Saturday, June 25, 2022

Colleagues List, June 26th, 2022

 Vol. XVII. No. 32

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019                                          http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca                                            http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com

Current archives listed on this page

This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list. 
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns, 
write to me personally at - waholst@telus.net

*****

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE 
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor 
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net 

*****

Dear Friends:

My book introduction this week is focused on a youthful 
audience, but that includes the young at heart. Please enjoy 
"Saving the Future" which suggests strongly the involvement 
of gifted young people.

Thanks for Donna Sinclair and Wood Lake books for sharing 
this with us. Enjoy my colleague contributions and net note 
selections as well. 

My last Anglican Journal column "Thoughts on Fallen Church 
Leaders" has been the most read article on the AJ website 
every day for the last week.

Please Note - If a link below, seems to be dead, cut and 
paste it into the address bar at the top of your web pag
and it should work.

Wayne

*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

SAVING THE FUTURE
Lessons in Resistance
From Young Activists

by Donna Sinclair
Wood Lake Publishing
Kelowna, BC. 
May, 2022. 124 pp.
$15.96 paper CAD, e-book $9.98 CAD
Amazon.ca Kindle edition $9.99 CAD.
ISBN #978-1-77343-293-9

Publisher's Promo

A powerful and inspiring portrait of a hope-filled movement trying to change the world for the better.
 
This book provides ideas and tools young activists can use as they work to save what they care about most. It also contains lots of expert tips and advice from young and old activists who are showing the way, such as: Nahira Gerster-Sim, Hannah Bywater, Simon Jackson, Greta Thunberg, Shannen Koostachin, Kile George, Kaiden Peldjak, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Sophia Mathur.

"Saving the Future" contains lessons on how to save the future – get as much political power as you can, defend your rights, choose solidarity, defend the sacred, care for the vulnerable, speak only truthful words, equip yourself to lead, and more – as told by young activists who are busy trying to do these things. It tells the stories of their efforts without attempting to place the weight of saving the world on the shoulders of young people today. For example, Nahira Gerster-Sim is working to help make it so that 16-year-olds will be able to vote. Hannah Bywater and Simon Jackson are fighting for vulnerable and endangered animals. Kaiden Peldjak and Kile George are denouncing racism.

--

Author's Words:

Love for the world and all her creatures brings courage, and courage brings hope. We all know that success is not guaranteed. But no future is ever guaranteed. It can always change when people get together, kids and adults, to try to find the way. Many of us have been taught that a little child shall lead them. 

I love trees and rocks, lakes and rivers, oceans and beaches, grasslands and mountains. I love cities and big green parks, and leafy neighbourhoods and great schools. And I want these things to be healthy and strong - and safe and beautiful - the forests, the water, the plains, the cities and all the creatures that inhabit them.

Many children and teens are already standing up for these things. That's because children have powers grownups have sometimes lost - a complete inability to keep quiet when something is very wrong, for instance. Maybe you will decide to join these kids. If you do, I hope the adults you love will join you. And I hope these ten lessons from a twentieth century kid (and twenty-first century Nana) will help save the future.

- from the Prologue

--

Author's Bio:

Donna Sinclair


A journalist for more than 30 years, Donna Sinclair is an award-winning writer who has traveled widely in Canada, Africa, Central America, Britain, and Eastern Europe. She is the author of The Spirituality of Bread, The Spirituality of Gardening, A Woman's Book of Days, A Woman's Book of Days 2, The Long View and numerous other titles. Donna lives with her husband Jim in North Bay, Ontario.





__













      

 
--

My Thoughts:

It is good to see Donna Sinclair in print once more. For many years, she was a regular columnist and contributor who appeared in United Church of Canada publications. Like me, she is slowing down a bit in retirement.

I like the fact that this book reaches out to young people because they are often a missing audience these days from members of my age group.

Young people have gifts and natural propensities that older people have much to benefit from.

Many of the contributors here are new to me and I thank Donna for doing the research and bringing them to life. I like the way this book is divided into ten helpful steps. Thanks, Donna, and thanks Wood Lake.

