Basil Hume

“Behind every crucifix stands our risen Lord. Hidden in every suffering and pain is the joy of closer union with him. His is the victory. He invites us to share it.”

“I believe that we have a duty to look frankly at the social conditions around us and to work to do what we can to address the specific needs which we find.”

“It's one thing to see the suffering and dying on the television screen and quite another to be there and experience it. You cannot look into the eyes of a starving child and yourself remain the same.”

“Our response, our attitude, depends on our realisation of God's attitude toward us. If I experience love or have experienced it, this is the means whereby I can explore the mystery of God's love.”

“Moral choices do not depend on personal preference and private decision but on right reason and, I would add, divine order.”

“The 'Rule of St. Benedict' makes it possible for ordinary folk to live lives of quite extraordinary value. The weak have a place to do their best.”

“Even though you find yourself in an intolerable position, one in which you think you have no right to be, accept it here and now as the Cross; then, later, you can plan how to do better.”

“When we are truly praying, then we can begin to see Christ in our neighbour; when we are really praying, we can begin to live for the Father.”

“It is not because we are drawn to prayer that we first begin to pray; more often, we have to begin prayer, and then the taste and the desire for it come.”

“How wonderful it would be if the love of God was our priority and the love of neighbour flowed from that.”

“Why God should want and need us is a mystery. But it is true: otherwise he would not have created us and life would ultimately have no meaning for us. It is good to remember that in God the is a constancy, a consistency of attitude which never changes, irrespective of what we are or how we act: he never changes in is wanting us or needing us.”

“It is axiomatic that the Cross we get is the one we most dislike: we would choose any other. But it is equally true that the Cross which is ours is the one Christ wants us to bear.”

“Let us remind ourselves that if we are to be our Lord's disciples, we must take up his Cross and follow him.”

“It is healthy to say, 'Yes, I am a sinner,' and to recognise that this should lead us to turn to God full of confidence in his love and mercy.”

“Christ shared our experience; he suffered as we suffer; he died as we shall die, and for forty days in the desert he underwent the struggle between good and evil.”

“The voice that called us years ago still calls us today. Every monastic day is a new monastic beginning.”

“What did our Lord do by his Passion, Death, and Resurrection? He bridged that gulf which exists between God and man, a gulf which can only be bridged by him.”

“On the whole, monks do not become famous - and that is a good thing - but monasteries do - and that is an excellent thing. In other words, it is the community that matters.”

“The devil took advantage of Christ's hunger to tempt him to limit his concern to the relief of human need. These are vital concerns, but they cannot be the sole concern of the Church. We need daily bread; we need, too, a reason for living, a sense of purpose, a vision.”

“Death remains about the one certain fact in the lives of each one of us, and there will be suffering, sorrow, and sadness next week as there was last week.”