You can never be perfectly free unless you completely renounce self, for all who seek their own interest and who love themselves are bound in fetters. They are unsettled by covetousness and curiosity, always searching for ease and not for the things of Christ, often devising and framing what will not last, for anything that is not of God will fail completely.
Hold to this short and perfect advice, therefore: give up your [selfish] desires and you will find rest. Think about it in your heart, and when you have put it into practice you will understand all things. This is not the work of one day, nor is it mere child's play. Indeed, in this brief sentence is included all the perfection of holy persons.
-- adapted from Thomas a' Kempis in A Pattern for Life
#2338
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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Thanks for putting me on your Sound Bites list. Reminds me of a little book I keep that I called "Bread for the Journey" in which I jot down quotes that speak to me about life in all its many facets. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteDiane Nichols, Wisconsin