Blog: A Book-Log

Books I’ve read recently:

April 2024

November 2023

October 2023

September 2023

August 2023

July 2023

June 2023

May 2023

February

December 2022

November 2022

October 2022

September 2022

August 2022

July 2022

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

February 2022

January 2022

December 2021

November 2021

October 2021

September 2021

August 2021

July 2021

June 2021

May 2021

April 2021

March 2021

February 2021

January 2021

December 2020

November 2020

October 2020

September 2020

August 2020

July 2020

June 2020

May 2020

April 2020

March 2020

January 2020

December 2019

October 2019

September 2019

August 2019

July 2019

June 2019

May 2019

April 2019

March 2019

February 2019

January 2019

December 2018

November 2018

October 2018

September 2018

August 2018

July 2018

June 2018

May 2018

April 2018

March 2018

February 2018

January 2018

December 2017

November 2017

October 2017

September 2017

August 2017

July 2017

June 2017

May 2017

April 2017

March 2017

February 2017

January 2017

December 2016

November 2016

October 2016

September 2016

“What if the real reason we feel like we never have enough is that God is not yet finished giving? The unlimited neediness of the soul matches the unlimited grace of God.” (p. 82)

“You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God.” (p. 89)

“The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us.” (p. 6)

August 2016

July 2016

June 2016

April 2016

“Peace comes when we see our reflection in the face of God and let go of the desire to be someone else.” (p. 139)

“Fundamentalism reads texts as if God were as simple as we are. That is unlikely to be true.” (p. 207)

January 2016

November 2015

October 2015

September 2015

August 2015

July 2015

May 2015

April 2015

February 2015

January 2015

“The Catholic Mass is a masterpiece of balancing our cultural life. If one has the courage to see, the mass is full of the darkest things: there is incest, betrayal, rejection, torture, death – and worse. All this leads to revelation but not until the dark side has been portrayed as vividly as possible. If one went to Mass in high consciousness one would tremble at the awfulness of it – and be redeemed by its balancing effect.” (p. 23f.)

“Unless we do conscious work on it, the shadow is almost always projected; that is, it is neatly laid on someone or something else so we do not have to take responsibility for it.” (p. 31)

“Our hero-worshiping capacity is pure shadow; in this case our finest qualities are refused and laid on another…. Today’s hero is tomorrow’s character.” (p. 42)

“The early part of adulthood is devoted almost entirely to discipline. One prepares for a profession, learns the social graces, cultivates a marriage, and improves one’s earning capacity — and all of these activities invariably create a large shadow. There are elements we had to leave behind, elements that had to be “unchosen” in order to produce a cultured life. By middle age, the cultural process is mostly complete — and very dry. It is as if we have wrung all the energy out of our character and at this point, the energy of the shadow is very great. We are suddenly subject to explosions that have the power to overturn the product we have worked so hard to create. We may fall in love, break up a marriage, storm out of a job in desperation as we try to relieve ourselves of this monotony. These are extremely dangerous moments, but they can set the stage for a whole new phase of life, if we learn how to take the energy of the shadow and use it correctly.” (p. 49)

“When we learn to open ourselves to this Spirit, we find that we serve the world less and less out of our own energy and more and more out of the vast power of God which moves through us to bless and help. God is the Doer… Service like this is the spontaneous outflow of divine inner communion.” (p. 104)

December 2014

November 2014

October 2014

September 2014

August 2014

July 2014

May 2014

“It’s not going to be easy to listen to God’s call. Your insecurity, your self-doubt, and your great need for affirmation make you lose trust in your inner voice and run away from yourself. But you that God speaks to you through your inner voice and that you will find joy and peace only if you follow it.”

March 2014

February 2014

January 2014

December 2013

“Part of one’s service to the assembly as presider is to be willing to present oneself to the whole group, consenting to be a focal point in the action, being in constant communication with the other ministers and the entire assembly through eye contact, gesture, body posture and movement, as well as word. The self-centered person, the ecclesiastical prince, the person who is out for privileges and status is opaque in this role. If, however, the presider is close to and part of the lives of all in the faith community, one of the people, clearly the servant of all, then there is the possibility of being transparent to the presence and action of the Lord. But it is a transparency that is accomplished, not with an anonymous persona, but with oneself… So, when one functions as a presider or other minister, it is ithe whole person, the real person, the true person, the full and complete person who functions. It is you the church has chosen for this task. It is you God calls through the church. God wants no sacred alias, no pulpit tone, nor does the church.” (p. 56)

“To do this effectively bishops and priests must get in touch with their own personal need for relatedness. They must risk feeling it and expressing it. That’s all. The moment they do, they will be loved; they will move us. Abyss calls to abyss. Actually we don’t have to be led anywhere but to each other. Then the kingdom appears.” (a quotation on p. 85)

“Let us then be convinced of this and it will be for us a source of immense strength: God may allow me to occasionally lack money, health, abilities and virtues, but He will never leave me in want of Himself, of His assistance and His mercy or of anything that would allow me to grow unceasingly ever closer to Him, to love Him more intensely, to better love my neighbor and to achieve holiness.” (p. 45)

“He converts our miseries into grace and makes salutary medicine for our souls from the venom of our iniquities.” (p. 90)

“If it pleases Him to move our boat more gently than we should desire, let us be submissive to His divine will.” (p. 105)

November 2013

October 2013

September 2013

August 2013

July 2013

June 2013

May 2013

April 2013

March 2013

February 2013

January 2013

December 2012

November 2012

September 2012

August 2012

July 2012

June 2012

May 2012

April 2012

March 2012

February 2012

January 2012

December 2011

November 2011

October 2011

September 2011

August 2011

May 2011

April 2011

March 2011

February 2011

January 2011

December 2010

November 2010

October 2010

September 2010

August 2010

July 2010

June 2010

May 2010

March 2010

February 2010

December 2009

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

July 2009

March 2009

January 2009

December 2008

November 2008

September 2008

July 2008

June 2008

March 2008

February 2008

January 2008

December 2007

November 2007

September 2007

August 2007

“But when it comes to putting broken lives back together–when it comes, in religious terms, to the saving of souls–the human best tends to be at odds with the holy best. To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do–to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst–is, by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still… You can survive on your own… but you cannot become human on your own.” (p. 46)

“God’s coming is always unforeseen, I think, and the reason, if I had to guess, is that if he gave us anything much in the way of advance warning, more often than not we would have made ourselves scarce long before he got there.” (p. 104)

Last sentence: “Above all, never question the truth beyond all understanding and surpassing all other wonders that in the long run nothing, not even the world, not even ourselves, can separate us forever from that last and deepest love that glimmers in our dusk like a pearl, like a face.” (p. 112)

July 2007

June 2007

May 2007

April 2007

March 2007