It’s time to visit my quotation collection again. If you are familiar with my blog, you know I collect quotes—thousands of them. I jot them on 3 X 5 index cards and file them alphabetically. Currently I have seven drawers of quotes. Today, I’ll flip through the M’s and see what I come up with:

1. (Filed under man): Dostoevsky defined man (a human being) as “a being who could get used to anything.”

2. (Marriage): “Before you marry, keep two eyes open; after you marry, shut one.” Jamaican proverb

3. (Mary at her visit with Elizabeth): “The only scene in the entire gospel where two women meet and hold center stage. They were engaged in radical, subversive conversation and prayer that expressed their hope of changing the unjust structures of society…. Mary offers a perspective for perseverance and sets a definite agenda of what has to change: the entire world must be turned upside down.” Kathleen Coyle

4. (Meaning): “When through one person a little more love and goodness, a little more light and truth come into the world, then that person’s life has had meaning.” Alfred Delp, SJ

5. (Memory): “There are three kinds of memory: good, bad, and convenient. Anonymous

6. (Mercy) “Our faults are like a grain of sand beside the great mountain of the mercies of the good God.” St. John Vianney

7. (Merton): I have a whole pack of quotes from Thomas Merton. Here’s one: “Many poets are not poets for the same reason that many religious people are not saints: they never succeed in being themselves.”

8. (Ministry/Service): “The service we render others is really the rent we pay for our room on the earth.” Sir Wilfred Grenfell

9. (Miracles): “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” Willa Cather

10. (Mistakes): “The mistakes we make are the best teachers in the world.” Richard Rohr

11. (Mistakes): “To get maximum attention, it’s hard to beat a good, big mistake.” Anonymous

12. (Morality): “What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient.” Bodie Thoene

13. (Mother): “God couldn’t be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.” Jewish proverb

14. (Music): “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” Aldous Huxley

15. (Mysticism): “Mysticism is felt gratitude for everything.” Anthony DeMello, SJ

Did any of the quotes touch your heart today? If so, why?

Do you have a quote that could be filed under M in my quote drawers?

PS: Last week some of you couldn’t open my blog. But that problem was fixed last Wednesday. In case you missed last week’s announcement: my congregation is in the process of launching a new website for our entire USA province. It should be up and running by April. Then you’ll be able to respond again. I can’t wait! I really miss hearing from you!

It is appropriate that our song also begin with an “M.” It is “The Magnificat,” the song Mary sang at the visitation with Elizabeth (see quote #3 above). I found two beautiful versions with lyrics and I am offering both of them to you today. Take your pick or listen to both:

“Magnificat” composed by Todd Agnew and sung by Christy Nockels… with lovely pictures:

“Magnificat” performed by Koine from the album “Emmanuel Lux”…I found the melody hauntingly beautiful:

Once again, I thank you for reading “Sunflower Seeds.”