If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it isn't. We can't compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We're dealing with Fact. Of course anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about!
That knowledge humbles me, melts my bones, closes my ears, and makes my teeth rock loosely in their gums. And it also liberates me. I am a big bird winging over high mountains, down into serene valleys. I am ripples of waves on silver seas. I'm a spring leaf trembling in anticipation.
In general, it’s not too hard to corrupt an American, mostly a matter of supply to their demand. Supply should be variegated to encourage the Illusion of Choice. Other than that they’re looking for numbness, so be ready to sedate. Drugs, booze, television, shopping, etc…
The discrepancy between the modern observance and the prescriptions of the Rule had struck me ever since the novitiate, and no satisfactory explanation had ever been given to me. People said that man had changed: the weakness of people's health no longer allows us to fast. Was it true?
No gift unrecognized as coming from God is at its own best: therefore many things that God would gladly give us, things even that we need because we are, must wait until we ask for them, that we may know whence they come: when in all gifts we find Him, then in Him we shall find all things.
Nije li u međuvremenu kršćanstvo što dalje to više gubilo tu osjetljivost za situaciju? Ono više ne najavljuje, ne naviješta, ono još samo ponavlja ono što jest pa ga onda iritira vlastita mjerodavnost koja nema nikakvih posljedica.
A basic reality of life is that we all struggle. We hurt and have hurt other people. We all feel lost sometimes. This isn’t all we are, but it is a part of who we are. The only question I have when I’m with someone is, “Can they admit it? And will they let me admit it too?
Many questing young people and stressed older people nowadays seek relaxation through meditation. They look for it in Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern religions. They are often surprised to learn that there is such a way within the Christian tradition, a way that is known as contemplation.
Shaking his head to clear away the memories, he rose to pull the net from the water. it broke the surface just as the first rays of sunrise began to paint the edge of the horizon in gold, pink, and red. the net was empty. much like Peter’s broken heart. (From The Restoration of Peter)
Of course it's dangerous. But it's a lot more dangerous for all of us if we don't do it. Even in a conquering army there are casualties. Safety is not the issue when we look at the Great Commission. The purpose of the church cannot be to survive, or even to thrive, but to serve.
Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.
That Jesus is popular in Mark 2:2, however, is not a general model for Christian ministry; the rest of Mark itself shows that eventually crowds denounced Jesus (15:13–14). From these narratives we might learn to use any popularity for good at the moment but not to count on it enduring.
God loves us just because of who we are, not because of what we do, not because we’ve got it all together, and not because of our efforts—or lack of effort . There is nothing we can do to make God love us any more, and there’s nothing we can do to make him love us any less.
The culmination of current philosophies & worldviews is the ultimate narcissistic arbitration of shame. In the end they fail, being revealed as petty, childish, dead ideologies, entirely unlivable. In stark contrast stands the Christian worldview, substantive, liveable, humble, sublime.
Shaking his head to clear away the memories, he rose to pull the net from the water. it broke the surface just as the first rays of sunrise began to paint the edge of the horizon in gold, pink, and red. the net was empty. Much like Peter’s broken heart. (From: The Restoration of Peter)
