@GuyNamedBrian I always appreciate what the Cowley Fathers say.
#SSJE

“Lent is a time to take stock of the dualities in our lives. Listen and discern where God is giving you life, where God is speaking life into your life. Yet also, where has this life been robbed from you? Where does God invite you to lay aside the worship of other gods? Where does God invite you to walk back into larger life that Jesus shows us?”

#Life #Lent #Idolatry #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2022/03/03/listening-for-the-path-of-life-br-sean-glenn/

“I wonder if you may have something in your life, some sin, some action of which you are ashamed and which you keep remembering, replaying, going over again and again. Maybe God is longing to reassure you that God remembers your sin no more, and you should stop remembering it as well. You may not be able to forget, but you can stop remembering and trust God’s word.”

#Shame #Remembering #Presence #Forgiveness #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2019/04/13/remembrance-br-geoffrey-tristram/

“For many, Lent is a time to recognize our sin, to recognize that we do evil and deal corruptly. But there is another message of Lent. It is the message of Isaiah, the message of Jesus. ‘[Though our] sins be like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.’ God's nature is always to have mercy.”

#Mercy #Forgiveness #Lent #Transfiguration #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2022/03/15/bathed-in-glory-br-james-koester/

“When Jesus lived among us, he preferred the company of sinful humans to that of righteous souls who believed they were pure and above reproach. His purpose was not to condemn, but to save. Even now, he unveils our hypocrises not to shame us, but to help us to see how much we need him, so that we can live authentically as God’s children in the world.”

#Need #Faith #Sin #Salvation #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2021/02/17/god-loves-humans-br-david-vryhof/

“The proud palm branches of last Holy Week are once again reduced to two handfuls of humble ash. A stick of smudgy charcoal waits poised over an empty sheet of paper. This day beckons us again to a lifetime’s work of seeing afresh, seeing clearly, and giving our need to the God who formed us from dust. In that holy confidence and humility, let us begin.”

#AshWednesday #Lent #Humility #Need #Sin #Repentance #Absolution #Joy #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2016/02/10/charcoal-and-ash-br-keith-nelson/

“Lent begins tomorrow. So eat. Drink. Like Christ himself, enjoy the fatness of God’s house, and imbibe from the river of his delights. The desert road is long, and dry, and barren, and we have been given the lushness of the river, the joy of repentance, to sustain us in the coming dryness. Today, God offers us one final night of feast. Alleluia.”

#ShroveTuesday #Lent #Feasting #Fasting #Repentance #Joy #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2019/03/05/abundance-and-delight-br-lucas-hall/

“God did not create the heavens and the earth to leave them alone and isolated but so that they would belong to God and God to them. God did not cause you to be born in order to leave you alone and isolated, but in order that you might belong to God and God to you. Banquets, at least this wedding banquet, is a reminder that God longs for your companionship, not just for today, but for always.”

#Belonging #WeddingFeasts #Cana #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2016/01/17/making-our-hearts-glad-br-james-koester/

“Dare to hope, even when you can’t see a way forward, even when no solution is evident, even when darkness overwhelms you. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always.’ God is near and you do not need to be afraid.”

#Hope #Prayer #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastcs #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2021/12/12/rejoice-in-the-lord-always-br-david-vryhof/

“Our encounters with Jesus—if we let them— will open us to hear the voice of God. Think about those times when your own openness of heart has allowed you to hear someone fully; how this openness has allowed you to communicate plainly. Watch for these moments with Jesus—at prayer alone and in encounters with other people. When Jesus comes to us, he opens us up.”

#Openness #Hearing #Prayer #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2022/02/11/be-opened-br-sean-glenn/

“This is our ultimate vocation, our fundamental call from God, the crown that we cannot offer Christ but that Christ offers us; not to do, but to *be* love.”

#Love #Vocation #Call #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2018/07/29/be-love-br-lucas-hall/

A reminder I needed more than I realized: “Yes, the majesty of the Prologue of John, or the poignancy of the Foot Washing at the Last Supper, or the beauty of the Psalms are not to be missed. However, there is more to Scripture than majesty, poignancy, and beauty. There is also the ordinary routine of daily living. It is there, in the ordinary routine of daily living, that God can be found as well.”

#Ordinary #Scripture #Silence #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2019/01/08/and-the-twelve-told-him-all-br-james-koester/

“The New Testament Letter to the Colossians begins with a description of Jesus: ‘He is the image of the invisible God.’ The actual Greek is, ‘He is the icon [eikon] of the invisible God.’ Jesus puts a face, body, name, heart, and hands to the otherwise ‘invisible God.’ Jesus is the icon of the invisible God.”

#Icon #Iconography #Incarnation #Scripture #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2019/01/29/andrei-rublev-opening-the-eyes-of-our-hearts-br-curtis-almquist/

“Where is Jesus’ presence in your life shining new light? Where is his touch completing the temple of your life? Ponder where his light and life might be softening your heart, gently washing away the soot of pretense and alienation as he presents, wounds and all, you: an image-bearer being made in Christ’s glorified likeness.”

#PresentationOfChrist #Temple #Incarnation #Image #Likeness #Light #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2019/02/02/a-temple-built-for-all-br-sean-glenn/

A good reminder about paying attention: “Our temptation is to look only for kingdom signs in great and wonderous actions. But the work of the kingdom can also be seen in the insignificant, dark, and empty places of our lives. If Jesus can compare the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, to what shall you compare it today?”

#Kingdom #Gospel #MustardSeed #Jesus #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2021/01/29/signs-of-the-kingdom/

“What weighs on you? What is pressing or tiring? What, literally or figuratively, makes you faint?

Jesus has been there, has had that kind of experience. Remember how he handled it.

Stop and pray. Wait on the Lord. Rest in that relationship. Remember and stand on promises: ‘Those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.’”

#Remember #Jesus #Episcopal #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2015/02/08/weary-wait-br-luke-ditewig/

“We groan in anticipation for when justice will prevail. Like Isaiah, we have a dream – of what can be, what ought to be, what will be, in God’s good time. Mary captured the dream in her Magnificat. Martin Luther King, Jr. described it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. When we join our lives to God’s, we commit ourselves to work and pray for the realization of this dream.”

#Hope #Dream #Magnificat #MLKDay #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE #Jesus

https://www.ssje.org/2017/12/05/finding-hope-in-despair-br-david-vryhof/

“The paradox of God’s simultaneous beyondness and nearness takes concrete flesh for us in the person of Jesus – God’s storyteller, God’s Story made human. God is not only enthroned above the flood, but a fellow passenger in the boat.”

#Jesus #Paradox #Transcendence #Immanence #Incarnation #Story #Myth #Remembrance #Faith #Episcopal #Monastics #SSJE

https://www.ssje.org/2019/02/19/the-sacred-work-of-remembrance-br-keith-nelson/

“Jesus begins life as the promised Messiah to his own people, the Jews. Jesus ends life telling his followers, ‘Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.’ When did Jesus’ mission enlarge? I speculate something happened to Mary and Joseph in their encounter with the wise men from foreign lands. They would raise Jesus differently.” #Epiphany #Encounter #WiseMen #Magi #Jesus #Episcopal #SSJE
https://www.ssje.org/2022/01/06/the-great-revelation-br-curtis-almquist/