Tradition! We scarcely know the word anymore. We are afraid to be either proud of our ancestors or ashamed of them. We scorn nobility in name and in fact. We cling to a bourgeois mediocrity which would make it appear we are all Americans, made in the image and likeness of George Washington.

When you love people, you see all the good in them, all the Christ in them. God sees Christ, His Son, in us and loves us. And so we should see Christ in others, and nothing else, and love them. There can never be enough of it. There can never be enough thinking about it.

Where were the saints to try to change the social order, not just to minister to the slaves, but to do away with slavery?

If you have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor.

We certainly can try to grow in love, and it is good practice, this giving what we've got, whether it is a cup of coffee or money to pay the grocery bill.

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

Too much praise makes you feel you must be doing something terribly wrong.