Joe Manafo

a bunch of stuff

*we informed ethan last night that he was going over to grandma’s to which he responded by packing a backpack for the 3 hour stay. its contents: 4 super nintendo games (though grandma doesn’t own the game system), his spiderman pyjamas and a rock. at that moment, in his mind, i suppose nothing else was as important.

*in my unrelenting quest to do, accomplish and succeed i feel the Father forcing me to s l o w d o w n, trust and just be. this is killing me.

*this weekend i’ll be near london, ontario yapping at a retreat for phil who is the student ministries director at newhope church, and at one point in time, a student in one of my former ministry settings. what a cool feeling. what a privilege.

*at the office today, one of the employees had her 9 year old son with her. he told me that he collects keys that no one wants, so i gave him a key off my ring. it’s one of the mailbox keys for 135 wentworth circle in calgary. i forgot to leave it behind. i’m glad i did.

*in preparation for the weekend i read all 111 pages of henri nouwen’s “Can you Drink the Cup”. here are some notable quotes…

“Salvation is not only a goal for the afterlife. Salvation is the reality of everyday that we can taste here and now.”

“To know ourselves truly and acknowledge fully our own unique journey, we need to be known and acknowledged by others for who we are. We cannot live a spiritual life in secrecy. We cannot find our way to true freedom in isolation. Silence without speaking is as dangerous as solitude without community. They belong together.”

“Drinking our cup involves carefully choosing those actions which lead us closer to completely emptying of it, so that at the end of our lives we can say with Jesus: “It is fulfilled” (John 19:30). That indeed, is the paradox: We fulfill life by emptying it. In Jesus’ own words: “Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

“It is the life of Christ and our life, blended together into one life. As we drink the cup, we drink the cup that Jesus drank, but we also drink our cup. That is the great mystery of the Eucharist. The cup of Jesus filled with his life, poured out for us and all people, and our cup, filled with our own blood, have become one cup. Together when we drink that cup as Jesus drank it we are transformed into the one body of the living Christ, always dying and always rising for the salvation of the world.”

Filed by Joe at November 22nd, 2006 under Quotes, People, Office Stories