In silence all our usual patterns assault us ... That is why most people give up rather quickly. When Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, the first things to show up were the wild beasts.

It’s a gift to joyfully recognize and accept our own smallness and ordinariness. Then you are free with nothing to live up to, nothing to prove, and nothing to protect. Such freedom is my best description of Christian maturity, because once you know that your “I” is great and one with God, you can ironically be quite content with a small and ordinary “I.” No grandstanding is necessary. Any question of your own importance or dignity has already been resolved once and for all and forever.

The Gospel gives human suffering deep, personal, and cosmic meaning, by connecting our pain to the pain of others and, finally, by connecting us to the very "pain of God".

God created us for love, for union, for forgiveness and compassion and, yet, that has not been our storyline. That has not been our history.

Faith is not for overcoming obstacles; it is for experiencing them—all the way through!

Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it.

What we know about God is important, but what we do with what we know about God is even more important.