Tag Archives: integrity
Finding wholeness in contradictions
In the rending of our society and politics into ever more deeply opposing camps, “… we have somehow found ourselves in an era where even the brightest, kindest, most idealistic people spring to judgment … in a heart-flinch. Questions invite instant opinions more often than they invite conversation and contemplation ….” That’s how Maria Popova […]
Allow
Yesterday I wrote that the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids (Matt. 25:1-13) is not about how we prepare for what comes in the future but “is a characterization of a way of living that makes us and keeps us open and receptive to the fullness of grace – call it the kingdom of […]
The use of money, part 2
Enough small talk. No more chatter about what team we favor for the playoffs, or which apple we think makes the best pie, or what we like to do in our free time. If we’re going to know one another, Thomas Merton – if we take him seriously, and if we take our life seriously […]
Integrity
There’s nothing quite like being around someone who is perfect to remind me how imperfect and inadequate I am. Maybe that’s why I’ve had trouble with the concept of saints. People surrounded by an air of perfection in this life can make me feel inadequate; people fortified by the perfect invulnerability of sainthood can make […]
A terrible wholeness
On a high rock promontory overlooking the Mississippi River, I used to sit in the thin shade of an old pine tree to recollect the fragments of my life and to remember who I am. The tree was gnarled and worm-eaten and showed little green; the years and harsh weather had stripped away much of […]
God blesses a heart of integrity
Thursday would have been the ninety-ninth birthday of Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, a man worth remembering on this All Saints Sunday. A war correspondent during World War II and colleague of the great Edward R. Murrow, you probably know him, if you know him at all, as Fred Friendly. A former president of CBS News, Friendly […]
The hope of our calling
Whatever else we may have in common with the Wizard of Oz, we share at least this: If we want to be the best we can be, if we want to live into the fullness of the hope of our calling, we have got to stop aiming so high. In order to reach maturity, what […]
The sound of the genuine
“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.” —Howard […]
The most important voyage of discovery
“What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous.” (Thomas Merton)