--

Buy the book from Wood Lake Publishing:

Buy the Kindle edition from Amazon.ca:

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

John Griffith, Calgary, AB.

"What Was I Thinking?" Blog
   June 20th, 2022

"Evolutionary Christian Thinking"
 
--

Jim Taylor, Okanagan, BC.

Personal Web Log,
June 16th, 2022

"A Difference that Makes a Difference"

  

--

Ron Rolheiser, San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site,
June 20th, 2022

"Suicide and Our Misunderstandings"

--

Philip Yancey, Colorado

Philipyancey.com
June 23rd, 2022

"No Man is an Island"
     
--

Mark Whittall, Ottawa, ON.

Sermons and Blog,
June 10th, 2022

"Creator, Wisdom, Shekinah (Trinity Sunday)

*****

NET NOTES

PILLAY ELECTED AS NEW 
WCC GENERAL SECRETARY
South African Named to 
Important Ecumenical Role

WCC News
June 17th, 2022


--

MOURNING AND HONOURING ALBERTA BILLY
A Pioneer in Canadian Aboriginal Justice Work

United Church of Canada Website
June 13th, 2022


--

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS CHANGE DIRECTION
On Sexual Abuse After Years of Delay

Religion News Service,
June 17th, 2022


--

WHY CHRISTIANS NEED TO WATCH
THE JANUARY 6TH HEARINGS
Listening to the Committee Findings is Important
And Not Just for Americans

Sojourners,
June 9th, 2022


--

NO - FRANCIS IS NOT GOING TO RESIGN
With a Clear Mind He Can Still Do His Job

Religion News Service,
June 22nd, 2022


--

POPE BLASTS RUSSIA, PRAISES UKRAINE
His Stance is Clearly Against the War

Religion News Service,
June 14th, 2022


--

INDIA FROM MODEL OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
TO CAUTIONARY TALE
It Can Happen Here Too

Religion News Service,
June 10th, 2022


--

THE ENDING OF SEMINARIES AS WE'VE KNOWN THEM
The Changing Structures of Theological Education

Christian Week,
June 17th, 2022


--

A RE-IMAGINED ROLE FOR CHURCHES
Post-Coved Possibilities

Broadview,
June 17th, 2022


--

POPE PIUS XII - WWII HERO OR VILLAIN?
A Continuing Search to Find the Truth

Catholic Register, Toronto
June 15th, 2022


*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

From Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

- Desmond Tutu

--
Sometimes what people perceive to be darkness is actually where you find the voice of God and where you find the voice of truth.

- Joy Oladokun
--

Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all a part of one another.

- Yuri Kochiyama

--

When you are scared, reach out your hand / Talk to the Lord, talk to the Lord / If you are sad, He’ll dry your tears / Talk to the Lord, talk to the Lord.

- Natalie Bergman

--

If everybody owns something, then nobody owns it, and things are not always cared for. But individual ownership has also produced bad fruits: as soon as you own something, you have to protect it, then you have inequality, envy, theft, and war. One of the legitimate criticisms leveled at socialism is that when you remove private ownership, people are not motivated to work. Why should I put my best effort in if everyone gets paid the same in the end anyway? But in reality, money is a surprisingly poor motivator. A much stronger motivator is purpose.

- John Rhodes

--

We all have a vocation: to be the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth”; to be contributing members of our communities and of the Body of Christ. God gives us gifts so that we can use them as the faithful stewards did in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel when they came and presented their Lord with the profits of what they had been given. To faithfully follow God is a vocation.

-- Archbishop Angaelos

--

Not only did God create us and crown us, he made us his image-bearers. It is this that gives human beings their unique place in nature. After he created the earth, God did not become a passive viewer. He maintained connection with his creation and in particular with humankind, loving and cherishing each human being. He gave humanity the task to nurture his creation, to create new life by being fruitful but also to care for and protect his masterpiece so it would remain a place where all creatures could thrive.

