Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespected hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them.

Only the believer obeys — obedience follows faith, the way good fruit comes from a good tree. Only the obedient believe.

A love that left people alone in their guilt would not have real people as its object. So, in vicarious responsibility for people, and in His love for real human beings, Jesus becomes the one burdened by guilt.

The pursuit of purity is not about the suppression of lust, but about the reorientation of one's life to a larger goal.

We have learnt, rather too late, that action comes, not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.

The entire day receives order and discipline when it acquires unity. This unity must be sought and found in morning prayer. The morning prayer determines the day.

The first call which every Christian experiences is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.