Ch. 154 - Words to Live By

I've finally finished a book I've been reading since maybe... March? I think that's about right. Well. More like February, I think. I've been reading a few pages here and there. Usually when I start to read a book, I finish that day or the next - no matter how many chapters or pages it contains (I'm a quick reader, but able to comprehend everything very well.). But for some reason, this has been a 'pick up-set down' kind of book. But it's been very interesting how that has worked out for me. It seems that each time I read anything from this book God directly spoke to me through the writing. If I was ever bothered by anything, I was calmed. If I was ever wondering about something, my questions were answered. Really cool.

The book is titled Essential Writings. It is made up of selections from over a dozen books by Carlo Carretto. He was a member of the Little Brothers of Jesus, the order inspired by the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld.

One of my favorite parts was near the end of the book. The chapter is titled 'Last Things'. The quote I am about to post comes from Carretto's book And God Saw That It Was Good, but the section is titled 'The Face of Crucified Love'.

'Jesus gave the example by living as he lived, by dying as he died; he explained to us how we should act in order to conquer evil and destroy death.

Human beings, do you want to free yourselves from the evil oppressing you?
Act as Jesus did.

Human beings, do you want to destroy death, which is ever clutching at you?
Die of love, as Jesus did.

To overcome the evil seeking to master us, to transform our death into an act of love, is to achieve that conquest necessary for entering the kingdom, I mean the kingdom of peace and freedom, the kingdom of justice and love.

No one can discharge this task for us.

It's true, Jesus has saved us, but he's left the hard work of saving ourselves to us.'

I really appreciate what Carretto said about conquering evil and destroying death. It's so uplifting to know that we can do just that thanks to Jesus Christ. It's difficult - there's no doubt about that. There will be a lot of battles, but it's kind of like we already know that no matter what happens we will win the war.


'Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession...'
[1 Timothy 6:12]

Ch. 78 - Godliness and Evil

'But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.'
[1 Timothy 6:6-10]

4. May 2010 Edit:

It is saddening to see what turning away from God can do to someone.
To their health.
Their happiness.
Their family.
Their faith.
Their life.
Especially when they have turned away on the account of greed and envy and jealousy. I think it is incredibly difficult to learn how to be content. And I do think it is something to be learned, because of the times we live in. We can never have enough. We want more. We want bigger and better. We want flashy. We want expensive. We want "priceless".

But we should be desiring the things in this life which are truly priceless... such as love and grace from our Lord God. Salvation. Eternal life.

We can never have enough love.
We should want more of it.
And learn to be truly content with what God gives us.