“So how exactly do I turn my will and my life over to the care of God?”

“The late Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh didn’t like the word reincarnation because, he said, it is easily misunderstood. Some may interpret the term as an indication that a soul or spirit exists apart from the body. Thay, as he was known by his students, preferred the term ‘continuation’ because it better communicates the truths of interdependence and impermanence. Everything is constantly evolving—especially our consciousness. There is no birth and no death. There is only a continuation of moments in the Spirit.”

“For those who are more advanced on the spiritual journey, the support of friendship & understanding is the greatest gift one can offer. The encouragement and reassurance of one who has been over the same path and the validation of one’s own experience as coming from God that only an experienced spiritual director can give are enormous gifts. The best direction aims at enabling or empowering the directee to graduate to the more refined and delicate guidance of the Spirit in all matters. The director becomes a fellow traveler and friend on the journey, and the directee and director speak the truth to each other in love. Speaking just the truth can be too harsh. Speaking the truth in love is mutually sustaining.”

“Day by day we should slowly build up an unshakable faith in a Higher Power and in that Power's ability to give us all the help we need. By having these quiet times each morning, we start each day with a renewing of our faith, until it becomes almost a part of us and is a strong habit. We should keep furnishing the quiet places of our souls with all the furniture of faith. We should try to fill our thoughts each day with all that is harmonious and good, beautiful and enduring. I pray that I may build a house in my soul for the spirit of God to dwell in. I pray that I may come at last to an unshakable faith.”