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Brennan Manning Quotes

Richard Francis Xavier Manning, known as Brennan Manning was an American author, laicized priest, and public speaker. He is best known for his bestselling book The Ragamuffin Gospel. Wikipedia  

✵ 27. April 1934 – 12. April 2013

Works

The Ragamuffin Gospel
The Ragamuffin Gospel
Brennan Manning
Brennan Manning: 52   quotes 5   likes

Famous Brennan Manning Quotes

“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 11 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“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 likewise a stranger to others.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 11 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11
Source: 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“In my experience, self-hatred is the dominant malaise crippling Christians and stifling their growth in the Holy Spirit.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

“The ragamuffin gospel reveals that Jesus forgives sins, including the sins of the flesh; that He is comfortable with sinners who remember how to show compassion; but that He cannot and will not have a relationship with pretenders in the Spirit.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

“Everybody has a vocation to some form of life-work. However, behind that call (and deeper than any call), everybody has a vocation to be a person to be fully and deeply human in Christ Jesus.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives

Brennan Manning Quotes about God

“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 11 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

“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 compassionately, intensely, and freely.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

“The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives

Brennan Manning Quotes about love

“In Love's service, only wounded soldiers can serve.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

“I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a tea cup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

“My message, unchanged for more than fifty years, is this: God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be. It is the message of grace… A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five. A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party no ifs, ands, or buts… This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us… Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough… Jesus is enough.”

Brennan Manning

All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir https://books.google.com/books?id=eFTh3OqjASkC&pg=PA192 (2011), pp. 192–194
2010s

“God not only loves me as I am, but also knows me as I am. Because of this I don’t need to apply spiritual cosmetics to make myself presentable to Him. I can accept ownership of my poverty and powerlessness and neediness.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 9 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“In loving me, you made me lovable.”

Brennan Manning

Brennan Manning: Trending quotes

“In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Fear , Communication , Light , Past

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Brennan Manning

As quoted in "The Ragamuffin Legacy" https://relevantmagazine.com/god/practical-faith/ragamuffin-legacy (16 April 2013), by Ben Simpson, Relevant Magazine
1990s

World

“Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives

Freedom

Brennan Manning Quotes

“There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.”

Brennan Manning
Beauty , Falseness

“The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Deep , Age

“Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Learning , Heart

“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 complaining about?' said God. 'They won't let Me in either.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

God

“Do the truth quietly without display.”

Brennan Manning

Reflections for Ragamuffins: Daily Devotions from the Writings of Brennan Manning https://books.google.com/books?id=Gxv208Eit_4C&pg=PT322 (1998), p. 22
1990s

Truth

“Hope knows that if great trials are avoided great deeds remain undone and the possibility of growth into greatness of soul is aborted.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Hope , Soul

“Accepting the reality of our sinfulness means accepting our authentic self. Judas could not face his shadow; Peter could. The latter befriended the impostor within; the former raged against him.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Reality , Rage

“The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Life , Faith , Law , Feeling

“The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we are, we can't save ourselves. What Jesus did was sufficient.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

“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 approach Him when we sinned and failed.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Life , God , Fear

“When we wallow in guilt, remorse, and shame over real or imagined sins of the past, we are disdaining God's gift of grace.”

Brennan Manning
God , Imagination , Past

“I have been seized by the power of a great affection.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 181 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

“Our identity rests in God's relentless tenderness for us revealed in Jesus Christ.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

God , Christ

“The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Life

“When our inner child is not nurtured and nourished, our minds gradually close to new ideas, unprofitable commitments and the surprises of the Spirit.”

Brennan Manning
Idea

“Only reckless confidence in a Source greater than ourselves can empower us to forgive the woulds inflicted by others.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Confidence , Forgiveness

“For me the most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the present risenness of Jesus Christ.”

Brennan Manning

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Faith , Courage , Christ

“Genuine self-acceptance is not derived from the power of positive thinking, mind games or pop psychology. IT IS AN ACT OF FAITH in the God of grace.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

God , Faith , Game , Thinking

“Those who have the disease called Jesus will never be cured.”

