Wackos

God has chosen the wackos in this world to confound the normal. If you hang with the wackos, you will be named a wacko. Cool.

Judging by Appearances

If someone acts weird or in an obnoxious way, there is a reason for that. Anytime someone acts in an unacceptable manner, that is a ball of mysterious twine that I desire to unravel.

Rejection

If someone doesn’t really listen to what you say, and then claims that you are wrong, don’t bother explaining yourself to them. They are rejecting you for who you are, not for any illogic in what you are saying.

Rebel Without A Clue

Don’t be a rebel for the sake of being a rebel. To be a “rebel” in the mode of other “rebels” is the worst kind of self-deceptive following of the crowd. If you are who you are, and follow what Jesus says in the gospels, then you will be truly different.

I'm So Excited and I Just Can't... well, anyway....

Don’t get caught up by enthusiasm. Distrust whatever gets everyone else excited. Ignore the best sellers list, except to find out what (the) hoi polloi are thinking about. If you want to find something significant for life, look in corners and byways.

Ignorant Wisdom

Wisdom is having more than pat answers to problems. Sometimes the wisest thing anyone can say is, “I don’t know.”

The Second Choice

"Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely."
-P. J. O'Rourke

Lowliness

"She was said never to utter a word with which fault could be found; never to make an excuse for herself, even though the Prioress would find fault with her for things she had not done. She never complained of anything, never by word or look did she hurt the feelings of anyone, never failed in obedience but did what she was commanded to do readily, perfectly and with joy. The most trifling thing we do, she was wont to say, is beyond all price if we do it for the love of God."
-V. Sackville-West
On Beatriz Onez, a Carmelite nun of the Sixteenth Century

To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice

"When St. Teresa of Availa saw a friend perform certain rigorous acts of penance, she felt a great desire to imitate her. Her confessor forbade her to do this. When she was tempted to disobey him, God told her, 'My daughter, you are on a good and safe road. Do you look at the penance she does? I put a greater value on obedience!"
-Francis de Sales

No Middle Way

"Either therefore you must so far renounce your Christianity as to say that you need never perform any of these good works of Charity, or you must own that you are to perform them all your life in as high a degree as possible. There is no middle way to be taken..."
-William Law, A Serious Call To A Devout and Holy Life

The Wall Between the Servant and the Served

"Somehow we have come to believe that good leadership requires a safe distance from those we are called to lead. Medicine, psychiatry, and social work all offer us models in which 'service' takes place in a one-way direction. Someone serves, someone else is being served, and be sure not to mix up the roles! But how can anyone lay down his life for those with whom he is not even allowed to enter into a deep personal relationship? Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life."
-Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus

No Deed Without Intention

“If you will stop and ask yourself why you are not as godly as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance or inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.”
-William Law