Sandra

“Benedict and Bernard and the other true monastic peacemakers of history have been effective because they have acted from a deep source of peace within themselves, dating a context for peace. This is the contribution a Christian man or woman of peace can make.”
― M. Basil Pennington, A Place Apart: Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone

“. . . when we take upon ourselves his yoke of obedience, his yoke is easy, his burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30). When is a burden light? It is when we find our burdensome lives caught up, elevated, borne aloft by something greater than our lives. Mission gives meaning. Jesus does not come to us to relieve us of all yokes or burdens; rather, he comes offering us a yoke worth wearing, a burden worth bearing. It is a great gift not to have to make your life mean something, to have your life given significance by the Lord whose cross, when taken up, takes us up as well. 119-120”
― William H. Willimon, Calling & Character: Virtues Of The Ordained Life

“In the silence, whether we listen to the creation around us, the words of revelation, or the deepest stirrings of our own hearts, we begin to perceive another voice, one that is too often lost in the static of life. It is no use saying: ”Speak, Lord, your servant wants to hear,” if We never risk the silence to listen. 48”
― M. Basil Pennington, A Place Apart: Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone

“The fascination of trifles obscures the good,” says the Wise Man. It is difficult in the midst of much doing and seeing to keep alive and present to the deepest reality, to the really real. And so the monk goes apart…”
― M. Basil Pennington, A Place Apart: Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone