“Let’s not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.”

What makes us human is not our mind but our heart, not our ability to think but our ability to love.

Keep a space where God can let something totally new take place.

Your life is not going to be easy, and it should not be easy. It ought to be hard. It ought to be radical; it ought to be restless; it ought to lead you to places you’d rather not go.

You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.

The only feelings that do not heal are the ones you hide.

Compassion can never coexist with judgement because judgement creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.

You have to listen to the one who calls you beloved. That has to be affirmed over and over again. That is prayer – listening to the voice of the one who calls you “the beloved.”

Our life is a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment.

Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the Beloved.

Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, “I love you, too.”

I feel strongly that the God we meet in solitude is always the God who calls us to community.

Prayer is first of all listening to God. It’s openness. God is always speaking; he’s always doing something.

Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.

Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human.

The fruits of your labors may be reaped two generations from now. Trust, even when you don’t see the results.

In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.

Don’t be afraid to go to your library and read every book as long as any document does not offend your own ideas of decency.

Never be afraid of the moments-thus sings the voice of the everlasting.

Especially when we are afraid, angry, or confused, we may be tempted to give away bits of our freedom—or, less painfully, somebody else’s freedom—in the quest for direction and order.

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.

Don’t be afraid. Be the kind of person your mother warned you about.

If you’re afraid to die you won’t be able to live.

Don’t be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered.

I say what I think. I’m a real person, not some manufactured pop tart who’s afraid to step out of the hotel room. I am flawed. I swear I have the occasional cocktail, I pick my nose and I fart. I’m not running for any presidential campaign at the moment. I’m a sassy girl.