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Tragedy is that our attention centers on what people are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.

Brennan Manning

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Brennan Manning
Age: 75 †
Born: 1937
Born: April 27
Died: 2013
Died: April 12
Author
Catholic Priest
Theologian
New York City
New York
Richard Francis Xavier Manning
Centers
Tragedy
Attention
Rather
Become
Might
People

More quotes by Brennan Manning

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God is a kooky God who can scarcely bear to be without us.
Brennan Manning
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The life of Jesus suggests that to be like Abba is to show compassion.
Brennan Manning
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Jesus comes for sinners, for those outcast...and those caught up in squalid choices and failed dreams.
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The love of Christ embraces all without exception. Fire of love, crazy over what You have made. Oh, divine Madman. (Prayer of Catherine Siena) Simply do the next thing in love. I have no sense of myself apart from you. Quia amasti me, fecisti me amabilem. (In loving me, you made me lovable.)
Brennan Manning
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The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.
Brennan Manning
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Jesus reveals a God who does not demand but who gives who does not oppress but who raises up who does not wound but who heals who does not condemn but forgives.
Brennan Manning
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The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust — not only for all the gifts that I receive from God, but gratitude for all the suffering. Because in that purifying experience, suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.
Brennan Manning
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Childlike surrender and trust, I believe, is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship.
Brennan Manning
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When absolute control and rigid obedience pose as love within the family and the local faith-community , we produce trained cowards rather than Christian persons.
Brennan Manning
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The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi.
Brennan Manning
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Letting ourselves be loved by God is more important than loving God.
Brennan Manning
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Quia amasti me, fecisti me amabilem. (In loving me, you made me lovable.)
Brennan Manning
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Nevertheless, the central affirmation of the Reformation stands: through no merit of ours, but by his mercy, WE HAVE BEEN RESTORED to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of his beloved Son. This is the Good News, the gospel of Grace
Brennan Manning
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We are not cowed into timidity by death and life. Were we forced to rely on our own shabby resources we would be pitiful people in deed. But the awareness of Christ's present risenness persuades us that we are buoyed up and carried on by a life greater than our own.
Brennan Manning
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We are enveloped in peace, whether or not we feel ourselves to be at peace. By that I mean the peace that passes understanding is not a subjective sensation of peace if we are in Christ, we are in peace even when we feel no peace.
Brennan Manning
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We even refuse to be our true self with God- and then wonder why we lack intimacy with him.
Brennan Manning
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To affirm a person is to see the good in them that they cannot see in themselves and to repeat it in spite of appearances to the contrary. Please, this is not some Pollyanna optimism that is blind to the reality of evil, but rather like a fine radar system that is tuned in to the true, the good, and the beautiful.
Brennan Manning
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Choose a single, sacred word or phrase that captures something of the flavor of your intimate relationship with God. A word such as Jesus, Abba, Peace, God or a phrase such as Abba, I belong to you. . . . Without moving your lips, repeat the sacred word inwardly, slowly, and often.
Brennan Manning
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The ragamuffin gospel reveals that Jesus forgives sins, including the sins of the flesh that He is comfortable with sinners who remember how to show compassion but that He cannot and will not have a relationship with pretenders in the Spirit.
Brennan Manning
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Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.
Brennan Manning