™   Volume 15, # 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 1999

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On Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benjamin Barber

    "I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures, those who make it or those who don’t. I divide the world into learners and non-learners."

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Be Patient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rainer Maria Rilke

    "I want to beg you as much as I can, to be patient to all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves…Do not seek now answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live with them.
    And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then someday without knowing it live along gradually into the answer…
    Take whatever comes with great trust, and if only it comes out of your own will, out of some need of your innermost being, take it into yourself…and hate nothing."

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A Daily Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.)

    "We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift."

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On Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, TOR

"May reading unlock the doors of knowledge and show you the path to understanding."

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Messenger of the Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angelus Silesius

"If you could just be still,
stop rushing round and round
in search of God—
You’d find Him as your Ground.

Prayer is neither word nor gesture
chant nor sound.
It is to be still in communication
with our Ground."

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That Kindling Spark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Johann Friedrich Schiller

    "Enthusiasm is that kindling spark which marks the difference between the leaders in every activity and the laggards who put in just enough to get by."

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Great Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Albert Einstein

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

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Quality of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sir Basil Liddell Hart

    "The quality of leadership needs, above all, spirit, intelligence, and sympathy. Spirit is needed to fire men to self-sacrificing achievements; intelligence because men will only respect and follow a leader whom they feel knows his profession thoroughly; sympathy, to understand the mentality of each individual in order to draw out the best that is in him. Given these qualities men will conquer fear to follow a leader."

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Wisdom Seeds

"Call upon the Lord, but row away from the rocks."
                    Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think."
                    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    "Steer clear of anyone who values cleverness above dependability, expedience above integrity, and charm above character."
                    William Arthur Ward

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A Morning Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

    "Lord, speak my name, let my words be a reflection of God’s creation in me. Allow me to be your disciple, so that by my encouraging words and deeds others are drawn into the wonder of hopes and creative possibilities which you have placed in them."

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Look Beyond…Take the Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Michael Wiggins, Franciscan Univ.Alumni Magazine, Fall 1986

    "You have to have enough confidence in yourself to look beyond and take the chance—that is, to say to yourself, ‘This is an opportunity that I want. I may not be totally prepared for it, but I want to do it.’ You know how to step out beyond the boundaries—not knowing what’s out there, but knowing you want to pursue it."

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On Being Afraid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vauvenargus

    "There are those who are so scrupulously afraid of doing wrong that they seldom venture to do anything."

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Hasten That Day! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arnaud C. Marts

    "There have been men and women in every generation who have longed for a better day and who have been willing to aid the forces which they believed would hasten that day."

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Working Smarter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael LeBoeuf, Insight, Dec. 1986, p. 29

    "Here’s the big secret about how you spend your day: Time usage is mostly a matter of habit. Therefore, good time management is first-rate habits made second nature. Some habits are time-savers; others waste time. The key to working smarter is to replace old, ineffective habits with new, good ones. Easier said than done? You bet, but keep this point in mind: Successful people are successful because they are willing to do the things that unsuccessful people are not willing to do."

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Litmus Test of Discipleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunday Sermon Masterpiece Collection, Vol. III, p. 1193

    One of the materials that a student in an Intro. Chemistry course becomes acquainted with early in the semester is litmus paper. Litmus, a dye extracted from a plant called lichens, is used to detect the presence of acids and bases–alkalies. If blue litmus paper turns red when dipped into a solution, the student knows that the solution contains an acid. Likewise, if red litmus paper turns blue when dipped into a solution, the student knows that the solution is a base–alkaline. It’s a very simple test, and it works every time.

    Jesus gave some final instructions to His followers—His students in the Intro. to Discipleship course. He tells them of a test by means of which people will be able to identify his genuine followers. Like the litmus test for acids and alkalies, it’s a very simple test, and it works every time. The litmus test of discipleship is in Jesus’ own words, "By this all will know you are my disciples, if you love one another." (Jn. 13:35).

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Most Important Lesson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Bob Gilbert, Leadership, July 2, 1996, p. 7

    The most important lesson I ever learned in college was during the first moments of the first class on the first day.…
    With my notebook open to the brand-spanking new, very first page, I waited for my English professor to begin. Without a word, she turned to the board and wrote:

College is a fountain of knowledge
where some come to drink,
more come to sip,
but, unfortunately,
most come just to gargle.

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