Fr. Memo: “Spirituality is a place. It is a place of connection. It is a place of who we are and who we are to become. From a theological perspective, that ‘place’ is the where the spirit is.”

Ronald Rolheiser: “Whatever the expression, everyone is ultimately talking about the same thing – an unquenchable fire, a restlessness, a longing, a disquiet, a hunger, a loneliness, a gnawing nostalgia, a wildness that cannot be tamed, a congenital all-embracing ache that lies at the center of human experience and is the ultimate force that drives everything else. This dis-ease is universal. Desire gives no exemptions.”

“What we do with our longings, both in terms of handling the pain and the hope they bring us, that is our spirituality. Spirituality is what we do with the madness of life. It is what we do with the fire that burns within us. What shapes our actions is our spirituality. Spirituality concerns what we do with desire.”

Anthony DeMello, S.J.: “Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and beauty of this thing that we call human existence…Though everything is a mess, all is well.”

Marcus Borg: “Spirituality is becoming conscious of and intentional about a deepening relationship with God.”

“Spirituality is a process through which we are transformed in our experiences, understandings and relationships with God ourselves and others.”

Spirituality is about congruency. How congruent are your beliefs with your actions. How do you walk the talk? How do you make meaning in your life?

Chris Skrable: “Spirituality is the friction point, where the rubber hits the road, where my beliefs and realities come together and express themselves.”

Parker Palmer: “Faith arises from the hunger for authenticity, for correspondence between one’s inner and outer lives.”

Sharon Daloz Parks: “A recognition of spirituality and an acknowledgment of soul is rooted in a longing for ways of speaking of the human experience of depth, meaning, mystery, moral purpose, transcendence, wholeness, intuition, vulnerability, tenderness, courage, the capacity to love, and the apprehension of spirit as the animating essence at the core of life.”

“Faith goes beyond religious belief. Faith is more adequately recognized as the activity of seeking and discovering meaning in the most comprehensive dimensions of our experience. To be human is to dwell in faith, to dwell in the sense one makes out of life – what seems ultimately true and dependable about self, world and cosmos.”

David Steindl-Rast: “Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual.”

Robert C. Fuller: “Spirituality exists wherever we struggle with the issue of how our lives fit into the greater cosmic scheme of things.”

Albert Einstein: “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious – the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” Living Philosophies, 1931

Denis Waitley: “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.”

Edward Ericson: “Ethical Humanism is primarily an attitude about human beings, their worth, and the significance of their lives. It is concerned with the nature and quality of living; the character and creativity of our relationships. Because of this concern, humanism spontaneously flowers into a spiritual movement in its own right.”

Felix Adler: “The unique personality which is the real life in me, I cannot gain unless I search for the real life, the spiritual quality, in others. I am myself spiritually dead unless I reach out to the fine quality dormant in others. For it is only with the god enthroned in the innermost shrine of the other, that the god hidden in me, will consent to appear.” An Ethical Philosophy of Life

Fyodor Dostoyevsky: “Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “We as for long life, but ’tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.”

Dean Ornish: “When I use the word spirituality, I don’t necessarily mean religion; I mean whatever it is that helps you feel connected to something that is larger than yourself.”

Nelson Mandela: “We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.”