Random Thoughts , Religious or Otherwise

Godlovesmetwo

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Projecting
The sins I see so clearly in you
Are actually my sins?
How good we are in finding fault in others
and missing our own.
Or is it we can't stand to feel so sinful
That we desperately need to see the weakness in others?

The sin of pride was God's least favorite
Wasn't it?
Satan, Adam and Eve thought they could go it alone
without God "You can be a God, instead of depending on one"
Ego
Yet ego is needed to survive the "real" world, isn't it
 

Martinius

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news today that older brother has cancer in prostate, hip ,lung and lymph nodes. Prognosis unsure. maybe a few years.
Wow! That's a tough one. My prayers for all. How is his family taking it?
 
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Godlovesmetwo

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We are all worried of course but thanks for your concern Mart.
I thought I might do some quotes from Merton's No Man is an Island to reflect on here. I find you need to stop every sentence or paragraph to fully appreciate the meaning.
 
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Godlovesmetwo

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If those aren’t obvious signposts enough, though, Francis directly quotes St. Ignatius in one of the most famous phrases of the Spiritual Exercises in emphasizing that “Love is shown more in deeds than in words.”
 
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Godlovesmetwo

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I watched a Jeff Cavins video at Bible Study the other night. We were doing Chapters 14. 15 and 16 I think. Anyway he started talking about purity and chastity and how highly valued they were in Heaven. Now I think he said that anyone who commits a homosexual act or even masturbates regularly in this life without repenting, will not be considered worthy of Heaven? Not sure I interpreted that correctly or not.
That jarred with me. I thought "no that's too strict. Doesn't sound right. The Jesus I know is not so puritanical and elitist."
I like to think Jesus is more easy going than how he is portrayed by a lot of people. Dying on the cross for humanity is not a laughing matter but that doesn't mean he only loved serious people.
 
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Martinius

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Thanks for posting the quotes. I missed that part of the thread earlier. In my copy of the book I have highlighted some of what you quoted. I happen to have Merton's "No Man is an Island" right here (really). How about these:

"The whole world has learned to deride veracity or to ignore it. Half the civilized world makes a living by telling lies."

"The measure of our love is theoretically without limit...the more we give the more we truly shall be."

"We can either love God because we hope for something from Him, or we can hope in Him knowing that He loves us."

"We must carefully distinguish between tradition and convention...conventions are parasites which attach themselves to the living organism of tradition and devour all its reality, turning it into a hollow formality."
(Ouch!)

"Convention is simply the ossification of social customs. The activities of conventional people are merely excuses for not acting in a more integrally human way. Tradition nourishes the life of the spirit; convention merely disguises its interior decay." (Double ouch!!)

And the best for last (my underlining):
"We must...live by the commandments and the counsels and the Spirit of Jesus. And in order to do this we must search the Scriptures and understand the Gospels, in order to find out what Jesus is like and what His commandments are." (This is ONE of the sources for what I seem to keep repeating around here.)
 
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Godlovesmetwo

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We can either love God because we hope for something from Him, or we can hope in Him knowing that He loves us."
I like this one.
Also differentiating tradition and convention is important.
 
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Godlovesmetwo

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Apparently Mother Angelica is not seen by everyone as staunchly conservative and strictly faithful to Church dogma. One catholic website (Most Holy Family??) has accused her and her network of apostasy and heresy. That she said things like "not just catholics can get to heaven" which is apparently wrong.
It amused me that there are levels of conservatism in the catholic church.
1) conservative
2) ultra conservative
3) ultra ultra conservative

I mean I'm not a fan of Mother Angelica either. I think she is a narcissist who wanted to be the Oprah Winfrey of the catholic church. It was all about her,not God.I know she pasted liberals and "those heretical centreing prayer rebels". Part of the "hate the liberals" tirade was to boost her own profile.
But to discover that there were stronger conservative than her? Wow.
 
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