Spiritual Quote of the Day (Book of Proverbs, on the Need to ‘Trust in the Lord’)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.”—Proverbs 3:5-6
 
The image accompanying this post, The Annunciation, was created in 1650 by the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664). (Mary, of course, is the Christian exemplar of “trust in the Lord.”)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Cindy Perazzo, on Mary, ‘First and Perfect Disciple to Jesus Christ’)

“When we look to Mary as mother and sister we can easily imagine her as the first and perfect disciple to Jesus Christ. We see the faith that led her throughout her life from that first announcement of her impending pregnancy to the foot of the cross. Our Lady shows us how to be completely open to God’s transforming power. She shows us how to listen to the Word. She shows us what it means to wait in faithfulness.” —Cindy Perazzo, coordinator of Lay Carmelites, “Hail Mary!”, Carmelite Review, Fall 2013-Winter 2014 issue

The image accompanying this post is The Annunciation (ca. 1485-92), by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) (c.1445–1510).  The painting now hangs in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Michael Gerson, on Advent’s ‘Fullest Expression of Hope’)

“This is the fullest expression of the hope of Advent — that all wrongs will finally be righted, that all the scales will eventually balance, and that no one will be exploited or afraid. But this hope is not yet fulfilled. Poets and theologians have strained for ways to describe this sense of anticipation. It is like a seed in the cold earth. Like the first, barely detectable signs of a thaw. Like a child growing in a womb.”—Syndicated columnist and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, “A Season for Hope, Not Fear,” The Washington Post, Dec. 6, 2019

The image accompanying this post is The Annunciation, a painting in tempura on panel created in 1489 by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli.