Br. Brian, OCL

// spiritual director // vowed brother @ Order of the Common Life // 'mysticism begins and ends with the experience of being loved.' —Wm. Johnston, S.J.

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Look at the river as it moves toward the sea. It creates its own banks that contain it. When there's something within you that moves in the right direction, it creates its own discipline.'

—A. De Mello, S.J.

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Each person's knowledge is genuine to the extent that it is confirmed by gentleness, humility and love.'
—St Mark the Ascetic

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Christian mysticism is not a looking at Christ and an imitation of him but a transformation into Christ.'

—Wm. Johnston, SJ

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Biblical studies finds a corporate expression in liturgy, the practical know-how of which is taken at least as seriously as homiletics, but the ultimate value of liturgy depends on the creative spirituality of each individual within the congregation.'

—Martin Thornton

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'For the church's part, when the connection between spiritual direction and the local congregation is severed, the church loses an opportunity to learn a purer witness to Christian community.'

—E. Liebert

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Theologically speaking, spiritual direction is essentially ecclesial; it is one of the ways in which the church fulfills its mission to nurture its members. This ecclesial dimension is most concretely embodied through the local worshiping community.'

—E. Liebert

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Therefore, participating in a Christian community, generally (but not always) a local congregation or parish, makes concrete the ecclesial parameters in which spiritual direction appropriately occurs.'

—E. Liebert

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'If you've never run away from your God, I wonder who your God is.'

—Paul Tillich

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'I need both of these: I need truth that I may not be able to hide from him, and grace that I may not wish to hide.'

—Bernard of Clairvaux

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'In my curiosity I have descended to explore my lowest depths, yet I found Him even deeper. If I looked outside myself, I saw Him stretching beyond the furthest I could see; and if I looked within, He was yet further within."

—Bernard of Clairvaux

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'It is terrifying to be alone before God without God.'

–K. Rahner, SJ

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

"The way to God is easy, because it is taken by unloading."

—Guigo II

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Mysticism begins and ends with the experience of being loved.'

—Wm. Johnston, S.J.

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'To love God is, in a way, to make God love Himself in us, as He loves Himself in Himself.'

—E. Gilson

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

The problem with our emphasis on sin is that we're fixated on the symptoms rather than the disease or its cause—which is separation from the love of God.

Then, we imagine that, because we know the cure, we are cured, as though we could be healed by knowing the word "penicillin."

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

He is Risen!

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'One is very close to knowledge when one clearly recognizes the questions to be asked.'

—Abba Isaac

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

On Palm Sunday, we remember that Christ has been embraced by nationalism before.

It will always reject him.

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'It is in many ways more remarkable and a more sublime virtue to be able to heal the weaknesses of one's own soul rather than the failings of another's body.'

—Abba Nesteros

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'If God had wanted us to receive him as a cup receives coffee, he would have made us out of glass or plastic.'

—Nemeck & Coombs

[Br. Brian, OCL @BrianHohmeier]

'Know yourself and you will have a wholesome fear of God; know him and you will also love him.'

—Bernard