Archive for June, 2013

“The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly.”

John of the Cross (1542-1591) in Ascent of Mount Carmel XI.4.

“My experience of prayer was forever changed when I came to understand that prayer is a gift which God gives rather than an obligation or task that we are bound as Christians to carry out…

When we understand this—that prayer is a gift that God gives—we see that the posture of prayer is a posture of receptivity, of awareness, of attentiveness to what God is offering us, moment by moment, day by day.

We learn to “pray without ceasing” by watching and listening for signs of God’s presence and activity, even in the very ordinary circumstances of life.

God comes to us—in a conversation with a friend, in a word from Scripture, in a moment of worship, in the beauty of nature, in the wonder of human relationships—to love us and bless us, to console us and challenge us.”

David Vryhof, Selah Faculty, in “Attentiveness” in SILENCIO, a resource of Leadership Transformations, June 2013, sixth edition.

“Let us thus think often that our only business in this life is to please God, that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity…Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the love of Him, all that is not Himself; He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put our trust in him: I doubt not but we shall soon find the effects of it, in receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which we can do nothing but sin.” (Cf. Mark 10:21)

Brother Lawrence (1611-1691) Carmelite Monk in Paris who served as a cook and learned to make his daily routine an occasion for ceaseless prayer. Excerpt from “The Ninth Letter” in The Practice the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life.

“We must never wish anything other than what happens from moment to moment, all the while, however, exercising ourselves in goodness [generosity].”

St. Catherine of Genoa in Vita 22; as quoted by Friedrich von Hügel in The Mystical Element of Religion (London: Dent, 1909) 265.

“Let your own soul first be filled with God’s Spirit; and then, and not otherwise, will you be in a situation to communicate of that divine fulness to others. No man can give what he has not; or if a man has grace, but has it in a small degree, he may, in dispensing to others, impart to them what is necessary for himself. Let him first make himself one with the great Fountain, and then he may always give, or be the instrument of giving, without being emptied.”

Madame de la Mothe Guyon (1648-1717) in Life, Religious Opinions and Experience of Madame de le Mothe Guyon by Thomas Upham (London: Sampson Low, 1858) 214.

“That is a temperate and righteous love which practices self-denial in order to minister to a brother’s necessity. So our selfish love grows truly social, when it includes our neighbors in its circle.

But if thou art reduced to want by such benevolence, what then? What indeed, except to pray with all confidence unto Him who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, who openeth His hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness.”

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) excerpt from Chapter Eight in his classic work: On Loving God.

“What Francis did should never solely define who he was–for he was a man who believed in a God of love and action. His behaviors and attitudes must never be devoid of his passion for God. It was not our of his ambition to become a saint that he loved and served God, but rather it was out of his life-long struggle to love and serve God that he became a saint. He didn’t relinquish his earthly possessions in order to receive something from God, but rather he relinquished his earthly possessions so he could more fully embrace the love for God he already had. He didn’t care for the sick in order to gain Christ’s love, but rather he cared for the sick because of Christ’s love.”

Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) in Mystics, Mavericks & Miracle Workers: A 30-day Journey with Some Saints by Eric Sandras and Jason Chatraw (Boise: Ampelon, 2007) 46.

“Generosity is not foreign to Africa; it is part of our culture. And we know that one does not need to be rich to be generous. We share what little we have. There is even a proverb, ‘In friendship, even a crust of bread is shared.’

The African Christian should be the most generous of all Africans, for our generosity should not merely be cultural but should also be rooted in a heartfelt response to God’s generosity to us. We should model our generosity on the generosity of the Heavenly Father, who promises to provide our daily bread (Matt 6:11).

But this bread He supplies does not normally drop from heaven, as the manna did in the wilderness (Exod 16:4). Nor is His generosity limited to sharing a crust of bread, which merely staves off hunger. He created a world that would meet our needs for food (Gen 1:30).

Following His example, we must not just provide emergency food supplies, but must act to change the situation. We must empower the person who receives help to help others (2 Cor 1:4). And we must not insist on our own preconceived ideas as to how help is to be offered. Rather we must support the poor in the use of their own creativity and imagination to find a way out of poverty.”

Solomon Andria in “Generosity and Solidarity” in Africa Bible Commentary ed. by Tokunboh Adeyemo (AEA, 2006) 231.

“…the thing is to rely only on God. The time will come when you regard all this misery as a small price to pay for having been brought to the dependence. Meanwhile (don’t I know) the trouble is that relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) in “Letter to Mrs. Lockley: from Magdalen College” on 12 September 1949 in Letters of C.S. Lewis (Orlando, W.H. Lewis and Harcourt, 1966) 395.

Economic Poverty – Lack of resources

“The daily income generated by scavenging in the dump is on average less than $2.00, just enough for one meal, and a far cry from what is needed for access to basic human services.  At this rate, progress and growth are impossible and the scavengers never make it out of the “just living to make it through each day” reality.  Even if they did make enough to save a little, access to economical resources is basically a closed door for the scavengers because of lack of records and references.”

Source: http://www.pottershouse.org.gt/economic-poverty/

For more on what the Scriptures say on this form of poverty and combating it, see pages 20-21 of this Potter’s House document.