PARADOXICAL

The heart of the Christian ascesis (self-denial) is the stuggle with our unconscious motivations. If we don't recognize and confront the hidden influences of the emotional programs for happiness, the false self will adjust to any new situation in a short time and nothing is really challenged. Thomas Keating.

Wholeness leads to holiness. It is relenetlessly pursuing the unique path prepared by the Lord for the individual. No track is exactly the same. Each must seek the truth about oneself faithfully. No room for limitation of the externals but deep devotion to seek God's will and trust in our ever faithful God.


Paradoxical nature of wholeness: The opposite of a true staetment is a false statement, but the opposiet of a profound truth can be another profound turth. Wholeness brings conetntment and harmony but not without conflict. People who are whole continue to struggle for growth. They pursue it seriously though they know it's a gift from God. They are open to self-transcendence.

Love to pray. Feel the need to pray often during the day. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of himself. Mother Teresa

Everything you've done will become someone else's memory.; the person might forget the exact words you said, exact things you did, but there's no way to make them forget the way you made them feel.

The greatest man is he who has not lost the heart of a child. - Mencius


Mature virtue is perfected in the spirit of childhood. -Lao Tsu

God has made life so good that even if we don't exactly get what we want, we ralize that what He has given us is actually the best for us.
The heart is a fertile place. Anything planted there will grow for suer. Whether love or hatred. You have the power to choose your seed everyday.


The key to happiness is not that you never egt angry, upset, irritated frustrated, or depressed. It's how fast you decide to get out of those feelings.

If we are not capable during our lifetime of falling ini love with God, we are lost. Carlo Carretto

Failure stretches our capacity to grow. In life, the worst thing that can happen isn't failing. It's never having tried. Smart people can never fail.

Prayer is grand poverty. John Casian

Strong walls will shake but never collapse. Whatever life gives you even if it hurts, you just be strong and act like the way you always do.

A person's most useful asset is not a head full of knowledge but a heart full of love, an ear open to listen and a hand with a willingness to help.

Life is pretty simple. If you ask for apples and you get lemons, make lemonade. If you are on your way out and it stars to rain, at least you don't have to water the plants. It is a matter of seeing things in perspective. The benefits may not be immediate or obvious, but we have to know that there are probllems and struggles. Have faith. Enjoy life. Take it easy. If today you are picking the grapes, tomorrow you will be drinking the wine.


We evangelize with our lives before we do with our words... Jesus came to bring fire not the catechism to the earth (?). - Carlo Carretto

The struggle to know oneself involves courage to walk the unknown path and face old fears. We discover that God is much greater than our old familiar comfort zones.

A wonderful birthday greeting from R.O.: Like birds, let's leave behind what we don't need to carry: grudges, sadness, pain, fear, and regrets. Fly light. Life is beautiful. Happy New Year.


Some thoughts to consider: 1. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present. 2. What other people think of you is one of your business. 3. Time heals almost everything. Give it time. 4. No one is incharge of your happiness except you. 5. Don't compare your life to others and don't judge them. You have no idea what their journey is all about. 6. Stop thinking too much. It's alright not to know the answers. They will come to you when you least expect it.

The Christian religion is primarily about a transformation of consciousness. This takes spiritual practice and the cultivation of wisdom. In another time this was called cultivating the supernatural organism, what Paul called “a new creation.” So the main thing is to be transformed into God, what the early church called deification, theosis, divinization. — Thomas Keating, OCSO

[Centering prayer] is . . . a journey into the unknown. It is a call to follow Jesus out of all the structures, security blankets, and even spiritual practices that serve as props. They are all left behind insofar as they are part of the false self system . . . The false self is an illusion. Humility is the forgetfulness of self . . .- Fr. Keating

posted by Resty Odon  # 6:40 PM