Things Worth Dying For Quotes

“The good life, the life that brings real happiness, consists in conforming ourselves to our nature and realizing its inherent potential. It’s not enough to get what we desire; we must learn to desire well. We do that by cultivating excellence in moral virtue and judgment, in our intellects, and in our unique skills.”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“Humans have a habit of making the same mistakes again and again, in new forms, with new costs and excuses. We do it in each new generation. Our vanity in the present makes us blind to lessons of the past. It also ensures that we make the same blunders in the future. The only reliable brake on this cycle of stupidity and pride is a culture’s moral character. And that character depends on a shared belief in the goodness, the sacred quality, of something or someone greater than human reason, worthy enough to live and die for. When that’s lost, things unravel. And as we’re now learning, the results of that unraveling can get ugly.”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“And on that day, we’ll see the beauty that God has allowed us to add to the great story of his creation, the richness we’ve added to the lives of our family and friends, the mark for the better we’ve left on the world, and the revelation of his love that goes from age to age no matter how good or bad the times. We are each an unrepeatable, infinitely treasured part of that story. And this is why our lives matter.”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“I’ll end with a story. A friend of mine was a student in France in 1967–68 at the Catholic University of the West. And one day her class visited a château in the Loire Valley. The docent took them into a room with an enormous stretch of hanging fabric, many yards across from one wall to the other. And on the fabric were hundreds of ugly knots and tangles of stray thread in a chaos of confused shapes that made very little sense. And the docent said, “This is what the artist saw as he worked.” Then she led my friend and her class around to the front of the fabric. And what they saw there is the great tapestry of the Apocalypse of St. John, the story of the book of Revelation in ninety immense panels. Created between 1377 and 1382, it’s one of the most stunning and beautiful expressions of medieval civilization, and among the greatest artistic achievements of the European heritage. The point is simply this: We rarely see the full effects of the good we do in this life. So much of what we do seems a tangle of frustrations and failures. We don’t see—on this side of the tapestry—the pattern of meaning that our faith weaves. But one day we’ll stand on the other side. And on that day, we’ll see the beauty that God has allowed us to add to the great story of his creation, the richness we’ve added to the lives of our family and friends, the mark for the better we’ve left on the world, and the revelation of his love that goes from age to age no matter how good or bad the times. We are each an unrepeatable, infinitely treasured part of that story. And this is why our lives matter.”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“And in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the primary act of sacrifice is forgiveness. The one who forgives sacrifices resentment, and thereby renounces something that had been dear to his heart.”5 All true, and all urgently needed today in a nation of pent-up frustrations and grievances. Mercy is a central lesson of the Gospel. So is forgiveness. But then what happens to justice? The difficult fact about pursuing justice is this: it’s vital to a humane and well-ordered society; it’s the cornerstone of all credible law; and yet it can rarely be fully achieved. The tangle of humans’ interlocking wounds, fears, poisoned memories, and debts is too old and too vast for anyone to unravel. But enough justice—even if imperfect—can be had when it’s leavened with a measure of mercy, the free act of forgiving, and the letting go of some debts that we know others owe to us. Letting go allows others to do the same. It heals and gives peace. It breaks up and washes away the toxic ice of resentment that chokes the heart. And in doing so, it takes on a Godly irony that gives life.”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“On the one hand, idolatry is a means by which we try to control God, to make worshiping him less of a sacrifice. On the other hand, the false gods we make—either by crafting them directly with our hands, or by conjuring them more discreetly in the way we invest our time, desires, skills, and passions—always end up controlling us. By their nature, false gods are vampires. They prey on, and draw their life from, the human spirit.”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“what”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“should be one of trust and abandonment.”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“Time has a purpose. The meaning of a sentence becomes clear when we put a period at the end of it. The same applies to life. When”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living

“St. Paul tells us that “God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord”
― Charles J. Chaput, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living