Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. ― William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Christians are anointed to share in Christ’s threefold office of priest, prophet, and king. in this kingdom we are all ‘heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ’ (Rom 8:17), and so we share in his call to proclaim his law in whatever corner of the kingdom he, in his providence, assigns to us. It may be a home in the suburbs or a desk in a corporate cubicle. It may be a station on an assembly line. It may be an urban apartment. The possibilities are as varied as God’s people. All are called to be Christ, wherever they find themselves. All are called to bring about the kingdom.
That’s how the kingdom comes. That’s how it’s manifest in our world, through the love we introduce into the world, the love of Christ. It’s his love. It’s his Spirit that works through us, by virtue of our baptism. It’s his power that will build up the kingdom wherever we go. – Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Seek First the Kingdom: Challenging the Culture by Living Our Faith (pg. 48)
We know that all things work for good for those who love God. – St. Paul to the Romans
You must remember, you have not written the script. – Lady Abbess of Regina Laudis, The Ear of the Heart
I ask you: How do you abide in the presence of the Lord? When you visit the Lord, when you look at the tabernacle, what do you do? Without speaking… ‘But I speak, I talk, I think, I meditate, I listen… ‘ Very good! But do you let yourself be looked at by the Lord? Letting ourselves be gazed upon by the Lord. He looks at us and this is itself a way of praying.– Pope Francis, Address, September 2013
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
In our personal life, in our private lives… the Spirit pushes us to take a more evangelical path, and we [say]: ‘But no, it goes like this, Lord.’ …Do not put up resistance to the Holy Spirit: this is the grace for which I wish we would all ask the Lord; docility to the Holy Spirit, to that Spirit who comes to us and makes us go forward on the path of holiness. – Pope Francis, Homily, Domus Sanctae Marthae, April 16, 2013
We must prepare ourselves for the spiritual combat. This is important. It is impossible to preach the Gospel without this spiritual battle, a daily battle against sadness, against bitterness, against pessimism; a daily battle! Pope Francis – Address, June 17, 2013
The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel. – Steve Furtick
Comparison is the thief of joy. – Teddy Roosevelt
The world doesn’t need what you have, but who you are. – Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Each one can, when he has cleared out the rubble even for a day, look honestly at the material from which he is made, and ask the Holy Spirit to let it show him the way Christ wills to show Himself in his life. – Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God
There is, however, one big thing we can do with God’s help, that is, we can trust God’s plan, we can put aside any quibbling or bitterness about ourselves and what we are. – Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God
Living Differently 