“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.”
Author detail
Richard Francis Xavier Manning, known as Brennan Manning, was an American author, Franciscan Friar of the Third Order Regular (T.O.R.), priest, contemplative, and speaker who lead spiritual retreats for people of all ages and backgrounds. Born and raised in Depression-era New York City, New York, Manning finished high school, enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and fought in the Korean War. After returning to the United States, he enrolled at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Upon his graduation from the seminary in 1963, Manning was ordained a Franciscan priest. In the late 1960s, Manning joined the Little Brothers of Jesus of Charles de Foucauld, a religious institute committed to an uncloistered, contemplative life among the poor. Manning transported water via donkey, worked as a mason's assistant and a dishwasher in France, was imprisoned (by choice) in Switzerland, and spent six months in a remote cave in the Zaragoza desert. In the 1970s, Manning returned to the United States and, after confronting his alcoholism, began writing. He is the author of more than ten books, including *Abba's Child*, *Ruthless Trust*, *The Ragamuffin Gospel*, and *Posers, Fakers, and Wannabes*. He travelled extensively in the U.S. and abroad to share the good news of the unconditional love of God. Sources: [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/173517) and [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Revolutionaries-brennan-manning/dp/0871930129)
Quotes
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“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.”
“The story goes that a public sinner was excommunicated and forbidden entry to the church. He took his woes to God. 'They won't let me in, Lord, because I am a sinner.' 'What are you complain...”
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“we unwittingly project onto God our own attitudes and feelings toward ourselves... But we cannot assume that He feels about us the way we feel about ourselves -- unless we love ourselves com...”
“Live in the wisdom of accepted tenderness. Tenderness awakens within the security of knowing we are thoroughly and sincerely liked by someone... Scripture suggests that the essence of the di...”
“The Word we study has to be the Word we pray. My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in...”
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“The sorrow of God lies in our fear of Him, our fear of life, and our fear of ourselves. He anguishes over our self-absorption and self-sufficiency... God's sorrow lies in our refusal to appr...”
“While the impostor draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true self claims identity in its belovedness. We encounter God in the ordinariness of life: not...”
“Our identity rests in God's relentless tenderness for us revealed in Jesus Christ.”
“For Ragamuffins, God's name is Mercy. We see our darkness as a prized possession because it drives us into the heart of God. Without mercy our darkness would plunge us into despair - for som...”
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“Creation discloses a power that baffles our minds and beggars our speech. We are enamored and enchanted by God's power. We stutter and stammer about God's holiness. We tremble before God's m...”
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“We must go out into a desert of some kind (your backyard will do) and come into a personal experience of the awesome love of God.”
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“Authentic faith leads us to treat others with unconditional seriousness and to a loving reverence for the mystery of the human personality. Authentic Christianity should lead to maturity, pe...”
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“One spiritual writer has observed that human beings are born with two diseases: life, from which we die; and hope, which says the first disease is not terminal. Hope is built into the struct...”
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“Silent solitude makes true speech possible and personal. If I am not in touch with my own belovedness, then I cannot touch the sacredness of others. If I am estranged from myself, I am likew...”
“Lord, when I feel that what I'm doing is insignificant and unimportant, help me to remember that everything I do is significant and important in your eyes, because you love me and you put me...”
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“I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as s...”
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“Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.”
“In Love's service, only wounded soldiers can serve.”
“Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding...”
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“To ignore, repress, or dismiss our feelings is to fail to listen to the stirrings of the Spirit within our emotional life. Jesus listened. In John's Gospel we are told that Jesus was moved w...”