Joshua

“The Evangelium has not abrogated legends; it has hallowed them, especially the 'happy ending'. The Christian has still to work, with mind as well as body, to suffer, hope, and die; but he may now perceive that all his bents and faculties have a purpose, which can be redeemed. So great is the bounty with which he has been treated that he may now, perhaps, fairly dare to guess that in Fantasy he may actually assist in the effoliation and multiple enrichment of creation.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays

“However, this saving grace can be stunted. We can stop at this point where we will be actually saved; but, we will not be working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). The person can live and die only at the stage of being saved and Christ will not be formed in him. If this happens, we will be infants in Christ; we will live a very superficial Christian life and a life that is full of struggles and conflicts. Paul calls it a life according to the flesh and in other places in the Bible it is called the state of spiritual childhood.”
― Atef Meshreky, The Inner Man & the Formation of Christ

“Living in the kingdom of God is a matter of living with God's action in our lives.”
― Dallas Willard, Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God

“The "modern man" has "come of age" as a deadly serious adult, conscious of his sufferings and alienations but not of joy, of sex but not of love, of science but not of "mystery.”
― Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy