Not I, but Christ
To close the gap between what I am and what God wants of me, I must empty myself and let Jesus come in and take over. I have prayed to understand his agenda for me . …

It is unsettling to pray to be emptied of self; it seems a challenge almost beyond our reach as humans. But if we try, I have learned, God does most of the work. I must simply let myself go in love and trust of the Lord.

—Joseph Cardinal Bernardin in The Gift of Peace

Perspective Matters
One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.

—G. K. Chesterton in
The Hammer of God

Adults Under Authority
Authority and dictatorship are not the same thing, and all of us need authority; we need the authority of law, … the authority of parents, the authority of teachers. And this doesn't mean blind obedience: it means … we all need guidance. … [W]e are children in the eyes of God. It's very important in organised society that we are adults, making free choices, but we should have the humility to recognise that we are in many respects children . …

[W]e had a great party in the Sixties and thereafter over the destruction of authority, and now we've got the hangover. … [I]n the Nineties … we know we've got something wrong. We're pessimistic. The Sixties was very silly in many ways, but it was … optimistic. Now we know that we have overthrown authority and we wish we hadn't, but we don't quite know how to re-establish it.

—Charles Moore in
Third Way

Of Deeds and Motives
The last temptation is the greatest treason:

To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

—T. S. Eliot in
Murder in the Cathedral

Praise God Anyway Authentic praise of God acknowledges what ...