Analogies Anyone?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beautiful
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Beautiful

Guest
The kestrel has a peculiar property of frightening away birds of prey with its looks and cries, for which reason the dove seeks it beyond all other birds, and lives fearlessly in its neighborhood; and so humility repulses Satan and preserves in us the gifts and grace of the Holy Spirit. For this reason all the saints, and especially the King of Saints and His Mother, ever honored and cherished this virtue above all others.

~ St. Francis of Sales, To the Devout Life ~

This is an interesting analogy. One need only look around to see the Author of Life at work in all things. Do you have any good analogies to share?
 
One cannot forget the St. Patrick analogy of the clover symbolzing the Trinity.

☘️
 
coolduude said:
One cannot forget the St. Patrick analogy of the clover symbolzing the Trinity.

☘️
Click to expand...
Actually I think the shamrock is a symbol more than an analogy.

Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed.
l. The Kingdom of God would have small beginning like a mustard seed.
2. The Kingdom of God would have great growth like the mustard seed.
3. The growth would be as beneficial at the mustard plant.
 
How about that 🙂 Our Pontiff is into analogies. On the feast of the Holy Family, Benedict XVI said that families reveal what God himself is: love.
He said that Jesus’ family “truly merits the title of ‘holy,’ since it is entirely focused on the desire of fulfilling the will of God, incarnated in the adorable presence of Jesus.”
Click to expand...
Alike and different
Click to expand...
The Pontiff went on to suggest that the Holy Family is both alike and different than other families.
Click to expand...
“In one sense it is a family like all others, and as such, it is a model of conjugal love, collaboration, sacrifice, confidence in divine providence, a spirit of work and solidarity,” he said. "At the same time, though, the family of Nazareth is unique, different from all others, because of its singular vocation, linked to the mission of the Son of God.
Click to expand...
“Precisely because of its unique character, it presents to every family, and in the first place to Christian families, the horizon of God, the sweet and demanding priority of his will, the perspective of heaven, to which we are destined.”
Click to expand...
Benedict XVI continued: "The family is certainly a grace from God, which reveals what he, himself, is: love. A love that is entirely gratuitous, that sustains fidelity without limits, even in the moments of difficulty or dejection. …]
Click to expand...
 
God’s Sacrificial Love has been compared to a lot of things in nature. The partridge that acts ingured so that birds of prey will attack it and not its chicks, the pelican which allows its children to drink its blood when famine and drought come (we now know however, that this is not what the pelican does) or the she-bear that will fight to death to protect her cubs.
 
Remember Thou!
Remember how, Stranger and Pilgrim here,
Thou hadst no home, O Thou Eternal Word!
Not even a pillow for Thy head most dear;
Not even a shelter, like the flitting bird.
O Jesu, come to me! Rest Thou upon my breast.
Come, Come! My spirit longs to have Thee for its Guest.
Thou well beloved, adored!
Rest in my heart, dear Lord,

~ St. Therese of Lisieux - Jesus, My Well Beloved, Remember Thou!
 
A Gold Throne

Jesus, Christ, your only treasure,
Asks one special gift of you.
No gold throne was in the stable,
Yet such treasure is His due.
Sinners’ souls are like the stable,
Bare and cold in winter’s snow,
Off’ring to Him no soft shelter,
No bright fire’s cheerful glow.
~ St. Therese of Lisieux - A God Throne
 
Actually, I think that the phrase “like a flitting bird”, refers to not what he is but what he is not, or rather, what he does not have, i.e. a shelter. I think the poem is about the Nativity.
 
Nature analogies show man that God created the Universe and all living things for him: first, to aid him in honoring God; second, to sustain him in his bodily needs; and third, to be mirrors of God, since the beauty of the Universe is a reflection of God’s glory.
 
