The life of Jesus suggests that to be like Abba is to show compassion.

Donald Gray expre...
BRENNAN MANNING The story goes that a public sinner was excommunicated and forbidden entry to the church. He took hi...
BRENNAN MANNING The ragamuffin gospel reveals that Jesus forgives sins, including the sins of the flesh; that He is ...
BRENNAN MANNING The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with th...
BRENNAN MANNING I am deeply distressed by what I only can call in our Christian culture the idolatry of the Scriptur...
BRENNAN MANNING The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust
BRENNAN MANNING I believe that the real difference in the American church is not between conservatives and liberals,...
BRENNAN MANNING My trust in God flows out of the experience of his loving me, day in and day out, whether the day is...
BRENNAN MANNING Put bluntly, the American church today accepts grace in theory but denies it in practice. We say we ...
BRENNAN MANNING Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but ...
BRENNAN MANNING Childlike surrender and trust, I believe, is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship.
BRENNAN MANNING The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with the...
BRENNAN MANNING Do you believe that the God of Jesus loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity a...
BRENNAN MANNING In Love's service, only wounded soldiers can serve.
BRENNAN MANNING In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal o...
BRENNAN MANNING Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about tryin...
BRENNAN MANNING The Importance of Being Foolish; How to Think Like Jesus
BRENNAN MANNING To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting...
BRENNAN MANNING Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about you...
BRENNAN MANNING The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with th...
BRENNAN MANNING Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illu...
BRENNAN MANNING What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or ...
BRENNAN MANNING The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust - ...
BRENNAN MANNING Whenever religion shows contempt or disregards the rights of persons, even under the noblest pretext...
BRENNAN MANNING He is the only God man has ever heard of who loves sinners. False gods—the gods of human manufactu...
BRENNAN MANNING The God of the legalistic Christian, on the other hand, is often unpredictable, erratic, and capable...
BRENNAN MANNING Nowhere in the New Testament is the privileged position of turkeys, nobodies, and marginal people on...
BRENNAN MANNING One thing we do know: We don’t comprehend the love of Jesus Christ.
BRENNAN MANNING the real dichotomy in the Christian community today is not between conservatives and liberals or cre...
BRENNAN MANNING If in our hearts we really don’t believe that God loves us as we are, if we are still tainted by t...
BRENNAN MANNING The spiritual future of ragamuffins consists not in disavowing that we are sinners but in accepting ...
BRENNAN MANNING Yes, God saved us because He loved us. But He is God. He has infinite imagination. Couldn’t He hav...
BRENNAN MANNING The trouble with our ideals is that if we live up to all of them, we become impossible to live with.
BRENNAN MANNING Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but ...
BRENNAN MANNING The sinners to whom Jesus directed His messianic ministry were not those who skipped morning devotio...
BRENNAN MANNING And Grace calls out, 'You are not just a disillusioned old man who may die soon, a middle-aged woman...
BRENNAN MANNING The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we are, we can't save ourselves. What Je...
BRENNAN MANNING When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discour...
BRENNAN MANNING For those who feel their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and rec...
BRENNAN MANNING We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, ou...
BRENNAN MANNING The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.
BRENNAN MANNING Authentic faith leads us to treat others with unconditional seriousness and to a loving reverence fo...
BRENNAN MANNING Everybody has a vocation to some form of life-work. However, behind that call (and deeper than any c...
BRENNAN MANNING When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discour...
BRENNAN MANNING Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.
BRENNAN MANNING Live in the wisdom of accepted tenderness. Tenderness awakens within the security of knowing we are ...
BRENNAN MANNING Our identity rests in God's relentless tenderness for us revealed in Jesus Christ.
BRENNAN MANNING As we come to grips with our own selfishness and stupidity, we make friends with the impostor and ac...
BRENNAN MANNING Stop comparing or boast at your victories. He was referring to enormous vitality and strength of God...
BRENNAN MANNING The engaged mind, illuminated by truth, awakens awareness; the engaged heart, affected by love, awak...
BRENNAN MANNING While the impostor draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true s...
BRENNAN MANNING To ignore, repress, or dismiss our feelings is to fail to listen to the stirrings of the Spirit with...
BRENNAN MANNING Silent solitude makes true speech possible and personal. If I am not in touch with my own belovednes...
BRENNAN MANNING When we wallow in guilt, remorse, and shame over real or imagined sins of the past, we are disdainin...
BRENNAN MANNING The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is His greatest single act of unwavering trust in His Abba’...
BRENNAN MANNING [The] insistence on the absolutely indiscriminate nature of compassion within the Kingdom is the dom...
