identity^(7/9)

A sense of belonging

Your sense of belonging within a community is affected by the interplay between identity, perception, and reciprocity. Belonging, at least as an emotional experience, is never static. You move through networks of communities on a daily basis, with each community supporting a range of belonging that fluctuates based on the three factors I’ve listed and likely more. Here I’ll explore how these factors influence one’s sense of belonging in a single community and the consequences thereof.…

To be a saint is to be myself

For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self.

Becoming is a secret known only to God

The secret of my full identity is hidden in Him. He alone can make me who I am, or rather who I will be when at last I fully begin to be. But unless I desire this identity and work to find it with Him and in Him, the work will never be done. The way of doing it is a secret I can learn from no one else but Him.…

Humanity is created in the image of god

💬 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Humanity is created in God’s image.…

The great secret of the spiritual life is that you already know the little steps

The great secret of the spiritual life is that you already know the little steps, even if you don’t know the big ones. You don’t need to know the big steps to take the little steps.

We find our true selves via death

Merton speaks of a true self that only God knows, a self formed by the person and God in union together. But (every one of us is shadowed by a false self), masks we wear that can’t be real for God does not recognize them. That’s why Merton claims that if i am true to the thought of him i shall find him everywhere in myself. However, the presence of God is fearful to us because, as a consuming fire, he burns up false selves and leaves only what’s true.…

What was special about her was in those who loved her

Mr Capaldi believed there was nothing special inside Josie that coudn’t be continued. He told the Mother he’d searched and searched and found nothing like that. But I believe now he was searching in the wrong place. There was something very special, but it wasn’t inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her. That’s why I think now Mr Capaldi was wrong and I wouldn’t have succeeded. So I’m glad I decided as I did.…

What is the five fold ministry

The acronym APEST describes five spiritual gifts that Christ embodied and distributed to humanity. It’s not the only list of spiritual gifts, but it’s the one that seems most to describe the architecture of a church community, since these are given for the building up of the Church. But what are they exactly? 5Q Central describes the five gifts by the question, “What would this gift do with a bar of chocolate?…

Every one of us is shadowed by a false self

Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him.

Humans are words meant to respond

[Humans] are words that are meant to respond to Him, to answer to Him, to echo Him, and even in some way to contain Him and signify Him.

If I am true to the thought of him I shall find him everywhere in myself

[If] I am true to the concept that God utters in me, if I am true to the thought of Him I was meant to embody, I shall be full of His actuality and find Him everywhere in myself, and find myself nowhere. I shall be lost in Him: that is, I shall find myself. I shall be ‘saved’.

Our vocation is not simply to be but to work together with God

Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny.

Embracing my polymath identity

It’s a wearisome struggle to be myself. To be who I am requires that I must constantly fit my octagonal personality into the square holes the world affords. In the past year I’ve begun to reconcile that my path will not lead to expertise. I will never be an expert by any measurement, for I am incapable of remaining entirely in one field for 10,000 hours. Perhaps all my interests will converge in expertise across many domains around my eightieth birthday, but not before.…

The apostolic gift

What I’m about to share with you makes me extremely uncomfortable. I am apostolically gifted. (cringe) Let me explain. My deepest desire is to form communities of people who love Jesus and do what he says in places where these communities don’t exist… yet. Spreading the good news about Jesus is important to me, but I’m not an evangelist. I resonate with the evangelist’s hunger to witness and their disappointment at the Church’s weak outreach, but my communal view of Jesus communities keeps me fighting to light a fire in the church instead of running to the streets.…

Jesus identity was formed by the hebrew scriptures

Jesus identity was formed by the Hebrew Scriptures Find a quote in Christopher Wright’s book.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void(1), and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.…