THE DANGERS OF CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

'Often...a spiritual director swells with pride by virtue of being placed in a position in a position of authority over others. Because everything serves his needs and his orders are quickly performed according to his wishes and all the laity praise him for the things he does well but have no authority to critique what goes wrong, and because they often praise what really should be rebuked, the mind of the priest is often seduced by the approval of those below him, and as a consequence, he is exalted inordinately. And while he is outwardly encircled with immense favor, internally he loses his sense of truth. Forgetful of who he is, he scatters himself among the voices of others and believes what he hears them say about him rather than what he should discern about himself from within.'

Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, p.62. 

HUMANKIND

'By nature a human is superior to a brute animal, but not other humans.'
Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, p.62. 

PASTORAL CARE

'...those who preside over others should exhibit a type of behavior that will lead the laity to disclose their secrets to them. Consequently, when the weak endure the waves of temptation, they will return to their pastor's counsel as a crying child seeks its mother's breast. And in the solace of his counsel and the tears of prayer, the laity will cleanse themselves of the the defilement of sin that attacks them.' 

Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, p.60. 

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

'The spiritual director should be the first in service so that by his way of life he might show the laity how to live, and so that the flock (which follows the voice and behavior of its shepherd) may advance all the better by his example than by his words alone. For indeed, the one who is compelled by his position to speak of the highest things is also compelled, by necessity, to show the highest things by example. For his voice more easily penetrates his listeners' hearts when his way of life commends what he says. Thus, what he enjoins by speaking he helps by showing how it is to be done.' 

Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, p.51. 

TRUE GREATNESS

In honour of St Alphonsus Rodriguez

'Glory is a flame off exploit, so we say,
And those fell strokes that once scarred flesh, scored shield,
Should tongue that time now, trumpet now that field,
Record, and on the fighter forge the day.
On Christ they do, they on the martyr may;
But where war is within, what sword we wield
Not seen, the heroic breast not outward-steeled,
Earth hears no hurtle then from fiercest fray.
Yet, he that hews out mountain, continent,
Earth, all, at last; who, with fine increment
Trickling, vein violets and tall trees makes more
Could crowd career with conquest while there went
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Majorca Alfonso watched the door.'

Gerard Many Hopkins, The Major Works, p.182. 

THE BIBLE

'If you can accept the existence of a Being powerful enough to be called God - the Creator and Sustainer of the universe - why is it so difficult to believe that he would be capable of communicating authentically and clearly to his creatures? That seems a somewhat smaller matter than spinning all the electrons around all the nuclei of billions upon billions of worlds, never mind simultaneously attending to the broken hearts and crushed spirits of his sentiment creatures.' 

Kathy Keller, Jesus, Justice, & Gender Roles: A Case for Gender Roles in Ministry, p.12.

THINKING & FEELING

'...feeling and thinking are like two hands with which we grasp the world and that together serve us in gaining knowledge. Just as without good thinking we are prone to inappropriate feelings, so without our feelings we are actually incapable of proper feeling.' 

Michael Jensen, 'On Being Moved: A Theological Anthropology of the Emotions' in True Feelings: Perspectives on emotions in Christian life and ministry,  p.182. 

GROWING UP

'Finally I thought of one true thing, which is that sometimes I act just as juvenile as I ever did, but as I get older, I do it for shorter periods of time. I find my way back to the path sooner...' 

Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually), p.251. 

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY

'God has not revealed His truth in a system; the Bible has no system as such. Lay aside system and fly to the Bible; receive its words with simple submission, and without eye to any system. Be Bible Christians and not system Christians.' 

Charles Simeon in Andrew Atherstone, Charles Simeon on the Excellency of the Liturgy, p.29. 

THE EXCELLENCE OF LITURGY

'That the constant repetition of the same form does not forcibly arrest the attention as new sentiments and expressions would do, must be confessed: but, on the other other hand, the use of a well-composed form secures us against the dry, dull, tedious repetitions which are but too frequently the fruit of extemporaneous devotions. Only let any person be in a devout frame, and will be far more likely to have his soul elevated to heaven by the Liturgy of the Established Church, than he will by the generality of prayers which he would hear in other places of worship...' 

Charles Simeon in Andrew Atherstone, Charles Simeon on the Excellency of the Liturgy, p.25.