Friday ~ January 31, 2014

Our nature imposes on us a certain pattern of development which we must follow if we are to fulfill our best capacities and achieve at least the partial happiness of being human. This pattern must be properly understood and it must be worked out in essential elements. Otherwise, we fail. But it can be stated very simply, in a single sentence: We must know the truth, and we must love the truth we know, and we must act according to the measure of our love.What are the elements of this "pattern" I speak of? First, and most important of all: I must adapt myself to objective reality, Second, this adaptation is achieved by the work of my highest spiritual faculties - intelligence and will. Third, it demands expression when my whole being, commanded by my will, produces actions which, by their moral vitality and fruitfulness, show that I am living in harmony with true order of things.

(Thomas Merton, 1915 - 1968)

Thursday ~ January 30, 2014

Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a temper of will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of emotions; it is a freshness of the deep spring of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite of adventure over love of ease.

(Samuel Ullman, 1840 - 1924)

Tuesday ~ January 28, 2014

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as for the body.


(Margaret Fuller, (1810 - 1850)

Monday ~ January 27, 2014

The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves its dignity:
For sweetest things turn sour est by their deeds;
Likes that fester smell far worse than weeds.

(William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1676)

Sunday ~ January 26, 2014

Love, like truth or beauty, is concrete. Love is not fundamentally a sweet feeling, not, at heart, a matter of sentiment, attachment or being "drawn toward." Love is active, effective, a matter of making reciprocal and mutually beneficial relation with one's friends and enemies. Love creates righteousness, or justice, here on earth...For this reason, loving involves commitment. We are not automatic lovers of self, others, world, or God. Love does not just happen. We're not love machines, puppets on the strings of a deity called "love." Love is a choice - not simply, or necessarily, a rational choice, but rather a willingness to be present to others without pretense or guile. Love is a convention to humility - a willingness to participate with others in the healing of a broken world and broken broken lives.

(Carter Heyward, 1945 - )