the furious longing of God

Apparently I'm on a book quoting kick. Eh, happens. Here are a few of my favs from Brennan Manning's book

I am my beloved's, and His desire is for me. Song of Solomon 7:10

God is sheer Being-in-Love and there was never a time when God was not love. The foundation of the furious longing of God is the Father who is the originaing Lover, the Son who is the full self-expression of that Love, and the Spirit who is the original and inexhaustible activity of the Love, drawing the created universe into itself.

The Gospel can be summed up by saying that it is the tremendous, tender, compassionate, gentle, extraordinary, explosive, revolutionary revelation of Christ's love. (Catherine de Hueck Doherty)

Until we learn to live peacefully with what Andre Louf calls "our amazing degree of weakness", until we learn to live gracefully with what Alan Jones calls "pur own extreme psychic fraility," until we let the Christ who consorted with hookers and crooks to be our truth, the false, fraudulent self motivated by cowardice and fear will continue to distance us from abiding restful union.

In contrast to the domesticated, feel-good Jesus of TV evangelism, who is committed to our financial prosperity, the Christ of John's gospel who has made His home in us invites us to walk with Him daily in humble service even unto death.

The wild, unrestricted love of God is not simply an inspiring idea. When it imposes itself on mind and heart with the stark reality of ontological truth, it determines why and at what time you get up in the morning, how you pass your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, and who you hang with; it affects what breaks your heart, what amazes you, and what makes your heart happy.

In human beings, love is a quailty, a high-prized virtue; in God, love is His identity.
In the presence of the king, don't ask for small gifts.

When the imitation of Christ does not mean to live a life like Christ, but to live your life as authentically as Christ lived his, then there are many ways and forms in which a man can be a Christian. (Henri Nouwen)

When the night is bad and my nerves are shattered and the waves break over the sides, Infinity speaks. God Almight shares through His Son the depth of His feeligns for me, His love flashes into my soul, and I am overtaken by mystery. These are moments of kairos- the decisive inbreak of God's fury into my personal life's story.