If asked whether I am finally letting God love me, just as I am, I would answer, 'No, but I'm trying.

Only reckless confidence in a Source greater than ourselves can empower us to forgive the woulds inflicted by others.

Though it is true that the church must always dissociate itself from sin, it can never have any excuse for keeping any sinner at a distance.

The outstretched arms of Jesus exclude no one, not the drunk in the doorway, the panhandler on the street, gays and lesbians in their isolation, the most selfish and ungrateful in their cocoons, the most unjust of employers and the most overweening of snobs. The love of Christ embraces all without exception.

In every encounter we either give life or we drain it; there is no neutral exchange.

Everybody has a vocation to some form of life-work. However, behind that call (and deeper than any call), everybody has a vocation to be a person to be fully and deeply human in Christ Jesus.

The beauty of the ragamuffin gospel lies in the insight it offers into Jesus: the essential tenderness of His heart, His way of looking at the world, His mode of relating to you and me. 'If you really want to understand a man, don't just listen to what he says, but watch what he does.