in each sister and brother

If God comes down to earth through [the] Son made flesh, then we ascend toward heaven through Jesus present in each sister and brother for whom he died. - Fr. Thomas J. Norris

in the imagination of our opponents

"It’s worth finding out what kind of life we lead in the imagination of our opponents. The next step: figure out what accounts for the difference in how we imagine ourselves & how they imagine us without using lazy labels such as 'ignorant,' 'immoral,' 'from a different planet.'"

[Miroslav Volf, 11/15/20]

for dappled things

 "Glory be to God for dappled things –

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

   Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

      And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

                                Praise him."

- Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1877

very convenient

"Rebuking someone on the other side of the world (while ignoring the same problems back home) is very convenient, and it provides a deep sense of moral satisfaction." (p. 8)

[Simply Christian by NT Wright]

the regrettable conclusion

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

[Martin Luther King Jr., 1963, Letters from a Birmingham Jail]

suddenly the Judge will come

"Suddenly the Judge will come, and the deeds of every man shall be revealed; but in the middle of the night we cry with fear: Holy, Holy, Holy are Thou, O God..."

- from Daily Orthodox Prayers

the new boldness

"(1) God hasn't call you to challenge or change anyone's feelings. Offer presence, not judgment. (2) Better a good listener than an irritating suggester. (3) Humility and gentleness are the new boldness." - Scotty Smith