The Christian life — and especially the contemplative life — is a continual discovery of Christ in new and unexpected places.

Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero said this shortly before his assassination: "I am going to speak to you simply as a pastor, as one who, together with his people, has been learning the beautiful but harsh truth that the Christian faith does not cut us off from the world but immerses us in it; the church is not a fortress set apart from the city. The church follows Jesus, who lived, worked, struggled and died in the midst of a city, in the polis.

Interestingly, Jesus did not send us into the world to make believers but to make disciples. You can worship Jesus without doing the things he says. We can believe in him and still not follow him.

Bethlehem and Golgotha, the Manger and the Cross, the birth and the death, must always be seen together.

The ground of mercy is love, and the working of mercy is our keeping in love.

Christians have learned that when there seems to be no other evidence of God's love, they cannot escape the cross.

Being a Christian means having love. That is unbelievably difficult and, at the same time, incredibly simple.

Because of the Shewing I am not good but if I love God the better: and in as much as ye love God the better, it is more to you than to me.

See in what peace a Christian can die.

Feelings are great liars. If Christians worshipped only when they felt like it, there would be precious little worship. Feelings are important in many areas but completely unreliable in matters of faith.

Proper work for the Christian is witness, not apology, and Psalm 124 is an excellent model.

Christian faith needs continuous maintenance. It requires attending to. "If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post.