Matt Mcmanus

“Compassion isn’t just about feeling the pain of others; it’s about bringing them in toward yourself. If we love what God loves, then, in compassion, margins get erased. “Be compassionate as God is compassionate,” means the dismantling of barriers that exclude.”
― Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

“Without reading the word, silence becomes stale, and without silence, the word loses its re-creative power. The word leads to silence and silence to the word. The word is born in silence, and silence is the deepest response to the word.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Reaching Out

“We are so afraid of open spaces and empty places that we occupy them with our minds even before we are there. Our worries and concerns are expressions of our inability to leave unresolved questions unresolved and open-ended situations open-ended. They make us grab any possible solution and answer that seems to fit the occasion. They reveal our intolerance of the incomprehensibility of people and events and make us look for labels or classifications to fill the emptiness with self-created illusions.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Reaching Out

“Here the highest knowledge Is unbounded. That which gives things Their thusness cannot be delimited by things. So when we speak of ‘limits,’ we remain confined To limited things. The limit of the unlimited is called ‘fullness.’ The limitlessness of the limited is called ‘emptiness.’ Tao is the source of both. But it is itself Neither fullness nor emptiness. Tao produces both renewal and decay, But is neither renewal or decay. It causes being and non-being But is neither being nor non-being. Tao assembles and it destroys, But it is neither the Totality nor the Void.”
― Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu