a focus of absolute trust Elizabeth Johnson As a focus of absolute trust, one to whom you can give yourself without fear of betrayal, the holy mystery of God undergirds and implicitly gives direction to all of a believing person’s enterprises, principles, choices, systems of values, and relationships. Elizabeth Johnson Image: Fernando Peña Defilló, Autoretrato […]
Real presence makes a real difference Philip Carter It is sacrifice, not in the sense of a bribe to persuade a hostile deity to overlook our failings, but in the sense of something given up, handed over, so that a mutual relationship may be both affirmed and renewed. Being in the Church is being in […]
Can we see the presence of God in the face of a stranger? Jonathan Sacks Can we make space for difference? Can we hear the voice of God in a language, a sensibility, a culture not our own? Can we see the presence of God in the face of a stranger? Jonathan Sacks Image: Jesus […]
…the act of God and human reality are allowed to belong together without rivalry or fear Rowan Williams Transcendence is a hand reached out to those close to us, to the human community, to all living creation, to nature, to the universe. [It] is a deeply and joyously experienced need to be in harmony with […]
Our life is therefore responsive and responsible The joys, the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the grief and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise […]
Dialogue is not simply an exchange of ideas Ut Unum Sint, John Paul II The capacity for ‘dialogue’ is rooted in the nature of the person and human dignity….we cannot ‘fully find ourselves except through a sincere gift of ourselves….Dialogue is not simply an exchange of ideas. In some ways it is always an exchange […]
…enter the communion of God’s own personal life -in- relation. John Zizioulas Truth is that indestructible life that is open to us when we cease to live as private and self-determining individuals and enter the communion of God’s own personal life-in-relation. John Zizioulas Image: Christopher Holt, Haywood Street fresco (detail) Learning to live with our […]
We had to learn ourselves Victor Frankl What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing ones, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. Victor Frankl, speaking […]
The absoluteness of the gospel has to do with the absoluteness and the unconditional nature of love Walter Kasper The absoluteness of the gospel has to do with the absoluteness and the unconditional nature of love, which neither casts aside nor absorbs the other, but rather withdraws, makes room for the other and thus acknowledges […]
God desires us, as if we were God Rowan Williams The whole story of creation, incarnation, and our incorporation into Christ’s body tells us that God desires us, as if we were God, as if we were that unconditional response to God’s giving that God’s self makes in the life of the Trinity. We are […]