After I Left The Convent, For 15

Islam Is A Religion Of Success. Unlike Christianity, Which Has As Its Main Image, In The West At Least, A Man Dying In A Devastating, Disgraceful, Helpless Death. The Cross, Crucified, And That Turned Into Victory. Mohammad Was Not An Apparent Failure. He Was A Dazzling Success, Politically As Well As Spiritually, And Islam Went From Strength To Strength To Strength.

All Religions Are Designed To Teach Us How To Live, Joyfully, Serenely, And Kindly, In The Midst Of Suffering.

Religions Have Always Stressed That Compassion Is Not Only Central To Religious Life, It Is The Key To Enlightenment And It The True Test Of Spirituality. But There Have Always Have Been Those Who'd Rather Put Easier Goals, Like Doctrine Conformity, In Place.

You Know How It Is In The Symphony When You Are Listening To The Symphony, The Last Notes Die Away, And There's Often A Beat Of Silence In The Auditorium Before The Applause Begins. It's A Very Full And Pregnant Silence. Now Theology Should Bring Us To Live Into That Silence, Into That Pregnant Pause.

Theologians In All The Great Faiths Have Devised All Kinds Of Myths To Show That This Type Of Kenosis, Of Self-emptying, Is Found In The Life Of God Itself. They Do Not Do This Because It Sounds Edifying, But Because This Is The Way That Human Nature Seems To Work. We Are Most Creative And Sense Other Possibilities That Transcend Our Ordinary Experience When We Leave Ourselves Behind.