Challenge me, O Lord

God of deep waters and infinite riches, challenge me to go where I fear, to do what is difficult and what I thought could never be done. Push me to go to the deep waters of life and cast my net wide, for I put all my hope, trust and faith in you. Amen.

From "Rediscover Lent"

Darkness

I need the shadows of Good Friday to appreciate the full possibilities of the Easter mystery. The most distant object I can see on a clear day is the sun. But on a dark night I can see the stars, millions of miles farther away.

from "The challenge of the cross"

Hunger

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.

Mother Teresa

The road to holiness

Jesus shows us that there is one area where no compromise should be accepted: God's will. No matter what the cost, no matter what we may have to lose or give up, nothing should stand in the way of what the Father asks of us.

From "The Sacred Heart for Lent"

Faith

He does not believe, that does not live according to his belief.

Thomas Fuller

Time

Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons.

Blaise Pascal

Love of God

Let everyone understand that the real love of God does not consist in tear-shedding ... but in serving God by serving those around us, in justice, fortitude of soul, and humility.

Saint Teresa of Avila

Kindness

Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.

Frank A. Clark

Doubts

Living with uncertainty does not mean that we have to live hesitant and uncommitted lives, either religiously or politically. It does mean that we will live with a certain lightness of being and bring a modest provisionality to our judgments – especially when we remember how many things we have been wrong about in the past.

Richard Holloway

Go for God

Perhaps what is wrong with our modern religion is not so much the forms themselves in which it finds expression, but rather the kind of value which we have come to give those forms, a value which is too absolute. Theology, liturgy, church hierarchy and pastoral works - these are ultimately only means and instruments; they are not God himself; they are not the ultimate goal of our striving; and they exert a deadening effect the moment we start to consider them as ultimate. That does not mean that we should cast them aside. It means that we need to learn to look through them; to remember that they are means, not ends; to keep our eyes fixed on the transcendent Goal.

Cyprian Smith OSB, from "The Way of Paradox. Spiritual life as taught by Meister Ekchart"