Hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest. The concept of hospitality arose in ancient times when the reciprocity was easier to see: in nomadic cultures, the food and shelter one gave to a stranger yesterday is the food and shelter one hopes to receive from a stranger tomorrow. By offering hospitality, one participates in the endless reweaving of a social fabric on which all can depend-thus the gift of sustenance for the guest becomes a gift of hope for the host.

When someone says 'I'm so disillusioned', I say 'Congratulations! You've lost another illusion.'

Is the life I'm living the life that wants to live in me?

One of the hardest things we must do sometimes is to be present to another person's pain without trying to "fix" it, to simply stand respectfully at the edge of that person's mystery and misery.

The inner life of any great thing will be incomprehensible to me until I develop and deepen an inner life of my own.

Each time a door closes, the rest of the world opens up.

You are much more likely to have a holy experience in a quiet, focused, and communal context than you are when you are being entertained.