QUOTATION: Hell

In truth-- one thing is certain; there exists a night into whose solitude no voice reaches; there is a door through which we can only walk alone -- the door of death. In the last analysis all the fear in the world is fear of this loneliness. From this point of view, it is possible to understand why the Old Testament has only one word for hell and death, the word sheol; it regards them as ultimately identical. Death is absolute loneliness. But the loneliness into which love can no longer advance is -- hell.

--Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Introduction to Christianity, 1968

QUOTATION: Hell

If there were such a thing as a loneliness that could no longer be penetrated and transformed by the word of another; if a state of abandonment were to arise that was so deep that no "You" could reach into it any more, then we should have real, total loneliness and dreadfulness, what theology calls "hell".

--Josef Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Introduction to Christianity, 1968

QUOTATION: Loneliness

 I do not want to be lonely all my life but people only make us lonelier by reminding us of God.

--Flannery O’Connor, A Prayer Journal, 14/4/1947

QUOTATION: The Difference Between Loneliness and Solitude

Loneliness is painful; Solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.

--Henri Nouwen

QUOTATION: Poverty

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta 

QUOTATION: Spilling Your Guts

Do not tell everyone your story. You will only end up feeling more rejected. People cannot give you what you long for in your heart.

--Henri Nouwen

QUOTATION: Troubled Soul

When the soul is troubled, lonely and darkened, then it turns easily to the outer comfort and to the empty enjoyments of the world.

–- St. Francis of Assisi