Are we on Vacation?

“If we bring to a retreat all the baggage and mentality of business as usual, we aren’t really making a ‘retreat.’”
Richard Rohr

Change

“God does not love us if we change;
God loves us so that we can change.”
Richard Rohr

Incarnation

“… only a reality that is not a being in the world, even the supreme being, could ever become a creature while at the same time remaining true to itself.”
Robert Barron

Consequences of the Gospel of Life

[The Gospel of Life] also involves making clear all the consequences of this Gospel. These can be summed up as follows: human life, as a gift of God, is sacred and inviolable. For this reason procured abortion and euthanasia are absolutely unacceptable. Not only must human life not be taken, but it must be protected with loving concern. The meaning of life is found in giving and receiving love, and in this light human sexuality and procreation reach their true and full significance. Love also gives meaning to suffering and death; despite the mystery which surrounds them, they can become saving events. Respect for life requires that science and technology should always be at the service of man and his integral development. Society as a whole must respect, defend and promote the dignity of every human person, at every moment and in every condition of that person's life.
Pope John Paul II

Culture of Life

It is therefore a service of love which we are all committed to ensure to our neighbor, that his or her life may be always defended and promoted, especially when it is weak or threatened. It is not only a personal but a social concern which we must all foster: a concern to make unconditional respect for human life the foundation of a renewed society.
We are asked to love and honour the life of every man and woman and to work with perseverance and courage so that our time, marked by all too many signs of death, may at last witness the establishment of a new culture of life, the fruit of the culture of truth and of love.
Pope John Paul II

Suffering

Suffering always changes us, but it does not necessarily change us for the better.
John Ortberg

Why know Scripture?

The purpose of knowing Scripture is not to help us get a 100 score on the heavenly entrance exam. It is to help us become equipped for good works.
John Ortberg