I'm learning that the blessing is located in our poor people, in people who are weak; they are the ones we should stay close to, not because they need us but because we need to receive from them the blessing.

Solitude does not pull us away from our fellow human beings but instead makes real fellowship possible.

Who can take away suffering without entering it?

There are areas I have to work on. I had some questions and some struggles, but it was an enormously important time for me.

Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.

We enter into solitude first of all to meet our Lord and to be with him and him alone. Only in the context of grace can we face our sin; only in the place of healing do we dare to show our wounds; only with a singleminded attention to Christ can we give up our clinging fears and face our own true nature.

Those who keep speaking about the sun while walking under a cloudy sky are messengers of hope, the true saints of our day.