Morning Briefings

There is something admirable in people who faithfully embrace their duties and obligations even though what has to be done carries with it no personal reward or delight, such as visiting an Alzheimer’s patient week after week. But our responsibilities need a measure of joy. Two graces are needed here: wisdom to help us see wherein joy lies and courage to transcend the downward pull of duty’s gravity.

– Robert F. Morneau
Growing in Joy: 31 Meditations for a Life in Abundance

Our responsibilities need a measure of joy. We need the energy of enthusiasm even in the most menial tasks if we are to avoid resentment and boredom. A joyless, drab existence is a sorry sight. Worse, it is a wasted life.

– Bishop Robert F. Morneau
Growing in Joy: 31 Meditations for a Life in Abundance

Do not feel overwhelmed by the length of this journey. All you ever need do is focus on one thing: what you are doing. Stay on the path and put one foot in front of the other–that is all. There is joy in the struggle.

– Philip Toshio Sudo
Zen Guitar

The French philosopher Voltaire once defined optimism as ‘the mania of maintaining that everything is well when we are wretched.’ Some people are blessed with an upbeat personality that allows them to view life through rose-colored glasses and ‘make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.’ But even sunny-souled people can’t ward off all the shadows, certainly not forever, not without a sure word for an omnipotent God.

– Robert J. Morgan
The Promise: How God Works All Things Together for Good

I’ve been a Catholic all my life, and there’s one thing I’ve never understood. Why didn’t the Corinthians write back?

– Long-time LA Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda
speaking at St. Mary’s High School in Phoenix as Andre Ethier was having his high school number retired

God, what do you think I should do?  It is the one question that has almost completely disappeared from the dialog of modern men and modern women. And it is for that sole reason that so many men and so many women lead lives of quiet desperation and animosity. If we think we can lead the lives of happiness we’re hoping for without asking that question and honestly seeking the answer to that question, then we are absolutely kidding ourselves.

– Matthew Kelly
in a September 30, 2009 speech at the Orange County Catholic Prayer Breakfast

There is something admirable in people who faithfully embrace their duties and obligations even though what has to be done carries with it no personal reward or delight, such as visiting an Alzheimer’s patient week after week. But our responsibilities need a measure of joy. Two graces are needed here: wisdom to help us see wherein joy lies, and courage to transcend the downward pull of duty’s gravity.

– Robert F. Morneau
Growing in Joy:31 Meditations for a Life in Abundance

When you’re really good at something, you always feel that you can do better.

– Lindsey Buckingham
VH1 Classic Albums: Fleetwood Mac

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

– Helen Keller