“This I believe” is a series and book by NPR where individuals, famous and not so famous, share essays. The following is a quote from one of my favorites:Image via WikipediaAlways Go to the Funeral – Deirdre Sullivan“Sounds simple – when someone dies, get in your car and go to calling hours or the funeral. That, I can do. But I think a personal philosophy of going to funeral means much more.‘Always go the funeral’ means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don’t feel like it…I’m talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy…In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn’t been good versus evil. It’s hardly so epic. Most days, my battle is doing good versus doing nothing.” … [Read more...]
Ruler of my Heart – Quote of the Week – Joyce Rupp
Image via WikipediaRuler of my HeartTame the wildness in meThat wants to leap awayAnd do my own thingWithout regard for others.Enliven the wildness in meThat gets overly complacentWith a too predictable life.Rule over my flip-flop heart.Do whatever it takesTo join the best in me with you.Joyce RuppFrom her new book: Fragments of Your Ancient Name … [Read more...]
Morning Prayer – Quote of the Week – Macina Wiederkehr
Image by Velorutionary via FlickrAwakening from the slumbering nightI gratefully open my entire being to you,Receiving spiritual medication for my life,Vitamins of grace for my soul’s journey.Each morning as I enter into prayerfulnessI receive from your abundant medicine chestEffective remedies for a lack of enthusiasm,A renewed strength for the ability to love,A clearer motivation for my daily occupation,And an endless portion of health grace.Macina Wiederkehr … [Read more...]
Morning Prayer – Quote of the Week – John Baillie
Image via Wikipedia“Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of You,Let my first impulse be to worship You,Let my first speech be Your name,Let my first action be to kneel before You in prayer.For Your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness:For the love with which You love mankind;For the love with which You love me;For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life;For the indwelling of Your Spirit in my heart;For the sevenfold gifts of Your Spirit;I praise and worship You, O Lord.Yet let me not, when this morning prayer is said, Think my worship ended and spend the day in forgetfulness of You.Rather from these moments of quietness, let light go forth, and joy and power that will remain with me through all the hours of the day,Keeping me chaste in thought;Keeping me temperate and truthful in speech;Keeping me faithful and diligent in my work;Keeping me humble in my estimation of myself;Keeping me honorable and generous in my dealing with others;Keeping me loyal to every … [Read more...]
God’s Gift Within Us – Quote of the Week – Richard Rohr
“Why do we have this gift and yet not realize it? Perhaps God does not want to force anything on us that we do not actually desire or choose for ourselves. So a lovely dance ensues between God and the soul that preserves freedom on both sides.“The gift is objectively already within, and yet has to be desired and awakened by the person. Faith is often clarified and joy-filled hindsight – after we have experienced our experiences. But the path ahead still demands walking in trust, risk, and various degrees of darkness. “We are always and forever the conduits, the instruments, the tuning fork, the receiver stations. We slowly learn the right frequencies that pick up the signal. The core task of all good spirituality is to teach us to ‘cooperate’ with what God already wants to do and had already begun to do. In fact, nothing good would even enter our mind unless in the previous moment God had not already moved within us. We are always and forever merely seconding the motion.”The Naked Now … [Read more...]
Worship God, not Emotions – Quote of the Week – Gerald May
“Teresa and John both say that we easily become so attached to feelings of and about God that we equate them with God. We forget that these sensations are only speaking to us of the divine One. They are only messengers. Instead, we take them for the whole of God’s self, and thus we wind up worshiping our own feelings. This is perhaps the most common idolatry of the spiritual life.” Gerald G. May, M.D. Dark Night of the Soul … [Read more...]
Prayer – Quote of the Week
Image by DerrickT via Flickr “Prayer is to be in God’s presence with open hands and an open heart. There are many things in my life to which I cling as with a clinched fist – my possessions for sure but the immaterial things as well–the work I do, the position I hold, the friends I have, my ideas, my principles, my image. If I should open my fist, they still remain. Nothing drops out. But my hands are open. And that is what prayer is. After a while, if I am willing to remain long enough with open hands, the Lord will come. He will have a look and roam through my hands to see what I have. He may be surprised—so many things! Then he will look at me and ask:‘Would you mind if I take out this little bit?’“And I answer, ‘Of course you may take it out. That’s why am here with open hands.’“And perhaps the Lord will look another time at me and ask:‘Would you mind if I put something else in your hands?’“And I answer, ‘Of course you may.’“That is the heart of prayer. The Lord may take … [Read more...]
Accepting Myself – Quote of the Week – Thomas Merton
"Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself."Thomas Merton … [Read more...]