"We need the same things to make bread that we need to build character:
We need the right proportion of ingredients --- not too much of this or too little of that.
We need an animating principle, like the yeast or leaven --- something to enliven us, a passion.
We need to be kneaded, mixed well by the slow, rhythmic pattern of everyday life.
Periodically, we need to rest in a warm place with a towel over our heads.
We need to be punched down, sometimes at the peak of our rising.
And we need to be tested in the fires of suffering. Ultimately, our lives are without meaning until we're broken and shared. We're not meant to stay on the shelf but to be given away."
Father Dominic Garramone, as quoted in The Oregonian from Tuesday, February 22, 02000.