Risk

"You just heard in the Gospel that one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life...Whoever out of love for Christ gives themselves to the service of others will live, like the grain of wheat that dies-but only apparently. If it did not die, it would remain alone. Only in undoing itself does it produce the harvest."

Oscar Romero

Public Service

“Public business, my son, must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise men refuse it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not. A young man should weigh well his plans. Integrity should be preserved in all events, as essential to his happiness, through every stage of his existence. His first maxim then should be to place his honor out of reach of all men. In order to do this he must make it a rule never to become dependent on public employments for subsistence. Let him have a trade, a profession, a farm, a shop, something where he can honestly live, and then he may engage in public affairs, if invited, upon independent principles. My advice to my children is to maintain an independent character.”
John Adams

Serving the Poor

“People may come to our communities [L’Arche] because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are the poor. And then they discover something extraordinary: that Jesus came to bring the good news to the poor, not to those who serve the poor!”
Jean Vanier