Franciscan Quote of the Day

God without priests. Churches without authority. Faiths that are optional. It’s wonderfully liberating. The divine can’t get his hands on us anymore! Now we can be spiritual without being religious. It’s the luxury good human beings have always wanted: bespoke worship, idols made to spec.

R.R. Reno, “Freedom from Religion” | First Things

[Editor's note: this may be one of those quotes that benefits greatly from reading the piece that the quote was taken from. Just in case the tone of this fragment isn't clear because it is a mere fragment, R.R. Reno isn't advocating a religion as described above but is describing what, in some sense, has become what currently passes for religion.]

This spirit of humility acts as the foundation for all subsequent characteristics that compose a Franciscan approach to ministry. Francis was less concerned about what someone did in the world than about how someone did it. Here we see the saint’s admiration for the humility of Christ emerge as part of the centerpiece of his spirituality; to be a Franciscan is to live the Gospel by following in the footprints of Jesus Christ.

~Francis of Assisi and the Future of Faith by Daniel Horan OFM

He may say (what means very little) that St. Francis was in advance of his age. He may say (what is quite true) that St. Francis anticipated all that is most liberal and sympathetic in the modern mood; the love of nature; the love of animals; the sense of social compassion; the sense of the spiritual dangers of prosperity and even of property.

~G.K. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin via The Anchoress | A First Things Blog.

Know then, that God no sooner finds us resolved to attain solid virtue than He sends us trials of the severest kind. Convinced of His immense love for us and His fatherly solicitude for our spiritual advancement, we ought with gratitude to drink to the dregs of the chalice that He is pleased to offer us, confident that its beneficial character will be in proportion to its bitterness.

~Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat

But in how great an error these persons have entangled themselves, and how far they are distant from that true perfection which we seek, may easily be gathered from their lives and habits. For in every thing, whether It be great or small, they seek their own advantage, and like to be preferred before others; they are self-willed and opinionated, blind to their own faults, sharp-sighted for the faults of others, and severely condemn the sayings and doings of other men.

~Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat

The Preacher: Meantime, why don’t you put me to work?

Hull Barret: Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to, uh… Well, I mean, ya know – maybe if there was somethin’ spiritual.

The Preacher: Well, that Spirit ain’t worth spit without a little exercise. Now you tell me where.

~Pale Rider (1985)

A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.

~Thomas Merton