Remember this: Transcendence to higher levels of consciousness always means inclusion of the previous levels! Most reforms and revolutions of history have failed to understand this. This is the genius of the biblical revelation. True wisdom will honor and include both the Law and the Prophets. (p. 78) • Describe in your own words what

The Bible is slowly giving us a face capable of receiving divine dignity, and even daring to think that we could love God back—and that God would care! We are gradually being drawn inside the very mystery of Divine sharing. Teresa of Ávila described it as “the interior castle.” John’s whole Gospel could be seen

God is creating, quite literally, some friends for Godself! Jesus became the full representation of one who accepted and lived that friendship. In fact, he never seemed to doubt it. That must be at the core of our imitation of Jesus. (p. 53) • Write down your definition of friendship. Can you imagine having this

The Fall is not simply something that happened to Adam and Eve in one historical moment. It’s something that happens in all moments and all lives. It must happen and will happen to all of us. In fact, as the English mystic Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) said, “First the fall, and then the recovery from

I think forgiveness is the only event in which we simultaneously experience three great graces: God’s unmerited goodness, the deeper goodness of the one we have forgiven, and the experience of our own gratuitous goodness. That’s the payoff. This makes the mystery of forgiveness an incomparable tool of salvation. (p. 36) • What is it

God is not afraid of mistakes, it seems. God knows that God can turn everything around—into good. There are no dead ends in the economy of grace. • When have you made mistakes? How has God turned those events around, and brought good out of them? What did you learn, and how did you grow,