BRENNAN MANNING Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people sta...
BRENNAN MANNING Trust is that rare and priceless treasure that wins us the affection of our heavenly Father.
BRENNAN MANNING The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better ...
BRENNAN MANNING How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!
BRENNAN MANNING The love of Christ embraces all without exception.

Fire of love, crazy over what You have...
BRENNAN MANNING The Christ within who is our hope of glory is not a matter of theological debate or philosophical sp...
BRENNAN MANNING None of us has ever seen a motive. Therefore, we don't know we can't do anything more than suspect w...
BRENNAN MANNING Accepting the reality of our sinfulness means accepting our authentic self. Judas could not face his...
BRENNAN MANNING I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in ...
BRENNAN MANNING we unwittingly project onto God our own attitudes and feelings toward ourselves... But we cannot ass...
BRENNAN MANNING ...the institutional church, which exists to serve the people of God, is never to be confused with t...
BRENNAN MANNING At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinn...
BRENNAN MANNING Ragamuffins are simple, direct and honest. Their speech is unaffected. They are slow to claim, "God ...
BRENNAN MANNING For me the most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the pr...
BRENNAN MANNING In my experience, self-hatred is the dominant malaise crippling Christians and stifling their growth...
BRENNAN MANNING Christianity happens when men and women accept with unwavering trust that their sins have been not o...
BRENNAN MANNING The noonday devil of the Christian life is the temptation to lose the inner self while preserving th...
BRENNAN MANNING Today the danger of the pro-life position, which I vigorously support, is that it can be frightening...
BRENNAN MANNING The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become - the more we realize that ev...
BRENNAN MANNING Jesus was victorious not because he never flinched, talked back, or questioned, but having flinched,...
BRENNAN MANNING Those who have the disease called Jesus will never be cured.
BRENNAN MANNING The confessing church of American Ragamuffins needs to join Magdalene and Peter in witnessing that C...
BRENNAN MANNING Genuine self-acceptance is not derived from the power of positive thinking, mind games or pop psycho...
BRENNAN MANNING Grace abounds in contemporary movies, books, novels, films and music. If God is not in the whirlwind...
BRENNAN MANNING The North American Church is at a critical juncture. The gospel of grace is being confused and compr...
BRENNAN MANNING I have been seized by the power of a great affection.
BRENNAN MANNING For Ragamuffins, God's name is Mercy. We see our darkness as a prized possession because it drives u...
BRENNAN MANNING Imagine that Jesus is calling you today. He extends a second invitation to accept His Father's love....
BRENNAN MANNING How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, ...
BRENNAN MANNING The Word we study has to be the Word we pray. My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of...
BRENNAN MANNING My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to ...
BRENNAN MANNING Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or som...
BRENNAN MANNING The saved sinner is prostrate in adoration, lost in wonder and praise. He knows repentance is not wh...
BRENNAN MANNING Sin and forgiveness and falling and getting back up and losing the pearl of great price in the couch...
BRENNAN MANNING The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some pre...
BRENNAN MANNING When I get honest I admit that I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and I get d...
BRENNAN MANNING Lord, when I feel that what I'm doing is insignificant and unimportant, help me to remember that eve...
BRENNAN MANNING When a person is evoked for who she is, not who she is not, the most often result will be the inner ...
BRENNAN MANNING The only cure for suffering is to face it head on, grasp it round the neck and use it.
BRENNAN MANNING We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God... It is a strange fact that Christians...
BRENNAN MANNING The sorrow of God lies in our fear of Him, our fear of life, and our fear of ourselves. He anguishes...
BRENNAN MANNING Thornton Wilder’s one-act play “The Angel That Troubled the Waters,” based on John 5:1-4, dram...
BRENNAN MANNING Prudence was waiting for us when we arrived, and I saw her visibly wince as I pulled the Fiesta into...
M.L. BRENNAN I think most of the choke points stayed pretty clear this time around (in yesterday's rains). We kno...
BILL BRENNAN Near as we can tell, there's no sensitive or confidential sort of information contained on the compu...
BILL BRENNAN They made off with four computers and some petty cash. Some money that was left around to buy stamps...
BILL BRENNAN We are working with the Honolulu Police Department and the facility of building maintenance. We will...
BILL BRENNAN He still believes that holds out hope for residents who don't plan to sell their homes.
BILL BRENNAN The search is under way.
BILL BRENNAN No decisions have yet been made to put any of those properties up for sale.
BILL BRENNAN We'll continue to watch the water quality and hope the source of the bacteria is determined and adju...
