We have reduced our way of speaking about mystery to rational explanations;
but …… mystery enters through the heart.
Pope Francis address to Brazilian bishops, 27 July 2013
Tag: balance
A false view of life
One of the mighty illusions that is constructed in the dailiness of life in our culture
is that all pain is a negation of worthiness,
that the real chosen people, the real worthy people,
are the people that are most free from pain.
bell hooks, American author and social activist
How we grow
The promise of being broken
and the possibility of being opened
are written into the contract of human life.
Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open
Doing things quietly
I’m just sick of ego, ego, ego. My own and everybody else’s. I’m sick of everybody that wants to get somewhere, do something distinguished and all, be somebody interesting. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I’m sick of myself and everybody else that wants to make some kind of a splash.
J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
photo Júlio Reis
Being comes before doing
My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.
Henri Nouwen
New lands
One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore
for a very long time.
Andre Gide
