Seems to me that many churches today are looking more for the hype and less for the depth…are looking to “beat” their competition and keep their “consumers” satisfied…are much ado about “the show” and their “ratings.” Seems to me, that is a mistake! Jesus on the Cross...
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.
The human self also has a nature, limits as well as potentials. If you seek vocation without understanding the material you are working with, what you build with your life will be ungainly and may well put lives in peril, your own and some of those around you. “Faking...
The root meaning of the word “martyr” is “witness.” The implication is that when people die for what they believe, they have said something important that we need to hear. In a strange way, believing that there are values greater than our own life and coming to terms...
In the end, forgiveness is a form of divine healing. As we embrace divine forgiveness in our lives, our memories and our actions—our lives—are transformed and made whole. To forgive is not only to affirm our value as God’s beloved children but also to recognize that...
What we really believe is what our actions show that we believe. When we realize that faith is not what we believe but what we do, then we have to take some account of our actions. Given what we profess, we may just have to change how we live, and that may mean that...
The church is…not a restricted religious community; if it were, the risen Christ would be merely the Lord of its cult. Nor is it a fellowship of like-minded people; in that case the Lord would only be there to give value to its mental attitude. The church, with its...
Many of us are unable to “see” things “as they are,” because we see “as we are.” Until we change, until we learn how to love and forgive, to live with gratitude, generosity, and compassion, we will be blind to what is “really real,” to what is of ultimate worth and...
The first and most solid conclusion which (for me) emerges is that both musical parties, the High Brows and the Low, assume far to easily the spiritual value of the music they want. Neither the greatest excellence of a trained performance from the choir, nor the...
We must beware of the naive idea that our music can “please” God as it would please a cultivated human hearer. That is like thinking, under the old law, that He really needed the blood of bulls and goats… For all our offerings, whether of music or martyrdom, are like...