When I know and accept myself-all my strengths and all my limitations- I am immediately respectful of everyone else because I know they have something beautiful within them that I do not have.
There is a built-in danger in old age which, if we give in to it, makes aging one of the most difficult periods of life, rather than one of the most satisfying – which it should be. Tye danger of old age is that we may start acting old.
Sometimes we exclude things in ourselves in order to be like everybody else around us-our ethnicity, our social backgrounds, our ideas. What kind of world is it that will not allow me to be myself, and is it really good for me to be there? What part of me will die a slow death if I stay?
Religion is pointing toward the moon.
The question is not, do we go to church; the question is, have we been converted. The crux of Christianity is not whether or not we give donations to popular charities but whether or not we are really committed to the poor.
Anger is not bad. Anger can be a very positive thing, the thing that moves us beyond the acceptance of evil.
Life always comes out of death. The present rises from the ashes of the past. The future is always possible for those who are willing to re-create it.
We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.
Beware of your definition of success: If it has more to do with what other people think of you than it does with what you know of your own abilities, you may be confusing applause with achievement.
Imagine how happy, how holy, life would be if we ever really learn to see beauty.
Two ideas militate against our consciously contributing to a better world. The idea that we can do everything or the conclusion that we can do nothing to make this globe a better place to live are both temptations of the most insidious form. One leads to arrogance; the other to despair.
All of us wrestle with the angels of our inabilities all the time. We live in fear that our incapacities will be exposed. We posture and evaluate and assess and criticize mercilessly.
We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again.
Assuming that tomorrow will be the same as today is poor preparation for living. It equips us only for disappointment or, more likely, for shock. To live well, to be mentally healthy, we must learn to realize that life is a work in process.
Precisely because of the greatness of God, we don’t have to be great at all. Just in awe.
A hard heart makes for hard judgments; a compassionate heart understands the humanity of the one we presume to judge.
June is the time for being in the world in new ways, for throwing off the cold and dark spots of life.
It is not our job to work miracles, but it is our task to try.
In our dreams lies our unfinished work for the world.
There is always new life trying to emerge in each of us. Too often we ignore the signs of resurrection and cling to part of life that have died for us.