Knowing Brother David is a special grace. I have seldom taught a course without trying to make David a part of it, because I know that the thousands of people who hear him speak in churches, classrooms and retreat centers never forget him. Whenever he speaks, it always is much more than a brilliant lecture. It is something of an event. When Brother David enters into the heart and mind of his listener something new happens to them and they know it.

"In the midst of a world in which hatred, strife, violence, and war dominate our consciousness, Brother David points our eyes in another direction and tells us that joy and peace are closer at hand than we might realize."

Brother David is my ideal of a teacher. He not only offers stimulating ideas and good theories, but he also creates the climate in which these ideas and theories can be received without fear and then explored in the heart. He does much more than speak about the spiritual life -- he speaks of it with the authority of the monk who is living it. For Brother David there hardly seems to be a distinction between teaching, preaching, praying and meditating. All of these for him are one process and he has the ability to invite his listeners to become part of his own experience, and to enter with him in the places that fill him with gratitude and joy. His lively gestures, his open, always surprised eyes, his attentiveness to every question, his concise responses, his sparkling humor and most of all his obvious love for his students allow him to open hearts that remain mostly closed to the realities from and about which he speaks. Often, students remark that after listening to David, they see clearly what until then they had not been able to understand. To my embarrassment, I discovered that concepts I had explored elaborately in the same course became suddenly and unexpectedly crystal clear when Brother David touched upon them. My embarrassment, however, was always a happy embarrassment since I too experienced that same clarity and felt loved in a new way that freed me to understand with less fear.

"Brother David's monastic life has formed him in gratitude. He knows with his heart and mind that a monk is a monk to say thanks."

One of the most remarkable qualities of Brother David's teaching is his ability to make old words new. To very simple and "normal" words such as joy, peace, patience, humility, obedience, heart and mind he is able to give such a fresh tone that it seems as if he uses them for the first time. He speaks them with so much care that they appear as precious gifts to be admired and joyfully shared with others. Thus his words are always more than just words. They become active instruments of inner transformation. They give you a glimpse of the mystery that God's word became flesh not only two thousand years ago but every time we truly listen.

Brother David's monastic life has formed him in gratitude. He knows with his heart and mind that a monk is a monk to say thanks. "The human heart is made for universal praise," he writes and as a monk he wants to make this truth visible in his concrete daily life.

Whenever Brother David came to visit me he surprised me with his gratefulness -- not just gratefulness for what I or others did or said but gratefulness for the many gifts I had come to take for granted. He saw flowers with an expression of discovery and surprise, he looked at the sky as a marvelous piece of art, he admired poetry, music and handicrafts with a spontaneous enthusiasm, and he kept discovering endless new occasions to say thanks and offer praise to his God who keeps showering him with new gifts.

In the midst of a pragmatic world in which we constantly ask ourselves how useful things -- and even people -- are, Brother David calls us to "useless" praise. In the midst of a world in which hatred, strife, violence, and war dominate our consciousness, Brother David points our eyes in another direction and tells us that joy and peace are closer at hand than we might realize. In the midst of a world in which fear, apprehension and suspicion make us live stingy, narrow and small lives, Brother David stretches out his arms, smiles and says: "Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise -- then you will discover the fullness of your life."