- Randall Gauger

--

Most of us are not compelled to linger with the knowledge of our aloneness, for it is a knowledge that can paralyze all action in this world. There are, forever, swamps to be drained, cities to be created, mines to be exploited, children to be fed. None of these things can be done alone. But the conquest of the physical world is not man’s only duty. He is also enjoined to conquer the great wilderness of himself. The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.

- James Baldwin

--

Our culture of consumption and accomplishment is built on self-protection and defensiveness, on buying what we want and selling what we have to in order to prove ourselves. Love is built on the vulnerability of giving and receiving freely. Much of our busyness, distraction, purchasing, and entertainment protects us from admitting our vulnerability, our dependence. Much of our modern culture protects us from love. But if we are willing to move at a slower pace, if we are willing to shed the trappings of achievement and accumulation, we will find a way of being in the world that is vulnerable and open, willing to receive whatever gifts might come our way, without making demands, without needing to possess or achieve.

- Amy Julia Becker

(end)







Friday, June 10, 2022

Colleagues List, June 12th, 2022

Vol. XVII. No. 31

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019                                          http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca                                            http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com

Current archives listed on this page

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE 
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

HOLST 80TH BIRTHDAY EDITION

Wayne A. Holst, Editor 
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net 

This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list. 
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns, 
write to me personally at - waholst@telus.net

*****

Dear Friends:

I write this issue of Colleagues List on my eightieth birthday weekend.

My current column for the Anglican Journal is entitled:

"Thoughts on Fallen Church Leaders"

It reflects my most recent thinking on the subject.

Please enjoy the other parts of this letter as well.

Wayne

Please Note - If a link below, seems to be dead, cut and paste it into the address bar at the top of your web page and it should work. 

*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Here is my most recent column for the Anglican Journal entitled:

"Thoughts on Fallen Church Leaders"


*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Jim Taylor, Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
June 5th, 2022

"Two Points of Intersection With the Queen"

--

Mark Whittall, Ottawa. ON.

Sermons and Blog
June 4th, 2022

"Are We Ready?"
  
--

Ron Rolheiser, San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
June 6th, 2022

"God's Sense of Humor"
  
*****

NET NOTES

ELIZABETH II CELEBRATES 70 YEARS
AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
She Has Made 'Defender of the Faith' Her Own

Religion News Service, June 3rd, 2022


--

WILL GOD SAVE THE QUEEN?
Will the British Monarchy Survive?

Religion News Service, June 6th, 2022


--

BACKGROUND TO THE LAC STE. ANNE PILGRIMAGE
Part of Pope Francis' Itinerary in Canada for 2022

Catholic Register, Toronto, June 2nd, 2022


--

ONE YEAR SINCE KAMLOOPS
Canada's Indigenous Communities
Still Looking for Buried Children

Broadview, June 3rd, 2022


--

CHURCH REFLECTIONS ON ANNIVERSARY
OF UNMARKED BURIAL FINDINGS
Important Ecumenical Response 

Kairos, June 1st, 2022


--

NEW STUDY SUGGESTS CANADIANS STILL RELIGIOUS
The Considerable Decline is Still Not as Extensive as Feared

Catholic Register, Toronto, June 2nd, 2022


--

WHAT DRIVES THE VIOLENCE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE?
How Can We Help to Bring Violence to an End?

Faith Today, May 26th, 2022


--

UKRANIAN ORTHODOX PRIMATE
Takes Strong Stand Against Moscow Patriarch

Religion News Service, May 31st, 2022


--

NAVIGATING THE NEW NEGATIVE WORLD
Changing Attitudes to Evangelicalism

Christian Week, May 26th, 2022


--

AMERICAN EVANGELICAL SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER CHRISTIAN GROUP

Religion News Service, May 26th, 2022


*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

But where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.

- Anne Frank

--

We need to find a new language that cannot be as easily co-opted by the systems of domination.

- Rosemary Radford Ruether

--

May we say yes to healing with our signatures, our prayers, our voices, our action, our doing justice and loving mercy and walking humbly.

