Of God we ask one favor,
That we may be forgiven-
For what, he is presumed to know-
The Crime, from us, is hidden.

Emily Dickinson

To understand is to forgive, even oneself.

Alexander Chase
Perspectives, 1966

The folly which we might have ourselves committed is the one which we are least ready to pardon in another.

Joseph Roux
Meditations of a Parish Priest, 4.84, 1886

Who pardons easily invites offense.

Pierre Corneille
Cinna, 4.1, 1639

“Some people read books in order to discover God. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Note it, read it. God whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink, instead, he set before your eyes the things that he had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? Why, heaven and earth shout to you: ‘GOD MADE ME’”

St. Augustine
May Sermon 126,6

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

St. Francis of Assisi

Forgiving our enemies has the same refreshing effect upon our souls as it does to confess our sins.

Josh Billings
Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor
1874

“The one who loves can never be poor. If you love unity, everyone who shares in this will possess something for you. Give up egoism and what I have is yours; give up rivalry, and what you have will be mine. Unhealthy rivalry divides; a healthy spirit unites… Have love, therefore, and you will have everything.”

St. Augustine
On John’s Gospel 32,8

We forgive to the extent that we love.

La Rochefoucauld
Maxims, 330, 1665

Hi friends,

Our Springtime issue of Voices From Prison presents a story of how God is acting in the lives of people in prison. It is often a case of despair to realize that so many of our citizens are in jail (1 in 100), especially our Black people. How can it be that we settle on building more and more jails instead of schools? How can it be that so many of our young people are caught up in a world of drugs and guns? How can it be that there is so little rehabilitation that goes on in prison? Yet, in all our questioning, it is equally obvious that God is alive in prison, moving people to amazing transformations. Like St. Augustine’s Confessions, this story of God’s action needs to be told so we can hope.

Download: Voices From Prison – Issue #3

Love and hope,
Fr. Paul and the Adeodatus group