30 January 2023
There is a very important distinction to be made between listening and
hearing. Sometimes we listen to things, but we never hear them. True listening
brings us in touch even with that which is unsaid and unsayable. Sometimes the
most important thresholds of mystery are places of silence. To be genuinely
spiritual is to have great respect for the possibilities and presence of
silence. …When you listen with your soul, you come into rhythm and unity with
the music of the universe.
John O’Donohue
Our Pilgrimage
28 January 2023
As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from commandments, something from examples, and something from sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for study.
Saint Augustine
As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from commandments, something from examples, and something from sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for study.
Saint Augustine
On Prayer
27 January 2023
Though our bodies may be in an attitude of prayer and our mouths babbling some pious formula, can we really claim to be praying in the presence of God when our minds are wandering hither and thither in home and market-place?
Saint John Chrysostom
Though our bodies may be in an attitude of prayer and our mouths babbling some pious formula, can we really claim to be praying in the presence of God when our minds are wandering hither and thither in home and market-place?
Saint John Chrysostom
The Mercy of God
24 January 2023
With a modest mind and a humble heart, let us repeat over and again the
prayer that the great saint Arsenios used to offer to the Lord:
“My God, do not abandon me,
though I have done nothing good in your sight, but because you are
compassionate, grant me the power to make a start.”
And how true it is that all our salvation lies in the mercy, and in the
deep love, that God has for us. To him be glory, dominion, and worship.
Saint Theodorus the
Ascetic
On Hope
23 January 2023
Let the Lord your God be your hope – seek for nothing else from him, but let him himself be your hope. There are people who hope from him riches or perishable and transitory honors, in short they hope to get from God things which are not God himself.
Saint Augustine
Let the Lord your God be your hope – seek for nothing else from him, but let him himself be your hope. There are people who hope from him riches or perishable and transitory honors, in short they hope to get from God things which are not God himself.
Saint Augustine
The Contemplative Life
21 January 2023
The contemplative life is an intimate affair; it is a loving
conversation of man with God. But in order that God may speak to the soul and
the soul speak with God, it is necessary that there be silence.
Luis M. Martinez
On Grace
19 January 2023
When the grace of God comes to us we can do all things, but when it leaves us, we become poor and weak, abandoned, as it were, to affliction. Yet, in this condition we should not become dejected or despair. On the contrary, we should calmly await the will of God and bear whatever befalls us in praise of Jesus Christ; for after winter comes the summer, after night comes the day, and after the storm, a great calm.
Thomas à Kempis
When the grace of God comes to us we can do all things, but when it leaves us, we become poor and weak, abandoned, as it were, to affliction. Yet, in this condition we should not become dejected or despair. On the contrary, we should calmly await the will of God and bear whatever befalls us in praise of Jesus Christ; for after winter comes the summer, after night comes the day, and after the storm, a great calm.
Thomas à Kempis
On Prayer
16 January 2023
Prayer is a harbor in the storms of life, an anchor for those who are storm-tossed, the treasure of the poor, the security of the rich, the healing of the sick, the preservation of health. Prayer banishes evil things, and preserve the good.
Saint John Chrysostom
Prayer is a harbor in the storms of life, an anchor for those who are storm-tossed, the treasure of the poor, the security of the rich, the healing of the sick, the preservation of health. Prayer banishes evil things, and preserve the good.
Saint John Chrysostom
The Repentant Sinner
12 January 2023
God hates sin infinitely, but He loves His creatures infinitely. As soon as the soul repents of its sin, it recovers the love of God. If all sinners wished to return to God with contrite and humble hearts, all would be saved. This infinite kindness desires that all men reach Heaven… A mother would be less eager to rescue her child who fell into a fire than God would be to embrace the repentant sinner.
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice
God hates sin infinitely, but He loves His creatures infinitely. As soon as the soul repents of its sin, it recovers the love of God. If all sinners wished to return to God with contrite and humble hearts, all would be saved. This infinite kindness desires that all men reach Heaven… A mother would be less eager to rescue her child who fell into a fire than God would be to embrace the repentant sinner.
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice
Bad Company
11 January 2023
Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood.
Saint Augustine
Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood.
Saint Augustine
Christ Has Spoken
10 January 2023
Christ has not only spoken to us by his life but has also spoken for us
by his death.
Soren Kierkegaard
Christ Crucified
9 January 2023
Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you remember Christ crucified and be silent.
Saint John of the Cross
Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you remember Christ crucified and be silent.
Saint John of the Cross
On Confession
8 January 2023
For it is better for a man to confess his sins than to harden his heart.
Saint Clement
For it is better for a man to confess his sins than to harden his heart.
Saint Clement
Interior Peace
7 January 2023
Consider the surface of a lake, above which the sun is shining. If the surface of the lake is peaceful and tranquil, the sun will be reflected in this lake; and the more peaceful the lake, the more perfectly it will be reflected. If on the contrary, the surface of the lake is agitated, undulating, then the image of the sun can not be reflected in it. [Hence,]…The more our soul is peaceful and tranquil, the more God is reflected in it, the more His image expresses itself in us, the more His grace acts through us…God is a God of peace…[thus] it is of greatest importance that we strive to remain an interior peace, the peace of our hearts.
Jacques Philippe
Consider the surface of a lake, above which the sun is shining. If the surface of the lake is peaceful and tranquil, the sun will be reflected in this lake; and the more peaceful the lake, the more perfectly it will be reflected. If on the contrary, the surface of the lake is agitated, undulating, then the image of the sun can not be reflected in it. [Hence,]…The more our soul is peaceful and tranquil, the more God is reflected in it, the more His image expresses itself in us, the more His grace acts through us…God is a God of peace…[thus] it is of greatest importance that we strive to remain an interior peace, the peace of our hearts.
Jacques Philippe
A Contrite Heart
6 January 2023
If it happens that someone cannot weep, a single word from a contrite heart is enough for God. And if someone would lose the use of his tongue, God would be well pleased with the moaning of his heart.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
If it happens that someone cannot weep, a single word from a contrite heart is enough for God. And if someone would lose the use of his tongue, God would be well pleased with the moaning of his heart.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
On Holy Baptism
5 January 2023
We must hold boldly and fearlessly to our baptism, and hold it up against all sins and terrors of conscience, and humbly say, "I know full well that I have not a single work which is pure, but I am baptized, and through my baptism God, Who cannot lie, has bound Himself in a covenant with me, not to count my sin against me, but to slay it and blot it out."
Martin Luther
We must hold boldly and fearlessly to our baptism, and hold it up against all sins and terrors of conscience, and humbly say, "I know full well that I have not a single work which is pure, but I am baptized, and through my baptism God, Who cannot lie, has bound Himself in a covenant with me, not to count my sin against me, but to slay it and blot it out."
Martin Luther
On Grace
4 January 2023
Grace is the mastery of truth, the teacher of discipline, the light of the heart, the comforter of affliction, the banisher of sorrow, the nurse of devotion.
Thomas à Kempis
Grace is the mastery of truth, the teacher of discipline, the light of the heart, the comforter of affliction, the banisher of sorrow, the nurse of devotion.
Thomas à Kempis
Distinguish Right From Wrong
3 January 2023
The light that true knowledge gives out is the ability to distinguish
unerringly what is right from what is wrong. This being so, the path of
uprightness – which leads the mind towards God, the radiant sun of
righteousness – takes that same mind into an unbounded light of knowledge and
then leads it on to seek trustingly for love.
Saint Diadochus of Photike
On Happiness
2 January 2023
The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day.
Saint Gianna Molla
The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day.
Saint Gianna Molla
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