“Reflections for Ragamuffins”  Brennan Manning             February 6 2024

Brennan writes:

“The betrayals and infidelities of my life are too numerous to count. I still cling to the illusion that I must be morally impeccable, other people must be sinless, and the one I love must be without human weakness. But whenever I allow anything but tenderness and compassion to dictate my response to life -be it self-righteous anger, moralizing, defensiveness, the pressing need to change others, carping criticism, frustration at others’ blindness, a sense of spiritual superiority, a gnawing hunger of vindication – I am alienated from my true self. My identity as Abba’s child becomes ambiguous, tentative and confused.

Our way being in the world is the way of tenderness. Everything else is illusion, misperception, falsehood”

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other other, just in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32