The spiritual works of mercy

Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae:

Prayer
Instructing the ignorant
Counseling
Comforting
Reproving the reprobate
Pardoning injuries against ourselves
Bearing with the annoying: "Thirdly, in respect of the result of an inordinate act, on account of which the sinner is an annoyance to those who live with him or her, despite his or her intention; in which case the remedy is applied by bearing with them, especially with regard to those who sin out of weakness ... and not only as regards their being infirm and consequently troublesome on account of their unruly actions, but also by bearing any other burdens of theirs with them."

How much you care

"I don't care how much you know
until I know how much you care."

~ author unknown

An Antidote to Depression

from P. L.:

The last time I was acutely depressed, I woke up one morning believing that God was asking me to SING to Him for twenty-four hours. That sounded crazy to me! Stay up for twenty-four hours? It took me a couple hours to do the task, and then I decided to comply.

So I started singing. Hymns from some hymnals I'd collected, listening to praise songs on the radio, singing original tunes to the psalms, making up new psalms, singing made up tunes in a walk to the park, playing on my flute - it was constant praise music all day long. I even sang through the evening.

J. came to me about 11 PM, and he said: "this seems to be working. Why don't you really sing for the whole twenty-four hours!" So I sang through the night.

I kicked that depression, and it hasn't really bit me since. Singing praises to the Almighty actually changes the body at a cellular level. I've read that since. And there is a scripture that says: "put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

So I recommend singing praises to the Creator. He deserves our praise. He made us. We are created to give Him glory! And it's an antidote to depression. Go for it. Start singing. I'll be singing right along with you!

Nothing can be changed until it is faced

"Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing can be changed until it is faced."

~ James Baldwin

Winning the War

The Greek word for "good news" came from "we are winning the war."

A Lack of Mercy Stirs Up the Anger of God

Archbishop Justin Rigali
Show Us Your Mercy: Thirty Reflections on Life in Jesus Christ
Paulist Press, 2003

"We have many weaknesses, which God understands and even transforms, but a lack of mercy on our part stirs up the anger of God, precisely because he has been so merciful and forgiving toward us."

Fear

from Star Wars:

Fear leads to anger,
anger leads to hate,
hate leads to suffering ...

I sense much fear in you.

~ Yoda

Logos, Pathos, and Ethos

Leadership Journal, Summer 2007
Is PowerPoint Fading?
Interview with Leith Anderson, pastor,
Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/003/21.37.html

Aristotle's classic teaching suggests the three components of effective communication are logos, which is "word" or "truth"; pathos, which is "passion"; and ethos, which is "character." The best communicating is done by a person of good character, well spoken, telling the truth.

If someone tells the truth but is not passionate about it, or if someone passionately says something true but lacks character, the message is undermined. All three ingredients are essential.

Knowing what to leave undone

"The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone."

~ Oswald Chambers

An enemy is the greatest teacher

"The Tibetans say an enemy is the greatest teacher because only an enemy can help develop patience and compassion."

"They believe with rock-like faith that the power of their religion will protect them against these Chinese. In preparation for the general´s visit sacred ceremonies are performed throughout Lhasa. Sculptures of deities have been carved with great care in butter. As the sun melts them, they become a reminder that nothing lasts."

The Chinese believe: "Religion is poison."

movie Seven Years in Tibet
about the Dalai Lama

What?

"Inside every old person is a young person yelling, 'What the hell happened?'"

~ author unknown

Hurt People Hurt People

"The root cause of violence is traumatic events. Hurt people hurt people. When a male is being violent to another male, one thing we know about him is that somewhere in his life he had a profound victimization that he has not healed from."

"We need to make sure every boy is connected to someone, an adult teacher or mentor. A strong connection to parents and school is crucial."

psychologist Michael Reichert
Bearing WItness: Violence and Collective Responsibility

Keep Going!

"If you're going through hell, keep going!"

~ Winston Churchill

Is the Grass Really Greener?

"So you bored with Husband? If you think the grass is greener on the other side, maybe you ain't watering your own lawn. And who knows? You might be looking at Astroturf."