- Ashlee Eiland

--

Are you worried because you find it so hard to believe? Don’t be surprised at the difficulty of faith, if there is some part of your life where you are consciously resisting or disobeying the commandment of Jesus. Is there some part of your life which you are refusing to surrender at his behest, some sinful passion, maybe, or some animosity, some hope, perhaps your ambition or your reason? If so, you must not be surprised that you have not received the Holy Spirit, that prayer is difficult, or that your request for faith remains unanswered....The person who disobeys cannot believe. Only if you obey can you believe.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

--

Faith is what you have in the absence of knowledge…and that absence doesn’t bother me because I have got, over the years, a sense of the immense sweep of creation, of the evolutionary process in everything, of how incomprehensible God must necessarily be to be the God of heaven and earth. You can’t fit the Almighty into your intellectual categories. If you want your faith, you have to work for it. It is a gift, but for very few is it a gift given without any demand for time devoted to its cultivation.…Even in the life of a Christian, faith rises and falls like the tides of an invisible sea. It’s there, even when he can’t see it or feel it, if he wants it to be there.

- Flannery O'Connor

--

The Master never wrote anything down, nor did he ask his followers to record his teachings. His words are spirit and life. Spirit can only infuse spirit. Life can only infuse life. The Master’s teaching cannot be contained on the pages of a book. Other great teachers left behind books to replace the living voice, to guide and help their bereft followers. But the Master did not do this, because he has not left us. He is always with us, and his living voice guides and counsels us.

- Sadhu Sundar Singh

--

Whatever the work of peacemaking is, it cannot be thought of as simply maintaining the “rule of law” of whatever regime holds political power. The path of peacemaking is altogether different than the one that leads to mere good citizenship or the preservation of a polity. Indeed, if peacemaking involves emulating the Prince of Peace who bears the government on his shoulder as whip scars and a wooden cross, it’s clear that peacemaking is intrinsically tied to solidarity with whomever one’s regime is presently nailing to a cross. The justice of Christ’s cross is a justice of reconciliation, a pathway to peace for those who have been denied it.

- Anthony M. Barr

--

The church is never true to itself when it is living for itself, for if it is chiefly concerned with saving its own life, it will lose it. The nature of the church is such that it must always be engaged in finding new ways by which to transcend itself. Its main responsibility is always outside its own walls in the redemption of common life. That is why we call it a redemptive society. There are many kinds of religion, but redemptive religion, from the Christian point of view, is always that in which we are spent on those areas of existence that are located beyond ourselves and our own borders.

- Elton Trueblood

--

Do not be one who stretches out the hands to receive but withdraws them when it comes to giving. If you earn something by working with your hands, you shall give a ransom for your sins. You shall not hesitate to give, nor shall you grumble when giving, for you will know who is the good paymaster of the reward. You shall not turn away from someone in need, but shall share everything with your brother or sister, and do not claim that anything is your own. For if you are sharers in what is imperishable, how much more so in perishable things!

- The Didache

(end)

Friday, May 27, 2022

Colleagues List, May 29th, 2022

Vol. XVII, No. 30 

Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019                                          http://colleagueslist.blogspot/.ca                                            http://colleagueslistii.blogspot.com

Current archives listed on this page

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE 
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor 
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net 

This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list. 
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns, 
write to me personally at - waholst@telus.net

*****

Dear Friends:

This week I am pleased to introduce "New Testament Women for Progressive Christians (vol. 1)" by Robert Schmidt. This is but the latest of many Schmidt's books that I have been happy to promote.

I hope you will find other material of interest in this issue of Colleagues List as well.

Please note - If a link below seems to be dead, cut and paste it into the address bar at the top of your web page and it should work.

Wayne

*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

NEW TESTAMENT WOMEN
FOR PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANS
(Vol. 1) by Donald Schmidt
(a six session study guide) 
Wood Lake Publishing, Kelowna. BC.

May, 2022. Paper $14.95 CAD. 
ISBN #978-1-177343-524-4

Publisher's Promo:

Although women often play a crucial role in the most significant events in the Bible, they are typically cast as secondary characters who are less important than the male lead. Or they are are presented as bit players who aren’t even named. Yet these are strong women and we do an injustice to the biblical narrative and a disservice to ourselves if we gloss over them. 

