Quote collection
497 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Jesus didn't live alone. He had Peter, John, and James around him. There were the Twelve and the other disciples. They formed circles of intimacy around Jesus. We too need these circles of intimacy, but it's a discipline."
"Our Western society is showing its technological muscles in ever more threatening ways, but the experience of fear, anxiety and even despair has increased in equal proportion. Indeed, the paradox is that the powerful giants feel as powerless as a new-born babe."
"One of the most beautiful ways for spiritual formation to take place is to let your insecurity lead you closer to the Lord. Natural hypersensitivity can become an asset; it makes you aware of your need to be with people and it allows you to be more willing to look at their needs."
"Solitude is the furnace of transformation."
"If fear is the great enemy of intimacy, love is its true friend."
"To receive spiritual direction is to recognize that God does not solve our problems or answer all our questions, but leads us closer to the mystery of our existence where all questions cease."
"All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all lived with a promise in their hearts that guided them toward the future without the need to know exactly what it would look like. Let's live with hope."
"So I am praying while not knowing how to pray. I am resting while feeling restless, at peace while tempted, safe while still anxious, surrounded by a cloud of light while still in darkness, in love while still doubting."
"The crisis of our prayer life is that our minds may be filled with ideas of God while our hearts remain far from him."
"The world is evil only when you become its slave."
"If you meet God in solitude, you discover the God you meet is the God who embraces all people."
"It is precisely in times of spiritual dryness that we must hold on to our spiritual discipline so that we can grow into new intimacy with God."
"When we approach fundraising in a spirit of gratitude, our confidence in our mission does not depend on how the person we are with responds to our request! We are free to remain secure in God's love with our hearts set joyfully on the kingdom."
"This sounds very simple and maybe even trite, but very few people know that they are loved without condition or limits."
"His (Christ's) appearance in our midst has made it undeniably clear that changing the human heart and changing human society are not separate tasks, but are as interconnected as the two beams of the cross."
"As a general remark, I would say we must move from the moral to the mystical life."
"Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply."
"The third discipline is community. Whom do you choose as your companions? Whom do you choose to be friends with, to live with? Are they people who love you, and care for you, and nurture you?"
"In solitude we become aware that we were together before we came together and that life is not a creation of our will but rather an obedient response to the reality of our being united."
"It is good to have a prayer on your lips wherever you go. There are so many moments in life when you are free to pray. When you are waiting for the cashier in the supermarket, getting mad because he or she doesn't hurry, say a little prayer: 'Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.' Take that prayer with you wherever you go."