Only God Knows Our Happiness

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Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, God, guidance, guide, happiness, heaven, inspiration, Jesus, John Henry Newman, journey, joy, love, religion, Religion and Spirituality, spirituality

“God knows what is my greatest happiness, but I do not… And the ways by which perfection is reached vary very much; the medicines necessary for our souls are very different from each other. Thus God leads us by strange ways; we know He wills our happiness, but we neither know what our happiness is, nor the way. We are blind; left to ourselves we should take the wrong way; we must leave it to Him.”― John Henry Newman

Our New Country

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Catholic, Christianity, God, heaven, Henri J.M. Nouwen, Henri Nouwen, inspiration, Jesus, journey, joy, religion, spirituality, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey, Travel

“You have come to realize that you must leave it (the old country) and enter the new country, where your Beloved dwells. You know that what helped and guided you in the old country no longer works, but what else do you have to go by? You are being asked to trust that you will find what you need in the new country. That requires the death of what has become so precious to you: influence, success, yes, even affection and praise.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen

The Road to Heaven

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Catholic, Christianity, God, heaven, inspiration, Jesus, journey, joy, love, religion, spirituality, Travel, walking

There are times when we get tired of all the doubts and hesitations that sap away our strength. And instead of being hindered by our fears, we begin to use all of our power in moving on towards our highest and noblest dreams. It is then when we learn that we are finally ready to risk everything and to undergo even the most difficult sacrifices because we could never be happy with anything else. When we consider all things as lost for the heaven we seek, we gain what is truly the most important thing of all.

Our Spiritual Map

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Catholic, Christianity, faith, God, guidance, guide, inspiration, Jesus, journey, map, religion, spirituality, Travel, walking

Our spiritual journey requires a totally new set of skills and a totally new way of seeing things. While in our physical journeys, we’re often used to looking at a map to know where we are and where we’re going, our spiritual walk would require us to often continue our journey even without knowing where we’re going next. It’s enough that we have God as our Guide. For as long as HE is with us, He is our map! He can and will certainly take us where we have to go.

Courage for the Journey

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Catholic, Christianity, courage, faith, God, inspiration, Jesus, journey, paulo coelho, religion, spirituality, walking, warrior of the light

“This is a Knight’s first teaching: you will erase everything you wrote up to now on your life’s notebook: turmoil, insecurities, lies.

“And in place of all that, you will write the word courage.

Beginning the journey with this word and going on with faith in God, you will arrive where you need to arrive.”

-The Breviary of Medieval Knights (as quoted in Paulo Coelho’s Warrior of the Light)

We Have Different Paths

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Catholic, Christianity, faith, God, inspiration, Jesus, journey, joy, quotes, religion, spirituality, walking

“In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.”― Paulo Coelho, Aleph

The Safest Path

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Catholic, Christianity, courage, darkness, faith, God, God's providence, God's voice, guidance, inspiration, Jesus, journey, light, path, perseverance, quotes, religion, spirituality, Travel, walking

His Way

God sent me on when I would stay
(‘Twas cool within the wood);
I did not know the reason why.
I heard a boulder crashing by
‘Cross the path where I had stood.

He had me stay when I would go;
“Your will be done,” I said.
They found one day at early dawn,
Across the way I would have gone,
A serpent with a mangled head.

I ask no more the reason why,
Although I may not see
The path ahead, His way I go;
For though I know not, He does know,
And He will choose safe paths for me.

(from Sunday School Times as quoted in Streams in the Desert, March 30)

“The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” -Proverbs 20:24,NLT

Fear Nothing

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Catholic, Christianity, courage, faith, fear, God, guidance, inspiration, Jesus, journey, motivation, religion, spirituality, walking, wisdom

Your Guide will not keep to any beaten path. He will lead you through ways you would never have dreamed your eyes would see. He knows no fear, and He expects you to fear nothing while He is with you. – Streams in the Desert

God’s Calling

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calling, Catholic, Christianity, courage, faith, God, humility, inspiration, Jesus, journey, joy, mission, purpose, religion, spirituality, vocation, walking, weakness

There is something that both uplifts us and humbles us with the calling that we receive from God. It uplifts us because we are granted a purpose we may never even have dared to dream about, a mission that will bless countless people by the Grace God gives us. On the other hand, it humbles us because we know how frail we really are, and how by our own powers alone, we could never fulfill the lofty calling God has given us.

Difficulties Strengthen Us

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Catholic, Christianity, courage, difficulties, direction, faith, God, inspiration, Jesus, journey, joy, problems, purification, religion, spirituality, strength, walking

The difficulties along the way do not always signify that we are in the wrong direction.  They can also equip us by strengthening us or they can purify and test our motives if we are indeed committed in taking that direction.