Category: Speaking to the Soul

“Personally, I have no interest in becoming the matriarch of nations.  But I’m hard pressed to know what my deepest yearning would truly be.  If God were to make a covenant with me and were to change my name — what do I want most in all the world?”

“We spend our lives learning. Newborns have to learn to breathe and then to suck. The rest is progressive. Children want to know, so they ask, ‘Why?’ with seemingly every other breath. It’s their way of finding out how the world works, something they’re going to need to know, and, I think, they revel in learning about it.”

“What’s probably lost on us, though, as we read this passage, is that “a scene at the well” was a well known plot device of storytellers of the Middle East, including ancient Hebrew stories.  Listeners at the time expected stories of encounters of men and women at wells to be betrothal stories, much in the same way we expect the typical encounter in a romantic comedy to be a meeting where the main female character can’t stand the guy, but will later fall for him.”

“However, it doesn’t just go to suffering. The core of discipleship is self-denial. It is at this point especially that Jesus makes it quite clear that the gospel is certainly counter-cultural. However, one could take “losing your life” more than one way. Losing your life can also be seen as shedding the old way of living that was in harmony with the values of the world.”

“For Lent, I am going to give into being dust. In a way, that is giving up something. It is giving up the hard and marbleized parts of who I am, whether formed over decades or just this last year.”

“Open your eyes to see: the sparkle of snow, the colors of a sunset, a smile, the way the light falls on the floor, the first signs of new life, hands reaching out for a hug, crayons cascading over paper, a pile of books waiting to be read.”

““I neither seek nor wish for anything but you, my Lord Jesus”. With these words, Margaret of Cortona, answered the Lord’s question, “’What is your wish, poverella?’” (little poor one)

“Perhaps Perseverance will help me to lay aside some of the things that cause me grief so that I stretch into God’s presence.  The Creator God’s love for me, for the particular human being that I am, is one of the most profound paradoxes I know.  It is impossible to wrap my mind around it — even more impossible than wrapping my head around Mars.”