I Have Been Seized By The Power

The Noonday Devil Of The Christian Life Is The Temptation To Lose The Inner Self While Preserving The Shell Of Edifying Behavior. Suddenly I Discover That I Am Ministering To Aids Victims To Enhance My Resume. I Find I Renounced Ice Cream For Lent To Lose Five Excess Pounds... I Have Fallen Victim To What T.s. Eliot Calls The Greatest Sin: To Do The Right Thing For The Wrong Reason.

For Several Centuries, The Celtic Church Of Ireland Was Spared The Greek Dualism Of Matter And Spirit. They Regarded The World With The Clear Vision Of Faith. When A Young Celtic Monk Saw His Cat Catch A Salmon Swimming In Shallow Water, He Cried, "the Power Of The Lord Is In The Paw Of The Cat!

To Affirm A Person Is To See The Good In Them That They Cannot See In Themselves And To Repeat It In Spite Of Appearances To The Contrary. Please, This Is Not Some Pollyanna Optimism That Is Blind To The Reality Of Evil, But Rather Like A Fine Radar System That Is Tuned In To The True, The Good, And The Beautiful.

False Gods - The Gods Of Human Understanding - Despise Sinners, But The Father Of Jesus Loves All, No Matter What They Do. But Of Course This Is Almost Too Incredible For Us To Accept.

Faith Means Wanting God And Wanting To Want Nothing Else.