Bernard’s Four Degrees Of Love
Love Of Self For Self’s Sake
Love Of God For Self’s Sake
Love Of God For God’s Sake
Love Of Self For God’s Sake
When we can rejoice in God, and rejoice in ourselves, we have come into the fullness of beauty.
Bernard’s Three Kisses
The Kiss Of The Feet
The Kiss Of The Hand
The Kiss Of The Lips
If you rush into intimacy, without dealing with your own stuff, you enter superficially.
If you spend all your time dealing with your stuff, and never entering into intimacy, you miss joy.
From Lewis’ Weight Of Glory
Next to the Eucharist itself, your brother or sister is the most glorious object you will ever see.
To Make Good Decisions About Theology & Scripture, We Integrate:
Scripture
Tradition
Reason
Holy Spirit Experience
Wesley was behind this idea.
The Good & The Beautiful Result
The good result (the one that’s official, legal and right) is to stone the adultress. The beautiful result (good theology) says, “Get up, you’re a beautiful daughter; go and sin no more.”
Why be satisfied with an epiphany, when you can become fire? (a desert father to a monk)
It’s easier to understand, than to experience; but do you really understand if you haven’t experienced?
Here’s an introduction to Ignatian Prayer; the prayer form we’re learning and growing through.
Read Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney — the 450 year old company of the Jesuits — from Ignatius
1) All Of Us Lead, Whether Well Or Poorly
2) Leadership Springs From Within (it’s about who I am as much as what I do)
3) Leadership Is Not An Act; It’s My Life, A Way Of Living
4) I Never Complete The Task Of Growing As A Leader; It’s An Ongoing Task
We shallowly substitute technique for substance. Jesuits pushed away flash for substance, by
1) Pillar 1: Self-Awareness
We become aware of blindspots by self-reflection and learning; we thrive by understanding what we’re about. Only those who have pinpointed their weakness can conquer them.
2) Pillar 2: Ingenuity
We live with one foot raised. However, the ground rises to meet you. I.e. We are poised to creatively respond to the changing landscape before us.
3) Pillar 3: Love
Leaders operate out of greater love than fear. Am I losing people, do they like me? True leaders face the world with a great confidence in themselves, and are committed to unlocking that in others. They create environments bound and energized by loyalty, affection and mutual support.
4) Pillar 4: Heroism
Leaders imagine and inspiring future, and seek to extract the gold from the opportunities at hand, rather than waiting for the gold to come to them. They don’t passively watch the future happen around them. By pushing for an inspiring future, and by passionately going for it themselves, they envision others to pursue it as well.
Bernard Quotes
“The teaching of the Spirit does not sharpen curiosity; it inspires love.”
“…God himself, the soul’s Bridegroom, comes to the soul as he wishes and leaves it again. But let us understand that this is only how it feels to the soul; there is no movement of the Word. When the soul is aware of grace, she knows that the Word is with her. When she is not, she seeks him who is absent, and begs him to come to her….” (In other words, longing and desiring is a prayer of beauty)
“God is sought, not on foot; but by desire, and the happy discovery of what is desired, does not end desire, but extends it.”
