Monday, June 04, 2007

Do not pine away in the pain of your wounds, but live from the depth of them making the extent of your desolution, the extent of your realm.
Jim Cutters book: listen to the language of your wound

I have been recommended a book by Alan Elphinstone but the title was not remembered.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

It seems that many people have freedom and are not happy. Many people with purpose still find they live in darkness and those with hope suffer intolerably.

So how does all this meet in Christ?

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Meaning in Darkness

When we find that our spiritual lives are plunged into what we call 'darkness' it is really hard. I have only had times when I find reading the Bible uninspiring and at these times I find that my prayer life is dull and like a oneway conversation.

I suppose it is helpful to recognise that these times highlight how real our experience usually is with God.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta suffered with this darkness for much of her life as did Teresa of Avila and Teresa of Lisieux (don't call your daughter Teresa!)
St teresa writes in her journal:

'My smile is a great mantle, which covers a multitude of sufferings. The sisters and people think that my faith, my hope and my love are profoundly fulfilling me, and that intimacy with God and union with His will, live in my heart. If they only knew...only blind faith moves me along, because the truth is that all is darkness for me.' link

St Teresa of Avila said to God 'If you treat your friends like this, it explains why you have so few!'
Link

To finish this post I wanted to use a thought given by Timothy Radcliffe in his book 'Why Go To Church' This is the book which inspired this post (p84).
He writes: If one has waited long for a glimpse of meaning, then one will never be tempted to feel onself superior to people of other faiths or none. One will know that meaning is a gift; it is not granted because of any personal superiority. We just give thanks, whoever shares the gift with us.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

freedom, purpose and happiness

There are of course many ways of looking at this. Freedom could be the freedom one has if one can float above the earth. It could be the freedom one seeks when opting out from the way of life many others in the area have chosen. It could be living within the norm.

What does Christ mean when he talks about freedom? It seems to me that purpose and happiness are tied up in there so I have placed these words together as they seem linked (trinsically linked) (trinsically does not seem to be in the dictionary but it is used in essays, odd!)