my host sister likes to count them.
From "Just Development for Fullness of Life: An Orthodox Approach":
"The Triune God, Who has always revealed Himself as Agape, also reveals Himself as a God Who demands justice among His people, showing that justice and agape are indissolubly linked to each other.... For Christians, in addition, fullness of life requires that we continuously die with Christ for the sake of others, and rise with Christ into a new life. Fullness of human life on earth reflects the life of the the Holy Trinity.... Fundamental social change, meaning a deep change in the relationships among persons, can never be imposed... it comes only through a radical change of heart."
From The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis:
"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.... We shall drawn nearer to God not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him, throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it."
I read an article in the New York Times this morning about the devastating failures of the United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's a horrifying situation, with hundreds--thousands--of women being raped around the country, even as peacekeepers supposedly "keep the people safe." The international relations major in me gets really angry when I read this article. The Christian in me gets even more angry. And I'm left wondering... in light of the two quotes above? What do we do?
Vietnam, Bosnia, Romania, the Congo... perhaps this is what God sees when I sing, "Break my heart for what breaks Yours." So be it.
"Break my heart for what breaks yours." This song has been in my heart all summer and all semester. This line always hits hardest. Love it.
ReplyDeletep.s. it was SO GREAT to chat with you yesterday! much love.