The love of God is such that should we see it clearly we would die of that love.
Love and death are mingled at Calvary. We can’t have one without the other. “In love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve.” Thornton Wilder
· The invitation of Jesus is this as we see Him on the Cross: ‘Don’t weep for me, join me. The life I have planned for you is a Christian life, much like the life I led.” Brennan Manning
· “Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians are called upon to suffer. God is a God who bears. The Son of God bore our flesh, he bore the cross, he bore our sins…In the same way his followers are called upon to bear, and that is precisely what it means to be a Christian …The yoke and burden of Christ are His cross.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
· The more perfectly and purely I love Jesus, the more I become one with Him in love and share in his sufferings. The intimately I know the man of sorrows, the more I love Him and suffer with His sufferings. Angela of Foligno
· “We relive the passion of Jesus through the life of compassion. On the Cross, the open arms of the Crucified One reached out to feel the pain and suffering of the world.” Brennan Manning
Whenever love is withdrawn, pride is the cause.
“There can be only two basic loves: the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self OR the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God.” Augustine
The nearer we come to the perfect purity of love, the more we turn from thoughts of ourselves in order to fix them totally upon God.
“It I truly have a fervent love of God in me—a love that enlightens my heart with the depths of His love—then when anyone speaks evil of me, I will be patient and gracious unto them.” Angela of Foligno:
“It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.” Mother Teresa
“Once you come to know the love of Jesus Christ, nothing else in the world will seem beautiful or desirable.” Brennan Manning
“We die daily in Jesus Christ or we deny him. This death in us has something to do with love toward Christ and toward people. We die to it when we love Christ and the brethren from the bottom of our hearts, for love is total surrender to what a person loves.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
“It is an indicator of purity of heart when you can look at a sinner and have mercy, notice a weak person and feel compassion.” Pseudo-Marcarius
“Does my heart seek no other joy than Jesus alone? Does my heart feel a burning love that is for Him alone? May my heart be Jesus loving, Jesus thinking and Jesus desiring—breathing in Him daily.” Richard Rolle
“Lord, kindle my heart with the heat of your love, enlighten my inmost being with the Light of your truth, feed me with the honey of your grace—as much as my body and soul can endure.” Richard Rolle
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”’ Antoine DeSaint-Exupery
“The world does not understand vulnerability…Vulnerability is flatly rejected by the world as incompetence and compassionate caring is dismissed as unprofitable. The great deception of public televisions advertising is that being poor, vulnerable and weak is uncool and ineffectual…Social climbing, power plays and winning breed a sprit of competition that bids farewell to compassion. The spirituality of the servant is incomprehensible to the advertising industry.” Brennan Manning – Today competition overrules compassion in American Christianity. We are becoming what we see.
“Keep a clear eye toward life’s end. Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God’s creature. What you are in His sight is what you are and nothing more. Remember, that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received—the fading symbols of honor, trappings of power—but only what you have given: a heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.” St. Francis of Assisi
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