WE GIVE THANKS-BUT TO WHOM?
It must be an odd feeling to be thankful to nobody in particular. Christians in public institutions often see this odd thing happening on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone in the institution seems to be thankful “in general.” It’s very strange. It’s a little like being married in general.
—Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., in “Assurances of the Heart”
THEOLOGY’S TOUGHEST BELIEF
All men matter. You matter. I matter. It’s the hardest thing in theology to believe.
—G. K. Chesterton in “The Father Brown Omnibus”
BETTER THAN E-MAIL
From the time when God became real to me, I knew that communicating with him—two way communication—was the most important thing in the world. To communicate with everyone else and be deaf and dumb to God is to turn our priorities upside down, isn’t it?
—David Winter in “Christian Classics in Modern English: Brother Lawrence’s Practicing the Presence of God”
RUNNING DRY
I believe that if we are to be and to do for others what God means us to be and to do, we must not let Adoration and Worship slip into second place, “For it is the central service asked by God of human souls; and its neglect is responsible for much lack of spiritual depth and power.” Perhaps we may find here the reason why we so often run dry. We do not give time enough to what makes for depth, and so we are shallow; a wind, quite a little wind, can ruffle our surface; a little hot sun, and all the moisture in us evaporates. It should not be so.
—Amy Carmichael in “Edges of His Ways”
VIOLENCE GOD APPROVES
You must violently resist the tides of the world. Violently give up all that holds you back from God. Violently turn your will over to God to do His will alone.
—Francois Fenelon in “The Seeking Heart”
SHEPHERDS OR MUTTON FARMERS?
Back when the sacred authors used the imagery of the shepherd to depict Jesus, they had a clear understanding of the job description.
A shepherd is needed only when there are no fences. He is someone who stays with his sheep at all cost, guiding, protecting, and walking with them through the fields. He’s not just a person who raises sheep.
Though our bishops consider themselves “tenders of the flock,” most are nothing more than mutton farmers. They build fence after fence, keeping the flock within sight so they don’t have to dirty their feet plodding through the open fields. After all, the landowner frowns upon dirty feet.
—Lena Wolter, quoted by Martin E. Marty in “Context” (Sept. 15, 1995)
GRACE GREATER THAN WE KNOW
Why do we call grace amazing? Grace is amazing because it works against the grain of common sense. Hard-nosed common sense will tell you that you are too wrong to meet the standards of a holy God; pardoning grace tells you that it’s all right in spite of so much in you that is wrong.
Realistic common sense tells you that you are too weak, too harassed, too human to change for the better; grace gives you power to send you on the way to being a better person.
Plain common sense may tell you that you are caught in a rut of fate or futility; grace promises that you can trust God to have a better tomorrow for you than the day you have made for yourself.
—Lewis Smedes in “How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?”
GRATITUDE IS ENRICHING
Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it.
—A. W. Tozer in “Signposts”
GOOD NEWS CAN’T BE HIDDEN
Every Christian—as he explores the historical record of Scripture and tradition and comes to a deep, abiding faith—experiences that Christ is the risen one and that he is therefore the eternally living one. It is a deep, life-changing experience. No true Christian can keep it hidden as a personal matter. For such an encounter with the living God cries out to be shared-like the light that shines, like the yeast that leavens the whole mass of dough.
—Pope John Paul II in “Breakfast with the Pope”
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