The spiritual response is too often a simplistic one: we abandon God or we blame God for abandoning us. Joan D. Chittister More Quotes by Joan D. Chittister More Quotes From Joan D. Chittister Only ideas keep ideas flowing. When we close our minds to what is new, simply because we decide not to bother with it, we close our minds to our responsibility to ourselves - and to others - to keep on growing. Joan D. Chittister growthresponsibilityideas We have learned that the things we amassed to prove to ourselves how valuable, how important, how successful we were, didn't prove it at all. In fact, they have very little to do with it. It's what's inside of us, not what's outside of us that counts. Joan D. Chittister importantsuccessfullittles It's the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. Joan D. Chittister beauty-within Lent is the time for trimming the soul and scrapping the sludge off a life turned slipshod. Lent is about taking stock of time, even religious time. Lent is about exercising the control that enables us to say no to ourselves so that when life turns hard of its own accord we have the stamina to yes to its twists and turns with faith and hope. Lent is the time to make new efforts to be what we say we want to be. Joan D. Chittister effortreligiousexercise A bifurcation of loyalties that requires religious to put canon law above civil law and moral law puts us in a situation where the keepers of religion may themselves become one of the greatest dangers to the credibility - and the morality - of the church itself. Joan D. Chittister loyaltyreligiouslaw faith isn't faith until it's all we have to hold on to and knowledge fails us. When we pray for faith, we automatically pray for darkness. Think about it. Joan D. Chittister darknessfaiththinking Superficial people are those who simply go along without a question in the world-asking nothing, troubled by nothing, examining nothing. Whatever people around them do, they do, too. That's a sad and plastic life-routine and comfortable, maybe, but still sad. Joan D. Chittister routineaskingpeople Life is a series of lessons, some of them obvious, some of them not. We learn as we go that dreams end, that plans get changed, that promises get broken, that our idols disappoint us. Joan D. Chittister idolsdreamlife In community we work out our connectedness to God, to one another and to ourselves...In human relationships I learn that theory is no substitute for love. It is easy to talk about the love of GOD; it is another thing to practice it Joan D. Chittister work-outcommunitypractice Freedom, in childhood, may be the right to be totally self-centered. But freedom in old age is the ability to be the best of the self I have developed during all those years. Joan D. Chittister freedomselfyears Mystery is what happens to us when we allow life to evolve rather than having to make it happen all the time. It is the strange knock at the door, the sudden sight of an unceremoniously blooming flower, an afternoon in the yard, a day of riding the midtown bus. Just to see. Just to notice. Just to be there. Joan D. Chittister flowersightdoors Life always comes out of death. The present rises from the ashes of the past. The future is always possible for those who are willing to re-create it. Joan D. Chittister futureashespast If life is really for the living, then the trick to living well is to learn to live it fully, to soak it up, to revel in it. Joan D. Chittister live-welltrickslife-is But we are here to depart from this world as finished as we can possibly become. Joan D. Chittister agingthis-worldworld Hospitality is simply love on the loose. Joan D. Chittister simply-lovehospitality Life is an exercise in the development of feeling. When we repress feelings, we become sour and judgmental. When we live awash in great feeling over small things, we become jaded long before we have even begun to enjoy. When feelings are in balance they sweeten long days and great distances with gratitude and hope. Joan D. Chittister gratitudedistanceexercise I celebrate myself," the poet Walt Whitman wrote. The thought is so delicious it is almost obscene. Imagine the joy that would come with celebrating the self — our achievements, our experiences, our existence. Imagine what it would be like to look into the mirror and say, as God taught us, "That's good. Joan D. Chittister taught-usmirrorsself To be enlightened is to know that heaven is not "coming." Heaven is here. Joan D. Chittister enlightenedawarenessheaven Every dimension of life, its gains and its losses, are reason for celebration because each of them brings us closer to wisdom and fullness of understanding. Joan D. Chittister understandingwisdomloss Getting to know ourselves and learning to control ourselves are the two great tasks of life. Don't make up strange and exotic 'penances.' Simply say no to yourself once a day, and you will be on the road to sanctity for the rest of your life. Joan D. Chittister rest-of-your-lifetaskstwo
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