“Maturity doesn’t mean we have to have superhuman mental emotions, strength, no fears, no doubts, a surplus of understanding and several other superhuman attributes.

Maturity means to stop being a child in the sense that you ignore one or more of your responsibilities, replacing them with determining what you want to do is more important than the needs of your spouse, or your responsibility for his or her peace of mind, respect for your spouse’s need to be treated equal in all matters.

A man demonstrates maturity in his ability to treat others, male or female, with moral respect, not expecting himself to be pampered like a child.

Maturity doesn’t mean old age. It is a state of a degree of wisdom and fairness, not having to make excuses for lax behavior.”

“Maturity can be compared to a precious jewel such as an emerald. To be the possessor, the cultivator, and have the ability to express sound maturity can never be attributed to growing older, because maturity is like the emerald: the more depth to the color of the emerald, the more valuable it is.

This, in comparison to maturity in us, expresses itself not in a constant or consistent seriousness in all matters, under all conditions, in front of all people, but it manifests itself in our integrity, our code of ethics, our ability to see what is right and what is wrong, our ability to speak without anger, without sarcasm, without a superior attitude and without jesting to cover up our insecurities.

Maturity is growing in being able to, in a dignified way, respond to responsibility without feeling importance. Maturity is to dignify situations and associations with a stability of nature, personality, self-control, self-discipline, sound moral values and sound moral standards.

The more depth one attains in handling life with maturity, the more value there is to life. Like the emerald, the depth in its color gives it a more valuable appraisal.

There is no better time than this Retreat to see the value of maturity over the insecurity and the lack of depth in immaturity.”