God's Novel

"Life is God's novel.  Let Him write it."

~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Spirit Creates

"365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body:²³⁴ i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.
366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.<sup>235"

~ Catechism of the Catholic Church

ML's commentary:  In plain language:  Spirit precedes matter; in fact it is the Spirit that generates all reality.</sup>

Amiel on Life's Purpose

Life is short and we have 
not too much time for gladdening 
the hearts of those 
who are traveling the dark way with us.  

O be swift to love!  

Make haste to be kind.


~ Henri-Frederic Amiel (1821-1881)

Rohr on Choosing Life

"Only people who first choose 'dualistically' for the Big Picture, the life adventure, the journey with God, eventually proceed to non-dual thinking or 'mercy.'   Sort of a paradox, isn't it?  You need both to the full distance.  Clear choice and decision gets you started, aims you on the right course, and then if you stay on it, that very path will open you up to subtlety, nuance, shadow, contradictions, inconsistencies, brokenness, and variance in almost everything.  One soon realizes that what Jesus said is indeed true:  Nothing is entirely good except God alone (see Mark 10:18).  The choice for this all-good God allows us, ironically, to deal victoriously with non-goodness."

~from Wondrous Encounters by Richard Rohr

Lost and Saved in Christ

"Whoever would save his life must first lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  What profit does he show who gains the whole world yet destroys himself in the process?"

~Luke 9:24-25

Choose Life!

"I call heaven and earth to witness this.  I now set before you life and death, a blessing and a curse.  Choose life then, that you and your descendants will live, by loving the Lord, heeding His voice, and clinging to God."

~Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Day on Daily Life

"Today I thought of a title for my book, The Duty of Delight, as a sequel to The Long Loneliness.  I was thinking how, as one gets older, we are tempted to sadness, knowing life as it is here on earth, the suffering, the Cross.  And how we must overcome it daily, growing in love, and the joy which goes with loving."

~ Dorothy Day, February 24, 1961

Mother Teresa Re Life

VALUABLE OBSERVATIONS OF LIFE

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
~ Mother Teresa

Life is opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
~ Mother Teresa

The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis,
but rather the feeling of being unwanted.
~ Mother Teresa


Special thanks to the Microsoft Corporation for their contribution to this site.
The following information came from Microsoft Encarta:

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910- ), Albanian-born Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, and Nobel laureate. Originally named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, she entered the Order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto in Ireland at the age of 18. She trained in Dublin and Darjeeling, India, before taking her religious vows in 1937. While serving as principal of a Roman Catholic high school in Calcutta, she was moved by the presence of the sick and dying on the city's streets. In 1948 she was granted permission to leave her post at the convent and begin a ministry among the sick. In 1950 Mother Teresa and her associates were approved within the archdiocese of Calcutta as the Missionaries of Charity. Later the order was recognized as a pontifical congregation under the jurisdiction of Rome. Members of the congregation take four vows on acceptance by the religious community. Required in addition to the three basic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience is a fourth vow pledging service to the poor, whom Mother Teresa described as the embodiment of Christ. In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the Nirmal Hriday ("Pure Heart") Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta. Subsequently she extended her work onto five continents. In recognition of her efforts she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She was forced to scale down her activities in 1990 because of declining health.

"Mother Teresa of Calcutta" Microsoft(R) Encarta.
Copyright(c) 1995 Microsoft Corporation.

Check out also:
http://www.ewtn.com/motherteresa/