Faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.

Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him.

It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.

Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to each of us.

The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one's life towards a goal. Without such a goal, chastity is bound to become ridiculous. Chastity is the sine qua non of lucidity and concentration.

If we want to read and to pray the prayers of the Bible and especially the Psalms, therefore, we must not ask first what they have to do with us, but what they have to do with Jesus Christ...It does not depend, therefore, on whether the Psalms express adequately that which we feel at a given moment in our heart. If we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray.

Whenever Christ calls us, His call leads us to death.