The Hours of the Universe Quotes

“The New Testament calls our attention to the in-breaking reign of God. The message of Jesus was one of seeing, believing, and trusting in the empowering presence of God. God is doing new things, Jesus proclaimed, but only those with new minds and hearts can see a new world breaking through the cracks of the old. Jesus offered a new set of values, teaching us how to live on the edge of a new tomorrow. We must make a choice, however, to embrace these new values and to live in a new way. The spiritual masters called this process of change “conversion”: an unlearning of old habits that block the light of the new reality and a turning of the mind and heart in grace in order to entrust our lives to the living presence of God. Only if we believe in a new power in our midst can we let go of the old reins of control and allow the Spirit to draw us toward a new future.”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey

“Jesuit Patrick Malone writes: Faith is more than a magical formula to conquer the worry, regret, shame and resentments that cloud our visions and make us jaded and tired. Having faith does not remove every trace of self-absorption and doubt. Those things are part of the human condition. Faith is what brings us into the deepest truth that says we are in the image of an unlimited, unrestricted, unimaginable love. And when we forget that, as Jesus reminded the religious authorities of his day, then religion does become a shield, a crutch, a closed refuge instead of a way to boldly throw ourselves into a harsh world, knowing that is precisely where we discover a generous God.”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey

“We have an invitation to go to church in a new way, by praying before the new leaves budding through dormant trees or the wobbly flowers by the side of the road pushing through the solid earth…. [Like Francis of Assisi,] we too can sing with the air we breathe, the sun that shines upon us, the rain that pours down to water the earth ... For we are Easter people, and we are called to celebrate the whole earth as the body of Christ. Every act done in love gives glory to God: a pause of thanksgiving, a laugh, a gaze at the sun, or just raising a toast to your friends at your virtual gathering.”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey

“There is no thought, prayer, or action that is not radically cosmic in its foundations, expressions, and effects. Hence, there is no sacredness apart from the secularity of the world. The mistake of Western thought, Panikkar says, was to begin with identifying God as the Supreme Being, which resulted in God being turned into a human projection. But the divine dimension of reality is not an object of human knowledge; it is, rather, the depth-dimension to everything that exists. Panikkar called this complex reality a cosmotheandric whole, in which divinity, humanity, and cosmos form a trinitarian reality. By insisting on Scholastic theology as the basis of religious thinking, religion has cut itself off from the related disciplines of science and philosophy. Today we have three loosely related disciplines—theology, philosophy, and science—each with its own methods, language, and concepts. Instead of having a cosmo-religious myth to provide meaning and purpose to human life, we have independent myths of science, religion, and philosophy. We can study each area and get a degree in one particular area without ever having to think about the other two areas. God remains locked up in Scholastic categories rather than being encountered as the immanent ground of dynamic being and cosmic life. To separate theology from science and philosophy is to destroy the cosmic genetic code.”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey

“The new universe story is the intercommunion of life itself, of each part with the whole. Everything is in communion in the vast web of the universe. The intense communion within the material world enables life to emerge into being. Living forms are”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey

“we are to progress or evolve, we must release ourselves from religious individualism and confront the general religious experience, which is cosmic and evolutionary, and involve ourselves in it.”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey

“Technology is a new evolutionary means of convergence; it is accelerating evolution by causing humankind to concentrate upon itself through complex levels of information.”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey