Suffering

“He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.”

Frederick Nietzche

Obedience

“We [parents] want virtuous obedience. We want to train the habit of control, doing what is right because it is right. Children need to learn to focus on God’s will, not their own and on a Spirit-inspired control, not on self-control. Remember, a mature adult will die to self and be controlled by the Lord. We are training our children to become mature adults.”

Elizabeth Foss

Analogy

The mystery that is beyond God himself,
The Ineffable,
That gives its name to everything,
Is complete affirmation, complete negation,
Beyond all affirmation and all negation.

Dionysius the Areopagite

Humanity

“When we proclaim that someone is subhuman, we not only remove for them the possibility of change and repentance, we also remove from them moral responsibility.”
Desmond Tutu

Healing

A friend of mine once remarked when I looked physically worn down, "Even God cannot play on a broken violin."
Francis MacNutt, Healing p. 59

Mark Twain on Choirs

"The congregation being fully assembled, now, the bell rang once more,
to warn laggards and stragglers, and then a solemn hush fell upon the
church which was only broken by the tittering and whispering of the
choir in the gallery. The choir always tittered and whispered all
through the service. There was once a church choir that was not
ill-bred, but I have forgotten where it was, now. It was a great many
years ago, and I can scarcely remember anything about it, but I think
it was in some foreign country."
Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer chapter 5

Elizabeth Ann Seton

"keep well to what you believe to be the grace of the moment... only
do your best and leave the rest to our dear God."

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, A Retreat With Elizabeth Seton p. 17