1. Christian Education
“The aim of all Christian education, moreover, is to train the believer in an adult faith that can make him a “new creation”, capable of bearing witness in his surroundings to the Christian hope that inspires him.”
Pope Benedict XVI
The Sacrament Of Charity: Sacramentum Caritatis1
2. The Self-Intoxicated
“Far better it is for you to say: “I am a sinner,” than to say: “I have no need of religion.” The empty can be filled, but the self-intoxicated have no room for God.”
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Seven Words of Jesus and Mary: Lessons from Cana and Calvary
3. Woman Is the Heart of Man
“The heart is like a woman, and the head is like a man, and although man is the head of woman, woman is the heart of man, and she turns man’s head because she turns his heart.”
Peter Kreeft
Jesus-Shock
4. Starved Our Wonder
“Our culture has filled our heads but emptied our hearts, stuffed our wallets but starved our wonder. It has fed our thirst for facts but not for meaning or mystery. It produces “nice” people, not heroes.”
Peter Kreeft
Jesus-Shock
5. To Owe One’s Existence
“To be a child means to owe one’s existence to another, and even in our adult life we never quite reach the point where we no longer have to give thanks for being the person we are.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Unless You Become Like This Child
6. No Other Road
“It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Unless You Become Like This Child
7. Baptism
“The Church does not dispense the sacrament of baptism in order to acquire for herself an increase in membership but in order to consecrate a human being to God and to communicate to that person the divine gift of birth from God.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Unless You Become Like This Child
8. The Ontological Oxymoron
“Like apes, we breed, sleep, and die. Yet like God we say, “I am.” We are ontological oxymorons.”
Peter Kreeft
Jesus-Shock
9. When We Suffer
“When you suffer, you are being conformed to the image of Jesus. When you pray, you are being made holy in the image of Jesus. When you quietly serve a person in need, you are being shaped into the image of Jesus. When you generously give, your heart is being remade into the image of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.”
Allen R. Hunt
Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church
10. Preparing the Soul for Beauty
“It became obvious why Catholics had built such beautiful cathedrals and churches throughout the world. Not as gathering or meeting places for Christians. But as a home for Jesus Himself in the Blessed Sacrament. Cathedrals house Jesus. Christians merely come and visit Him. The cathedrals and churches architecturally prepare our souls for the beauty of the Eucharist.”
Allen R. Hunt
Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church
11. Laws of the Flesh
“For me it is the virgin birth, the Incarnation, the resurrection which are the true laws of the flesh and the physical. Death, decay, destruction are the suspension of these laws. I am always astonished at the emphasis the Church puts on the body. It is not the soul she says that will rise but the body, glorified.”
Flannery O’Connor
The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor
12. Cradle Catholics
“[W]hat one has as a born Catholic is something given and accepted before it is experienced. I am only slowly coming to experience things that I have all along accepted. I suppose the fullest writing comes from what has been accepted and experienced both and that I have just not got that far yet all the time. Conviction without experience makes for harshness.”
Flannery O’Connor
The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor
3 comments
Sharon McGonegal says:
Sep 26, 2012
Hope some people wouldn’t take (#12) Flannery’s conviction comment at the end as an encouragement to dabble in sin. Though i like and agree with his reasoning, that hesitation does present itself to my mind.
Sean O'Rahilly says:
Oct 7, 2012
Dear Sharon,
It’s easily understandable why you’d assume that Flannery O’Connor was a man. But she wasn’t.
“Conviction without experience makes for harshness.” I think she meant that, if you ‘know’ something, but you’re unsure of the reasons for its truth, you might, in an argument, aggressively try to shove that truth down someone else’s throat to cover for your own ignorance of the reasons that support that truth.
Hope that helps.
Mimi Ragsdale says:
Oct 10, 2012
Sharon, Sean has said it all. Not easy to do– Flannery O’Connor was one smart Catholic cookie. I would say many of us (cradle Catholics) accept well into adulthood much of what we were taught early in life, and then when we are challenged on a point we have taken for granted, we become panic-stricken, or defensive — or both. Catholics need to KNOW the foundation of their faith; this coming ‘year of faith’ is a good time to become better informed ourselves, before trying to evangelize others. To that end I am hoping to form a study group for people interested in discussing the Catechism, and perhaps continuing on to Papal Encyclicals. I should live that long!!