Joy and laughter are the gifts of living in the presence of God and trusting that tomorrow is not worth worrying about.
Prayer is the beginning and the end, the source and the fruit, the core and the content, the basis and the goal of all peacemaking.
Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.
To live in the present, we must deeply believe that what is most important is in the here and now.
I have an increasing sense that the most important crisis of our time is spiritual and that we need places where people can grow stronger in the spirit and be able to integrate the emotional struggles in their spiritual journeys.
As peacemakers, we must resist all the powers of war and destruction and proclaim that peace is the divine gift offered to all who affirm life. Resistance means saying ‘No’ to all the forces of death, wherever they may be.
As long as we have our stories there is hope.
Somewhere we know that without silence, words lose their meaning.
Ministers are powerless people who have nothing to boast of except their weaknesses. But when the Lord whom they serve fills them with His blessing they will move mountains and change the hearts of people wherever they go.
In our production-oriented society, being busy, having an occupation, has become one of the main ways, if not the main way, of identifying ourselves. Without an occupation, not just our economic security but our very identity is endangered.
People with handicaps teach me that being is more important than doing, the heart is more important than the mind, and caring together is better than caring alone.
The evangelical movement has become just a bit victimized by a success-oriented culture, wanting the church – like the corporation – to be successful.
Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.
To learn patience is not to rebel against every hardship.
Solitude is the place where we can connect with profound bonds that are deeper than the emergency bonds of fear and anger.
It is freeing to become aware that we do not have to be victims of our past and can learn new ways of responding. Forgiveness is love practiced among people who love poorly. It sets us free without wanting anything in return.
I trust in you, Lord, but keep helping me in my moments of distrust and doubt.
Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing-sicknes s, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death – can take that love away.
Silence is a very concrete, practical, and useful discipline in all our ministerial tasks. It can be seen as a portable cell taken with us from the solitary place into the midst of our ministry. Silence is solitude practiced in action.
Each individual human being can claim the Spirit of Jesus as the guiding spirit of his or her life. In that Spirit we can speak and act freely and confidently with the knowledge that the same Spirit that inspired Jesus is inspiring us.