I became so attentive to the souls of other people that I was not as attentive as I might have been to my own.

Wisdom is not gained by knowing what is right. Wisdom is gained by practicing what is right, and noticing what happens when that practice succeeds and when it fails.

Most of us will have more than one job in our working lives, which means we will have more than one opportunity to seek meaningful work at different stages of our own deepening humanity.

I didn't want to be a priest. I wanted to do the work that priests do, and that required becoming a priest.

The problem is, many of the people in need of saving are in churches, and at least part of what they need saving from is the idea that God sees the world the same way they do.

The great thing about civility is that it does not require you to agree with or approve of anything. You don't even have to love your neighbor to be civil. You just have to treat your neighbor the same way you would like your neighbor to treat your grandmother, or your child.

The tradition piece is so embedded in me I don't know that I can see it any more, but the community piece is one I've been in danger of losing.