Deep Thoughts

Inspirations, Devotions, Contemplations

“I have had to accept the fact that my life is almost totally paradoxical. I have also had to learn gradually to get along without apologizing for the fact, even to myself. It is in the paradox itself, the paradox which was and is still a source of insecurity for me that I have strangely come to find the greatest security. I have become convinced that the contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God’s mercy to me. If only because someone so complicated, and so prone to confusion and self-defeat as myself, could hardly survive for long without some special mercy.” – Thomas Merton

“Anyone can come who is searching for God.” – St. Benedict

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” – Colossians 3:2-3

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein

“Christianity is the only world explanation that teaches us to win by losing. Our egos hate this; we want to win by winning.” – Richard Rohr

“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:39

“Unless the grain of wheat dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit.” – John 12:24

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:3-4

“If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it. If your religion is not showing you how to transform your pain, it is junk religion.” – Richard Rohr

“As long as you do not have experience of this dying and becoming, you are only a troubled guest on this dark earth.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“You can show your love to others by not wishing that they should be better Christians.” – St. Francis of Assisi

“In my psychiatric practice, how many times did I help patients cope with their feelings, tame the power of their emotions? I no longer believe that was even helpful. Even when I assisted people in uncovering long-buried emotions, I seldom encouraged them to savor the life-juice of the feelings themselves: the rich dark love-nature of grief, the warming fire of anger, the subtle luminosity of loneliness, the pure gut-driving power of sexual desire, or the exquisite clarity of fear. Instead, for the most part, I helped them cope. I have come to hate that word, because to cope with something you have to separate yourself from it. You make it your antagonist, your enemy. Like management, coping is a taming word. Wild, untamed emotions are full of life-spirit, vibrant with the energy of being itself. They don’t have to be acted out, but neither do they need to be tamed. They are part of our inner wilderness; they can be just what they are. God save me from coping. God help me join, not separate. Help me be with and in, not apart from. Show me the way of savoring, not controlling. Dear God, hear my prayer: make me forever COPELESS!!” – Gerald May, from “The Wisdom of Wilderness”

“We must bear patiently not being good . . . and not being thought good.” – St. Francis of Assisi

“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.” – Brennan Manning

“The logo and central image of Christianity – a dying, bleeding and losing man: If that isn’t saying you win by losing what is it going to take for us to get the message? Why is it our logo? How to lose with grace, let it transform and teach you.” – Richard Rohr

“You spend all your time in life climbing a ladder of success and when you get to the top you realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall.” – Thomas Merton

“You cannot get there, you can only be there.” – Eckhart Tolle

“The cross didn’t change anything but revealed everything.” – Richard Rohr