Quotes About Spirituality

I don't believe in God because somebody told me I have to or I'll burn in hell. I believe in God because I do. And if I can accept the whole concept of God, and I do, then why not Jesus too?

Yes, but you have to remember what the essence of prayer is supposed to be. It's not just about begging God to give us what we want. Prayer is supposed to be conversation with God. If it's true that God has a plan for each of us, and I believe He does or I wouldn't be sitting here—

I just really thought children needed to believe in something greater than themselves. Everyone did. If they could manage it, that is.

When folks around you do crazy things, it's the devil trying to distract you from your purpose.

That's right. Old Beelzebub himself. That's how the devil works. He ain't no fool with a red suit and a tail. No, he works on your mind. When you let your mind dwell on trouble, you can't be doing what you needs to be doing. Then he wins, you see? He can't win unless you let him because he ain't got no power on his own.

Say your prayers, girl. Prayers work miracles; don't you see that much yet?

It ain't that you get religion. Religion gets you and then milks you dry. Won't let you drink a little whiskey. Won't let you make no fat-assed girls grin and giggle. Won't let you do a damn thing except work for what you'll get in the hearafter. I live in the here and now.

For all Christians, baptism embodies release from yesterday's sin and receipt of tomorrow's promise: going under the water, the old self is buried in the death of Christ; rising from the water the self is new, joined to the resurrected Christ.

The Christian practice of receiving the day is made for people who have and are bodies. These bodies will operate, for awhile, on mere fuel ... but these bodies cry out for something better than fuel: they cry out for care, for nourishment, for exercise, for rest.

Our spirituality is our capacity to relate to God, to other human beings, and to the natural world. Through these relationships, we give meaning to our experience and attune our hearts and minds to the deepest dimensions of reality.

Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.

Our faith is stronger than death, our philosophy is firmer than flesh, and the spread of the Kingdom of God upon the earth is more sublime and more compelling.

My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the psalms.

Maybe I was praying for him then, in my own way. Does God have a set way of prayer, a way that He expects each of us to follow? I doubt it. I believe some people-- lots of people-- pray through the witness of their lives, through the work they do, the friendships they have, the love they offer people and receive from people. Since when are words the only acceptable form of prayer?

Once a priest told us that no one gets up in the pulpit without promulgating a heresy. He was joking, of course, but what I suppose he meant was the truth was so pure, so holy, that it was hard to emphasize one aspect of the truth without underestimating another, that we did not see things as a whole, but through a glass darkly, as St. Paul said.

If I have achieved anything in my life, it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God.

We must practice the presence of God. He said that when two or three are gathered together, there he is in the midst of them. He is with us in our kitchens, at our tables, on our breadlines, with our visitors, on our farms. When we pray for our material needs, it brings us close to his humanity. He, too, needed food and shelter; he, too, warmed his hands at a fire and lay down in a boat to sleep.

Most of our life is unimportant, filled with trivial things from morning till night. But when it is transformed by love it is of interest even to the angels.

Does God have set way of prayer, a way that he expects each of us to follow? I doubt it. I believe some people - lots of people - pray through the witness of their lives, through the work they do, the friendships they have, the love they offer people and receive from people. Since when are words the only acceptable form of prayer?

There was no attack on religion because people were generally indifferent to religion. They were neither hot nor cold. They were the tepid, the materialistic, who hoped that by Sunday churchgoing they would be taking care of the afterlife, if there were an afterlife. Meanwhile they would get everything they could in this.

People have so great a need to reverence, to worship, to adore; it is a psychological necessity of human nature that must be taken into account.

Have we even begun to be Christians?

I believe some people -- lots of people -- pray to the witness of their lives through the work they do, the friendships they have, the love they offer people and receive from people. Since when are words the only acceptable form of prayer?

To pay no attention to health of body but only that of soul. To plan day on arising and evening examination of conscience. More spiritual reading...To waste no time. More conscientious about letters, visits, about these records. More charity.