To feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the harborless without also trying to change the social order so that people can feed, clothe and shelter themselves is just to apply palliatives. It is to show a lack of faith in one’s fellows, their responsibilitie s as children of God, heirs of heaven.

What I read in the Bible seemed to me to be very much a part of daily life.

One of the disconcerting facts about the spiritual life is that God takes you at your word.

We have all known the long loneliness, and we have found that the answer is community.

These powerless people at the bottom are the ones with whom we must begin. They must have the insight and the knowledge to work together and recognise that they are on the right track.

It is we ourselves that we have to think about, no one else. That is the way the saints worked. They paid attention to what they were doing, and if others were attracted to them by their enterprise, why, well and good. But they looked to themselves first of all.

We must always aim for the impossible; if we lower our goal, we also diminish our effort.