POWER!
O  WOOD  THAT!

Quote for Today January 31,  2012

"He proclaimed that to gain the whole world was nothing if the soul was injured, and yet he remained kind and sympathetic to every living thing. That is the most astonishing and the greatest fact about him?"

Adolf von Harnack, What Is Christianity?, [1901]

Picture above: The upper body of Christ - part of the famous wooden crucifix of  Filippo Brunelleschi [1377-1446] in Santa Maria Novella in Florence - dated to about 1410-1415

Questions and Comments:

What do you consider the greatest thing about Jesus?

When I hear Catholics wanting the Church, the Pope, the bishops, a pastor, a priest, to speak out against something or someone - I want to say, "Spend an hour underneath a crucifix and then come back and tell me if on second thought, you think differently."

Think of the powerful of the earth - on the cross - bleeding - beaten - humiliated - naked. What would they say from the cross?

What's your take on power and humility?

Picture someone who is gay and they feel like they are on a cross. They feel they have been crucified by comments - down through the years. Talk to that person about your takes and questions on homosexuality. Talk to each other.

Picture someone who made it big - got a big job - or appointment - or position - experienced the power of money or position or what have you - and then they fell from grace. They were wounded - perhaps because they had too much power - they haven't put it together. They were bishops, politicians, big car, big restaurant, great looks, successful speakers - and it went to their head - and they were wounded, injured as Von Harnack put it, and they hit bottom. Like Saul who became Paul, they groveled, questioned, and recovered - and ended up becoming "kind and sympathetic" - towards all living things and people around them.

Picture someone who has had an abortion - and they have been crucifying themselves for years - because of what they did.  Picture a priest who has stood under their cross - heard their story - all the intricacies and complexities - and  heard them say, "Father forgive me for I didn't know what I was doing." Then picture that same priest having someone point a finger at him and say, "Why don't you speak about abortion from the pulpit? You never do."  Then picture that priest trying to picture the  person who said that on a cross and trying to figure out what happened to them - their complexities - their intricacies - why they  are saying what they are saying, etc. etc. etc. Then picture that priest on the cross of life - thanking Jesus from his cross for teaching him about injured souls - including his own - teaching him the power of kindness and sympathy - and hearing Jesus saying from the cross, "Today you are with me in Paradise!"

Imagine 10 experiences that could have gotten Adolf von Harnack to make the statement that I typed up for a quote for this day.