Mike Casey posted this quote on Facebook and I'm posting it here with his permission. He read this book on his Kindle while vacationing in Hawaii.
Its take from a book entitled An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor. I presume it refers to St. Francis of Assisi.
"Francis could not have told you the difference between “the sacred” and “the secular” if you had twisted his arm behind his back. He read the world as reverently as he read the Bible. For him, a leper was as kissable as a bishop’s ring, a single bird as much a messenger of God as a cloud full of angels. Francis had no discretion. He did not know where to draw the line between the church and the world. For this reason among others, Francis is remembered as a saint."
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Paul Evdokimov
Born in 1901 in Russia, Pavel Evdokimov was a lay theologian. He was known by friends as a theologian of the beauty of God.
“While sharing the saints, monasticism, liturgy and iconography of the Orthodox Church, he appreciated and appropriated the holiness of Western Christianity”. This quote is from the introduction to the English translation of his book “Ages of the Spiritual Life”.
I’ve spent some time and energy trying to convince others of the truth of the Christian faith. After experiencing a Cursillo weekend I entered the fourth day convicted and convinced that I could persuade anyone of the truths of the faith. My enthusiasm and powers of persuasion would not be resisted by anyone.
Of course that was sheer folly. I was at a relatively advance age when I realized the error. I’m not going to say how old I was. Not that I don’t want anyone to know my age. It’s just that in knowing my age one might be surprised how little wisdom I’ve attained.
Anyway, the following quote from chapter two of his book speaks to my point.
“The insufficiency of the proofs of God’s existence is explained by a fundamental fact: God alone is the criterion of his truth, God alone is the argument of his being. In every thought concerning God, it is God who thinks himself in the human mind. That is why we can never prove his existence rationally nor convert another by arguments, for we can never do so in the place of God. We cannot submit God to the logic of demonstrations nor enclose him in a chain of causes.
If God is the sole argument of his existence, this means that faith is not invented. It is a gift, and it is to its royal and gratuitous nature that man must bear testimony, for faith is given to all in order that God may effect his Parousia, his coming again, in every human soul.”
“While sharing the saints, monasticism, liturgy and iconography of the Orthodox Church, he appreciated and appropriated the holiness of Western Christianity”. This quote is from the introduction to the English translation of his book “Ages of the Spiritual Life”.
I’ve spent some time and energy trying to convince others of the truth of the Christian faith. After experiencing a Cursillo weekend I entered the fourth day convicted and convinced that I could persuade anyone of the truths of the faith. My enthusiasm and powers of persuasion would not be resisted by anyone.
Of course that was sheer folly. I was at a relatively advance age when I realized the error. I’m not going to say how old I was. Not that I don’t want anyone to know my age. It’s just that in knowing my age one might be surprised how little wisdom I’ve attained.
Anyway, the following quote from chapter two of his book speaks to my point.
“The insufficiency of the proofs of God’s existence is explained by a fundamental fact: God alone is the criterion of his truth, God alone is the argument of his being. In every thought concerning God, it is God who thinks himself in the human mind. That is why we can never prove his existence rationally nor convert another by arguments, for we can never do so in the place of God. We cannot submit God to the logic of demonstrations nor enclose him in a chain of causes.
If God is the sole argument of his existence, this means that faith is not invented. It is a gift, and it is to its royal and gratuitous nature that man must bear testimony, for faith is given to all in order that God may effect his Parousia, his coming again, in every human soul.”
Saturday, January 15, 2011
An Early Lenten Reflection
I discovered a great website http://www.goodnews.ie/index.shtml maintained by the Dominicans out of Ireland. In November of last year on their "wisdom line" page there was posted an exerpt from John Henry Newman Sermon XXI entitled "The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World", a portion of which follows.
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Look around, and see what the world presents of high and low. Go to the court of princes. See the treasure and skill of all nations brought together to honour a child of man. Observe the prostration of the many before the few. Consider the form and ceremonial, the pomp, the state, the circumstance; and the vainglory. Do you wish to know the worth of it all? Look at the Cross of Christ.
Go to the political world: see nation jealous of nation, trade rivalling trade, armies and fleets matched against each other. Survey the various ranks of the community, its parties and their contests, the strivings of the ambitious, the intrigues of the crafty. What is the end of all this turmoil? The grave. What is the measure? The Cross.
Go, again, to the world of intellect and science: consider the wonderful discoveries which the human mind is making, the variety of arts to which its discoveries give rise, the all but miracles by which it shows its power; and next, the pride and confidence of reason, and the absorbing devotion of thought to transitory objects, which is the consequence. Would you form a right judgment of all this? Look at the Cross.
Again: look at misery, look at poverty and destitution, look at oppression and captivity; go where food is scanty, and lodging unhealthy. Consider pain and suffering, diseases long or violent, all that is frightful and revolting. Would you know how to rate all these? Gaze upon the Cross.
Thus in the Cross, and Him who hung upon it, all things meet; all things subserve it, all things need it. It is their centre and their interpretation. For He was lifted up upon it, that He might draw all things unto Him.
**********************************************************************
Look around, and see what the world presents of high and low. Go to the court of princes. See the treasure and skill of all nations brought together to honour a child of man. Observe the prostration of the many before the few. Consider the form and ceremonial, the pomp, the state, the circumstance; and the vainglory. Do you wish to know the worth of it all? Look at the Cross of Christ.
Go to the political world: see nation jealous of nation, trade rivalling trade, armies and fleets matched against each other. Survey the various ranks of the community, its parties and their contests, the strivings of the ambitious, the intrigues of the crafty. What is the end of all this turmoil? The grave. What is the measure? The Cross.
Go, again, to the world of intellect and science: consider the wonderful discoveries which the human mind is making, the variety of arts to which its discoveries give rise, the all but miracles by which it shows its power; and next, the pride and confidence of reason, and the absorbing devotion of thought to transitory objects, which is the consequence. Would you form a right judgment of all this? Look at the Cross.
Again: look at misery, look at poverty and destitution, look at oppression and captivity; go where food is scanty, and lodging unhealthy. Consider pain and suffering, diseases long or violent, all that is frightful and revolting. Would you know how to rate all these? Gaze upon the Cross.
Thus in the Cross, and Him who hung upon it, all things meet; all things subserve it, all things need it. It is their centre and their interpretation. For He was lifted up upon it, that He might draw all things unto Him.
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