This guide takes an intriguing look at some of the women in the New Testament (a second volume is planned), including Mary the mother of Jesus, Anna and Elizabeth, Mary and Martha, Thecla and Junia, the female disciples (including Mary Magdalene), and women who are healed or set free from their burdens – women who helped shape and were shaped by Jesus and the early Christian community.

Outside of Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey, an intriguing discovery was made in 1906. It was of a cave, and inside was found a painting of a man and a woman. There were two especially significant things about the painting. The first was the identity of the pair; they were Paul and Thecla, a woman of the ancient church and probable travelling companion of St. Paul, at least for part of his ministry. The other significant fact was that Thecla’s eyes had been scratched out, and her hand – raised in the traditional stance to suggest one speaking with authority – had been smudged out.

It is a telling image on a number of fronts, not least of which is the desire of some early vandal to attempt to remove the woman’s ability to see or speak. There has always been in Christianity a concerted effort on the part of men to silence women, to obliterate them, to remove their ability to speak or to act with any kind of authority. Yet when we look at the New Testament we can also clearly see the presence of women with Jesus, that they were integral to his everyday life and ministry. If we look a little harder, we will see that women played significant roles at the centre of the early Christian community, including as preachers and teachers. 

Donald Schmidt -
Author's Bio:

Whenever he can choose what to do, Donald Schmidt likes to spin wool, knit, and weave. In his spare time, he also works in ministry in a variety of settings. He has served parishes in Quebec, New York, Vermont, Washington, and Hawai‘i. He has also worked as an Associate Conference Minister with the United Church of Christ, and is a retired United Methodist minister. Perhaps his favorite ministry has been as an editor and writer of church resources, for worship, education, and church revitalization. He has published 3 books, and has had a few pieces of music appear in various collections around the world. He also loves to travel, finding that visiting anywhere new and different can open us up to learn new things about others and, in the process, ourselves. More recently Donald has served with the United Church of Canada, and was Minister for Worship and Leadership Development at First United Church in Kelowna, British Columbia. He lives in the Okanagan Valley of BC. He is a grandfather of 8, and father of 3. 

--

Author's Words:

There is no such thing as unbiased history. Different people notice different things and the things they notice fit with their understanding of the world.

Sometimes people add things that are clearly meant to lead us one way or another. We may not even notice.

Those who write might not think they are giving a biased story; they are simply reporting what they felt was important. And they want to make sure we understand it the same way.

All this is true about the stories of the New Testament, and in the Bible as a whole. All the writers of these books had their own biases.

The fact that there has always been bias against women since the church's early days is not news. It shows up in both obvious and subtle ways. There are many ways the scriptures clearly demonstrate the denigration of women.

As serious students of the Bible we can take this as a challenge. We need to flesh out the stories of women because we are often given so few details. In other words, we add things to stories all the time and doing this to biblical stories should not upset us.

We have to look beyond the text to see what the biblical writers actually meant. When we do this we are not "changing the Bible" but are being more honest with it.

I am a man. I am a man writing a book about women and obviously I am going to approach this differently than a woman might. But my goal has been to present the stories of women in the New Testament as accurately as possible and invite your to notice, to explore and to celebrate the role of women there. I have tried to lift up stories of women whose lives have helped to shape and form my own life and my own faith journey.

I have had to make choices about what characters to include in this guide and plan to add a second study to involve more women.

In conclusion, I delight always in exploring the Bible - despite its quirks and variances - and in finding there powerful stories that guide me each day.

- edited by Wayne from the Introduction

--

My Thoughts:

I value study groups - of the Bible and otherwise - that involve both male and female members. I also like to co-teach with women as well as men. It is often amazing what a single story, phrase or word, conveys to a woman as a man. In earlier years my studies constituted persons of one gender, but fortunately, that is no longer the case.

As we study together, we realize just how limited our approach to scripture has been when we have maintained (often unknowingly) the male bias of the material we are reading.

