Joseph Hays

“The Bible understands mercy as God’s own justice. Mercy is the heart of the biblical message, not by undercutting justice, but by surpassing it. The Old Testament speaks of God as a gracious and merciful God (Exod 34:6; Ps 86:15; etc.) and the New Testament calls God “the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation” (2 Cor 1:3; cf. Eph 2:4).”
― Cardinal Walter Kasper, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life

“Nothing is nearer to us than heaven. The earth is beneath our feet and we tread upon it, but heaven is within us.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Saint Francis

“What is the definition of heaven? Complete happiness. But how can anyone be completely happy when he looks out from heaven and sees his brothers and sisters being punished in hell? How can paradise exist if the inferno exists also? That is why I say—and let this sink deep down into your minds, my sisters—that either we shall all be saved, all of us together, or else we shall all be damned. If a person is killed at the other end of the earth, we are killed; if a person is saved, we are saved.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Saint Francis

“Who knows, perhaps God is simply the search for God.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Saint Francis