I was forced to enter the basement of my soul and look directly at what was hidden there, and to choose, in the face of it all, not death but life.

If you want to know anything about community, you have to realize that the contemplative side is essential. Community without retreating and quiet time never survives.

[...]when two people have become present to each other, the waiting of one must be able to cross the narrow line between the living or dying of the other.

No one person can fulfill all your needs. But the community can truly hold you. The community can let you experience the fact that, beyond your anguish, there are human hands that hold you and show you God's faithful love.

It is precisely when you are loved a lot that you might realize a second loneliness which is not to be solved but lived. This second loneliness is an existential loneliness that belongs to the basis of our being. It's where we are unfulfilled because only God can fill us.

Hiddenness is the place of purification. In hiddenness we find our true selves.

Ministry is a very confronting service. It does not allow people to live with illusions of immortality and wholeness. It keeps reminding others that they are mortal and broken, but also that with the recognition of this condition, liberation starts.