BILL BRENNAN The feeling from those guys who work this stuff is that this will work. At midday (today) we hope to...
BILL BRENNAN We've trimmed back some of the landscaping along both sides of the building so would-be burglars cou...
BILL BRENNAN Today's numbers threw some (inflation) fears. We could see some nervousness on the mortgage side.
BRIAN BRENNAN He coached me in AAU basketball as a kid. He missed maybe one of my games that I can think of. He wa...
BRIAN BRENNAN As a kid, it was awesome to see him. He'd never scream, just watch the game and talk to you later ab...
BRIAN BRENNAN He taught us all how to compete.
BRIAN BRENNAN Having more executive housing in Ventura would be a huge draw to the city for companies and investor...
BRIAN BRENNAN It's surreal feeling, walking in the parade of champions. It was just a phenomenal experience. It de...
BRENNAN WHITMAN I felt great going into that match. I thought I wrestled the best match I could. He's a pretty good....
BRENNAN WHITMAN I think just having more mat time has helped me. You're always in a match so you just can never give...
BRENNAN WHITMAN I've got to thank my doctor, Dr. Monty Wilburn, because without him I would not have been able to co...
BRENNAN WHITMAN But, if we're going to lose, we lost the way you want to lose. I mean, they left their hearts out th...
BRENNAN TORGERSON We've got to be able to play at a high level for an entire game. And I feel like we showed what we'r...
BRENNAN TORGERSON We had some awful good looks at the basket, but they just didn't go in. And, we didn't shoot free th...
BRENNAN TORGERSON I don't know if it was a sense of urgency. I don't know what it was. But we finally start playing li...
BRENNAN TORGERSON They're going to line up and try to pound us. That's the kind of challenge we like.
BRENNAN SCHMIDT Having [Brooks] there right behind me literally on the field is a great feeling. You know you can co...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT I don't think we were necessarily tested for our style against Western Michigan because of all those...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT When you end up on a bad note, it motivates you.
BRENNAN SCHMIDT He's learning how to control that big body of his. It's scary that he's only a freshman.
BRENNAN SCHMIDT We weren't going to get to their quarterback, so it became all about getting our hands up in his fac...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT Two gap is not an easy thing and it's not a sexy thing either. But for the hard-nosed guy, it's perf...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT We know they're familiar with this game and we know they're going to run the ball as much as possibl...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT He definitely doesn't get as much recognition as I think he should. I go against some of the best of...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT They're a physical team. They don't do a lot of jazz and all that stuff. They run the ball right at ...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT I'm not so sure they'd help much in a night game, but I have looked at stadium lights with them in, ...
BRENNAN GARR Obviously, they didn't help enough today.
BRENNAN GARR They work, at least for me they do. The ball seems a lot brighter to me.
BRENNAN GARR Hitting is very important to me, so I'm not one that likes to sit and watch. I did that one year whe...
BRENNAN GARR I really felt confident throwing my slider today. The mindset of a pitcher is to come in and be in c...
BRENNAN GARR You look at the lights, and it seems like everything is green, and then it turns to a burnt orange. ...
BRENNAN GARR I get a lot of stares, especially when you shake hands after a game. And I don't take them out when ...
BRENNAN GARR He still has the motivation to do what he's doing. Our success this year was a slap in the face to a...
BRENNAN COAKLEY I believe I was a part of it because I was there every day. It was just a great feeling. We were dow...
BRENNAN COAKLEY The knee that I hurt is more flexible than my left knee. It's still kind of numb on the outside, but...
BRENNAN COAKLEY It would've been a huge deal.
BRENNAN COAKLEY When I first did it, coach Paterno talked to me about it and made sure that mentally I was OK.
BRENNAN COAKLEY His backstroke was a picture-perfect race. He's typically just as strong in the back half of the rac...
BRENNAN CLEVELAND He's got a lot more speed in him than that. He's not fully rested and he's not shaved down. I feel h...
BRENNAN CLEVELAND They swam extremely well in all our relays. I'm extremely pleased with the relays.
BRENNAN CLEVELAND We are very pleased with the way Ben closed out his conference career. Ben has always been an extrem...
BRENNAN CLEVELAND We are progressing. I am excited about the fact that we are improving every match. What else can you...
BRENNAN BROWN I think it will be a very competitive regional because not much separates the one, two, three and fo...
BRENNAN BROWN It was exciting. I know the girls have worked extraordinarily hard this year and I knew that they wo...
BRENNAN BROWN It came down to who is going to play the big points better. Our girls found a way to elevate their p...
BRENNAN BROWN There will be a number of teams that will bring very good competition,
BRENNAN BROWN I am encouraged, ... We had an excellent tournament. We still have a lot of work to do, but there ar...
