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

Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.

The journey from teaching about love to allowing myself to be loved proved much longer than I realised.

Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.

Waiting time is not wasting time. Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.

The tragedy of our lives is that, while we suffer from the wounds afflicted on us by those who love us, we cannot avoid wounding those we want to love.

As long as we relate to the trees, the rivers, the mountains, the fields and the oceans as properties which we can manipulate according to our real or fabricated needs, nature remains opaque, and does not reveal to us its true being.