~ Joanne Hart (Mother Love)
May 25, 1995, Philadelphia Inquirer

Einstein on Jesus

from
http://einsteinandreligion.com/einsteinonjesus.html

Christianity and Judaism
If one purges the Judaism of the Prophets and Christianity as Jesus taught it of all subsequent additions, especially those of the priests, one is left with a teaching which is capable of curing all the social ills of humanity.
It is the duty of every man of good will to strive steadfastly in his own little world to make this teaching of pure humanity a living force, so far as he can. If he makes an honest attempt in this direction without being crushed and trampled under foot by his contemporaries, he may consider himself and the community to which he belongs lucky.
— From Einstein's book The World as I See It (Philosophical Library, New York, 1949)
pp. 111-112

The following comes from "What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck,"The Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 26, 1929, p. 17.
The questions are posed by Viereck; the reply to each is by Einstein. Since the interview was conducted in Berlin and both Viereck and Einstein had German as their mother tongue, the interview was likely conducted in German and then translated into English by Viereck.
Some portions of this interview might seem questionable, but this portion of the interview was explicitly confirmed by Einstein. When asked about a clipping from a magazine article (likely the Saturday Evening Post) reporting Einstein's comments on Christianity taken down by Viereck, Einstein carefully read the clipping and replied, "That is what I believe."
See Brian pp. 277 - 278.

"To what extent are you influenced by Christianity?"
"As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."

"Have you read Emil Ludwig's book on Jesus?
"Emil Ludwig's Jesus," replied Einstein, "is shallow. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot."

"You accept the historical existence of Jesus?"
"Unquestionably. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. How different, for instance, is the impression which we receive from an account of legendary heroes of antiquity like Theseus. Theseus and other heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus."

"Ludwig Lewisohn, in one of his recent books, claims that many of the sayings of Jesus paraphrase the sayings of other prophets."
"No man," Einstein replied, "can deny the fact that Jesus existed, nor that his sayings are beautiful. Even if some them have been said before, no one has expressed them so divinely as he."

Edited by Arnold V. Lesikar, Professor Emeritus
Dept. of Physics, Astronomy, and Engineering Science,
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498

Sucking Out the Life

"The reader is a kind of Dracula who renews himself continually by sucking out the inner life of the characters he's encountering."

~ Dr. Garrett Stewart, Univ. of Iowa professor,
James O. Freedman Chair of Letters, English Dept.

Peace with Your Enemies

Feb, 5, 1999 Philadelphia Inquirer:

President Bill Clinton discussing a conversation with then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Sept. 19, 1993, just before Rabin and Arafat sealed their peace accord with a handshake, saying Rabin's words resonate with him still:

"You do not make peace with your friends, but friendship can come with time and trust and humility, when we do not pretend that our willfulness is an expression of God's will."

President Bill Clinton:

"Remember that all the great peacemakers in the world, in the end, have to let go and walk away, like Christ, not from apparent, but from genuine, grievances."

You Brought Pavement!

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.
An angel hears his plea and appears to him. "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules.
The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God had decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.

Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. Peter seeing the suitcase says, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!"
But, the man explains to Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord.
Sure enough, Peter checks and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check it's contents before letting it through."
Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "You brought pavement?!!!'

~ author unknown

A Long Flight

Brent Porterfield:

A Long Flight

The first transcontinental flight across the country from New York, NY to Long Beach CA was completed by American aviation pioneer Cal P. Rodgers in an early Wright flyer called the Vin Fiz after a soft drink company that sponsored the trip. On September 17, 1911 he left Sheephead Bay at Brooklyn NY and arrived in California on December 10, 1911, 84 days later. Rodgers actual time in the air was 3 days, 10 hours and 14 minutes. The airplane was forced down by weather and mechanical failure more than 30 times resulting in "light crashes" to crashes that required major repairs. When Rodgers landed in Long Beach the only original parts on the airplane were the rear rudder and the oil pan on the engine.

I would have given up the first time I lost my wings.

We Are God's Answer to Injustice

King Duncan, Collected Sermons:

Listen to me. If you are being bullied in school, God knows about it and God hates it. If you are being harassed in the workplace, for any reason, God hates it. If you are being taken advantage of--or if you are taking unfair advantage of someone else--there will be a day of reckoning. If there is anyone anywhere praying for God to intervene and put an end to their oppression, eventually that prayer will be heard and that which is wrong will be set right. That's the promise of Scripture.

Now, where does that leave us? Let me tell you a story.

A young black man asked his minister why their people had to suffer so much poverty, hardship, and oppression. "Why doesn't God do something?" he wailed.

