"Jesus was quite indulgent with the sincerely erroneous, but severe with hypocrites... I don’t think keeping up with the times was very high on Jesus’ list of priorities. Moreover, he never claimed to be a realist. When confronted with the difficulties of his teachings, Jesus blithely replied that “what is impossible for men is possible for God.”...

"God expects more of us than we think we are capable of. He demands selfless, faithful love. He demands that we pardon our enemies and those who have hurt us. He demands that we give from our want, and not only from our surplus. Why does he ask such difficult, such “unrealistic” things? Because he is calling us to greatness. He is calling us to realize our potential and to grow in resemblance to Jesus. Is this unrealistic? If we were left to our own devices, yes. With the assistance of his grace, no...

"The world is not a Swiss watch, where every part fits perfectly with every other part. Humanity is a mishmash of passion and self-control, selfishness, and love, personal interest and generosity, reason and irrationality. We are called to the triumph of good over evil and reason over chaos, but the perfect world we dream of will happen only in the world to come."

- Father Thomas D. Williams, Greater Than You Think, http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzA2ZDNlZjE0Nzc0YjlmMTE4MGYxZWU3NjY2YzNkYzk=