Tag: Power

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Minute Meditation – Finding Our Internal Power

The more we try to rely upon external threats, the less we are in touch with our own internal power. They tend to cancel one another out. Conversely, the more we are in touch with our own inner power, the less need we have for any external force, threat, or pressure. I would almost describe spirituality as a concern for our being, our inner motivation and attitude, our real inner Source, as opposed to any primary concern for our doing. Doing will always take care of itself when our being is right. It is our preoccupation with external forms and successes that makes us superficial, judgmental, split off, and often just downright wrong—without knowing it.

— from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, OFM, page 93

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Power Cannot, in Itself, be Bad

Power cannot, in itself, be bad. It simply needs to be realigned and redefined as something larger than domination or force. Rather than stating that power is bad, the Bible reveals the paradox of power. If the Holy Spirit is power, then power has to be good, not something that is always the result of ambition or greed. In fact, a truly spiritual woman, a truly whole man, is a very powerful person. In people like Moses, Jesus, and Paul, we can assume that it was precisely their powerful egos that God used, built on, and transformed, but did not dismiss. If we do not name the good meaning of power, we will invariably be content with the bad, or we will avoid our powerful vocation.

— from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Finding Our Internal Power

The more we try to rely upon external threats, the less we are in touch with our own internal power. They tend to cancel one another out. Conversely, the more we are in touch with our own inner power, the less need we have for any external force, threat, or pressure. I would almost describe spirituality as a concern for our being, our inner motivation and attitude, our real inner Source, as opposed to any primary concern for our doing. Doing will always take care of itself when our being is right. It is our preoccupation with external forms and successes that makes us superficial, judgmental, split off, and often just downright wrong—without knowing it.

— from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Prayer is a Power We Have

Prayer is not only a need that each of us has; it is also a power. Jesus has told us that whatever we ask in his name, God will give us. And because prayer is a power, it is also a responsibility and challenge. It is a responsibility because through prayer we can join with Christ in redeeming the world. If we pray only for ourselves or about ourselves, we have not yet learned to pray, for prayer is outward- reaching and all-embracing. A good barometer of where we are in our union with God is whether or not our prayer reaches out to all people. If my prayer centers mainly on myself, then that is where I am. The true prayer accepts Christ’s challenge to join with him in opening his or her arms to all. And as one’s prayer becomes more cosmic and other-centered, so does one’s thinking and attitudes.

— from the book Song of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Murray Bodo, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Growing Deeper Roots

I imagine it will take me longer than the rest of my life truly to meet the world as its own subject rather than as the object of my own plans and priorities. But slowly, slowly, I’m learning. Whenever I take a meandering walk, or watch the hummingbirds at our feeder, or just sit under the trees on our front lawn, feeling the Earth beneath me and the breeze on my skin, I feel that my own roots are growing deeper, intertwining with those of the trees, and all seeking a common Source: the divine power that holds everything together. The more time I spend, agendaless, in and with the rest of nature, the broader and deeper grows my sense of connection, my sense of kinship, the feelings of love and the commitments of love. Though native to us, that bond must be nurtured, and its primary nutrient is time. Time is the good soil in which relationships grow and flower. Time, given with presence rather than preoccupation, is the greatest gift. There is no substitute. 

— from the book Making Room: Soul-Deep Satisfaction through Simple Living
by Kyle Kramer

//Franciscan Media//