Author: arampone

Jewish Quotations on Wisdom and Wonder

arampone Quotes

Solomon Ibn Gabirol: “Man is wise only while in search of wisdom; when he imagines he has attained it, he is a fool.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Continue reading →

The Way of Solidarity

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“…In a similar way we enter into solidarity with the poor when distinction between we and they no longer applies. The distinction breaks down and we are the poor, one among them.

We have, it is true, differing talents, life experiences, but the fundamental point is that we stand together as one, of one mind and heart in the midst of political, economic, and social structures that oppress. We approach the world with the same outlook. We approach it aware of our different backgrounds and roles, aware of our sinfulness, limitations, and weaknesses, but with mutual love and common cause.

The experience of God in this Way of Solidarity is the experience of the justice of God…We have freed ourselves from our superiority, our illusions, our discouragement and disillusionment, our guilt, and our romantic notions of the poor…It does not mean…that we pass beyond our struggles, sufferings, or are protected from misunderstandings and even persecution. But it does mean that we experience God saying to us: Blessed are you poor…for you shall see God.

…Like the enlightened one of Buddhism, we have returned to the market place. We experience a solidarity with the poor and with God. We may experience this only occasionally as a unity and peace at the core of our being, or we may be aware of this oneness more or less habitually. It is what directs our lives and actions, gives us energy, and expresses itself in an inner peace that is the consequence of a reconciliation within ourselves with the poor and with the God of the poor…Solidarity becomes the motive force of how we view the world and live within it, and of how we experience God.”

Ted Wiesner

To Have Hope

arampone Prayers and Meditations

By the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, Honduras

To have hope
is to believe that history continues open to the dream of God and to human creativity.

To have hope
is to continue affirming that it is possible to dream a different world,
without hunger, without injustice, without discrimination.

To have hope
is to be a messenger of God, tearing down walls, destroying borders, building bridges,

To have hope
is to believe in the revolutionary potential of faith.

To have hope
is to leave the door open so that the Spirit can enter and make all things new.

To have hope
is to believe that life wins over death.

To have hope
is to begin again as many times as necessary.

To have hope
is to believe that hope is not the last thing that dies.

To have hope
is to believe that hope cannot die, that hope no longer dies.

To have hope
is to live.

 

The Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo is a Catholic religious order that was founded in 1895. This prayer can be found in God’s Good Earth: Praise and Prayers for Creation (2018, edited by Anne and Jeffrey Rowthorn). 

The Romero Prayer

arampone Prayers and Meditations

By Ken Untener 

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.  No prayer fully expresses our faith.  No confession brings perfection.  No pastoral visit brings wholeness.  No program accomplishes the church’s mission.  No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.  We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.  We lay foundations that will need further development.  We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.  This enables us to do something and to do it well.  It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.  We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Ken Untener was a Roman Catholic bishop in Saginaw, Michigan. 

God is my Pace-setter

arampone Prayers and Meditations

Adaptation of Psalm 23 by Toki Miyashina.

God is my pace-setter, I shall not rush;
God makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals;
God provides me with images of stillness which restores my serenity.
God leads me in ways of efficiency through calmness of mind, and God’s guidance is peace.

Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for God’s presence is here.
God’s timelessness, God’s all- importance will keep me in balance.
God prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my head with God’s oils of tranquility. My cup of joyous energy overflows.

Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours.
For I shall walk in the pace of my God and dwell in God’s house forever. Amen

 

Toki Miyashina was a Japanese poet.

Fall in Love

arampone Prayers and Meditations

By Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

 

Pedro Arrupe, SJ was a Spanish-Basque priest who led his Jesuit community in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council.