“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”
—Anne Lamott
March 2011
20 posts
“Blind obedience is itself an abuse of human morality. It is a misuse of the human soul in the name of religious commitment. It is a sin against individual conscience. It makes moral children of the adults from whom moral agency is required. It makes a vow, which is meant to require religious figures to listen always to the law of God, beholden first to the laws of very human organizations in the person of very human authorities. It is law that isn’t even working in the military and can never substitute for personal morality”
—Joan Chittister
“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
—Anne Lamott
“‘I celebrate myself,’ the poet Walt Whitman wrote. The thought is so delicious it is almost obscene. Imagine the joy that would come with celebrating the self - our achievements, our experiences, our existence. Imagine what it would be like to look into the mirror and say, as God taught us, ‘That’s good.’”
—Joan Chittister
“Spirituality without a prayer life is no spirituality at all, and it will not last beyond the first defeats. Prayer is an opening of the self so that the Word of God can break in and make us new. Prayer unmasks. Prayer converts. Prayer impels. Prayer sustains us on the way. Pray for the grace it will take to continue what you would like to quit.”
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Joan D. Chittister
For those of you who are not familiar with Joan Chittister, you are missing out on a great gift and one of my personal heroes and spiritual guides. Check out her website.
“Far too many Catholics are not familiar with the basic content of Catholic social teaching. More fundamentally, many Catholics do not adequately understand that the social teaching of the Church is an essential part of Catholic faith. This poses a serious challenge for all Catholics, since it weakens our capacity to be a Church that is true to the demands of the Gospel. We need to do more to share the social mission and message of our Church.”
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“Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions”
U.S. Catholic Bishops
"Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow." Matthew 5:42
