Semikkah7

06/01/2024 – Final excerpts and quotes on prayer… / 5 of 5

Excerpts from the book:

“When you picture the face of God, what expression does he wear? Is the God of your imagination stern, serious, determined, even angry? Or maybe your vision of God is one in which he is aloof, uninterested, apathetic? The manner in which you answer the question will tell you a lot about your own spirituality.” pg 119

Quotes:

“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure, the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pains its loss will bring: these are the few of the paradoxes we must hold as human being. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without hope, faith, and love.” Parker Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey toward an Undivided Life (San Francisco: Jose-Bass, 2004), pgs 82-83. (pg. 181 of this book)

“Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive Him and keep him as your own,” Mother Teresa, A Gift for God: Prayers and Meditations (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996), pg 75. (pg 172 of this book)

“Prayer is about love, and that means it cannot be sustained on fluttery feelings, good intentions, and spontaneous moments alone. It needs a container, something like the fidelity of a marriage, a set of practices or rituals within which that love can grow, mature, and blossom.” (pg 194 of this book)

Close … – to be completed with short excerpts from the “Rebellious Fidelity” chapter nlt end of day – June 2nd.

Soli Deo Gloria!