From Meister Eckhart:
Eckart wrote in the middle ages, What good is it to me if this eternal birth of a divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself?” And whether the Christ child is born within you this Christmas all depends on whether you approach Bethlehem with the grace of hunger and desire, rather than with complacency and self-satisfaction. RefMgr field[8]: Not in File
2001
From Harold E.Masback, A Call to Arms, Part II," (October 7, 2001) at pages 7-8:
The ancient monks also told a story of a new monk who asked the Abbot for the secret to experiencing God. The wise man replied, “Go to your cell and sit in silence, your cell will teach you everything.” It was in the silence of the cell that the shields of distraction and achievement could drop entirely away. it was in the silence of the cell that the heart could become still enough to experience God.
From Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat, Follow Me" at p. 96-101
And such is his power that even through us others may be led to look for him, to see him, to follow him, and the great chain reaction of epiphany will roll on to our children and to their children.
From Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who's Who, Come and See":
As Frederick Beuchner puts it, pray for him and see if he comes, in ways that only you will recognize. Speak to him or be silent before him. In whatever way seems right to you and at whatever time, come to him with your hands empty. The great promise is that to come to him who was born at Bethlehem is to see coming to birth within ourselves something stronger and braver, gladder and kinder and holier, than ever we have seen before or than ever we could have seen without him.
From John M. Buchanan, The First Words of Jesus:
If all we dimly understand is that at some level we’re looking for something to believe in and hold on to, something important enough to live for, something big enough to claim our passion, our devotion, our faith – an anchor, a purpose, a meaning, a challenge to be more, a promise of love forever, a hope,” then Christ knows, even if we don’t know, that we are looking for him.
From Walter J. Burghardt, Grace on Crutches, Dying on Friday, Living on Sunday?":
At its best, our worship can not only give expression to our faith experience as Christians, it can help mold that experience as well.
2001
From Harold Masback, I Set Before You Life" (September 9, 2001) at page 10:
When his turn to speak came, Leon said, “I am ashamed at the behavior of some of my Hopi brothers and sad for your troubles, but I have seen that the one God we both worship has brought us closer to one another and made us stronger, and for that I give thanks.”
From Myers, D.G., The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People," American Psychologist, 2000, at page 55-57:
Spirituality, family ties, a sense of being part of something meaningful, strong friendships and strong marriages do all correlate with reports of joy and happiness.
1999
From Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi, If We Are So Rich, Why Aren't We Happy?" American Psychologist (1999) volume 54 at pages 821-827:
When researchers gave thousands of adolescents pagers and beeped them at random intervals requesting an assessment of their happiness, they did find a correlation between wealth and happiness: a reverse correlation. The wealthier the adolescents the less happy they were.