THOUGHTS TO PONDER

After all it is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life.
Evelyn Underhill

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
Buddha

To be old can be glorious if one has not unlearned how to begin.
Martin Buber

Plan for this world as if you expect to live forever; but plan for the hereafter as if you expect to die tomorrow.
Solomon Ibn Gabirol

The difficulties which I meet with in order to realize my existence are precisely what awaken and mobilize my activities, my capacities.
Jose Ortega y Gasset

I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free. Know what I'm saying? Move past the fear.
LL Cool J


 Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.

 Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.
Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

 Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein

AWAKE, BE VIGILANT

We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean? The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His "self" is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect him with others. To wake up means to leave that private world of one's own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people. Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world. Selfishness, both individual and collective, makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another. Awake, the Gospel tells us. Step outside, so as to enter the great communal truth, the communion of the one God. To awake, then, means to develop a receptivity for God: for the silent promptings with which he chooses to guide us; for the many indications of his presence. There are people who describe themselves as "religiously tone deaf". The gift of a capacity to perceive God seems as if it is withheld from some. And indeed our way of thinking and acting, the mentality of today's world, the whole range of our experience is inclined to deaden our receptivity for God, to make us "tone deaf" towards him. And yet in every soul, the desire for God, the capacity to encounter him, is present, whether in a hidden way or overtly. In order to arrive at this vigilance, this awakening to what is essential, we should pray for ourselves and for others, for those who appear "tone deaf" and yet in whom there is a keen desire for God to manifest himself.

-From the 2009 Christmas Eve homily of the Holy Father,Benedict XVI

THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER

(attributed to Pope Clement XI)
Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith. I trust in you: strengthen my trust. I love you: let me love you more and more. I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow. I worship you as my first beginning, I long for you as my last end, I praise you as my constant helper, And call on you as my loving protector. Guide me by your wisdom, Correct me with your justice, Comfort me with your mercy, Protect me with your power. I offer you, Lord, my thoughts:
to be fixed on you; My words: to have you for their theme; My actions: to reflect my love for you; My sufferings:
to be endured for your greater glory. I want to do what you ask of me: In the way you ask, For as long as you ask, Because you ask it. Lord, enlighten my understanding, Strengthen my will, Purify my heart, and make me holy. Help me to repent of my past sins And to resist temptation in the future. Help me to rise above my human weaknesses And to grow stronger as a Christian. Let me love you, my Lord and my God, And see myself as I really am: A pilgrim in this world, A Christian called to respect and love All whose lives I touch, Those under my authority, My friends and my enemies.
Help me to conquer anger with gentleness, Greed by generosity, Apathy by fervor. Help me to forget myself And reach out toward others.
Make me prudent in planning, Courageous in taking risks. Make me patient in suffering,
unassuming in prosperity.
Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer, Temperate in food and drink, Diligent in my work, Firm in my good intentions.
Let my conscience be clear, My conduct without fault, My speech blameless, My life well-ordered.
Put me on guard against my human weaknesses. Let me cherish your love for me, Keep your law, And come at last to your salvation. Teach me to realize that
this world is passing, That my true future
is the happiness of heaven, That life on earth is short, And the life to come eternal.
Help me to prepare for death With a proper fear of judgment, But a greater trust in your goodness. Lead me safely through death To the endless joy of heaven. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.