Pondering Tidbits of Truth - December 18, 2014
.jpg) |
| ((Image source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets
of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time.
St. Catherine of Siena
“I long to see you making your
home in the cell of self-knowledge, so that you may attain perfect love, for I
know that we cannot please our Creator unless we love him, because he is love
and wants nothing but love. If we do know ourselves we find this love. Why?
Because we see our own nothingness, that our very existence is ours by grace
and not because we have a right to it, and every grace beyond our existence as
well - it is all given to us with boundless love. Then we discover so much of
God's goodness poured out on us that words cannot describe it. And once we see ourselves
so loved by God, we cannot help loving him. And within ourselves we love God
and our own rationality, and hate the sensuality that would take inordinate
pleasure in the world.”
(From The Dialogue)
Father Roger Landry
“The real Jesus was radically
countercultural and unbelievably attractive. He had crowds following up and
down the shore of the Sea of Galilee to listen
to him speak, sometimes for several days. They would carry their loved ones on
stretchers for miles, just to bring them into his presence. At his word,
"Come, follow me!" men would leave their livelihoods, their families,
and all they knew to accompany him, not having any clue where he was heading.
Once the idea that Jesus is a
warm cuddly bear, who basically loves us so much that he indulges all our
vices with a benign shrug of the shoulders, is replaced by the Jesus who loves
us so much that he was crucified to save us from those vices, who overturns
tables when we're being abused by money-changers, and who tells us to pluck out
eyes and cut off hands if they lead us to sin, then it's easier for us to
understand how Jesus would be challenging us with love to live in the truth
today.”
(From Joyful Witness-How to be an Extraordinary Catholic by Randy Hain,
quoting Father Roger Landry)
St. Claude de la Colombiere
"How I fear for my salvation when I see how inconstant I am. I am now gay, now sad: today I am friendly with everyone, tomorrow, I am like a hedgehog that no one can touch without being pricked. This is a sign that nature stills reigns within us, that our passions are still unmortified and that we have very little virtue. A man who leans on God is immovable and cannot be overthrown. Whatever happens that is annoying, he is pleased because he has no other will than that of God. O Happy peaceful state! but we must fight to obtain it."
(From The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude de la Colombiere)
Comments
Post a Comment