Two Great Ideas

When she was a child, deaf and blind author and activist Helen Keller (1880–1968) was introduced to her lifelong faith in Jesus and her love of the Bible by the Episcopal minister and later Bishop Phillips Brooks. They maintained a friendship until he died in 1893.

“Bishop Brooks taught me no special creed or dogma; but he impressed upon my mind two great ideas—the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and made me feel that these truths underlie all creeds and forms of worship. God is love, God is our Father, we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break, and though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph.”

Reflection

Brooks taught the young Helen Keller a summary of Jesus’s teaching on the greatest commandments (Mark 12:28–34). Read today’s Bible selections from the first letter of John; part of which Keller quotes. Do you find them hopeful? What other passages help brace you in times of cloud or setback?