“The name of Jesus is in my mind as a joyful song, in my ear as heavenly music, and in my mouth a sweet honey.”
~~~ Richard Rolle
“The name of Jesus is in my mind as a joyful song, in my ear as heavenly music, and in my mouth a sweet honey.”
~~~ Richard Rolle
“The Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or – if they think there is not – at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good but that God will make us good because he loves us.”
— C. S. Lewis, The C. S. Lewis Bible, p 1335
This Ash Wednesday I have been drawn to a well known prayer of Thomas Merton –
My Lord, God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But, I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart for that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always,
though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
It strikes that perhaps our Lenten journey should begin with the honesty, humility and trust that Merton exhibits.
Blessings on your Lenten journey.
Charles
{ubi caritas}
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”
— Mortimer J. Adler
Loving Father,
Help us remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and the worship of the wise men.
Close the door of hate
and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift
and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,
and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children,
and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds
with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven,
for Jesus’ sake,
Amen!
by Robert Louis Stevenson
“I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”
C. S. Lewis
I am getting started today with this blog, so be patient while I learn how to setup the pages, experiment with layout and colors and get some content posted.
In the meantime you can jump over to What’s Going on Here or Commonplace Book to get an idea of what will follow.
I promise, there will be more.
Charles