I value the work that Robert Schmidt is doing with various bible studies as he reveals (in new ways) novel approaches to understanding the holy scriptures.

As we grow more mature and experienced in life, it is amazing what new insights come to us as we engage the same material we have studied in times past.

As always, I am happy to introduce and promote the latest in Wood Lake Publications studies. 

_____

Buy the book from Amazon.ca

Buy the book from Wood Lake:

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Herb and Paula O'Driscoll
Victoria, BC

Anglican Church of Canada

"Online Launch of the O'Driscoll Forum"

--

Philip Yancey,
Colorado

Philipyancey.com
May 26th, 2022

"Why Go Back?"

--

Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON

Sermons and Blog,
May 21st, 2022

"Scrambling to Catch Up"
  
--

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log,
May 19th, 2022

"The Wasp Who Lives With Me"

-- 

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
May 23rd, 2022

"Naming the Present Moment - Some Metaphors"
  
*****

NET NOTES

POPE FRANCIS TO VISIT CANADA IN JULY
He Will Visit Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit

Religion News Service,
May 13th, 2022


--

ROSEMARY RADFORD RUETHER DIES AT 85
Groundbreaking Catholic Feminist Theologian

National Catholic Reporter,
May 24th, 2022


--

LET GRATITUDE SHAPE YOUR TOMORROW
Take Risks Daily in New Ways of Living

Broadview, May 4th, 2022


--

HOW I LEARNED TO LIVE WITH GHOSTS
Insights from Korean Ancestor Worship

Religion News Service,
May 26th, 2022


--

THE FALSE DIVIDE OF SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS
A Divide that Should Really Not Exist
by Sr. Helena Burns

Catholic Register, Toronto
May 20th, 2022


--

WILL THE WCC EXPELL PATRIARCH KIRILL?
The Orthodox are Very Important to Us

Religion News Service
May 3rd, 2022


--
SOUTHERN BAPTIST LEADERS MISTREATED
ABUSE SURVIVORS FOR DECADES
Major Report Now Made Public

Religion News Service
May 22nd, 2022


--

WILLOW CREEK CHURCH CONTINUES TO DECLINE
Post Hybels and Covid-19 Struggles

Religion News Service,
May 19th, 2022


--

WORLD NEEDS GOLDEN RULE'S POSITIVE RAYS
Poster Has Challenged and Inspired Many

Catholic Register, Toronto
May 12th, 2022
 

--

ARCHEOLOGISTS FIND ANCIENT UNDERGROUND CITY
Located in Turkey - Where Christians Hid from Romans

Christian Week
May 19th, 2022



*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

Faith is a force for good particularly when people are feeling beleaguered and in need of hope.

- Margaret Atwood

--

I was born with the same gift from God we are all born with—the impulse to reach out and lessen the suffering of another human being.

- Anthony Ray Hinton

--

Humility is poverty of spirit and meekness. Humility inspires an attitude of listening and of seeking out those who can give good counsel. Humility welcomes correction. A humble person is not proud or arrogant. Humility is not a denial of my value as a human being but rather seeing myself in relationship to God. Humility results from being in a state of gratitude rather than envy, resentment, or bitterness.

- Jim Forest

--

We have to cross the infinite thickness of time and space – and God has to do it first, because he comes to us first. Of the links between God and man, love is the greatest. It is as great as the distance to be crossed. So that the love may be as great as possible, the distance is as great as possible. That is why evil can extend to the extreme limit beyond which the very possibility of good disappears. Evil is permitted to touch this limit. It sometimes seems as though it overpassed it.

- Simone Weil

--

It is possible even in the contradictions and confusions of this life to keep the center of your being calm and undisturbed. It is possible even in this life to go through one hellish situation after another with strength and confidence of spirit. It is possible to endure physical pain and suffering while the mind and heart are filled with peace and joy. That’s what I mean by being in paradise even while you are still part of this earthly scene of chance and change.

- Howard Hageman

(end)


Colleagues List, July 24th, 2022

  Vol. XVIII. No. 1 Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019                                            http://colleagueslist.blogspot / .ca           ...