Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ (1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. His teachings, melding evolution and theology, caused consternation and concern in the Catholic Church, leading some to ban his works. However, he was quoted in the sermon of the Most Reverend Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, during the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 20 May 2018.
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We have but one permanent home: heaven –
that’s still the old truth that we always have to re-learn –
and it’s only through the impact of sad experiences
that we assimilate it.
The zest for life, which is the source of all passion and all insight,
even divine, does not come to us from ourselves….
It is God who has to give us the impulse of wanting him.
Do not forget that the value and interest of life
is not so much to do conspicuous things…
as to do ordinary things with the perception of their enormous value.
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.”
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin