Category: Master Monday

An inexhaustible capacity to engage in sin is what makes human beings capable of living a virtuous life. To err is human; to seek penance is humankind’s unique act of salvation. Whenever a person fails, it is often their overwhelming sense of anguish that drives them forward to make a second attempt that is far more bighearted than they originally envisioned. The need for redemption drives us to try again despite our backside enduring the terrible weight of our greatest catastrophes. There is no person as magnanimous as a person whom finally encountered tremendous success after previously enduring a tear-filled trail of hardships and repeated setbacks. In an effort to redeem our lost dignity, in an effort to regain self-respect, we find our true selves. By working independently to better ourselves and struggling to fulfill our cherished values, we save ourselves while coincidentally uplifting all of humanity.

– Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls
(emphasis mine)

Every fall is an opportunity to shine all the brighter by standing tall after. May your Christmas week enable you to see yourself as a whole, not simply as a sinner, but as the Saint God calls you to be because He loves you so much that He wants to spend eternity with you. May you shine brightly as the world rejoices in the remembrance of the Word made Flesh to dwell among us! God bless!

Courage doesn’t always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, (whispering), “I will try again tomorrow.”

– Mary Anne Radmacher, 1985 poem,
reprinted in her book Courage Doesn’t Always Roar

The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics

Perfection is impossible without humility.
Why should I strive for perfection
if I am already good enough?

– Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom

If I look way back to the beginning of whatever-this-is that I’m stuck in the middle of, I suddenly realize that whatever-this-is got started by whatever-it-is that I was doing. And I can be utterly confident in the fact that whatever-it-is that I was doing, it wasn’t thinking.

– Craig D. Lounsbrough, Counselor and Life Coach

God has perfect timing –
Never early, never late.
It takes a little patience
And it takes a lot of faith,
But it’s worth the wait.

– Worth the Wait, Performed by 33Miles

Listen to the mustn’ts, child,
Listen to the don’ts,
Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts.
Listen to the never haves,
Then listen close to me:
Anything can happen, child,
Anything can be.

Shel Silverstein, Listen to the Mustn’ts, Where the Sidewalk Ends