The union that binds the members of Christ together is not the union of proud confidence in the power of an organization. The Church is united by the humility as well as by the charity of her members. Hers is the union that comes from the consciousness of individual fallibility and poverty, from the humility which recognizes its own limitations and accepts them, the meekness that cannot take upon itself to condemn, but can only forgive because it is conscious that it has itself been forgiven by Christ. The union of Christians is a union of friendship and mercy, a bearing of one anothers’ burdens in the sharing of divine forgiveness. — Disputed Questions, pp. 139-140 Kindle version
Verse of the day
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
– Isaiah 43:19
Voice of the day
The most damaging phrase in the language is, “It’s always been done that way.”
– Grace Hopper
Prayer of the day
God, help us to notice your forward-moving spirit and give us the courage to join in your new and transformative work.
“One of the curses of history is that we cannot go back and change the course leading to disasters, no matter how much we might wish to. The past has its own terrible inevitability. But it is never too late to change the future.”—Heather Cox Richardson
Yet we cannot forget the frightful barbarities perpetrated by the Western Crusaders in Constantinople, desecrating Greek Churches, sacking monasteries and committing all sorts of other crimes, confident that these were acts proper to a holy war! Such incomprehension of the law and love of Christ seems almost unbelievable. Yet the study of history shows us these things and others like them repeated over and over again. By such actions the Kingdom of God is not built, it is destroyed. — Disputed Questions, p. 139 (Kindle version)
“The science of nonviolent resistance is young and the most important discoveries are yet to be made.”—Mohandas Gandhi
“The point of nonviolence is to build a floor, a strong new floor, beneath which we can no longer sink.”—Joan Baez
“Pure, holy Simplicity confounds all the wisdom of this world.”—St. Francis of Assisi, The Prayers of St. Francis
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
courtesy of my friend Genie from her blog Espirational
God does not give us graces or talents or virtues for ourselves alone. We are members one of another and everything that is given to one member is given for the whole body… In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart. As soon as you take yourself seriously and imagine that your virtues are important because they are yours, you become the prisoner of your own vanity…. (New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 42, 43)
When I pray for peace, I pray not only that the enemies of my own country may cease to want war, but above all that my country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable. — Thomas Merton (New Seeds of Contemplation, p.121)
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 