Dear Br. David, I am just beginning to crawl out of my shell of denial and face Tsunami. It’s overwhelming — the number of people who have died. You can’t help but to think about God. All the old stuff comes up –are we being punished — yet I also see people giving and the war in Sri Lanka has stopped. I can pray and donate–but …. — A.

+When we are faced with the mystery we call “God,” we cannot comprehend it. What else did we expect? Isn’t mystery by definition incomprehensible? But we forget that fact; we attempt to double-guess Mystery. We act as if one could watch God in profile. We ought to be grateful for anything — no matter how shattering — that jolts us and turns us till we look at Mystery face to face.

— Your Brother David


Stop.Look.Go: A Daily Practice to Transform Your Life

Join us May 12 – 16, 2025 for a self-guided series that will offer inspiration and tools to unlock the full benefits of living gratefully through the essential grateful living practice of Stop.Look.Go.

Learn More and Register

Br. David Steindl-Rast
Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB

Brother David Steindl-Rast — author, scholar, and Benedictine monk — is beloved the world over for his enduring message about gratefulness as the true source of lasting happiness. Known to many as the “grandfather of gratitude,” Br. David has been a source of inspiration and spiritual friendship to countless leaders and luminaries around the world including Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton, and more. He has been one of the most important figures in the modern interfaith dialogue movement, and has taught with thought-leaders such as Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, and Roshi Joan Halifax. His wisdom has been featured in recent interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Krista Tippett, and Tami Simon and his TED talk has been viewed almost 10,000,000 times. Learn more about Br. David here.

See more content by Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB →
Br. David Steindl-Rast
Q&A