“A disciple is a person who reads the words of Scripture prayerfully, entering the stories, listening for God’s personal word. A disciple is a person who speaks often with God in prayer. A disciple is a person who watches what Jesus did to maintain a constant communication with God and then does likewise. A disciple is a person who adopts the practices of Jesus as his or her own.  A disciple follows Jesus into the world, lavishing up others the divine love we have so gratefully received” (Miriam Dixon in Meditations on the birth of Jesus, A Renovare Advent Resource for Spiritual Renewal).

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“If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace” (Frederick Buechner Now and Then and Listening to Your Life).

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“As I grow older, I discover more and more that the greatest gift I have to offer is my own joy of living, my own inner peace, my own silence and solitude, my own sense of well-being. When I ask myself, “Who helps me the most?” I must answer, “The one who is willing to share his or her life with me” (Henri Nouwen).

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“When we experience the reality of our oneness with God, others, and creation, actions of justice and healing naturally follow. If we’re working to create a more whole world, contemplation will give our actions nonviolent, loving power for the long haul” (Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations).

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“The saintly character is the character for which spiritual emotions are the habitual center of the personal energy” (William James quoted in His Truth is Marching On, John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham).

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“Every morning when you wake up . . . before you reaffirm your faith in the majesty of a loving God, before you say I believe for another day, read the Daily News with its record of the latest crimes and tragedies of mankind and then see if you can honestly say it again” (James Muilenberg, quoted by Frederick Buechner in Now and Then).