More wisdom from a Jesuit author

I've been reading my book fairly slowly, but as I get further and further into it I keep wishing that I owned it - so I could mark it up. This may be a purchase once I get my next pay check.

For now, I will settle for posting quotes that have stuck out to me thus far-

"Things give meaning to the lives of people who are deprived of authentic human contact. It is not necessarily a quirk of the poor: the millionaire builds an ostentatious house; the CEO wears a Rolex; the politician has a few people in his pocket; the dictator has his disposable private army; the preacher surrounds herself with unread theology books. Collecting things fills gaps in our hurts and gives expression to an internalized deprivation from the past."

"There is something wrong. The reality of homelessness, inadequate housing, and the lack of affordable housing is a national disgraces. This reality undermines the life and dignity of so many of our bothers and sisters who lack a decent place to live. It destroys lives and families. The crime of homelessness is not that people live in filthy camps under bridges, or that families sleep illegally in their cars, or that the homeless and the near homeless panhandle. The crimes is that homelessness exists. "

"I have found that the spirit of piety in the mentally ill is stronger and more devotional and more other-oriented than that of much of formal religious life."

"The more we know the object of our love, the more we love that object."

"Out of the rubble of my life- so undeserving, insignificant, obscure, and screwed up- Jesus crafts someone who will, in spite of himself, bear fruit for the kingdom and the glory of God. It never ceases to amaze me."

"If a man wants to understand the heart of God, he must surely begin by standing next to the heart of a woman."

"Jesus isn't stupid. We can kid ourselves about Jesus, but he never kids himself about us. There is theology for a lifetime in that."

"I have seen love flourish among the people I serve, where the happiness of the beloved was all that mattered. Such love is not easy, but is exists and reminds me constantly of that divine spark in all of us that invited us to love and be loved."

"The reasons we love, really love, a person have nothing to do with appearance. They have everything to do with our heart and the heart of the beloved. Nurses know this, as do mothers and fathers and spouses who are in it for the long haul. ... As the the Little Prince said, ' What is essential is invisible to the eye.' The heart of God sees what is essential."

"Desire. Isn't that all that really matters? The desire to love and be loved and the desire to know and love God, who is the author of such all-encompassing desire. And emerging from this truth are all these other desires that drive my life: the desire to understand life, that desire to be faithful to the love I have for those I most cherish, the desire to find my life with the poor, and the desire to passionately live and preach the gospel. I the the One who fills me with desire... and who desires me."

"I was feeling the absence of friends who lived far away and gratitude for friends who were part of my life here. They are the heart of one of life's greatest mysteries."

"There are moments when I think my powers are no longer adequate to handle my problems. When I ask God for help and comfort in these moments, it often comes in the shape of a person."

"Those friends in my life whom I cherish and who cherish me are channels of God's love and power. When God has comforted me, it had occasionally been through an idea or a prayer, but is has more often been through the touch and care of a friend."

"My friends have been the ones who have pulled me through some absolutely awful moments, and they have been the people in whose presence I have found my most delirious moments of happiness."

"Friends have nurtured me, cajoled me, wept over me, breathed life on me when I thought I was dead ... In a word, my friends have loved me. One grows in the presence of love. Here is the mystery: God gets hold of things and people and uses them to bring me to life. Therein lies another mystery: I too am a channel of God's comfort for all whom God will bring into my life."



*PS- This is my 50th post... crazy!
**PPS- All the above quotes are out of Radical Compassion by Gary Smith, S.J. (c) 2002