Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag Archive for ‘courage’

Do not give up, but stand courageously

Let us charge into the good fight with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies. Though unseen themselves, they can look at the face of our soul, and if they see it altered by fear, they take up arms against us all the more fiercely. For the cunning creatures have observed that we [...]

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Bright flame

Sometimes it can’t be helped, two world views collide, for many reasons, some too deep to understand. Yet we still try, rifts come into play, words spoken, emotions flare, and two people walk away from each other thinking the other wrong. Sometimes the divide is simply so wide that no bridge can be built, the [...]

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At a Time of Fear and Dark Thoughts, Sweep the ‘Night’ Away Through Spiritual Discipline

Hope beyond hope. Persist beyond persistence. Keys to the glorious struggle called life on earth. Faith can do anything and lead anywhere. Where faith begins, fear ends. As with every other attribute, the way to increase faith is to practice it constantly. It is never wasted. We toss it like seed and some of it [...]

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Church welcomes divorced with mercy, Vatican official affirms

Bogotá, Colombia, Mar 30, 2011 / 05:50 pm (CNA).- The head of the Vatican’s council for the family, affirmed that the Catholic Church always embraces those who are divorced and remarried “with truth and mercy.” “Those who are divorced and have entered into a new union cannot be admitted to the Eucharist and to sacramental [...]

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The Faith of George Washington

. . . we now have a remarkable ability to uncover what earlier scholars were unable to access. And when we let Washington’s own words and deeds speak for his faith we get quite a different perspective than that of most recent modern historians. Washington referred to himself frequently using the words “ardent,” “fervent,” “pious,” [...]

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Finding Home

A friend and I were talking, both about the same age, he 60, I 62, he was voicing his frustration on how he is stuck in certain ways; a man who seeks God, yet unable to move beyond a certain inner barrier, compulsion or sin, well I am not the judge of that.  As he [...]

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It was the faith of the local peasants

After abba Copres’ very instructive talk he took us to his little garden and showed us the palms and other fruit trees which he had planted. “It was the faith of the local peasants” he said, “which encouraged me to plant these in the desert. For I saw what great faith they had when they [...]

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Jesus’ birth declares God is not distant

Vatican City, Dec 25, 2010 / 12:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- God is not distant. He became a man, Pope Benedict declared today to people around the world. The Pope prayed that Jesus’ birth, and the love of God that it made apparent to the world, would bring peace, real freedom to the oppressed, and strength [...]

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To wake up

Trust is such a pleasant word.  It rolls off the tongue so gently and effortlessly; an invitation proffered, often said with a sincere smile.  “Trust me”, it can almost be something demanded, but in that demand (if perceived as such), trust dies or diminishes.  Weakened trust, is no trust at all, for fear and trust [...]

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Wearisome

This piece is not about depression or others mental states that need outside medical help, it is about growing in freedom and how difficult that can be at times.  It is more about my own path actually than about anyone else. The human experience is deep and complex and there are simply no easy answers [...]

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