’t know how much shit you’ve put me through. You destroyed my self-esteem and made me question everything and hide everything and hate myself. I never knew how to please you and you tortured me for that. But I forgive you. I’m glad we’re past that shitty part of our relationship and I’m glad I can be myself around you and I’m glad I love you.
10. I don’t regret it at all.
(via)
2. You loved me more than I loved you. I’m sorry for that. But I think this will be good for you, and for me, too. You can’t make one person the center of your world.
3. I’m glad our friendship has morphed into what it is. I’m so much more comfortable talking about things with you now. Even though you’re far away, you’re still my best friend.
4. I will always be in love with you, and you will always be in love with me, but it will never work out. I’m glad we figured the last part out early on, it makes everything easier.
5. I am so unbelievably proud of you. Just thinking about the amazing young man you’ve grown into makes me tear up. And the fact that you attribute who you are now in part to me makes me feel so unworthy to be your older sister. You are a better person than I will ever be, and even though you’re younger than me, I will always look up to you. I love you so much, and I miss you more than I ever thought I could now that I’m up here. I hope you make all the right choices that I never did, and I also hope you fuck up a lot of them. I will never try to teach you a lesson before you’ve had the chance to learn it yourself, I promise. But I’m always here for you, buddy. Always, always, always.
6. Thank you for letting me talk to you about everything and anything at any time. You are always understanding and never judgmental and I appreciate that so much. If you ever need me, I’m here.
7. I look up to you so much. You are directly responsible for any sense of responsibility, leadership, and integrity that I have now. You always pushed me to be my very best, and I cannot thank you enough for that. You were the best coach I have ever had, and I am so grateful that you are still a part of my life. I hope everything works out for you, you deserve the very best.
8. I’m sorry that I ever thought poorly of you. You have a good heart, and you are the best friend a girl could ask for. You’re always there for me, and being able to rely on that is really nice. I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks!
9. You don’t know how much shit you’ve put me through. You destroyed my self-esteem and made me question everything and hide everything and hate myself. I never knew how to please you and you tortured me for that. But I forgive you. I’m glad we’re past that shitty part of our relationship and I’m glad I can be myself around you and I’m glad I love you.
10. I don’t regret it at all.
(via)
01 November 2010
Keeping things in perspective
World Press Photo of the Year: 1980 Mike Wells, United Kingdom. Karamoja district, Uganda, April 1980. Starving boy and a missionary.
About the image: Wells felt indignant that the same publication that sat on his picture for five months without publishing it, while people were dying, entered it into a competition. He was embarrassed to win as he never entered the competition himself, and was against winning prizes with pictures of people starving to death.
Job Opening
“Since I have the chance now, there is something I very much want to say to you. I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the twenty-first century.
What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. He loves you much more than you could ever begin to imagine, and he wants the very best for you. And by far the best thing for you is to grow in holiness.
Perhaps some of you have never thought about this before. Perhaps some of you think being a saint is not for you. Let me explain what I mean. When we are young, we can usually think of people that we look up to, people we admire, people we want to be like. It could be someone we meet in our daily lives that we hold in great esteem. Or it could be someone famous. We live in a celebrity culture, and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment. My question for you is this: what are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?
When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. I am asking you not to pursue one limited goal and ignore all the others. Having money makes it possible to be generous and to do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy. Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy. Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.
Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but he invites us to respond to that love. You all know what it is like when you meet someone interesting and attractive, and you want to be that person’s friend. You always hope they will find you interesting and attractive, and want to be your friend.
God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know him better, you find you want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in your own life. You are attracted to the practice of virtue. You begin to see greed and selfishness and all the other sins for what they really are, destructive and dangerous tendencies that cause deep suffering and do great damage, and you want to avoid falling into that trap yourselves. You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous. And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints.”
--Pope Benedict XVI
Greeting to Catholic Pupils of the United Kingdom
St Mary's College, Twickenham
17 September 2010
What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. He loves you much more than you could ever begin to imagine, and he wants the very best for you. And by far the best thing for you is to grow in holiness.
Perhaps some of you have never thought about this before. Perhaps some of you think being a saint is not for you. Let me explain what I mean. When we are young, we can usually think of people that we look up to, people we admire, people we want to be like. It could be someone we meet in our daily lives that we hold in great esteem. Or it could be someone famous. We live in a celebrity culture, and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment. My question for you is this: what are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?
When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. I am asking you not to pursue one limited goal and ignore all the others. Having money makes it possible to be generous and to do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy. Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy. Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.
Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but he invites us to respond to that love. You all know what it is like when you meet someone interesting and attractive, and you want to be that person’s friend. You always hope they will find you interesting and attractive, and want to be your friend.
God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know him better, you find you want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in your own life. You are attracted to the practice of virtue. You begin to see greed and selfishness and all the other sins for what they really are, destructive and dangerous tendencies that cause deep suffering and do great damage, and you want to avoid falling into that trap yourselves. You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous. And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints.”
--Pope Benedict XVI
Greeting to Catholic Pupils of the United Kingdom
St Mary's College, Twickenham
17 September 2010
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