Weekly Pause & Ponder

"What is our future as committed Christians as the third millennium begins?  How shall we live the Christian life – how do we live the gospel now – as we seek to create a new, just, peaceful world? What resources of the Spirit of God are available to us in the quest to transform our cultures and societies?

Two temptations are enticing. One is to plunge into activism without a spiritual grounding. The other, especially insidious, is to take a deep breath, close the doors of the churches on the problems of society, and focus on a private experience of religion. For some, a “Jesus and me” religiosity is very satisfying since it allows them to seek personal holiness without attention to those outside their religious circle. This, however, is a corruption of the gospel, whose basic principle is love of God and love of neighbour."

Great Mystics and Social Justice by Susan Rakoczy, p. 1.

Weekly Pause & Ponder

"We believe that the movement, from Cairo to New York, from San Francisco to London, that is being called “Occupy” is a movement of spiritual democracy.... What is at the heart of spiritual democracy is a beautiful shift from relying on institutions to relying on your own inner teacher, and then living from there in a way that is uniquely your own.... Spiritual democracy challenges politics because it enables us to interact with other human beings and other beings in a way that is democratic and that respects that grace that is coming to all and through us and others. Circles rather than ladders demarcate the basic dynamic of spiritual democracy applied to politics. Leadership, yes. But preferably leadership in circle settings, not a top-down hierarchy. And in the end, it invites us to build institutions and cultures that are based on universal principles. The principle that “all men [and women] are created equal” is not a bad beginning. The term “spiritual democracy” almost parallels a term that symbolizes what the future could be: the “Kingdom of God,” in Jesus’s words."

Occupy Spirituality:A Radical Vision For A New Generation by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, pp. 207, 214, 217.

Weekly Pause & Ponder

Once the call of the True Self is heard not only with the heart but also with the mind and conscience there will be no way back to the way things have been. Sooner or later we will recognize that we no longer have any choice but to allow ourselves the extraordinary freedom to go all the way in this life. Because, after all, if we have begun to see through the illusory world that the ego creates and have heard the call of the True Self to live our lives for a greater purpose – what else is there to do?

Living Enlightenment by Andrew Cohen, found in En*theos, Inspirational Quotes.

Weekly Pause & Ponder

God’s bestowal of grace began with time itself. It is interwoven in our history. Through the work of the Holy spirit, all creation has been pressured from within to evolve. Inert matter evolved, becoming ever more conscious, until, at a particular moment in the concrete history of the world, self-reflective consciousness emerged in a species we call human. The material universe that came into existence and was maintained by grace finally became aware of the grace that had been there all along, the self-communication of the Holy that was at the heart of life.

Field of Compassion: How the New Cosmology Is Transforming Spiritual Life, by Judy Cannato, p. 148.

Weekly Pause & Ponder

God’s bestowal of grace began with time itself. It is interwoven in our history. Through the work of the Holy spirit, all creation has been pressured from within to evolve. Inert matter evolved, becoming ever more conscious, until, at a particular moment in the concrete history of the world, self-reflective consciousness emerged in a species we call human. The material universe that came into existence and was maintained by grace finally became aware of the grace that had been there all along, the self-communication of the Holy that was at the heart of life.

Field of Compassion: How the New Cosmology Is Transforming Spiritual Life, by Judy Cannato, p. 148.