“They become nothing more than the kiss of Judas, pressing a crown of thorns into your flesh.”

You didn’t happen to see your future mother-in-law at that meeting today, did you?”

The failed intention of a masterful ally. But, nevertheless, as they burden you with a vexing brand of love.

Revenge in the hands of your enemies is a loaded gun.

They become nothing more than the kiss of Judas, pressing a crown of thorns into your flesh.

Sometimes duplicity and treason are markers of the enemy, and sometimes.

You can beg them for mercy, wave the white flag of surrender, but the only true elixir for the vitriol they bestow is a measure of hatred dispensed of your own.

I didn’t want to be a priest. I wanted to do the work that priests do, and that required becoming a priest.

The ugly duckling is a misunderstood universal myth. It’s not about turning into a blonde Barbie doll or becoming what you dream of being; it’s about self-revelation, becoming who you are.

Things in the margins, including humans who wander there, are often on the brink of becoming someone else, or something else, whose memory may not include the significance of old markers.

Sometimes life isn’t about who you were or are, but it’s about who you are becoming.

I thought being faithful was about becoming someone other than who I was…it wasn’t until I failed that I began to wonder if my human wholeness might be more useful to God than my exhausting goodness.

Russia is now becoming increasingly nervous about a more permanent U.S. presence in Central Asia.

At first it seems as if begoing follows becoming. But look even closer and you will see that there are only flashes of lightning illuminating the empty sky.

Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier.