Lectio Divina - Ninety-eight

Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets. New York: HarperCollins, 1962, p. 333.

Is it more compatible with our conception of the grandeur of God to claim that He is emotionally blind to the misery of man rather than profoundly moved? In order to conceive of God not as an onlooker but as a participant, to conceive of man not as an idea in the mind of God but as a concern, the category of divine pathos is an indispensable implication. To the biblical mind the conception of God as detached and unemotional is totally alien . . .

The grandeur of God implies the capacity to experience emotion. In the biblical outlook, movements of feeling are no less spiritual than acts of thought.

Lectio Divina - Ninety-seven

Brother David Steindl-Rast, in the foreword to Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ. New York: Riverhead Books, 1995, xiii.

In midwinter, St. Francis is calling out to an almond tree, “Speak to me of God!” and the almond tree breaks into bloom. It comes alive. There is no other way of witnessing to God but by aliveness.