Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love?
Fulton J. SheenRead
Neither theological knowledge nor social action alone is enough to keep us in love with Christ unless both are proceeded by a personal encounter with Him. Theological insights are gained not only from between two covers of a book, but from two bent knees before an altar. The Holy Hour becomes like an oxygen tank to revive the breath of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the foul and fetid atmosphere of the world
Interpretation
What this quote means
True love for Christ comes from personal experience and devotion, not just knowledge or actions.
This quote emphasizes that mere intellectual understanding of theology or active participation in social causes is insufficient to maintain a genuine love for Christ. Instead, it suggests that a deep, personal encounter with Him, often facilitated through prayer and contemplation, is vital for nurturing that relationship. The metaphor of the Holy Hour as an 'oxygen tank' highlights the necessity of spiritual sustenance in a world that can often feel overwhelming and spiritually oppressive.
Themes
LoveFaithSpiritualityPrayerRelationship
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon discussing the importance of personal faith, this quote could inspire congregants to deepen their spiritual practice.
More from Fulton J. Sheen
All quotes →A woman gets angry when a man denies his faults, because she knew them all along. His lying mocks her affection; it is the deceit that angers her more than the faults.
Fulton J. SheenRead
Many married women who have deliberately spurned the "hour" of childbearing are unhappy and frustrated. They never discovered the joys of marriage because they refused to surrender to the obligation of their state. In saving themselves, they lost themselves!
Fulton J. SheenRead
No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity.
Fulton J. SheenRead
The big print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.
Fulton J. SheenRead
Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.
Fulton J. SheenRead
Similar quotes
As long as you are performing prayer, you are knocking at the door of Allah, and whoever is knocking at the door of Allah, Allah will open it for him.
Ibn Qayyim Al-JawziyyaRead
Prayer is the greatest power God has put into our hands for service - praying is harder than doing, at least I find it so, but the dynamic lies that way to advance the Kingdom.
Mary SlessorRead
You and I, the people of God, have permission to come before the throne of Heaven at any time we will, and we are encouraged to come there with great boldness.
Charles SpurgeonRead
If you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere.
Billy SundayRead
Revival is a divinely initiated work in which God’s people pray, repent of their sin, and return to a holy, Spirit-filled, obedient, love-relationship with God.
Henry BlackabyRead
No other religion, no other, promises new bodies, hearts, and minds. Only in the gospel of Christ do hurting people find such incredible hope.
Joni Eareckson TadaRead