Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us.

Living in a community with very wounded people, I came to see that I had lived most of my life as a tightrope artist trying to walk on a high, thin cable from one tower to the other, always waiting for the applause when I had not fallen off and broken my leg.

God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful and painful.

Our brokenness has no other beauty but the beauty that comes from the compassion that surrounds it.

The beatitudes say, "Blessed are the poor". They don't say, "Blessed are those who care for the poor."

Life is a gift, not to possess, but to share.

It is freeing to become aware that we do not have to be victims of our past and can learn new ways of responding. Forgiveness is love practiced among people who love poorly. It sets us free without wanting anything in return.