Category Archives: Catholic Living

Wonder & Whimsy: our identity, mission, and merciful Love

A weekly curation of quotations I come across in my reading life (or on random condiment jars) — from the inspirational to the miscellaneous. Perhaps one inspires you or catches your fancy too…

Our identity…

“We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us.” – St. John Paul II

Our mission…

“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those that have lost their way.” St. Francis of Assisi

Our merciful Love…

“Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

     Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lack’d anything.

 

A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes by I?

 

Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.”

(“Love” by George Herbert)

 

Wonder & Whimsy: redeemed desires and a healthy tension

A weekly curation of quotations I come across in my reading life (or on random condiment jars) — from the inspirational to the miscellaneous. Perhaps one inspires you or catches your fancy too…

Redeemed desires…

“Living the Christian life is not a matter of repressing our desires, but of redeeming them.” – Christopher West

What are you working with?

“He who works with his hands is a laborer.

He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.

He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”

– attributed to Louis Nizer

A tension that should be present…

“Wanderlust and my longing for home are birthed from the same place: a desire to find the ultimate spot this side of heaven…My equal pull between both are fueled by my hardwired desire for heaven on earth. And I know I’ll never find it.” – Tsh Oxenreider, At Home in the World

I love because I love…

“Love is sufficient of itself. It gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in its practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love. Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from the water which constantly replenishes it.” – St. Bernard (OOR, “I Love Because I Love…”)

 

Wonder & Whimsy: prayers, arrested development & greatness

A weekly curation of quotations I come across in my reading life (or on random condiment jars) — from the inspirational to the miscellaneous. Perhaps one inspires you or catches your fancy too…

A prayer of St. Benedict…

“Give us grace that our way of life may be pleasing to you, that we may have the patience to wait for you and the perseverance to look for you.”

A prayer of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)…

“O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve you. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will open before me, and I shall meet it with peace.”

Arrested development…

“Extended life expectancy has made extended adolescence possible.” – Tyler Blanski, An Immovable Feast

Perfecting our nature…

“Grace does not destroy nature, but rather perfects it.” – Thomas Aquinas, (Summa Theologica, I. I. 82)

Made for greatness…

“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” – Pope Benedict XVI