"He has," said that wise pastor. "He has created you."

And so Desmond Tutu, now the archbishop of South Africa, became the answer to his own question.

That's a good lesson for you and me. While we are waiting for God to bring in a perfect and just society, you and I are God's answer to the injustice in our world. That's what it means to take up a cross and follow Jesus. It's not a comfortable position to be in. It's not popular. But it is Christ's way.

Wisdom

"Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise."

~ Paul Engle

Afraid of how God might change them

author unknown:

"Jesus wasn't killed by 'the Jews'. Jesus was killed by the people who were afraid of how God might change them."
In Luke, the Holy Spirit appears when new things happen.

The Grace not to step on your enemies

Paul Sheppard:

"God will never put your enemies under your feet until he's given you enough grace not to step on them."

"Putting Your Ego In Check"
Enduring Truth broadcast, Oct. 12, 2007

Secret of a Happy Marriage

Jenna Bush:

Our whole family loves to laugh. My parents' marriage advice is to laugh and forgive. If you take yourself too seriously, life becomes more difficult than it needs to be.

"10 Questions for Jenna Bush",
Time magazineThursday, Oct. 11, 2007
By Carolyn Sayre

An Inventory of Blessings

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:

The first thing that Robinson Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings.

On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it's warm and I don't really need any.
On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there's plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island.
And on down the list he went.

In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for.

Nine Reasons They Did Not Return

King Duncan, Collected Sermons

Why did only one man cleansed from leprosy return to thank Jesus? Someone has made a list of nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return:

One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy in the first place.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."

That's not surprising, is it?
I doubt that more than ten percent of us are ever truly grateful to God. In fact, it often seems that the more we have, the less gratitude we feel.

Thanking God for All We Do Have

Greg Anderson, in Living Life on Purpose, tells a story about a man whose wife had left him.

He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God--he found no joy in living. One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.

In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?"

The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads." Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down.

The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen."

That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning."

"All of a sudden," said our friend, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn't have. I started to be grateful."

Dying Woman Clings to High Priest

Bishop and author William Willimon tells of an encounter he once had with a dying woman:

She was in the last stages of lung cancer, gasping day after day for breath. It was obvious she was in great pain and exhausted from fighting. She clutched a crucifix daily, given to her by her grandmother when she was a girl, carved by a monk in Europe. It was a symbol of all that her Catholic faith meant to her.
When I entered the room that afternoon, I could see she was very near the end.
"Would you like me to pray for you?" I asked. "Would you like me to summon a priest?"
With her last ounce of energy, she held out the crucifix toward me, which depicted the body of Christ nailed to the cross. She said, "Thank you—but I have a Priest."

—William Willimon, "You Need a Good Priest," PreachingToday.com

The Poet and His Book

"The Poet and His Book" by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Lift this little book,
Turn the tattered pages,
Read me, do not let me die !
Search the fading letters, finding
Steadfast in the broken binding
All that once was I !

From Millay, Edna St. Vincent. Second April New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1921. pp. 39-46.

Brother Roger of Taize - Reconciliation

In 1980, during a European young adult meeting in Rome, [Brother Roger] expressed this publicly in the following terms in Saint Peter’s Basilica, in presence of Pope John Paul II,

“I have found my own identity as a Christian by reconciling within myself the faith of my origins with the mystery of the Catholic faith, without breaking fellowship with anyone.”

Receiving an Orthodox delegation one day, John Paul II later spoke of a communion that is “neither absorption, nor fusion, but a meeting in truth and in love”.

http://www.taize.fr/en_article3865.html

Skydiving

"If at first you don't succeed... so much for skydiving."

~ Henry Youngman

Thoughts for Having a Happy Marriage

Life is short!
Forgive quickly!
Kiss slowly!
Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably,
And never regret anything that made you smile!

Beauty and Truth

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all...ye need to know.”

~ Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn

Fast Friends

“Fast pay makes fast friends”

~ Len Leveen, Levengers

Quality and Price

Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.

~ Stanley Marcus (of Neiman-Marcus)

Twelve Things to Remember

1. The value of time
2. The success of perseverance
3. The pleasure of working
4. The dignity of simplicity
5. The worth of character
6. The power of kindness
7. The influence of example
8. The obligation of duty
9. The wisdom of economy
10.The virtue of patience
11.The improvement of talent
12. The joy of origination

~ Marshall Field