If You Are Going To Try And

If I Did Not Believe, If I Did Not Make What Is Called An Act Of Faith (and Each Act Of Faith Increases Our Faith, And Our Capacity For Faith), If I Did Not Have Faith That The Works Of Mercy Do Lighten The Sum Total Of Suffering In The World, So That Those Who Are Suffering On Both Sides Of This Ghastly Struggle Somehow Mysteriously Find Their Pain Lifted And Some Balm Of Consolation Poured On Their Wounds, If I Did Not Believe These Things, The Problem Of Evil Would Indeed Be Overwhelming.

It Is Penance To Work, To Give Oneself To Others, To Endure The Pinpricks Of Community Living.

When It Comes To Labor And Politics, I Am Inclined To Be Sympathetic To The Left, But When It Comes To The Catholic Church, Then I Am Far To The Right.

Voluntary Poverty Isn't Going Around With Some Burlap Bag Around You And Imitating The Poor. It Means Being Indifferent To The Material, Doing As Christ Said. He Went And Sat Down With The Rich And Zachaeus And Publicans And Sinners.

The Holy Man Was The Whole Man, The Man Of Integrity, Who Not Only Tried To Change The World, But To Live In It As It Was.