My writing has developed drastically . The Return of the Prodigal Son is the most important thing I've done, and my most mature book.

When you recognize the festive and the still moments as moments of prayer, then you gradually realize that to pray is to live.

Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not 'How am I to find God?' but 'How am I to let myself be found by him?' The question is not 'How am I to love God?' but 'How am I to let myself be loved by God?'

Prayer is first of all listening to God. It's openness. God is always speaking; he's always doing something. Prayer is to enter into that activity... Convert your thoughts into prayer. As we are involved in unceasing thinking, so we are called to unceasing prayer. The difference is not that prayer is thinking about other things, but that prayer is thinking in dialogue,... a conversation with God.

Hope is willing to leave unanswered questions unanswered and unknown futures unknown. Hope makes you see God's guiding hand not only in the gentle and pleasant moments but also in the shadows of disappointment and darkness.

The real question is: how can I live so that my death will be fruitful for others?

Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.