Tina’s Reviews > May Crowning, Mass, and Merton and Other Reasons I Love Being Catholic > Status Update

Certainty requires proof, but faith requires love above all else. Certainty resides solely in the mind, but belief resides in the mind and heart. Certainty lives on intellect alone, but belief lives through a greater commitment, a greater sacrifice - it lives through my flesh-and-blood heart.

God-given shame never comes alone; it is always accompanied by God's healing. Humility in this sense helps us see ourselves honestly and in the right perspective. When humility results from loving correction, thank your lucky stars; you're being protected.

Fear forgets God. Fear forgets our true purpose. Fear forgets the love that never ends.

..."forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin" (Catechism, 2844).

The Catechism teaches that "the spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes that the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God" (386). We are in desperate need of warriors who are deciding for God.

Kneeling admits to a need - the need for God. As a culture, we seem to be in a desperate race to rid ourselves of this need for something greater than ourselves, and if that is not an act of arrogance, it is at least an act absent of humility. What I have come to believe is that our need for God does not make us weak; it makes us fully human. There is great power in recognizing the difference. (pp 27-28)

When I look at the crucifix, I [also] see a promise kept. God said he would love me, know me, and never abandon me, no matter what, no matter the cost. He keeps his promises.
-- rereading this for Lent :)