The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. –Psalm 145:17
It is I who made the earth
and created mankind upon it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts. –Isaiah 45:12
The deepest desire of our heart is for union with God. God created us for union with himself. This is the original purpose of our lives.-Brennan Manning
Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God’s actions. It is taking charge.–Eugene Peterson
Be still, and know that I am God-Psalm 46:10
In the middle of sentences loaded with action-healing suffering people, casting out devils, responding to impatient disciples, traveling from town to town and preaching from synagogue to synagogue-we find these quite words “in the morning long before dawn, Jesus got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.” In the center of the breathless activities we hear a restful breathing. Surrounded by hours of moving we find a moment of quite stillness…the more I read this nearly silent sentence locked between the loud words of action, the more I have the sense that the secret place of Jesus’ ministry is hidden in that lonely place where he went to pray, early in the morning, long before dawn.–Henri Nouwen
My heart is transformed by the smile of trust given by some people who are terribly fragile and weak. They call forth new energies from me. They seem to break down barriers and bring me a new freedom.
It is the same with the smile of a child: even the hardest heart can’t resist. Contact with people who are weak and who are crying out…is one of the most important nourishments in our lives. When we let ourselves be really touched by the gift of their presence, they leave something precious in our hearts.
As long as we remain at the level of “doing” things for people, we tend to stay behind our barriers of superiority. We ought to welcome the gift of the poor with open hands. Jesus says, “What you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me. -Jean Vanier
I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me for ever
By power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spiced tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, and One in Three.
Of Whom all nature hath creation:
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.– St. Patrick
The countless hints of kindness that surround us in moments of beauty, glimpses of compassion, and felt provision are rumors that tell us we are not alone; we are not orphans left alone. A grateful soul is opened to wonder as it follows the sunbeam up to the sun. It is possible, with practice, to see only the beam of light and not the source that offers it. But a thankful heart, reminds us that there is, in all things, Someone greater to thank.
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
I will enter into your presence with thanksgiving,
and Your courts with praise!
I will Give thanks to You; and bless Your name! For the LORD is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.
Jesus wept–John 11:35
When God looks at our world, God must weep. God must weep because the lust for power has entrapped and corrupted the human spirit. In the news and even in our families and ourselves we see that instead of gratitude there is resentment, instead of forgiveness there is revenge, instead of healing there is wounding, instead of compassion there is competition, instead of cooperation there is violence, and instead of love there is immense fear.
God must weep when God looks at our beautiful planet and see thousands of maimed bodies lying on the battlefields, lonely children roaming the streets of big cities, prisoners locked behind bars and thick walls, mentally ill men and women wasting their time in the wards of large institutions, and millions of people dying from starvation and neglect. God must weep because God knows the agony and anguish we have brought upon ourselves by wanting to take our destiny in our hands and lord it over others. –Henri Nouwen
Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.-Lamentations 3:48
The word which God has written on the brow of ever man, is Hope.-Victor Hugo
One of the strongest incentives to hope is the belief that God is actively involved in our lives. “In Him we live and breathe and have our being” (Acts 17:28). “See I have engaraved you in the palm of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16)
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek His face always” (Psalm 105:4)
Lord, grant us your help to seek Your face that we may grow in faith, hope, and love. Amen
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.-Psalm 138:8
If we are worth anything,
it is not because we have more money
or more talent,
or more human qualities.
Insofar as we are worth anything,
it is because we are grafted on to Christ’s life,
his cross and resurrection.
That is a person’s measure.–Archbishop Oscar Romero
Lord God, you who revealed yourself in Christ Jesus, your Son, let me turn from my preoccupation with things to see the vision of your Son.
If you can learn this art of being thoughtful, you will become more and more Christ-like, for his heart was meek, and he always thought of others. Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great sanctity. Our vocation to be beautiful must be full of thoughts for others -Mother Theresa
Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. (Philippians 2:4-8MSG)
Capturing Moments 
