I have been reading a book by Brennan Manning called "Ruthless Trust". If you haven't read his book "Ragamuffin Gospel", read it! But this one is also good and entirely worthy of a dedicated post. So, here are some excellent and thought provoking quotes to ponder on...
When people realize that they have received a gift they can never repay, they notify their faces and their actions, and the tenor of their lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving.
The agnostic, neither denying nor affirming the existence of God, allows for a remote, impersonal cosmic force that is utterly unknowable. Given that stance, the agnostic is spared having to repudiate the puny, pathetic images of God that scar many a Christian heart and conscience.
To adore is to recognize the unfathomable greatness of God and the nothingness of the adorer.
Karl Rahner said, "In the days ahead, you will either be a mystic, i.e. one who has experienced God, or nothing at all."
Kabod is not a safe topic. It induces a feeling of terror before the Infinite and exposes as sham our empty religious talk and pointless activity, our idle curiosity and ludicrous pretensions of importance, our frantic busyness. The awareness that the eternal, transcendent God of Jesus Christ is our absolute future gives us the shakes. One day out of the blue comes the thought of our inevitable death, and the thought is so troubling that we want to live the rest of our lives in a shoe.
When the glory of the transcendent God is not addressed, our focus shifts to human behaviour, the cultivation of virtues and the extirpation of vices, the qualities of discipleship and so on. Personal responsibility replaces personal response to God, and we become engrossed in our efforts to grow in holiness. Our primary concern becomes our spiritual, intellectual and emotional well-being.
Like faith and hope, trust cannot be self-generated. I cannot simply will myself to trust. What outrageous irony: the one thing that I am responsible for throughout my life I cannot generate. The one thing I need to do I cannot do. But such is the meaning of radical dependence... What does lie within my power is paying attention to the faithfulness of Jesus.
We are made for that which is too big for us. We are made for God, and nothing less will ever satisfy us.
Simon Tugwell writes, "We must allow our appetite for infinity to dislodge us whenever we are inclined to settle down and call it a day." Hungering and thirsting for more disturbs complacency, induces a blessed state of disquiet and propels our unending exploration into the mystery of God in Christ Jesus. Accepting no substitutes for what we really want leads to simplicity of life.
Humble men and women do not have a low opinion of themselves; they have no opinion of themselves, because they so rarely think about themselves... Humble people are without pretense, free from any sense of spiritual superiority, and liberated from the need to be associated with persons of importance. The awareness of their spiritual emptiness does not disconcert them. Neither overly sensitive to criticism nor inflated by praise, they recognize their brokenness, acknowledge their gifts, and refuse to take themselves seriously... Aware of their innate poverty, they throw themselves on the mercy of God with carefree abandon.
Following Jesus, the humble in heart waste little time in introspection, navel-gazing, looking in the mirror and being anxious about their spiritual growth. Their self-acceptance without self-concern is anchored in the acceptance of Jesus in their struggle to be faithful. They fasten their attention on God.
'Now here' spells 'nowhere'. To be fully present to whoever or whatever is immediately before us is to pitch a tent in the wilderness of Nowhere. It is an act of radical trust- trust that God can be encountered at no other time and in no other place than the present moment... When my mind is replaying the past glories and defeats or imagining unknown tomorrows, the music of what is happening is muted.
Our culture says that ruthless competition is they key to success. Jesus says that ruthless compassion is the purpose of the journey.
You will trust Him to the degree that you know you are loved by Him.
