The quote below is stolen from John Piippo's recent post on being free from trying to change others. Over the last two decades I have personally witnessed John's restraint from trying to advise people (me included) when they are not asking for advice. I believe that restraint creates an environment for people (and our church as a whole) to be themselves without feeling spiritually micro-managed.
"Nothing is more suspicious, in a man who seems holy, than an impatient desire to reform other men. A serious obstacle to recollection is the mania for directing those you have not been asked to reform... Renounce this futile concern with other men's affairs! Pay as little attention as you can to the faults of other people and none at all to their natural defects and eccentricities." ( Thomas Merton in New Seeds of Contemplation, 255)
Thanks Josh - another great quote from Merton, whose spirit went very deep.
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