Rediscover Catholicism: Quotes (#22-50)

This post is a continuation from the one I published earlier.  Again, if you haven’t already gotten a copy, I highly recommend Matthew Kelly’s “Rediscover Catholicism.”  This book may very well revitalize your love for our faith.  There is genius in Catholicism:

22. We often do things that we think will make us happy, only to discover that they end up making us miserable.
23. These moments of happiness are of course real, but only as real as a shadow: A person’s shadow is real, but it is nothing compared to the actual person.
24. God gave us this yearning for happiness that constantly preoccupy our hearts.  It seems he has placed this yearning within each human heart as a spiritual navigational instrument designed to lead us to our destiny.
25. The philosophy of Christ is the ultimate philosophy of human happiness.
26. It is easy to be a follower, but to be a disciple means to be a student — to be humble, docile, and teachable, and to listen.  All this requires discipline.  Christ invites us to a life of discipline not for his sake, but for our sake; not to help him, but to help us; not to make him happy, but to allow us to share in his happiness.
27. There are four major aspects of the human person: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.
28. Christ proposes a life of discipline… as the key to freedom.
29. We find ourselves enslaved and imprisoned by a thousand different whims, cravings, addictions, and attachments.
30. [Our culture subscribes to] the adolescent notion that freedom is the ability to do whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want, without interference from any authority.
31. Freedom is the strength of character and the self-possession to do what is good, true, noble, and right.
32. Love is the core of Jesus’ philosophy.  But in order to love you must be free.  For to love is to give your self freely and without reservation.
33. [To] give your self — to another person, to an endeavor, or to God — you must first possess your self.  This possession of self is freedom.  It is a prerequisite for love, and is attained only through discipline.
34. Before Jesus, the sick were left on the side of the road, left there to rot and die by relatives who feared for their own health.
35. Education was only for the nobility until the Church recognized and proclaimed the dignity of every human person and introduced the idea that every person deserved an education.
36. All the worldly success of Christ and the Church are insignificant compared to the change Christ wants to have in you and your life.
37. Love is our origin and our destiny.
38. Our quest for happiness is a quest for God.  This is the genius of God.  [It] is the ultimate homing device, designed to draw us gently toward our eternal home.
39. [Quoting St. Augustine:] “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, Lord.”
40. Christ did not entrust the Church with a social, political, or economic mission, but with a mission that is primarily spiritual.
41. When we allow the Gospel to transform the way we live and love and work, it elevates every honest human endeavor and every aspect of society.
42. [God] wants to deliver you from everything that stands in the way of becoming the-best-version-of-yourself.
43. [God reveals to us our unique pat of salvation through] the relationship between our legitimate needs, our deepest desires, and our talents.
44. One of the most ancient practices of Christian spirituality is the unveiling of the deepest desires of our hearts through contemplation and reflection.
45. It is through prayer, reflection, the Scriptures, the grace of the Sacraments, the wisdom of the Church, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we discover and walk the path that God is calling us to walk.
46. The world and all it has to offer [i.e. pleasure, possessions, power] can never content the human heart.  God alone can satisfy the deepest cravings of our hearts.
47. It is the task of the Church to introduce us to our destiny by unveiling for us the mystery of God, who is our ultimate end and our destiny.
48. God invites us to live, and become the-best-version-of-ourselves.
49. Let us never forget that people do not exist for the Church — the Church exists for people.
50. It is your task and mine to introduce others to their destiny by unveiling the mystery of God for them.  It is your task and mine to assist all those who cross our paths to fulfill their destiny.  This is one of the brilliant and beautiful ways that God has tied us all together.