What do I define as human? I believe in the pursuit of the spiritual, presence to pain, and the
sacredness of life. Without these, life is useless and humanity a farce. To be human is to listen to the
rest of the world with a tender heart, and to learn to live with our arms open and our souls seared
with a sense of responsibility for everything that is. Without a doubt, given that criteria, we may indeed
not live the “better life” but we may, at the end, at least have lived a human one.
–The Monastic Way
“Why does a woman like you stay in the Church?” a woman asked me from the depths of a dark
audience years ago. “Because,” I answered, “everytime I thought about leaving, I found myself thinking
of oysters.” “Oysters?” she said. “What do oysters have to do with it?” “Well,” I answered her in the
darkness of the huge auditorium; “I realized that an oyster is an organism that defends itself by
excreting a substance to protect itself against the sand of its spawning bed. The more sand in the
oyster, the more chemical the oyster produces until finally, after layer upon layer of gel, the sand
turns into a pearl. And the oyster itself becomes more valuable in the process. At that moment,” I said,
“I discovered the ministry of irritation.”
–Lutheran Women Today, Oct. 1996
The question, “What is sin?” has changed my life completely. I came to understand that selfishness, self-
centeredness, and the kind of self-indulgence that is bought at the expense of the other was the real
essence of sin. The private little wrestling matches, the pitfalls that come and go with the process of
personal development were all part of all our secret struggles to resist the predisposition to sin that is
part of being human. Those were all part of the growing up process, yes, but it was not of the real
essence of sin or sanctity. Sanctity had far more to do with building up the reign of God here and now
for everyone. All the saints were “sinners” in the narcissistic sense of the word. But all the saints were
also those who overturned tables in every temple of every system in which exploiting the little ones of
the world was one of the givens of the social game. Since God lives in us all, the destruction of the
other has got to be a sin against God.
–Spiritual Questions for the 21st Century
All excerpts taken from Joan Chittister: In My Own Words, ed. Mary Lou Kownacki (Liguori)
sacredness of life. Without these, life is useless and humanity a farce. To be human is to listen to the
rest of the world with a tender heart, and to learn to live with our arms open and our souls seared
with a sense of responsibility for everything that is. Without a doubt, given that criteria, we may indeed
not live the “better life” but we may, at the end, at least have lived a human one.
–The Monastic Way
“Why does a woman like you stay in the Church?” a woman asked me from the depths of a dark
audience years ago. “Because,” I answered, “everytime I thought about leaving, I found myself thinking
of oysters.” “Oysters?” she said. “What do oysters have to do with it?” “Well,” I answered her in the
darkness of the huge auditorium; “I realized that an oyster is an organism that defends itself by
excreting a substance to protect itself against the sand of its spawning bed. The more sand in the
oyster, the more chemical the oyster produces until finally, after layer upon layer of gel, the sand
turns into a pearl. And the oyster itself becomes more valuable in the process. At that moment,” I said,
“I discovered the ministry of irritation.”
–Lutheran Women Today, Oct. 1996
The question, “What is sin?” has changed my life completely. I came to understand that selfishness, self-
centeredness, and the kind of self-indulgence that is bought at the expense of the other was the real
essence of sin. The private little wrestling matches, the pitfalls that come and go with the process of
personal development were all part of all our secret struggles to resist the predisposition to sin that is
part of being human. Those were all part of the growing up process, yes, but it was not of the real
essence of sin or sanctity. Sanctity had far more to do with building up the reign of God here and now
for everyone. All the saints were “sinners” in the narcissistic sense of the word. But all the saints were
also those who overturned tables in every temple of every system in which exploiting the little ones of
the world was one of the givens of the social game. Since God lives in us all, the destruction of the
other has got to be a sin against God.
–Spiritual Questions for the 21st Century
All excerpts taken from Joan Chittister: In My Own Words, ed. Mary Lou Kownacki (Liguori)
THREE QUESTIONS
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