Elizabeth Bishop in particular had a big impact on me personally as well as artistically. Her insistence on clarity is something I rate very highly.

I feel that there is not an endlessly expandable universe of fiction readers.

Giving oneself permission to write to begin with is the first enormous challenge. But you discover that this permission involves a requirement: To write about things that are difficult because they are, in fact, your subject.

A translation needs to read convincingly. There's no limit to what can go into it in terms of background research, feeling, or your own interests in form and history. But what should come out is something that reads as convincing English-language text.

God wants you well. God wants you prosperous. God wants you a whole person.

It is important to learn to understand in a historical text, a text from the past, the living Word of God, that is, to enter into prayer and thus read Sacred Scripture as a conversation with God.

I try to be passionate about every aspect of my life, how I love my wife, how I serve my wife, how I serve God. In the same way, I try to be passionate about football. I try to serve my coaches with passion. I try to serve my teammates with passion. I try to serve God, through football, with passion.

Christianity is not about religion. It's about faith, about being held, about being forgiven. It's about finding joy and finding home.