The Face of the Deep Quotes

“Strange trails are good places to bloom.”
― Paul J. Pastor, The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit

“The implication of the one God who exists as a unified three is this: from before time itself existed, relationship did. In the love of the Father, Son, and Spirit, joy has existed from eternity past. Admiration existed, pleasure existed, kindness and gentleness and wisdom existed. Camaraderie existed—with fun, commitment, good counsel, loyalty, and fellowship. This is a brilliant truth—all three persons of God clearly can be termed the Maker of the world. But the Spirit’s connection to creation, by his immanence, the closeness that the oldest story tells us he kept with the face of the deep and all that lay below it, is something particularly precious. THE IMPLICATION OF THE ONE GOD WHO EXISTS AS A UNIFIED THREE IS THIS: FROM BEFORE TIME ITSELF EXISTED, RELATIONSHIP DID. We all were made in the glorious image of the one whose very nature is love, perfect and resplendent.”
― Paul J. Pastor, The Face of the Deep: Experiencing the Beautiful Mystery of Life with the Spirit

“What can be known is that his words will be ones in keeping with his character—breathing life, making love bloom where there was no love, restoring justice, and remaking what is bent or broken. The Spirit’s voice—always, without exception—will bring the fruit of the Spirit that Paul lists in the letter to the Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law, on Sinai or in any valley. And so, whether the voice on the mountain burns like fire in the clouds, blisters us like the wind of the wilderness, rattles us like the quake of holy ground, or simply … whispers, it will speak. It will ask us questions that we do not want to answer, send us places we do not want to go, and remind us that the great goodness of a God of mountains is that however far our ascent to meet him may feel, his descent of love to meet us is infinitely greater.”
― Paul J. Pastor, The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit

“He brings down the haughty, you know, even when the haughty are his own, and he raises those who are low. His power can look like weakness, and his weakness is limitless strength. So we cast down our idols, even the ones that look like God. We turn ever to the old truths, to the Word, to the sacraments, to a journey of good abandonments, the inward journey. The ascent of the mountain is our business. Attention is our business. The speaking? Well, that is the Spirit’s business, and who can say how his voice will come to any one of us?”
― Paul J. Pastor, The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit

“There are two kinds of Christians—no, there are two more kinds: those who think they can make God do something and those who know they cannot. Distrust those who claim they can climb the mountain anytime they choose and come back with a word from God. The Spirit is faithful, but he will not come running when we whistle for him. He is kind but will not jump for us. He may give a show, but when he speaks, it will be in his good way for his good reasons. And who can tell him either to speak or to keep silent? We can only ask and trust.”
― Paul J. Pastor, The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit

“Environmentalist Paul Hawken, in the 2009 commencement address to the University of Portland, said, “Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.”
― Paul J. Pastor, The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit

“What is love? Not defining others by their function, by what they can give to anyone. But”
― Paul J. Pastor, The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit