Any authentic spiritual journey must grow from direct, personal experience of God. There is no substitute for a genuine encounter with Perfect Love.

-David Benner, Surrender to Love p.27

Spiritual transformation does not result from fixing our problems. It results from turning to God in the midst of them and meeting God just as we are. Turning to God is the core of prayer. Turning to God in our sin and shame is the heart of spiritual transformation.

-David Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself p.67

In fact, of all the variables that influence the formation of a child’s attachment pattern, the single most robust factor is whether or not the parent has made sense of her or his own life.

-Curt Thompson, Anatomy of the Soul p.118

Your absolutely foundation is communion with God and others. This is the “deepest me” to which you must return before you act. From this foundation, you know you must act and you will act, but now from a place of positive, loving energy. You must start from a deep place of “yes.”

-Richard Rohr

Psalm 119:15,23,27,48,78,97,99,148

The practice of meditation…puts us in position to be open to God’s search of us…It does not simply help us focus on something else (God’s laws, precepts, or deeds) but facilitates the process by which we focus on Someone Else focusing on us.

It is one thing for God to search. It is quite another for me to feel searched. It requires me to be present, which requires work.

-Curt Thompson Anatomy of the Soul p.176

What can we not undertake when we know that we are loved, loved concretely, loved by this person, loved in each of the hours of the day?

-Timothy Gallagher

When we empty our hands of self-reliance, self-righteousness, self-pity, and other self-sins, they will be empty enough to receive the life of Christ in us and display his life to others.

-Kenneth Boa

Ultimately, no one can hurt us. We have nothing to lose, because all our treasure is in Christ. This can be a very hard lesson, and it may take a lifetime to learn, but even at the beginning of the journey we can recognize the truth. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When we are hurt by another, it is because we think that person has stolen some of our treasure. The process of becoming healed and becoming able to offer forgiveness comes with the realization that our real treasure is elsewhere; it is secure where no one can hurt it.

-Frederica Mathewes-Green

If we are truly disciples of Jesus, we need to live as those who are yearning for instruction…

-Michael casey

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence…activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence….It kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

-Thomas Merton