Franciscan Quote of the Day

Christ did not appoint professors, but followers…

Lee Potts — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:21:51 +0000

Christ did not appoint professors, but followers. If Christianity … is not reduplicated in the life of the person expounding it, then he does not expound Christianity, for Christianity is a message about living and can only be expounded by being realized in men’s lives.

~Soren Kierkegaard,via OH……….. FRANCESCO

Tags: christianity, expound, followers, living, professors, soren kierkegaard

Do not hurry by the cross on your way to…

Lee Potts — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:08:34 +0000

“When I came to you,” writes St. Paul to the Corinthians, “I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Stay a while. Do not hurry by the cross on your way to Easter joy, for we know the risen Lord only through Christ and him crucified. The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said that the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity to be found on the far side of complexity. The only joy to be trusted is the joy on the far side of a broken heart; the only life to be trusted is the life on the far side of death. Stay a while, with Christ and him crucified.

~Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon

Tags: alfred north whitehead, broken heart, Cross, friday afternoon, Jesus Christ, richard john neuhaus, Simplicity

A church that doesn’t provoke…

Lee Potts — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:59:58 +0000

A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed – what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don’t bother anyone, that’s the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.

~Archbishop Oscar Romero, via Pax Christi USA

Tags: archbishop oscar romero, conflict, Gospel, pax christi, society, unsettle

Peace is not…

Lee Potts — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:14:34 +0000

Peace is not the absence of affliction, but the presence of God.

~Author Unknown

Tags: god, Peace, presence of god

Did they see me today or did they see Jesus today?

Lee Potts — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 01:53:14 +0000

Go through each thing with Jesus, every encounter you had with a person or on the phone and ask yourself this question, “Did they see me today or did they see Jesus today?” If the answer is that they saw me, then there is still a lot that needs to be repented. People are supposed to be looking and seeing Jesus in my life. So I need to ask if I’m pushing myself, and my ideas, or am I pushing Jesus and His ideas?

Fr. Larry Richards, Surrender! The Life Changing Power of Doing God’s Will

Tags: encounter, Jesus, larry richards, seeing jesus, surrender

Religion isn’t…

Lee Potts — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:40:20 +0000

Religion isn’t something we tack on to life like a crumbling doily, in other words: religion suffuses life, drives life, sets life on fire. “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!” said Christ (Lk. 12:49). “Religion consists of the belief that everything that happens to us is extraordinarily important. It can never disappear from the world for this reason,” noted the Italian poet (and suicide) Cesare Pavese.

~Heather King, Shirt of Flame: A Year with Saint Therese of Lisieux

Tags: cesare pavese, everything, Fire, heather king, religion, saint therese of lisieux, suicide

Something more beautiful or more terrible…

Lee Potts — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:14:05 +0000

Life does not simply pass. It goes on into something more beautiful or more terrible, to salvation or to eternal loss. Life’s purpose and our attitude toward it must be defined by this conviction if we are believers.

~Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Arise From Darkness

Tags: attitude, Benedict Groeschel, conviction, Darkness, salvation

The immature, fretful craving to have things the way we want them…

Lee Potts — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 21:55:11 +0000

This movement from the immature, fretful craving to have things the way we want them, to the way that is patient, cheerful, nonobtrusive, and oriented toward others, is a true death: the death of our egos, the death of our identities as people who respond—can only respond—a certain way. Grace is needed, to be sure, but preparing the ground for continuing grace requires prayer, meditation, and consenting to the long, hard work of pruning our will in such a way that we are open to maturity.

~Heather King, Shirt of Flame: A Year with Saint Therese of Lisieux

Tags: egos, heather king, immature, maturity, Prayer, pruning, saint therese of lisieux, want

We must not become angry for any reason whatsoever…

Lee Potts — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 03:03:54 +0000

The final cure for this sickness is to realize that we must not become angry for any reason whatsoever, whether just or unjust. When the demon of anger has darkened our mind, we are left neither with the light of discrimination, nor the assurance of true judgment, nor the guidance of righteousness, and our soul cannot become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Finally, we should always bear in mind our own ignorance of the time of our death, keeping ourselves from anger and recognizing that neither self-restraint nor the renunciation of all material things, nor fasting and vigils, are of any benefit if we are found guilty at the last judgment because we are the slaves of anger and hatred.

~St John Cassian

Tags: anger, Cassian, judgment, slave, temple of the holy spirit

Forgive the inexcusable…

Lee Potts — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:20:29 +0000

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

~C. S. Lewis, Essay on Forgiveness

Tags: c s lewis, Christ, Christian, Essay, Forgive, forgiveness