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I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The task of pastoral ministry, above all else, is to arrange contingencies for an encounter with the divine.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Divine Job
We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Ourselves Path People
May God in his mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may he lead us to himself.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Himself Leadership Leaving Time
We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Learning Light People Suffering
Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Himself Oneself Patience Religious Wait
Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to each of us.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Community Ourselves Religious
The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Limitation Place Rejection Time
It is worse for a liar to tell the truth than for a lover of truth to lie.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Lie Love Truth Worst
A love that left people alone in their guilt would not have real people as its object. So, in vicarious responsibility for people, and in His love for real human beings, Jesus becomes the one burdened by guilt.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Alone Guilty Love People Reality Religious Responsibility
Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Evil Grace Judgement Love Spiritual
The Church is the Church only when it exists for others, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence Help Live Man
We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Ourselves
The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Children Kind Leaving Moral World
In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Achievement Easy Gratitude Hard Help Important Life Rich
Not until one person desires to keep his own bread for himself does hunger ensue.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Desire Himself Oneself Person
Being free means being free for the other, because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Freedom Himself Myself Relationship

I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.

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I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.

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