Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A Trick of the Divine


From Spiritual Letters by Father Jean Paul de Caussade

I would gladly shout out everywhere: Self-abandonment! Self-abandonment! And again self-abandonment. A self-abandonment without limits or reservations, and that for two real reasons:
First because the greatness of God and Its Sovereign dominion over us demand that all should bow, should be as it were beaten down and annihilated before Its supreme majesty. Its infinite greatness is wholly out of proportion with our littleness. It dominates everything, contains everything, swallows up everything in Its immensity….He is He-Who-Is, by whom everything is, in whom everything is and who is All in all Things. Other beings compared with nothingness appear to be something, but compared with God they appear to be nothing. Their being and substance are borrowed, while God exists solely of Itself and is no one’s debtor but Its own.
The second motive of this unreserved self-abandonment is that God has no sooner obtained from His creature the homage due to Its infinite Majesty, than It gives free course to Its infinite goodness…So that in the depths of this act of self-abandonment where she was to find pure nothingness, she finds the infinite. What a bargain from the hands of the Divine Liberality! What ingenuity on the part of Divine Wisdom! What a trick the Divine Goodness has played on the soul!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

'What does love mean?


A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds ,'What does love mean?'

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

'When my grandmother got arthritis , she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.. So my grandfather does it for her all the time , even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'
Rebecca- age 8

'When someone loves you , the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'
Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'
Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him , to make sure the taste is OK.'
Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing , you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they
kiss'
Emily - age 8

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

'If you want to learn to love better , you should start with a friend who you hate. '

Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt , then he wears it everyday.'
Noelle - age 7

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'
Tommy - age 6

'During my piano recital , I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'
Cindy - age 8

'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'
Clare - age 6

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'
Elaine-age 5

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'
Mary Ann - age 4

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'
Lauren - age 4

'When you love somebody , your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image)
Karen - age 7
'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it , you should say it a lot. People forget.'
Jessica - age 8

And the final one...
Upon seeing the man cry , the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard , climbed onto his lap , and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor , the little boy said, 'Nothing , I just helped him cry.