In solitude I found my fortitude

 

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Prosperity Bible

Henri Nouwen on Freedom

When we are spiritually free, we do not have to worry about what to say or do in unexpected, difficult circumstances. When we are not concerned about what others think of us or what we will get for what we do, the right words and actions will emerge from the centre of our beings because the Spirit of God, who makes us children of God and sets us free, will speak and act through us.

Henri Nouwen

Keep Shouting

Elie Wiesel writes:

“One of the Just Men came to Sodom, determined to save its inhabitants from sin and punishment. Night and day he walked the streets and markets protesting against greed and theft, falsehood and indifference. In the beginning, people listened and smiled ironically. Then they stopped listening: he no longer amused them. The killers went on killing, the wise men kept silent, as if there were no Just Man in their midst.

One day, a child, moved by the compassion for the unfortunate teacher, approached him with these words: ‘Poor stranger, you shout, you scream, don’t you see that it is hopeless?’

‘Yes, I see,’ answered the Just Man.

‘Then why do you go on?’

‘I’ll tell you why. In the beginning, I thought I could change man. Today, I know I cannot. If I still shout today, if I still scream, it is to prevent man from ultimately changing me.’”

This short story from Wiesel has a powerful message for all of us as we struggle to live a Christian life or a life pleasing to God in the world.

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Travelling Light

It was a hot dusty afternoon,

A woman stole quietly to draw water from the well in a small city in Samaria,

safe from the gossips and disdainful looks of other women in the city of Sychar.

A woman of Samaria who was just trying to survive, to have a roof over her head,

being driven from home after home erodes one’s pride slowly but surely.

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I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom. 

Maya Angelou

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To have succeeded

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

source: Wiki

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Miracles

one who counts

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knows neither victory nor defeat

PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Speech at the Sorbonne, 23 April 1910

source: Wiki

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Loving the Introvert

Loved this.

How to interact with the introverted…

10 November, 2013 in Images, People | Comment

Making Our Home in Silence

The church—in theory—is here to help us make our home in the silence of adoration and the holy, to give us courage to carry it into ordinary life, into the kingdom of noise—that is, what ancient writers have called “the world”—so that it, too, may be transfigured. “The world” in this context does not mean the creation, which is good, but rather the arena of illusion, of power struggles and conspicuous consumption, imagined in the mind but acted out in the suffering of the material creation and the body. It is this shadowy and contentious world of avidity, not the body, which Paul refers to as “the flesh.” This phantasmagorical world cannot bear silence, for silence reveals it for the delusion it is. It adores only what it can consume and lives for the adrenaline rush of power over people and things. It is this noisy world of delusion and lies that the humble Christ defeats by self-emptying silence.

Maggie Ross, "Practical Adoration," from Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, Vol. XXIII, No. 3 (March/April 2008), (Nashville: The Upper Room, 2008), 13.

Photo by Wong Ling Hong

What do I love when I love God?

 

 Jurgen Motlmann's response to Augustine's "What do I love when I love God?"

When I love God I love the beauty of bodies, the rhythm of
movements, the shining of eyes, the embraces, the feelings,
the scents, the sounds of all this protean creation. When I love
you, my God, I want to embrace it all, for I love you with all
my senses in the creations of your love. In all the things that
encounter me, you are waiting for me.

For a long time I looked for you within myself and crept
into the shell of my soul, shielding myself with an armour of
inapproachability. But you were outside - outside myself - and
enticed me out of the narrowness of my heart into the broad
place of love for life. So I came out of myself and found my soul
in my senses, and my own self in others.

The experience of God deepens the experiences of life. It
does not reduce them. For it awakens the unconditional Yes to
life. The more I love God, the more gladly I exist. The more
immediately and wholly I exist, the more I sense the living
God, the inexhaustible source of life and eternal livingness.

Moltmann, A Broad Place: An Autobiography, 349-50

Spirituality and Prayer

Prayer is subversive activity. It involves a more or less open act of defiance against any claim by the current regime. . . .[As we pray] slowly but surely, not culture, not family, not government, not job, not even the tyrannous self can stand against the quiet power and creative influence of God's sovereignty. Every natural tie of family and race, every willed commitment to person and nation is finally subordinated to the rule of God.

