Quotes

Gandhi On Nonviolence

"Non-violence to be a creed has to be all-pervasive.
I cannot be nonviolent about one activity of mine
and violent about others.
That would be a policy,
not a life force.
Merely to refuse military service
is not enough . . .
This is to act after all the time
for combatting evil is practically gone.
What difference does it make to the dead,
the orphans and the homeless,
whether the mad destruction
is wrought under the name of totalitarianism
or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

***

Quotation from Tom Harpur in an article entitled: "Humanist creed is also based upon faith"  
   
"The full business of religion is not to point peoples' eyes to distant skies and to purported rewards to come. It is to inspire and strengthen our resolve to live well, to be fully human, to combat all injustice, to extend compassion to the weakest of the weak and the poorest of the poor, to do all in our collective and individual power to bring about the Kingdom of God here on this solid Earth.”

***

None of us has the truth; the truth has us
Excerpt by, Cardinal Walter Kasper in U.S. Catholic, Oct 2002.

   What kind of church unity is the ecumenical dialogue ultimately working toward? The goal is not a uniform church -this is not what the other churches want either-but the unity of the one church in reconciled diversity. If you look at the example of the Eastern churches that are in communion with Rome, you can see that we already have a viable model for such a unity in diversity. And I believe it is crucial for us in the Catholic Church to model this possibility in a more unequivocal and inviting way.
Today we tend to define church unity as a communion, communio. In such a communion one participates in the one faith, the same sacraments, and shared ministry, but that faith can be expressed in different ways, depending on one's cultural context, historical conditions, and different spiritualities.
When we talk of a unity in reconciled diversity, this, of course, cannot mean that there would remain contradictions in principle. In such a unity it would not be acceptable for one church to declare an official teaching of another church as counter to the gospel.
The truth is always bigger than our formulas. None of us has the truth, but the truth has us. Through dialogue, with its exchange of gifts, we won't reach a new truth, but we come to a fuller understanding of the truth, which we believe we have in Jesus Christ. This is the dynamic dimension in ecumenical dialogue, and it helps us to discover our full "catholicity."
For the divisions of the church are also a deep wound within the Catholic Church. They are contrary to the will of Christ, and they are a sin. We need each other so we can come, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to a greater fullness of truth.

***

Extract from New Wine: More Eucharistic Liturgies for 21st Century Small Faith Communities
by Mary T. Beben ([email protected])

   Seasonal changes of wintertime are created because the power of the sun is waning. Ancient cultures created rituals to call the sun back from where it seemed to have been swallowed up by the darkness of the womb. They lighted torches and other lights to lighten the darkness and remind the sun to come back. They experienced its return at the winter solstice as a rebirth from the womb of night or the goddess. Now we ourselves have come to the winter solstice, longest night of the year, when darkness seems to triumph, yet gives way to light. Festivals are being held all over the world, as they have been since time immemorial, to honour the imagery of the returning light. We want to take our part in that rich human heritage which culminates for us in the birth of Christ, Light of the World.