“[The cast sings its lungs out in the joyously arranged, often stylistically updated songs. The actors share the narration with the same grace with which they share embodiments of the man himself. Will Chase is the most persuasive John. Marcy Harriell delivers a powerhouse] Woman Is the Nigger of the World. ... Mother.”

“Fie, what an indirect and peevish course is this of hers! Lord cardinal, will your grace persuade the queen to send the Duke of York unto his princely brother presently? If she deny, Lord Hastings, go with him, and from her jealous arms pluck him perforce.”

“This most certain doctrine being then received, that there is an evangelical and saving Light and grace in all, the universality of the love and mercy of God towards mankind, both in the death of his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the manifestation of the Light in the heart, is established and confirmed, against all the objections of such as deny it.”

“I feel the same way about solitude as some people feel about the blessing of the church. It's the light of grace for me. I never close my door behind me without the awareness that I am carrying out an act of mercy toward myself.”

A love story is not about those who lost their heart but about those who find that sullen inhabitant who, when it is stumbled upon, means the body can fool no one, can fool nothing—not the wisdom of sleep or the habit of social graces. It is a consuming of oneself and the past.

We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. Because how else do we accept His free gift of salvation if not with thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives. Thanksgiving is the manifestation of our Yes! to His grace.

When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows. How can this not be the best thing for the world? For us?

I experience religious dread whenever I find myself thinking that I know the limits of God’s grace, since I am utterly certain it exceeds any imagination a human being might have of it. God does, after all, so love the world.

I turn my heart to the light and receive its beauty and nourishment. I turn my heart to the shadows as they reveal hues, shades and textures that contrast the light. I turn my heart to them both and embrace their gifts, for they have graced me with blessings untold.

If outer events bring him to a position where he can bear them no longer and force him to cry out to the higher power in helplessness for relief, or if inner feelings bring humiliation and recognition of his dependence on that power, this crushing of the ego may open the door to grace.