Quotes About Spiritual life

The noun 'spirituality' in the Middle Ages simply meant the clergy. Subsequently it first appeared in reference to 'the spiritual life' during the 17th century. It disappeared for a time but re-established itself at the end of the 19th century in French, of which the modern English word 'spirituality' is a translation.

One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.

If it be true that our people represent a high percentage of mental vigor, the distinction is probably due, in some measure, to the extremely important part which Talmud studies have played in the spiritual life of the race.

This is the ultimate end of man, to find the One which is in him; which is his truth, which is his soul; the key with which he opens the gate of the spiritual life, the heavenly kingdom.

2Grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Art is one of the great resources of my life," Abby had written the year before. "I believe that it not only enriches the spiritual life, but that it makes one more sane and sympathetic, more observant and understanding, regardless of whatever age it springs from, whatever subject it represents.

spiritual life is not a life of laws and precepts but a life of participation, affection and love, a life mingled and mixing with God.

Instead of seeing the spiritual life as one that can exist only if it is enclosed by the walls of a monastery, Ignatius asks you to see the world as your monastery.

What is your state of soul with respect to mortal sin? Are you firmly resolved never to commit it for any reason whatsoever? . . . In this resolution consists the foundation of the spiritual life.

Realistically, Francis says, there will probably be falls along the way, but God can use even these to deepen our humility. Imperfections and venial sins cannot deprive us of spiritual life; it is lost only by mortal sin. Fortunately for us, in this war we are always victorious provided that we are willing to fight.27

Prayer is the breath of the new man, drawing in the air of mercy in petitions, and returning it in praises; it proves and maintains the spiritual life.

In the mental calmness of a spiritual life, I have found that the answers to the whys in our lives are able to come to you. In my music I find the same thing.

Every Word of God is Spirit and life. When you receive and obey the Word of God, the power of God works in you.

Is not a spiritual and devout life here made the common condition on which all men are to become sons of God?

Thomas Merton warns, "There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with reality."1 The truly spiritual life is not an escape from reality but a total commitment to it.

May I love Him whom to love is to live indeed.

The sin life in us must be transformed into the spiritual life." "How?" "Through sacrifice and obedience.

AS IN CORPORAL distempers a total loss of appetite, which no medicines can restore, forebodes certain decay and death; so in the spiritual life of the soul, a neglect or disrelish of pious reading and instruction is a most fatal symptom.

In the natural life, we eat, we drink water, we give birth, we pay taxes. In the spiritual life, we can only reach it by faith.

There is no deeper pathos in the spiritual life of man than the cruelty of righteous people. If any one idea dominates the teachings of Jesus, it is his opposition to the self-righteousness of the righteous.

The only trouble is that in the spiritual life there are no tricks and no shortcuts. Those who imagine that they can discover spiritual gimmicks and put them to work for themselves usually ignore God's will and his grace. — Thomas Merton

The vigor and power and comfort of our spiritual life depends on our mortification of deeds of the flesh.

Spiritual life flows out of union with Christ, not merely imitation of Christ.

To have a spiritual life is to recognize early on that there is always a similarity and coherence between the seer and the seen, the seekers and what they are capable of finding. You will seek only what you have partially already discovered and seen within yourself as desirable. Spiritual cognition is invariably re-cognition.