Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human.

Where are you getting your affection? Who's touching you? Who's holding you? Who makes you feel alive? Who says, "You are a beautiful person, you are the beloved of God, don't forget it"? That's an important discipline.

In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.

The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds...but how can we put our woundedness in service to others.

For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only children, women and men to be loved.

What once seemed such a curse has become a blessing. All the agony that threatened to destroy my life now seems like the fertile ground for greater trust, stronger hope, and deeper love.

Solitude is the furnace of transformation.