Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
It is the will itself, our stubborn and self-defeating willfulness that must be first converted and handed over. It does not surrender easily and usually only when it is demanded of us by partners, parents, children, health, or circumstances.
Richard Rohr • Breathing Under Water : Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
Yannaras asserts that to understand God is to never see God as an atomistic being. To do so will lead us to assume that God uses relationships for instrumental ends. Rather, starting with the contemplation of the Trinity, Yannaras reveals that this overconcern with epistemology not only has turned our relationships into instruments but has hampered
... See moreAndrew Root • The Congregation in a Secular Age (Ministry in a Secular Age Book #3): Keeping Sacred Time against the Speed of Modern Life
When Sufis speak of their love for God, they are not referring to the traditional Christian concept of agape, or spiritual love; quite the opposite. This is a passionate, all-consuming, humiliating, self-denying love. As with Majnun’s love for Layla, Sufi love requires the unconditional surrender to the Beloved’s will, with no regard for one’s own
... See moreReza Aslan • No god but God (Updated Edition): The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam
“My belief is that the two universal paths are great love and great suffering,” he told me. For much of his life, Rohr has used suffering as a spiritual tool to help him learn to be humble. “I pray for one humiliation a day,” he told me. “It doesn’t have to be major.”