Quotes from David Carlson

Noted American Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann maintained that God desires that we approach all aspects of life sacramentally. That is, there is nothing that God created that is inherently secular. The destiny of everything in this world is achieved when we recognize its capacity to connect us mystically with God.

I thought, too, of Thomas Merton's description of hell, where 'no one has anything in common with anybody else except the fact that they all hate one another and cannot get away from one another and themselves.

There was no way to get around the fact that Jesus makes a very unnatural demand on His followers. He asks us to remain forever turned toward the Other, to seeing my worst enemy as my neighbor.