From Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea, I. at page 147:
Everyone believes himself . . . to be perfectly free . . .and thinks that at every moment he can commence another manner of life . . .that he can become another person.” But of course, as Schopenauer went on to argue, it isn’t as easy as that.
1999
From Harold Masback, G.I.G.O." (April 25, 1999):
Littleton’s tragedy gives us much to prayerfully consider, and since I am leery of instant analysis, I will leave most of the issues for another day. But don’t we just know that the boys who shot their schoolmates could not possibly have seen Christ in the classmates they despised as “preps” and “jocks.” And don’t we also know that the classmates who were quoted in this week’s papers describing the shooters as: “just kids who nobody wanted to have anything to do with . . . nerds, geeks and dweebs trying to find someplace to fit in . . . .” – don’t we just know that these survivors didn’t see Christ in the classmates they cast as outcasts.
From The New York Times, April 22, 1999
2004
From Harold Masback, Keep Your Eye on the Ball" (November 21, 2004):
Our Thanksgiving traces back to November, 1621. As our Puritan forebears approached the end of their first year in the New World, they reflected on how to commemorate their year. Some suggested a day of mourning, a day to remember all those who had died. It was a compelling suggestion. More than half of the 105 pilgrims had already died. Ten of the 17 husbands and fathers and 14 of the 17 wives and mothers had died during the first three months ashore. Governor Bradford’s wife had drowned as they disembarked from the Mayflower, leaving him a widower with a one year-old son.
But the pilgrims decided instead to thank God for their blessings, to give thanks for the help of the Indians and a successful harvest. You could say they chose to celebrate life rather than death, blessings rather than burdens, thanksgiving rather than mourning. Some historians have opined that this choice, this orientation, was the single greatest factor in getting them through the brutal winters that lay ahead.
2004
From Harold Masback, Packing Parachutes" (November 14, 2004):
Perhaps the world’s greatest scholar in transformative participation is George Lindbeck. His master work, The Nature of Doctrine, is suggested reading at virtually every seminary in the country.
I wanted to talk about his book, but all Professor Lindbeck wanted to talk about was my motley story, he wanted to know what experiences led fallen people to faith, to seminary. I told him it was an absolute mystery. One moment I was an arrogant lawyer on a subway – one grace filled experience later I was on a path that led inexorably to seminary. Still arrogant, perhaps, but on a new path.///He just looked at me silently for a while and said, “A mystery? Hmmmm. Tell me this, was religion important to your Mother?” “Oh, absolutely, she was a Baptist determined to pass her faith along to her kids.”///Did she take you to church when you were young? “Are you kidding, we never missed; we had perfect attendance medals that reached half-way down to our knees.”///Was the Sunday School pretty serious about the Bible? “Of course! Those Sunday School teachers had us memorizing Psalms, answering quizzes, competing to recite. I can still remember Mrs. Vestal’s ‘GE College Bible Bowl,’ Mr. Judy’s fifth grade class on the Bible and Life, and Mr. Hansen’s Baptism class.”///Did you act in any dramas or sing in any choirs? “Sure. I sang in the children’s choir and then Betsy Kirshner’s junior choir. I was Gabriel in the nativity pageant, the cobbler’s boy in the play about the kopeks, and then in the usual skits and plays put on by the Junior and Senior high fellowships.”But there came a time when you thought you outgrew religion? Got too smart and self-sufficient to believe the story? “Well, I actually began to have my doubts around fourteen.” “You fell away from the church and began your self-reliant climb through college, law school, and the law?” “Well, I still went to church, but only to keep my wife company.” ///And then in mid-life things began to crumble for you spiritually? You fell into a strange darkness you couldn’t solve? “Yes.” “And you turned back to the religion of your youth?” “Yes.” “And that’s where you found God waiting for you?” “Yes.”///And then another silence before the old professor spoke, . . .”And this is a mystery to you? A surprise to you? . . . You seem like a smarter fellow than that.”
2004
From Harold Masback, Keep Your Eye on the Ball" (November 21, 2004):
University of California psychologist Dr. Robert Emmons has administered a “gratitude survey” to thousands of respondents. I’ve passed it out this morning so you can take it at home. Dr. Emmons has also developed a simple gratitude exercise. You just spend two weeks pausing each night before bed to reflect on the day. You then jot down on a lined piece of paper each of the day’s experiences for which you are grateful. Respondents report that their gratitude, their joy, their satisfaction with life routinely surges up as they continue the exercise.
From Martin Luther:
I mean the kind of in your bones” belief Luther meant when he said, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”
From Origen:
In 3rd century A.D. Alexandria, a Christian theologian named Origen framed a striking image for our relationship with Christ. (Origen, On First Principles) He pictured Christ as a bright light at the head of a vertical classroom. Each of our souls hovers suspended in the classroom below. Whenever we say yes” to Jesus, whenever we accept him as our Christ, we turn to him, and the light draws us up, closer and closer to Christ. The closer we approach, the brighter the light and the easier it is to ascend. But whenever we say “no” to Christ, whenever we decline his lordship over our lives, we turn away from the light, and we slowly sink. And the further we fall away from Christ the dimmer the light, and the harder it becomes to turn back around.
From Paul Tillich:
Who do you say that I am?” Theologian Paul Tillich calls this question, the question Jesus asked Peter at Caesarea Phillipi, the most momentous question ever asked in history. RefMgr field[18]: Who Do You Say That I Am?
From Thomas Merton:
Thomas Merton taught that the desire for communion with God was itself a gift, the essence of grace, but even if we lack the gift of heartfelt desire, we can begin by praying for the desire, praying for desire with whatever urgency we can muster.