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September 20 - September 26, 2019
but from one of his favorite books, The Little Prince.
teaching him to appreciate life’s mysteries through the eyes of a child.
“And when you’re consoled (everyone eventually is consoled), you’ll be glad you’ve known me.”11
“And so, for me, being quiet and slow is being myself, and that is my gift.”
“tolerance of delay,”
He was a television icon who avoided the “constant distraction” of television. Instead, he opted to read.
“Just as it takes a tree a long time to begin to grow again once it’s transplanted, so you can give your healthy roots time to find the nourishment of your new soil in your new community.”
but silence that reflects on the goodness of God, the goodness of what and whom He made. Silence to think about those who have helped us. He knew that silence leads to reflection, that reflection leads to appreciation, and that appreciation looks about for someone to thank: “I trust that they will thank God, for it is God who inspires and informs all that is nourishing and good,”
If we can learn to wait through the “natural silences” of life, he liked to say, we will be surprised by what awaits us on the other side.
(“May you be blessed with moments of silence and hope at Christmas and always”
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The thing Fred Rogers shouted the loudest was silence.
Henri Nouwen.
I’ve come to recognize his deepest respect for the still, small voice among the quiet of eternity. That’s what continues to inspire me.”
Mother Teresa in a cardigan.
Each morning he prayed for his family and friends by name, still offering his gratitude for those on his list who had passed away.
Help us to remember all through our lives that we never need to do difficult things alone, that Your presence is simply for the asking and our ultimate future is assured by Your unselfish love. In our deepest gratitude we offer this prayer. Amen.”
“He has used his long illness,” Fred wrote, “to help his church understand what real devotion means.”
this was one friend seeing the greatest spiritual strength emerge from another’s greatest weakness.
“Jim gave us all an enormous gift by helping us understand the many forms of healing (not just physical) in this life.”
“went to heaven,”
lay within: she had come in need and he had come in judgment.
What is offered in faith by one person can be translated by the Holy Spirit into what the other person needs to hear and see. The space between them is holy ground, and the Holy Spirit uses that space in ways that not only translate, but transcend.
“Dear God, let some word that is heard be Yours.”
“tending soil.” His role was to provide the soil, and he relied on the Holy Spirit to turn it into holy ground.
“Obviously you are very much in touch with the Eternal,” he wrote, which is still the best compliment I’ve ever received.
I just figured that the best gift you could offer anybody is your honest self, and that’s what I’ve done for lots of years.
that there are ways that they can express how they feel, ways that aren’t hurtful.”
“When they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.”
How we see ourselves affects how we see others.
Every person is made in the image of God, and for that reason alone, he or she is to be valued—“
“But Jesus would want us to feel as good as possible about God’s creation within us,” Fred said, “and in here [in our minds], we would look through those eyes, and see what’s wonderful about our neighbor. I often think about that.”
we should all see the face of God in each other.
To love another person is to see the face of God (Les Miserables)
“If someone knows who he is, really knows,” the cherubim explains, “then he doesn’t need to hate.”
feeling as good as possible about God’s creation within us, he believed, causes us to look upon our neighbor with the same sense of wonder and worth.
“Love. That’s what makes persons know who they are.”6
It takes a very strong person to be able to turn off scary TV.”
sublimation is the process by which socially unacceptable behaviors are channeled—sublimated—into more socially acceptable ways.
Undesirable feelings or behaviors can be rerouted and released into excelling in sports or contributing to the arts, for example. From a very young age, Fred turned to the piano as a way to express his anger.
“The world needs to learn to know what to do with negative feelings,”
there is one thing that evil cannot stand, and that’s forgiveness.’
Because there is one thing that evil cannot stand, and that’s forgiveness.
Fred did have that aura about him, as if peacefulness spun itself around him like a silk-stranded cocoon and seeped out through the fibers to those around him.
In other words, the encounter also has a significant religious dimension: It helps strengthen the bond, the relationship, between each person and God.1
