'ssje' Tagged Posts

Love the emptiness. If you do not have space in your soul – if you keep yourself filled on food or constant activity or ever-new ideas– your desire will be blunted or even perverted. We have been created with the gift of desire, to long for, to anticipate. – Br. Curtis Almquist Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/g4cwj-BZgS0 Question for Reflection: Where might life be waiting to…

It was not because Jesus was oblivious to pain that enabled him to undergo such cruelty. It was because he knew the depth of human grief and loss and despair. And he knew that, because he loved. – Br. James Koester Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/yekhlcwk4S4 Question for Reflection: Will you ask God to transform your suffering into greater love? Comments: We welcome your comments on…

Take up these symbols of the new life: towel and basin and water. Let them be for you a sign of your love for him and your gratitude for all that he has done for you. Let them be for you a pledge of your commitment to serve – not out of duty, but out of love; not to obtain a reward, but to imitate the One who freely and willingly laid down his life for you. Let them be…

There is something about our suffering in life – what we would not have chosen but cannot avoid – when we say “yes” to God, when we show ourselves ready to bear our suffering before God, that opens the door for transformation, for consecration. There is something about facing the dark night that allows us to see the dawning of joy. – Br. Curtis Almquist Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click…

We lift our hearts to God in whatever state they are in. If our hearts are happy, we lift them to the Lord. If our hearts are broken or heavy with grief, we lift them to the Lord. If our hearts are anxious or afraid, we lift them to the Lord. We “come as we are” to this place. – Br. Mark Brown Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to…

During this week, these last days of our Lord’s life, we try to enter imaginatively into the story of Christ’s passion, to try, each one of us, to feel the weight of the cross, to understand a little of the immensity of God’s sacrifice for us, and the immensity of God’s love for us. – Br. Geoffrey Tristram Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/rZYe9JkKo7o Question for Reflection:…

What is it that makes you vulnerable? In our lifetimes, we don’t lose our spiritual vulnerability. We wouldn’t want to lose it. How we come to know God, how God breaks through to us, is probably through something that is broken in our lives. – Br. Curtis Almquist Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/0IICHyeFetM Question for Reflection: How will you share your vulnerability with Jesus today? Comments:…

Temptation becomes an instrument of God’s grace when it causes us to acknowledge our helplessness, when it prompts us to look for God’s help, when it puts us in places where we realize our need for a Savior. – Br. David Vryhof Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/3h4eIAvUC0M Question for Reflection: Can you invite God’s grace into the places of contradiction and darkness within you? Comments: We…

As Jesus said over and over again, if you sin and repent and try to live a new life, you will be saved. This is a manifestation of that same loving fatherhood of God repeated over and over throughout the Psalms and the writings of the Prophets, and throughout the whole of the New Testament. – Br. David Allen Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/WjJv3ZUh-1Q Question for…

Christianity demands community. It is through our relationship with others we hear God’s word and understand God’s call. – Br. Eldridge Pendleton Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/yl9CWHdgonM Question for Reflection: What might your relationships with other people reveal about new ways of being in relationship with God? Comments: We welcome your comments on this video series. Click here to share thoughts. from Brother, Give Us A…

Spiritual discipline has more to do with a posture of attentive learning rather than a posture of retentive fixation on some form or formula. I think showing up is a very important spiritual discipline. – Br. Curtis Almquist Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/rcAO9QgXpJk Question for Reflection: How will you keep faithful to your discipline of prayer, even in the dry times? Comments: We welcome your comments…

Healing is not the same as recovery. Often when I was a parish priest, I witnessed a sick person’s life transformed by the loving prayers and support of family and friends, an experience of deep healing for them. But they didn’t always ‘recover’ their physical health. – Br. Geoffrey Tristram Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click here to view: http://youtu.be/8ey1o2ekeCE Question for Reflection: Will you pray for God’s transformation in your…

The Psalms are full of emotional honesty and transparency—even the truth about our ugliest impulses. Rage, resentment, violent retribution, even the cursing of others: it’s all there in the Psalms. If we pray with this kind of honesty, and live with this kind of truth telling, we approach the presence of light and life. Truth telling leads us toward fuller life. – Br. Mark Brown Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying? Click…