Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag Archive for ‘truth’

A point of pure truth

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our live, which is inaccessable to the fantasies of our own mind or the [...]

It is necessary for us to fall

After this [God] allows us to fall harder and more grievously than ever we did before — as it seems to us. And then we think (because we are not all wise) that what we had begun has come to nothing. But it is not so. It is necessary for us to fall and it [...]

God’s attitude to my sin is pity, not blame

Unfortunately we do not learn about sinfulness from a heavenly messenger. Nor is it like the result of a personality test. We learn of our sinfulness when we are tempted. Temptation is more than awareness of alternative options: I am not tempted to genocide if I lack the means; I am not tempted to computer [...]

I don’t blame the past

. . . We simply don’t know the inner pain that others carry, or the shame, or anger, until a relationship is formed and trust built up enough, so that some kind of openness and sharing with others can be experienced. I guess that is perhaps one of the great gifts of the 12 step [...]

Male and Female and the Trinity

In the light of the New Testament it is possible to discern how the primordial model of the family is to be sought in God himself, in the Trinitarian mystery of his life. The divine “We” is the eternal pattern of the human “we”, especially of that “we” formed by the man and the woman [...]

The most important project

Those who speak the truth, who unmask and show their listeners what is underneath, are often hated, reviled, hounded and killed. Martin Luther King for an instance is still hated by many because he stripped away the mask of segregation and demanded that dignity be restored to his people…. in order to do this he often [...]

Collective Illusion

If we take our vulnerable shell to be our true identity, if we think our mask is our true face, we will protect it with fabrications even at the cost of violating our own truth. This seems to be the collective endeavor of society: the more busily men dedicate themselves to it, the more certainly [...]

Reconciliation Comes from God

God is faithful to his eternal plan even when man, under the impulse of the evil one(43) and carried away by his own pride, abuses the freedom given to him in order to love and generously seek what is good, and refuses to obey his Lord and Father. God is faithful even when man, instead [...]

God’s attitude toward sin is not blame but pity

My tendency in prayer is then to try to put my sin behind me. Acknowledging only that it was an interruption in our relationship, I want to forget it when I come before God. This is a mistake. It is like hiding one’s symptoms from a physician. To go to prayer aware of the shabbiness [...]

Falling is a test

After this [God] allows us to fall harder and more grievously than ever we did before — as it seems to us. And then we think (because we are not all wise) that what we had begun has come to nothing. But it is not so. It is necessary for us to fall and it [...]