28 February 2023
It is obvious that words alone are not going to help someone who is
naked and hungry. Someone whose faith does not go beyond words is useless. Such
faith is dead without works of Christian love that alone can bring it back to
life.
Venerable Bede
A Lukewarm Soul
27 February 2023
A lukewarm soul…Let us conclude, dear brethren, by saying that there is no state so much to be feared for a person as that of lukewarmness, because a great sinner is more easily converted then a lukewarm soul.
Saint John Vianney
A lukewarm soul…Let us conclude, dear brethren, by saying that there is no state so much to be feared for a person as that of lukewarmness, because a great sinner is more easily converted then a lukewarm soul.
Saint John Vianney
Humility
26 February 2023
Humility is a virtue by which a person has a proper opinion of himself because he knows himself well. This is the virtue that belongs to those who have set their hearts to the climb and have gone from virtue to virtue, from step to step, until they reach the highest peak of humility and gaze upon the Truth from the watch-tower of Zion.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Humility is a virtue by which a person has a proper opinion of himself because he knows himself well. This is the virtue that belongs to those who have set their hearts to the climb and have gone from virtue to virtue, from step to step, until they reach the highest peak of humility and gaze upon the Truth from the watch-tower of Zion.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Divine Mystery
25 February 2023
On this day we are bound with hearts up-lifted to adore the divine mystery: so that what is the effect of God’s great gift may be celebrated by the Church’s great rejoicings. God is the almighty and merciful. His nature as goodness, his will is power, his work is mercy.
Saint Leo the Great
On this day we are bound with hearts up-lifted to adore the divine mystery: so that what is the effect of God’s great gift may be celebrated by the Church’s great rejoicings. God is the almighty and merciful. His nature as goodness, his will is power, his work is mercy.
Saint Leo the Great
Prayer
24 February 2023
So that we might obtain this life of happiness, he who is true life itself taught us to pray, not in many words as though speaking longer could gain us a hearing. After all, we pray to one who, as the Lord himself tells us, knows what we need before we ask for it.
Saint Augustine
So that we might obtain this life of happiness, he who is true life itself taught us to pray, not in many words as though speaking longer could gain us a hearing. After all, we pray to one who, as the Lord himself tells us, knows what we need before we ask for it.
Saint Augustine
Humility
23 February 2023
Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.
CS Lewis
Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.
CS Lewis
Grace
22 February 2023
For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.
Saint Augustine
For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.
Saint Augustine
On Silence
20 February 2023
It is a good discipline to wonder in each new situation if people wouldn’t be better served by our silence than by our words.
Henri Nouwen
It is a good discipline to wonder in each new situation if people wouldn’t be better served by our silence than by our words.
Henri Nouwen
Subduing Anger With Meekness
19 February 2023
Nothing is more powerful than meekness. For as fire is extinguished by water, so a mind inflated by anger is subdued by meekness. By meekness we practice and make known our virtue, and also cause the indignation of our brother to cease, and deliver his mind from perturbation.
Saint John Chrysostom
Nothing is more powerful than meekness. For as fire is extinguished by water, so a mind inflated by anger is subdued by meekness. By meekness we practice and make known our virtue, and also cause the indignation of our brother to cease, and deliver his mind from perturbation.
Saint John Chrysostom
Hate No One
17 February 2023
We ought to hate no one, for God never comes where there is no love of our neighbors.
Saint Philip Neri
We ought to hate no one, for God never comes where there is no love of our neighbors.
Saint Philip Neri
Do Not Presume
15 February 2023
Two criminals were crucified with Christ. One was saved; do not despair. One was not; do not presume.
Saint Augustine
Two criminals were crucified with Christ. One was saved; do not despair. One was not; do not presume.
Saint Augustine
On Prayer
13 February 2023
As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer.
Saint Augustine
As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer.
Saint Augustine
Coram Deo
12 February 2023
Rise up from the sleep of the age. Walk cautiously and prudently. Cast off folly. Take hold of wisdom. In this way you will be able to avoid changing yourself constantly as you walk through the vicissitudes of the times. Rather you will find a unity within yourself even amid the diversity of the times.
Saint Jerome
Rise up from the sleep of the age. Walk cautiously and prudently. Cast off folly. Take hold of wisdom. In this way you will be able to avoid changing yourself constantly as you walk through the vicissitudes of the times. Rather you will find a unity within yourself even amid the diversity of the times.
Saint Jerome
On Prayer
10 February 2023
Prayer is… a conversation with God. Though whispering, consequently, and not opening the lips, we speak in silence, yet we cry inwardly. For God hears continually the whole inward conversation.
Saint Clement of Alexandria
Prayer is… a conversation with God. Though whispering, consequently, and not opening the lips, we speak in silence, yet we cry inwardly. For God hears continually the whole inward conversation.
Saint Clement of Alexandria
On Penance
8 February 2023
The sweetness of the apple makes up for the bitterness of the root. The hope of gain makes pleasant the perils of the sea. The expectation of health mitigates the nauseousness of medicine. One who desires the kernel breaks the nut. So one who desires the joy of a holy conscience swallows down the bitterness of penance.
Saint Jerome
The sweetness of the apple makes up for the bitterness of the root. The hope of gain makes pleasant the perils of the sea. The expectation of health mitigates the nauseousness of medicine. One who desires the kernel breaks the nut. So one who desires the joy of a holy conscience swallows down the bitterness of penance.
Saint Jerome
On Silence
6 February 2023
Being useless and silent in the presence of God belongs to the core of all prayer. In the beginning, we often hear our own unruly inner noises more loudly than God’s voice. This is at times very hard to tolerate. But slowly, very slowly, we discover that the silent time makes us quiet and deepens our awareness of ourselves and God. Then, very soon, we start to miss these moments when we are deprived of them, and before we are fully aware of it, an inner momentum has developed that draws us more and more into silence and closer to that still point where God speaks to us.
Henri Nouwen
Being useless and silent in the presence of God belongs to the core of all prayer. In the beginning, we often hear our own unruly inner noises more loudly than God’s voice. This is at times very hard to tolerate. But slowly, very slowly, we discover that the silent time makes us quiet and deepens our awareness of ourselves and God. Then, very soon, we start to miss these moments when we are deprived of them, and before we are fully aware of it, an inner momentum has developed that draws us more and more into silence and closer to that still point where God speaks to us.
Henri Nouwen
On Death
4 February 2023
And thus this death is a journey for everyone. You must always be journeying: from decay to incorruptibility, from mortality to immortality, from turbulence to peace. Do not be alarmed by the word ‘death’ but rejoice at the good that the journey will bring. For what is death except the burial of vice and the raising up of virtue?
Saint Ambrose of Milan
And thus this death is a journey for everyone. You must always be journeying: from decay to incorruptibility, from mortality to immortality, from turbulence to peace. Do not be alarmed by the word ‘death’ but rejoice at the good that the journey will bring. For what is death except the burial of vice and the raising up of virtue?
Saint Ambrose of Milan
On Grace
3 February 2023
Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love; every moment of existence is a grace.
Thomas Merton
Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love; every moment of existence is a grace.
Thomas Merton
Coming of Christ
2 February 2023
We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom…At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels. We look then beyond the first coming and await the second… Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom…At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels. We look then beyond the first coming and await the second… Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
Wolves in Sheep Clothing
1 February 2023
The worst wolves in sheep’s clothing are the heretics and then, bad prelates.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
The worst wolves in sheep’s clothing are the heretics and then, bad prelates.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
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