“If God sees that my spiritual life will be furthered by giving me the things for which I ask, then He will give them, but that is not the end of prayer. The end of prayer is that I come to know God Himself.” O. Chambers … [Read more...]
Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite writers. An internationally renowned priest and author, respected professor and beloved pastor, Henri Nouwen wrote over 40 books on the spiritual life. Born in Nijkerk, Holland, on January 24, 1932, Nouwen felt called to the priesthood at a very young age. He was ordained in 1957 as a diocesan priest and studied psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. In 1964 he moved to the United States to study at the Menninger Clinic. He went on to teach at the University of Notre Dame, and the Divinity Schools of Yale and Harvard. For several months during the 1970s, Nouwen lived and worked with the Trappist monks in the Abbey of the Genesee, and in the early 1980s he lived with the poor in Peru. In 1985 he was called to join L’Arche in Trosly, France, the first of over 100 communities founded by Jean Vanier where people with developmental disabilities live with assistants. A year later Nouwen came to make his home at L’Arche Daybreak near Toronto, … [Read more...]
The Fire of Pentecost – Quotes
Pentecost is the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early Christians. It marks the birth of the Christian church and means "fiftieth day" as it is celebrated fifty days after Easter, this coming Sunday.I have been reading about Pentecost for my own meditations and collecting some quotes about this event.Red is the liturgical color for this day. Red recalls the tongues of flame in which the Holy Spirit descended on the first Pentecost.A tradition of some churches in ancient times was to baptize adult converts to the faith on Pentecost. The newly baptized catechumens would wear white robes on that day, so Pentecost was often called "Whitsunday" or "White Sunday" after these white baptismal garments.On the 50th day after the Sabbath of Passover week, the Jews celebrated a festival of thanksgiving for the harvest. It was known by a number of different names:Feast of Weeks (Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10)Feast of Harvest (Ex. 23:16)Day of First fruits (Num. 28:26)The "Feast of … [Read more...]
Prayer and Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors. The first book I read by him, edited by Wendy Greer is titled The Only Necessary Thing – Living a Prayerful Life. I revisited that book this week and here are some of my favorite quotes from that book:· Prayer is the center of the Christian life. It is the only necessary thing. (Luke 10:42) It is living with God here and now. · The more we pray – in the sense of living a prayerful life – the more we desire to pray · I am deeply convince that the necessity of prayer, and to pray unceasingly, is not as much based on our desire for God as on God’s desire for us. It is God’s passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer. · A spiritual life without prayer is like the Gospel without Christ. · Praying is living. Praying pervades every aspect of our lives. It is the unceasing recognition that God is wherever we are, always inviting us to come closer and to celebrate the divine gift of being alive. · Prayer is … [Read more...]
Above All, Trust in the Slow Work of God
Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. Yet it is the law of all progress that is made by passing through some stages of instability and that may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you. Your ideas mature gradually. Let them grow. Let them shape themselves without undue haste. Do not try to force them on as though you could be today what time -- that is to say, grace --and circumstances acting on your own goodwill will make you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new Spirit gradually forming in you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete. Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser. Amen.Pierre Teilhard De Chardin wrote these … [Read more...]
WISDOM QUOTES
In honor of the removal of my wisdom teeth (see previous post for an explanation) I am sharing what others much wiser than me have written about wisdom: “To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.” – Norman Cousins “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” - Plato“What you think of yourself is … [Read more...]
New Years Reflections
I love the turning of the calendar for a new year. This year, 2010, is special in several ways.One it is a new decade (though I understand some don’t agree that the new decade begins now, I chose to believe so). My personality loves to plan, so my mind races with one year and ten year dreams.Second, on this new year’s eve a rare blue month will grace the sky. The last time a blue moon occurred at the end of the year was in 1990. The phrase “once in a blue moon” means a rare or unlikely event. Blue moons are really not anything superstitious; just means the second full month occurring within one month. I just think it is neat: like a symbol of a rare and outstanding new year approaching.If you want to read a great column about this, I invite you to check out what Suzette Standring wrote. By the way she has a great book on the Art of Column Writing.I am optimistic for the coming year. I honestly believe things will be better for our country and the world. I believe one person can make … [Read more...]
Advent – 15 Inspirational Quotes about this Season of Anticipation
Advent is a time to wait, listen and ponder the awesome wonder of God who sent his only son as a baby to save us. Pause and spend some time this season reflecting on God's gift of love. Looking for some more information about Advent: Download my free Advent Resource Guide here. Perhaps one of the following inspirational quotes will help: "Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent…If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time." Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac “The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before… .What is … [Read more...]