Poets & Saints

Philippians 3:10 (NRSVUE)

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

I surrender in order to know You.

Brennan Manning, from Abba's Child

"Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion."

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Philippians 3:8–9 (NRSVUE)

I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ.

In losing, I find what truly lasts.

Richard Rohr, from Falling Upward

"The supposed achievements of the first half of life have to fall apart and show themselves to be wanting in some way, or we will not move further. Why would we?"

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Philippians 3:7–8 (NRSVUE)

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

I release what I once held as gain.

Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation

"To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell."

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Psalm 84:11–12 (NRSVUE)

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.

God withholds no good thing from me.

George Herbert, from The Pulley

"When God at first made man, having a glass of blessings standing by,

let us, said he, pour on him all we can."

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Psalm 84:10 (NRSVUE)

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.

One day in your presence is enough.

C.S. Lewis, from The Weight of Glory

"It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.

We are half-hearted creatures,

fooling about with drink and sex and ambition

when infinite joy is offered us,

like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum

because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea."

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Psalm 84:5–7 (NRSVUE)

Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

Strength rises in me as I walk.

Eugene Peterson, from A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

"The life of faith is not a sprint but a long obedience in the same direction."

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Psalm 84:3 (NRSVUE)

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

I have found a place to belong.

Henri Nouwen, from The Return of the Prodigal Son

"Home is the center of my being where I can hear the voice that says:

'You are my beloved, on you my favor rests.'"

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Psalm 84:1–2 (NRSVUE)

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

My soul longs for the living God.

Augustine of Hippo, from Confessions

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

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John 15:9–10 (NRSVUE)

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

I remain in love.

Brennan Manning, from The Ragamuffin Gospel

"Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don't have it all together and are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace."

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John 15:16 (NRSVUE)

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

I did not choose first — I was chosen.

Henri Nouwen, from Life of the Beloved

"Long before any human being saw us, we are seen by God's loving eyes. Long before anyone heard us cry or laugh, we are heard by our God who is all ears for us. Long before any person spoke to us in this world, we are spoken to by the voice of eternal love."

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