When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.

Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening.

Monastic life thus became a living protest against the secularization of Christianity, against the cheapening of grace.

It is the voice of the Church that is heard in singing together. It is not you that sings, it is the Church that is singing, and you, as a member of the Church, may share in its song.

The disciple simply burns his boats and goes ahead. He is called out... The old life is left behind, and completely surrendered. The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity... out of the realm of the finite...into the realm of infinite possibilities.

The followers of Christ have been called to peace. . . . And they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods . . . . His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce hatred and wrong. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate.

The deep meaning of the cross of Christ is that there is no suffering on earth that is not borne by God.