Quotes

The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When God created the creation, he inscribed upon the Throne, “My Mercy overpowers My wrath.” — Imam Bukhari and Muslim b. al-Hajjaj

Low motives sometimes bait traps with high ideals. — author unknown

Being present on the margins, where life is coming apart, provides a clarity about God’s purposes that is not available anywhere else. It teaches us about our own spiritual poverty; it directs us to an affirmation of hope strong enough to endure despair; it steels our weak knees and timid hearts in the midst of our adversity. — Ken Sehested

I don't come with no disclaimer, I'm like everybody else, We keep our demons on the burner And our morals on the shelf. — Amelia Curran

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts. It is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church's mission. No set goals and objectives include everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own. — Often attributed to former Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, but it was spoken by Cardinal John Dearden, written by Bishop Ken Untener

No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumphs of war. — President Theodore Roosevelt

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu walked by a construction site on a temporary sidewalk the width of one person. A white man appeared at the other end, recognized Tutu, and said, "I don't make way for gorillas." At which Tutu stepped aside, made a deep sweeping gesture, and said, "Ah, yes, but I do." — Walter Wink

Writer and social activist Grace Paley once said in a workshop that the first step for writers who want to make a difference in the world “is to get over yourselves. The duty of a writer is to listen to the stories of the powerless and tell those stories to the powerful." — David Oliver Relin

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. — Simone Weil

We are all meant to be mothers of God. — Meister Eckhart