Do not be too quick to condemnthe man who no longer believes in God:for it is perhapsyour own coldnessand avariceand mediocrityand materialismand selfishnessthat have chilled his faith.----------------------------------------------Gender-inclusive version: Do not be...
When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. from "A Revolution of Values"
Not only Christians but all Americans subscribe to the notion that "all people are created equal." But how many feel the monstrosity of inequality? I'm thinking not only of racial inequality, but also of today's excess of wealth and poverty, the absence of affordable...
To the Materialist things like nations, classes, civilizations must be more important than individuals, because the individuals live only seventy odd years each and the group may last for centuries. But to the Christian, individuals are more important, for they live...
By inner attitude and outward action, we must defile money's sacred character. Money is too high on our list of values. As Thomas Merton observed, "The true 'law' of our day is the law of wealth and material power." For Christians, this giving of high priority to...
Love is dangerous because it always threatens to change us and to demand our penitence. It is the opposite of the forces which try and keep us and the world as it is. Divine love moves us and the creation on towards the as yet unseen fullness of the purpose of God for...
I am convinced that often the world doesn’t take Christians seriously because we are so much like the world: caught up in the same miserable rat race of self-seeking consumerism and materialism.
Use the things of this world as nature needs them, but not with excessive attachment. For it would be very displeasing to God if you were to set your heart on something of less value than yourself. That would be nothing but a surrender of your dignity.
I am convinced that a community-called-beloved is possible. This is an admittedly fragile possibility, but it is not a utopian dream. I believe that people of good will harbor a persistent hope that our planet can be a place of belonging for all its inhabitants. To...