Eugene Peterson, Where Your Treasure Is

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Duck Sunday

Soren Kierkegaard told this story:

Every  Sunday the ducks waddle out of their houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and squat down in their proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, then the duck minister come forward and open the duck Bible. He reads to them: "Ducks! God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine you! No fences can hold you! You have wings. God has given you wings and you can fly like birds!"
All the ducks shouted, "Amen!" As the ducks left the service they commented on what a wonderful sermon it was. And they all waddled home.

-Campolo, T. Adapted from Let Me Tell You a Story. Nashville, Tenn: Word, 3000, pp. 81-82.

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Fenelon on One Thing is Needful

Martha, Martha! You are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. (Luke 10:41-42 RSV)

We think there are a thousand things we should be concerned with, but there is actually only one. If we take care of that one thing, all the others will find themselves done. And if we fail to take care of the one thing that is needful, all the others—no matter how successfully we may seem to do them—will fall into ruin. So why are we so torn between matters of the heart and our worldly cares?

From this day forward I resolve to give my total attention to the only thing on earth I ought to be concerned with. Illumined by God's holy light, I resolve to stop worrying and to do every moment, with all the strength of my mind and body, whatever God in his providence places in my path. I will not be grieved about turning everything else over to God, because it is not my work I am doing, but God’s. And I ought to want to do only what God gives me to do.

I resolve not to become keenly excited about anything, because it is dangerous to want to appropriate God’s work to ourselves. If we do that, then we do God's work in own strength; we turn good into bad and we allow pride to take over. And then we become flushed with the pursuit of success. We concealed our illusion by using the pretext of seeking God’s glory.

O God, give me the grace to be faithful in my actions, but indifferent to success. The only thing I ought to be concerned with is to desire your will and to quietly meditate on you - even in the midst of busy times. It is up to you to crown my feeble actions with such fruit as is pleasing to you—and none at all, if that is what you find best for me.

 

Francois Fenelon

Meditations on the Heart of God

Finding Your Center

The soul's center is God. When it has reached God with all the capacity of its being and the strength of its operation and inclination, it will have attained to its final and deepest center in God.

-St. John of the Cross

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Be Content

Here is a post from my mentor's blog Reflections of an RSCJ.

"Be content, be content."

Here is a quote from Thomas Merton that I took yesterday from "The Book of Hours":
Be content, be content.
We are the Body of Christ.
We have found Him, He has found us.
We are in Him, He in us.
There is nothing further to look for, except the deepening of this life we already possess.
Be content."

HT Helen.
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John Wesley Quotes

Here are ten interesting John Wesley quotes from the Logos blog

Ten Thought-Provoking John Wesley Quotes

Robert Campbell   |  Fri, April 29, 2011   |  

1. “Every one, though born of God in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows by slow degrees.” —from a letter in the Works of John Wesley
2. “No circumstances can make it necessary for a man to burst in sunder all the ties of humanity. It can never be necessary for a rational being to sink himself below a brute.” —from Thoughts upon Slavery in the Works of John Wesley
3. “When I was young I was sure of everything. In a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before. At present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.” —from a letter in the Works of John Wesley
4. “Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry.” —from a letter in the Works of John Wesley
5. “Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then give all you can.” —from a sermon in the Works of John Wesley
6. “Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name of reason. It is our part, by religion and reason joined, to counteract them all we can.” —from a letter in the Works of John Wesley
7. “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.” —from a sermon in the Works of John Wesley
8. “Never dream of forcing men into the ways of God. Think yourself, and let think. Use no constraint in matters of religion. Even those who are farthest out of the way never compel to come in by any other means than reason, truth, and love.” —from a sermon in the Works of John Wesley
9. “Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.” —from a letter in the Works of John Wesley
10. “It cannot be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people.” —from a letter in the Works of John Wesley

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Martyn Lloyd Jones on Prayer

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once wrote: “Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God”

(Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979, 2:45)


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A Single Breath

 There is a Zen story about how a single breath can free us from the confines of our intellectualizing and unite us with all creation. Tokusan was a brilliant scripture scholar who went to study with Zen Master Ryutan. One night as Tokusan was leaving to go home to bed after a long evening of discussion, he noticed that it was pitch black outside. Zen master Ryutan lit a lantern and handed it to Tokusan. Just as Tokusan reached for the lantern, Ryutan blew it out. In that moment, Tokusan experienced enlightenment and bowed in gratitude. Tokusan realized that he was not dependent upon words and teachings to light the way for him. Even in times of darkness, he could experience his essential nature directly and be a lamp unto himself.




— Ellen Birx in Healing Zen
 
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