Before the soldiers arrive, before the physical attacks, in the silence of the night, the soul of Christ struggles in agony.

Unless we remove all of the people, we will never produce a sinless church, one that pursues the good without also perpetrating some evil.

We are all about individual rights, personal narratives and the freedom to choose. So was the Prodigal Son, until the food ran out.

The question of trust, of giving ourselves to something outside ourselves, is quite fundamental. It goes to the nature of who we are as human beings. One might pose the question this way: Are we clams or clovers?

Intimacy can only be shared between those who love. It cannot be summarized. Intimacy lives in silence.

If you picture a dark-winged figure tempting Jesus in the desert, you reduce the real power of evil. Why? Because you have removed the devil’s greatest advantage: the darkness of confusion.