Brennan Manning

The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus https://books.google.com/books?id=xvv4HcYdxd0C&pg=PA42&dq=%22Those+who+have+the+disease+called+Jesus+will+never+be+cured.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9_f7L-JTkAhXJ1VkKHfSGDHUQ6AEwAXoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=%22Those%20who%20have%20the%20disease%20called%20Jesus%20will%20never%20be%20cured.%22&f=false (1986), p. 42
1980s
Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Disease

“Jesus was victorious not because he never flinched, talked back, or questioned, but having flinched, talked back, and questioned, he remained faithful.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 168 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11&dq=%22My+deepest+awareness+of+myself+is+that+I+am+deeply+loved+by+Jesus+Christ+and+I+have+done+nothing+to+earn+it+or+deserve+it.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7yeaQ9ZTkAhUOnFkKHUBmB1sQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=%22My%20deepest%20awareness%20of%20myself%20is%20that%20I%20am%20deeply%20loved%20by%20Jesus%20Christ%20and%20I%20have%20done%20nothing%20to%20earn%20it%20or%20deserve%20it.%22&f=false
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Faith , Question , Victory

“At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinners. Consequently, all we can do is pretend we have been forgiven. As a result, our whole spiritual life is pseudo-repentance and pseudo-bliss.”

Brennan Manning
Life

“Ragamuffins are simple, direct and honest. Their speech is unaffected. They are slow to claim, "God told me…" As they make their way through the world, they bear wordless, prophetic witness.”

Brennan Manning

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

God , World , Way

“None of us has ever seen a motive. Therefore, we don’t know we can’t do anything more than suspect what inspires the action of another. For this good and valid reason, we’re told not to judge.”

Brennan Manning

Source: 2000s, The Wisdom of Tenderness: What happens when God's firece mercy transforms our lives (2002), p. 69

Motivation

“To affirm a person is to see the good in them that they cannot see in themselves and to repeat it in spite of appearances to the contrary. Please, this is not some Pollyanna optimism that is blind to the reality of evil, but rather like a fine radar system that is tuned in to the true, the good, and the beautiful.”

Brennan Manning

The Furious Longing of God https://books.google.com/books?id=n17xNZ-aCj0C&pg=PA82&dq=%22To+affirm+a+person+is+to+see+the+good%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6n8OW-JTkAhVJ2FkKHQN4AEIQ6AEwAnoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=%22To%20affirm%20a%20person%20is%20to%20see%20the%20good%22&f=false (2009), pp. 82–83
2000s

Optimism , Personality , Beauty , Appearance

“The Christ within who is our hope of glory is not a matter of theological debate or philosophical speculation. He is not a hobby, a part-time project, a good theme for a book, or a last resort when all human effort fails. He is our life, the most real fact about us. He is the power and wisdom of God dwelling within us.”

Brennan Manning

Source: 1990s, Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging (1994), p. 130

God , Time , Hope , Books

“What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in the ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. Buffeted by the fickle winds of failure, battered by their own unruly emotions, and bruised by rejection and ridicule, authentic disciples may have stumbled and frequently fallen, endured lapses and relapses, gotten handcuffed to the fleshpots and wandered into a far county. Yet, they kept coming back to Jesus.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 168 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

Faith , Making love , Failure , Success

“The noonday devil of the Christian life is the temptation to lose the inner self while preserving the shell of edifying behavior. Suddenly I discover that I am ministering to AIDS victims to enhance my resume. I find I renounced ice cream for Lent to lose five excess pounds… I have fallen victim to what T. S. Eliot calls the greatest sin: to do the right thing for the wrong reason.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 121 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA121
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

Self-confidence , Behavior , Life

“The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving. Awareness of our poverty and ineptitude causes us to rejoice in the gift of being called out of darkness into wondrous light and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 67 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

Light , God , Life , Christ

“Sheer scholarship alone cannot reveal to us the gospel of grace. We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of KNOWING Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvicted and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 30 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

Personality , Books , Travel , Christ

“The tragedy is that our attention centers on what people are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.”

Brennan Manning

Source: 2000s, The Wisdom of Tenderness: What happens when God's firece mercy transforms our lives (2002), p. 71

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