Nothing worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be...
The Lord bless you and keep you.The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May God give you grace never to sell yourself short.Grace to risk something big for something good.Grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but...
Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening. I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about—quite apart from what I would like it to be about—or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest...
Let us then tell the truth. Before the Gospel is a word, it is silence. It is the silence of our own lives, of your life and my life. It is life with the sound turned off so that for a moment or two you can experience it, not in terms of the words you make it bearable...
Mature religion involves changing ourselves and letting ourselves be changed by a mysterious encounter with grace, mercy, and forgiveness. This is the truth that will set us free (John 8:32). Yet much of our history has involved trying to change other people--with our...