Eucharisted said:
Nature analogies show man that God created the Universe and all living things for him: first, to aid him in honoring God; second, to sustain him in his bodily needs; and third, to be mirrors of God, since the beauty of the Universe is a reflection of God’s glory.
Click to expand...
This makes analogies so satisfying to read.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder’s craft.
One day to the next conveys that message; one night to the next imparts that knowledge.
There is no word or sound; no voice is heard;
Yet their report goes forth through all the earth, their message, to the ends of the world. God has pitched there a tent for the sun;
it comes forth like a bridegroom from his chamber, and like an athlete joyfully runs its course. Psalm 19:1-6
 
"Your being, given to you through love, has received the right disposition in holy baptism, which you receive in virtue of the Blood of the Word, for, in no other way, could you participate in this light; you would be** like a candle with no wick inside it**, which cannot burn or receive light, if you have not received in your souls the wick which catches this Divine Flame, that is to say, the Holy Faith, which you receive, by grace, in baptism, united with the disposition of your soul created by Me, so fitted for love, that, without love, which is her very food, she cannot live.
~ St. Catherine of Siena - A Teatise of Prayer
 
Daily I am reminded
by an aloof, independent cat,
just what God must feel like
when I don’t love Him back. ❤️
 
malachi3 said:
Daily I am reminded
by an aloof, independent cat,
just what God must feel like
when I don’t love Him back. ❤️
Click to expand...
malachi3 you are a brave soul for sharing. Thanks. My cat is also a daily reminder of my less desirable qualities. In addition to aloof and independent he is also selfish but I still care for him. Caring for him despite is shortfalls is a heaven-like exchange 😉

I ran across this in Magnificat this past Sunday. It is an example of personification but I like it and feel compelled to share.

“When the king of heaven was born, the heavens knew that he was God because they immediately sent forth a star; the sea knew him because it allowed him to walk upon it’ the earth knew him because it trembled when he died; the sun knew him because it hid the rays of its light.”
~ Saint Gregory the Great ~
 
Beautiful said:
My cat is also a daily reminder of my less desirable qualities. In addition to aloof and independent he is also selfish but I still care for him. Caring for him despite is shortfalls is a heaven-like exchange 😉
Click to expand...
Ohhhhh, NOW I get it! 😉 I’ve been wondering why this little stray cat named “Spooky” has wandered into my life… and has tried my patience on more than one occasion. And yet, I’ve continued to love and care for him. Hoping all the while, that he will one day be content to be an “inside cat” and not keep running outside, where it’s dangerous!

God is showing me… a little “mini version” of OUR relationship! Do you think? Hmmm. Interesting thread, Beautiful! Thanks.

MV 😃
 
I think this is a fun analogy. I’ve always thought that about God and kittens I have known. That kitten could climb the Christmas tree, throw up on the just-cleaned bedspread, make my hand bleed - and I would still love it to bits. There’s nothing that kitten could do that would make me not love it or want to love it. Nothing.
(ok, I have no kids!) 🙂
 
I say that we are wound
With mercy round and round
As if with air: the same
Is Mary, more by name.
She, wild web, wondrous robe,
Mantles the guilty globe,
Since God has let dispense
Her prayers his providence:
Nay, more than almoner,
The sweet alms’ self is her
And men are meant to share
Her life as life does air.

~ Gerard Hopkins - The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air we Breathe
 
malachi3 said:
Daily I am reminded
by an aloof, independent cat,
just what God must feel like
when I don’t love Him back. ❤️
Click to expand...
I like that!

It’s cavies and Australian magpies that I love most in the animal world.
I walk to Mass and wherever I go, and the maggies fishing in the grass by the footpaths, look up questioningly and watchfuly. I speak softly and musically to them and they relax, trustingly, having assessed I won’t hurt them or their large youngsters who are still shades of brown and gray instead of their parents’ black and white. Usually then they return to their fishing in the grass for insects or worms. Sometimes though they continue to gaze at me and in response to my soft speaking they occasionally break into that glorious warbling song as they stand quietly and trustingly amid the grasses.

I love them for that intelligence to know, wild magpies as you pass, that no, this person is no threat to me, and so they return to their feeding without taking flight, or they sing in response to my quiet song to them. A juvenile as I sang softly near a park trusted enough to move closer and closer until I could have touched it. And no I don’t care what anyone might think if they pass me, because these creatures are too beautiful, wise enough to know whom to trust, for me to care, as my encounters with them warm my heart. Their wisdom and responsiveness touches me greatly and speaks of wisdom we should follow.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top