“Love doesn't make you run away. Love makes you come back.”

“The concept of the Trinity seems very esoteric and irrelevant in today's world, but it seems to me that only a faith embracing each person of the Trinity can save us from imbalance. While love without faith offers no hope, faith without love offers no mercy. We must have both faith and love or run the danger of discovering that, in the end, we have nothing at all.”

“Who has ever deserved anything they've been given? Love isn't about deserving,cara mia. It's about giving. And accepting. And sharing. The most worthy heart is also the most courageous.”

“When I was a child, Mama had the best voice of all the members of the church. She had loved to sing. Her words had soared like an angel's over the swells of the organ. In fact, I now suspected, her entire theology had been taken from the hymnal.”

“Your past is not as important as your future. Did you know that? Can't change anything about what you've been, but you can change who you'll become.”

“But if it wasn't you, then who would I dream about?”

“Maybe what God had done was give her a great gift. She'd come to this country helpless and friendless. She'd been given both friends and a family”