David Steindl-Rast OSB (born July 12, 1926) is a Catholic Benedictine monk, notable for his active participation in interfaith dialogue and his work on the interaction between spirituality and science.
People who have faith in life are like swimmers who entrust themselves to a rushing river. They neither abandon themselves to its current nor try to resist it. Rather, they adjust their every movement to the watercourse, use it with purpose and skill, and enjoy the adventure.
Beauty seen makes the one who sees it more beautiful.
When you focus so much on the word, you tend to neglect the realm of silence.
Home and journey together constitute the creative polarity of the heart, the two dimensions we must cultivate if we want to 'develop the heart.
We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat. . . . There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that's what life is.
Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefullness, and gratefullness is a measure of our aliveness.
Any change in attitude changes the way one sees the world, and this in turn changes the way one acts.
There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that's what life is.
Gratefulness is the great task, the how of our spiritual work, because, rightly understood, it re-roots us.
"The root of joy is gratefulness. "
We can't really waste our time; we have to see that we are all in the same boat and that different religious traditions point in the same direction, and now let's get moving together, doing something for peace.
The hope that is left after all your hopes are gone - that is pure hope, rooted in the heart.
As we learn to give thanks for all of life and death, for all of this given world of ours, we find a deep joy. It is the joy of trust, the joy of faith in the faithfulness at the heart of all things. It is the joy of gratefulness in touch with the fullness of life.
Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual.
Joy is that kind of happiness that does not depend on what happens.
If there is anything the artist or a true work of art teaches us, it is that variety and complexity really increase the unity, and that to achieve unity within a great variety of complexity is a greater achievement and more satisfying piece of art than to achieve unity with just a few elements, which is relatively easily achieved.
Blessing is the lifeblood throbbing through the universe.
". . . Grateful living makes life meaningful and full of joy. "
Faith is the courageous confidence that trusts in the Source of all gifts.
There is no closer bond than the one that gratefulness celebrates, the bond between giver and thanksgiver. Everything is a gift. Grateful living is a celebration of the universal give-and-take of life, a limitless yes to belonging. Can our world survive without gratefulness? Whatever the answer, one thing is certain: to say an unconditional yes to the mutual belonging of all beings will make this a more joyful world. This is the reason why Yes is my favorite synonym for God.