during 2023 I will continue to add quotations to this section that speak to what is at the core of ‘Encounter the heart’.
“No matter how great or small the offense against me, I will try to forgive. I will be the victor, not the victim.” The Hero Code, Admiral William McRaven, p. 143
“I will learn to sacrifice by giving a little of my time, my talent, and my treasure to those in need. Every day. Without fail.” The Hero Code, Admiral William McRaven, p. 37
“I will use humour to comfort others, and never be afraid to laugh at myself.” The Hero Code, Admiral William McRaven, p. 132
“What you do with your heart affects the whole Universe!”
I first heard this quote used by my Congregational Leader – Br Philip Pinto. But I have heard it attributed to others.
“He departed from our sight that we might return to our hearts and find Him there!”
St Augustine of Hippo
Live simply so that others may simply live.
Gandhi
“Fear not, the good seed will grow in the children’s hearts later on!”
Blessed Edmund Rice
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye!”
“It is the time that you have wasted with your rose that makes your rose so important!”
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“The poor need help today, not next week!”
Catherine McAuley foundress of the Sisters of Mercy
“It’s all so simple and makes perfect sense – life is temporary and fragile, precious beyond measure, and life contains nothing except this moment – this beautiful bright river of experience This is all there is and this is where fulfilment lies and everything else is only a shadow play of the mind.” The Shock, by Steve Taylor
“Everyone has a map in his heart of his own country and the heart will never allow you to forget this map!”
Alexander McCall Smith
The most difficult thing – but an essential one – is to love life, to love it even while you suffer, because life is all, life is God, and to love life is to love God.
Leo Tolstoy – War and Peace
“The essence of all spirituality is presence, a state of consciousness and that transcends thinking!”
Eckhart Tolle
“I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, The Astonishing Light of your own Being!”
Hafiz
“Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Mary Oliver – The Summer Day
“God acts in the simplicity of open hearts!”
Pope Francis – Let us Dream
“We need a culture of encounter where we meet as people with a shared dignity!”
Pope Francis – Let us Dream
“Thou hast made me known to friends whom I knew not. Thou hast given me seats in homes not my own. Thou hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger. I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter; I forgot that there abides the old in the new, and that there also thou abidest.
Through birth and death, in this world or in others, wherever thou leadest me it is thou, the same, the one companion of my endless life who ever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar. When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer that I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the One in the play of the many”.
Rabindranath Tagore
The challenge for men is to let us know if you’re in that (dark) place. Let us know, because when you open up and talk about your problems, you’ll realise that you’re loved an dcared for much more than you give credit for. Talk to someone you trust, but please just talk t osomeone. have that conversation. Men don’t want to burden us with thie problems, and Paul was a man. We don’t want to be seen as weak and that’s all men, not just footballers. There are a lot of guys who have done what Pauls’ done, unfortunately, and no one knows about them. Men are vulnerable and it’s OK to show that we are. You have to let us know so we can try to help. Because this (Green’s death) helps nobody; this hurts us all. This must not be in vain.
Words of Wayne Bennett – Rugby League coach upon the death by suicide of Paul Green.
“I’m so small,” said the mole. “Yes,” said the boy, “but you make a huge difference!”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” (asked the mole) “Kind!” said the boy.
“What do you think success is?” asked the boy. “To love,” said the mole.
“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?” (asked the boy) “Comparing yourself to others!” said the mole.
The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse by Charlie Mackesy
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble!” Helen Keller
“The weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong!” Mahatma Gandhi
“Whatever job I am given, whatever duty I am bound by, I will do it to the best of my ability!” The Hero Code by Admiral William McRaven, p. 102