The object of religion is the imagination, that deep and inexhaustible font of our understanding and symbolizing our deepest possibilities. Eugene Kennedy More Quotes by Eugene Kennedy More Quotes From Eugene Kennedy Mercy is a source of life because we breathe our own spirits through it into the lives of others. Eugene Kennedy breathemercyspirit The moment an individual can accept and forgive him or herself, even a little, is the moment in which he or she becomes to some degree lovable. Eugene Kennedy forgivenessdegreesforgiving Death is by no means separate from life. . . . We all interact with death every day, tasting it as we might a wine, feeling its keen edge even in trifling losses and disappointments, holding it by the hand, as a dancer might a partner, in every separation. Eugene Kennedy disappointmentmeandeath Life does not hurt nearly as much if we have learned to listen to ourselves and to recognize how fully and richly we are trying to tell ourselves the truth. Eugene Kennedy hurtdoetrying There is a silence that matches our best possibilities when we have learned to listen to others. We can master the art of being quiet in order to be able to hear clearly what others are saying. . . . We need to cut off the garbled static of our own preoccupations to give to people who want our quiet attention. Eugene Kennedy cuttingorderart We not only romanticize the future; we have also made it into a growth industry, a parlor game and a disaster movie all at the same time. Eugene Kennedy moviegrowthgames There are times when silence is the most sacred of responses. Eugene Kennedy sacredcommunicationsilence The future is religion and commerce, aphrodisiac and Benzedrine, a mother of mysterious comfort and a mistress of familiar ravishments ever on the verge of embracing or destroying us. Eugene Kennedy mistressfuturemother The real test of friendship is can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple? Eugene Kennedy realsimplefriendship Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple. Eugene Kennedy real-friendssimplefriendship Is childhood ever long enough, or a happy time, or even a beautiful summer day? All of these carry the seeds of the same fierce mystery that we call death. Eugene Kennedy summerbeautifuldeath The real test of friendship is Can you literally do nothing with the other person Can you enjoy together those moments of life that are utterly simple They are the moments people look back on at the end of life and number as their most sacred experiences. Eugene Kennedy There would be no need for love if perfection were possible. Love arises from our imperfection, from our being different and always in need of the forgiveness, encouragement and that missing half of ourselves that we are searching for, as the Greek myth tells us, in order to complete ourselves. Eugene Kennedy needbeing-differentforgivenesslove The mystery of being human and, certainly, of being a Catholic lies in our embracing together the imperfect state known as the human condition. First and foremost, if we could ever be perfect or do things perfectly, we would eliminate mystery, an essential ingredient in the good life and the spiritual life. Eugene Kennedy goodspiritualtogetherlife If you ask people what attracted them to the person they love, they never tell you of some perfect feature that focused them on sheer surfaces but rather an imperfection that allowed them to see into their uncharted depths. Eugene Kennedy youimperfectionlovepeople We encounter and enter our richest, most humanly defining experiences by way of a tear in the fabric of things, because we are running late, or because we recognize, across a crowded room, a face whose lack of perfection allows a unique light to shine through and to stir us with uncommon wonder. Eugene Kennedy shinefacelightunique The seminary of the future must relate itself to flesh-and-blood men, or it provides a framework that only talks about the people of God but never really shares life with them. Eugene Kennedy futuregodmenlife Bishops may often feel but cannot express the sting and throb of submitting themselves to Roman commands because the latter are always presented as tests of their loyalty to the Pope and of their absolute acceptance of his teaching authority, or Magisterium. Eugene Kennedy feelalwaysloyaltyacceptance In April, God speaks to us in the seas whose rhythmic murmuring fills our ears from a long way off. It was in April that the Titanic went down into the deep to lie like a slasher's victim, bleeding the 'debris field' - its passengers' personal possessions, the everyday things of everyman and everywoman - across the ocean's floor. Eugene Kennedy lieoceangodlong The perception of the horizon is an earthbound event; all horizons disappear in space, and we are left shorn of the sweet roots that have held us to the earth, challenged to imagine what is truly present just before us, a unified and seemingly limitless universe. Eugene Kennedy universespacerootssweet
