What if?

Beauty Spot sunset, Unicoi Co., TN

“Look at the many ‘if’ questions we raise:
What am I going to do if I do not find a spouse, a house, a job,
a friend, a benefactor? What am I going to do if they fire me,
if I get sick, if an accident happens, if I lose my friends,
if my marriage does not work out, if a war breaks out?
What if tomorrow the weather is bad, the buses are on strike,
or an earthquake happens? What if someone steals my money,
breaks into my house, rapes my daughter, or kills me?”
……
Jesus says simply, “Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.”

Henri Nouwen, 1932-1996
Dutch Catholic priest and writer
(as quoted by Brennan Manning)

 

Perception

“Never confuse your perception of yourself
with the mystery that you really are accepted.”

Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
author, priest, speaker

 

For the Eyes of Faith

Flower in Conservatory at Biltmore Estates, NC

“…For the eyes of faith, every created thing
manifests the grace and providence of Abba.”

Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
author, priest, speaker

 

Suffering

“The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life
is the gratitude that flows from trust—
not only for all the gifts that I receive from God,
but gratitude for all the suffering.
Because in that purifying experience,
suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.”

Brennan Manning
Author and priest

 

Head and Heart

“In earlier times it did not take faith to believe that God existed–
almost everybody took that for granted.
Rather, faith had to do with one’s relationship to God–
whether one trusted in God. The difference between faith as
‘belief in something that may or may not exist’
and faith as ‘trusting in God’ is enormous.
The first is a matter of the head, the second a matter of the heart.
The first can leave us unchanged, the second intrinsically brings change.”

Brennan Manning, “The Ragamuffin Gospel” 
author, priest, speaker

 

What if?

Beauty Spot sunset, Unicoi Co., TN

“Look at the many ‘if’ questions we raise:
What am I going to do if I do not find a spouse, a house, a job,
a friend, a benefactor? What am I going to do if they fire me,
if I get sick, if an accident happens, if I lose my friends,
if my marriage does not work out, if a war breaks out?
What if tomorrow the weather is bad, the buses are on strike,
or an earthquake happens? What if someone steals my money,
breaks into my house, rapes my daughter, or kills me?”
……
Jesus says simply, “Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.”

Henri Nouwen, 1932-1996
Dutch Catholic priest and writer
(as quoted by Brennan Manning)

 

Perception

“Never confuse your perception of yourself
with the mystery that you really are accepted.”

Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
author, priest, speaker

 

Paradoxes

“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes.
I believe and I doubt, I hope and I get discouraged, I love and I hate,
I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty…
To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story,
the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side
I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.”

Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
author, priest, speaker

 

The Lurking Presence of God

Watauga Lake

“Our world is saturated with grace, and the lurking presence of God is revealed not only in spirit but in matter — in a deer leaping across a meadow, in the flight of an eagle, in fire and water, in a rainbow after a summer storm, in a gentle doe streaking through a forest, in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in a child licking a chocolate ice cream cone, in a woman with windblown hair. God intended for us to discover His loving presence in the world around us.”

Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
author, priest, speaker

 

Immune to the Glory of Creation?

Banks of Watauga River in Elizabethton, TN

“We get so preoccupied with ourselves, the words we speak, the plans and projects
we conceive that we become immune to the glory of creation. We barely notice
the cloud passing over the moon or the dewdrops clinging to the rose leaves.
The ice on the pond comes and goes. The wild blackberries ripen and wither.
The blackbird nests outside our bedroom window. We don’t see her.
We avoid the cold and the heat. We refrigerate ourselves in summer
and entomb ourselves in plastic in winter. We rake up every leaf as fast as it falls.
We are so accustomed to buying prepackaged meats and fish and fowl
in supermarkets we never think and blink about the bounty of God’s creation.
We grow complacent and lead practical lives.
We miss the experience of awe, reverence, and wonder.”

Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
author, priest, speaker

 

For the Eyes of Faith

Flower in Conservatory at Biltmore Estates, NC

“…For the eyes of faith, every created thing
manifests the grace and providence of Abba.”

Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
author, priest, speaker