If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.
A monk decides to meditate alone. Away from his monastery, he takes a boat and goes to the middle of the lake, closes his eyes and begins to meditate. After a few hours of unperturbed silence, he suddenly feels the blow of another boat hitting his. With his eyes still...
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
One of the most serious dangers confronting those who minister in the city is that their lives come to be built on frenzy and compulsive busyness. This usually leads to a lack of focus, a tendency to accumulate more and more things, a collapse of reflection, and the...
Christians, we have maintained, are those who through confrontation with death are given new freedom from the sting of death and so a new freedom for voluntary service to others. Surely if this claim has any truth in it, then it is not our own suffering but the...
It seems that a whole lot of people, both Christians and non-Christians, are under the impression that you can’t be a Christian and vote for a Democrat, you can’t be a Christian and believe in evolution, you can’t be a Christian and be gay, you can’t be a Christian...
The heart of love is treating all persons equally, regardless of their proximity to us in life. When we care about other people’s children and not just our own, other people’s life chances, and not just our own people, then we have moved in the direction of the love...
The Fathers used to say: If some temptation arises in the place where you dwell in the desert, do not leave that place in time of temptation. For if you leave it then, no matter where you go, you will find the same temptation waiting for you. But be patient until the...
[on being a foster parent:] I know what some of you are saying: "I could never do that. I would get too attached." Let me remind you of something. Christianity is dying to one's self for the sake of Christ and others. Every time one of these children leaves our home,...
You can't heal the people you love.You can't rescue them.You can promise that they won't journey alone.You can loan them your map.But this trip is theirs. Be gentle with yourself--it's hard work to be present to the freedom of the Other.