Jenny Herrera

“As Jesus dies, the world order changes for ever, by the act of God...

Jesus accepts the world's judgement, and that puts an end to it. We have judged God, assuming in our arrogance and fear that we had that power. Now we wait, trembling, to see what the new order looks like, when we realize that the one we have crucified is the measure, the judge, the standard. We have done everything we can think of, and our resources are exhausted. The humble God has relentlessly absorbed all our cruelty, violence, hopelessness, selfishness and fear, never returning like for like, but carrying it away with him into death. All that is left now is the action of God.”
― Jane Williams, The Merciful Humility of God: The 2019 Lent Book

“I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with
the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive
company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and
surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m.
of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who
betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all
too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We
forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered
and what we screamed, forget who we were. I have
already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be.”
― Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem

“This is where Lent starts, with the voice of God, singing the praise of Jesus, the Son. Just as this affirmation calls Jesus into the wilderness, so it calls us, too. We are starting out from a place of loving acceptance, not from one of rejection; we are starting out with the certainty that God knows who we are and loves us, so that are explorations are to find out why that should be. We are exploring a reality that is given to us, not achieved by our own effort. Yet, glorious as this sounds, it is also terrifying, because if it starts with God and not with us, then we are not in control of it. Jesus steps into the River Jordan with such apparent ease, laying aside all claims to define himself, and that is our journey, too. So easy and so hard.”
― Jane Williams, The Merciful Humility of God: The 2019 Lent Book

“Quiet desperation is another name for the human condition.”
― Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose