"[The] Holy Spirit jettisons the garbage in the junkyard of the mind, sweeps clean the attic of addictive emotional programming, frees the Christian from the damnable imprisonment of the flesh, and eliminates the considerable unnecessary suffering in life that is not born of the will of God."
"The study of psychology has added significantly to our understanding of human behavior and provided a key to unlocking the inner chambers of the mind. Many in the church have come to appreciate the emotional and spiritual benefits of counseling, meditation practices, yoga, contemplative prayer, and so forth. However, we must also recognize that all these human activities remain limited in their ability to give us complete spiritual insight and direction. For that, we can only turn to the inspired Word of God. And the gospel points to only one source of redemption: the Cross of Jesus Christ."
"For us, the death and resurrection process was initiated in conversion, but if we are to continue to drink of the life-giving water of the Spirit we must draw near to the body of our crucified God, from whom the saving waters flow... If there are few Spirit-filled, power-laden, transparent Christians, it is because so few have plunged into the true life of Jesus and died to sin, selfishness, dishonesty, and degraded love. Whenever the Spirit of God blows like a hurricane through Christian history, it is through prophets and Christ lovers who have surrendered unconditionally to the folly of the Cross."
"The exploration of the mind of Christ is a journey to nowhere if the pilgrim is still handcuffed to the flesh. Transparency is obliterated if he draws a silk screen across the rough wood of the cross."
"The impact of every serious effort at reform, renovation, and spiritual renewal... will vanish like last night's dream if it is not sustained by the power of the paschal mystery."
"Jesus entered our world as the music man, but the world was disturbed by his song. On Good Friday the world went back to the peace it needed. Jesus wanted to turn the world into a great cathedral organ, and he dug music out of dry bread, herds of pigs, whores, and the dead. Nain, Jericho, Capternaum, and Bethany put two nails into his hands to silence his music."
"The life of the Christian is not the imitation of a dead hero. The Christian lives in Christ, and Christ lives in the Christian through the Holy Spirit. We are empowered to live new lives where sin has no place. If we do not, we frustrate the power of the paschal mystery by our refusal of faith in the power."
"We can delude ourselves into believing that sin is simply an aberration or a lack of maturity; that preoccupation with security, pleasure, and power is caused by social structures and personality quirks; that we are sinful but not sinners, since we are mere victims of circumstances, compulsions, environment, addictions, upbringing, and so forth. The Passion nails these lies and rationalizations to the Cross... Even the last perversion of truth we cling to--the self-flattery that suggests we are being rather humble when we disclaim any resemblance to Jesus Christ--has to go when we stand face to face with the crucified Son of Man."
"The unnecessary emotional suffering connected with living by our desire for security, pleasure, and power--depression, anxiety, guilt, fear, and sadness--is vanquished by the transforming power of the love of Jesus Christ. The Cross is a confrontation with the overwhelming goodness of God and the mystery of his love."
"The power of darkness (security, pleasure, and power) attempts to seduce us to turn back, to renege on our commitment, to renounce our obedience to Christ by a kind of physical or moral self-annihilation. The Cross confronts us with the cost of discipleship, reminds us that there is no cheap Pentecost, and carries with it the living power to enable us to endure the inevitable humiliations, rejections, sacrifices, and loneliness that the journey to higher Christian consciousness imposes."
"What is the basic truth that sets Mary Magdalene free? It is that God loves her with an overwhelming love. This gift, not the intellectual cognition but the experiential awareness of it, is mediated through the Spirit of Christ crucified. The personal living experience of the love of Jesus Christ is the power and wisdom that illuminates, transforms, and transfigures Mary Magdalene and all the extravagant lovers in Christian history."
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