BRENNAN BROWN I haven't slept much in the past few days because I think we are all pretty excited to get out there...
BRENNAN BROWN It was a lot of fun. There were a number of top ranked teams there.
BRENNAN BROWN Marlon Leone has been a rock. He has improved greatly from a year ago. He is our best player and our...
BRENNAN BROWN Our No.1 doubles team is a team all our other doubles teams look up to. They are playing at a very h...
BRENNAN BROWN If Brian Bilbray had an ounce of integrity, he would call for this ad to be taken off the air. What ...
BRENNAN BILBERRY People understand the disgusting length this organization will sink to, to attack a woman who has de...
BRENNAN BILBERRY People all across the country realize this is going to be a hard-fought and very close election. Gov...
BRENNAN BILBERRY We certainly want to make sure that we have a complete profile, so we know who our opponents are. Bu...
BRENNAN BILBERRY It's more confirmation that Francine is running against a group of career politicians and millionair...
BRENNAN BILBERRY I'd say we're right around 40 players. We got a good response, and hope to have a big announcement i...
BOB BRENNAN A neighbor called them and told them their house was on fire.
BOB BRENNAN One of the things I'll ask for in the future is that we have a deeper (contact) tree on the next of ...
BOB BRENNAN No farmers can buy here anymore. And I don't know how young people can buy a piece of land and build...
BOB BRENNAN It's horrible -- the worst fears ... something we can't control.
BOB BRENNAN [But all the elaborate measures could not prevent the explosion.] It's horrible -- the worst fears ....
BOB BRENNAN You have to use your mind instead of gears.
BOB BRENNAN This program will allow all our customers, including our low-income customers, to enjoy the benefits...
BOB BRENNAN A few of those wagons, if I had a place to move them to I would, but if I start saving stuff I'd hav...
BOB BRENNAN A blind man sees not with his eyes, but with his heart. A deaf man hears with his soul and mind, not...
BRENNAN MASTOUS Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered.
WILLIAM BRENNAN At one point in the 'Onyx Court' series, I think during 'In Ashes Lie', I suggested ...
MARIE BRENNAN I think if you write for long enough, you eventually have a problem with everything, because you sta...
MARIE BRENNAN You get a great perspective on the way the U.S. is perceived in other countries. I think everyone sh...
CHRIS BRENNAN Foster also reflects the frustrations which so many colleges feel about the structures imposed on th...
JOHN BRENNAN Anyone who might assert that our numbers were intentionally skewed is mistaken.
JOHN BRENNAN We don't know the cause of death, but there was a knocked-over propane lantern in the tent, which wa...
DAVE BRENNAN We needed reassurance. I needed reassurance.
JACK BRENNAN We were so close in some of those games that we easily could have been 17-3 at the end of the season...
JOE BRENNAN It was very similar to the game we had last week. We got a big lead and they came back hard. They're...
JOE BRENNAN They're a good team, a scrappy team. They always find a way to get back in games. Their hustle and s...
JOE BRENNAN We talked about it before the game. If we could come out and shoot the ball well, that's a real key ...
JOE BRENNAN Someone might want to buy a special bottle to commemorate an occasion. Or someone might want to roll...
TED BRENNAN We're looking forward to another good season.
BARBARA BRENNAN We've talked about it,
BARBARA BRENNAN We had six, lost three, then gained three, and have six again. We have a nice group. Annmarie, Kathy...
BARBARA BRENNAN He's always been a good shooter. Nobody knew about him and I'm sure these guys didn't. I knew they w...
RICH BRENNAN I had rather face wild beasts and diseases than the perils of civilization."
There is a proverb...
MARIE BRENNAN We were excited to go to Nashville because it came down to Nashville or San Francisco and either pla...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT That facility is in dire need of some cosmetic and functional upgrades.
KEN BRENNAN My Aunt Ella and my mom have informed me that we are going to rebuild. And because they are the matr...
BRAD BRENNAN We're trying to get the investigation wrapped up. Obviously, it's a horrible and tragic situation fo...
DAVE BRENNAN confirms our belief that the rangers' actions were justified.
DAVE BRENNAN It reminds me of that dog that's always gnawing at you. They chase the postman.
SEAN BRENNAN It's a reality. This team runs the ball very well, and they have the right personnel for the system ...
BRENNAN SCHMIDT I haven't yet heard of a hookah lounge opening and going out of business.
BRENNAN APPEL It's at its largest demand ever in this country. I don't think it's going away any time soon. There'...
BRENNAN APPEL