31 May 2024
For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a
casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be
drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell
you these things, give not absolute credence, unless you receive the proof of
the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation
which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of
the Holy Scriptures.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
The Eucharist
30 May 2024
He that is wounded requires medicine; we are wounded, because we are under sin; and the medicine is the sacred and heavenly sacrament.
St. Ambrose
He that is wounded requires medicine; we are wounded, because we are under sin; and the medicine is the sacred and heavenly sacrament.
St. Ambrose
Choices
29 May 2024
People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, “If you keep a lot of rules I’ll reward you, and if you don’t I’ll do the other thing.” I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
C.S. Lewis
People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, “If you keep a lot of rules I’ll reward you, and if you don’t I’ll do the other thing.” I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
C.S. Lewis
Prayer
27 May 2024
O Lord, I remember on this day the horrors of war and the mercies of Your providence in the past. I give You thanks for those who have served in our armed forces and the families that have loved them, missed their presence, interceded in prayer for them, and rejoiced in their return. Especially, though, I pray for those families who did not see their loved ones return because they gave their lives in defense of freedom and this land that I love. May I never forget the sacrifices that have been made for me by those courageous men and women. Lord of the nations, I pray according to Your good and gracious will that You would grant peace among nations in this time as well. Put into the hearts of rulers and actions the desire to avert bloodshed, strife, and selfishness, and cause all to see the folly of war. You guarantee to all eternal peace in Christ. May Your Gospel be proclaimed that the foundation of love may be laid in Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace. In His name I ask it. Amen.
Lutheran Book of Prayer
O Lord, I remember on this day the horrors of war and the mercies of Your providence in the past. I give You thanks for those who have served in our armed forces and the families that have loved them, missed their presence, interceded in prayer for them, and rejoiced in their return. Especially, though, I pray for those families who did not see their loved ones return because they gave their lives in defense of freedom and this land that I love. May I never forget the sacrifices that have been made for me by those courageous men and women. Lord of the nations, I pray according to Your good and gracious will that You would grant peace among nations in this time as well. Put into the hearts of rulers and actions the desire to avert bloodshed, strife, and selfishness, and cause all to see the folly of war. You guarantee to all eternal peace in Christ. May Your Gospel be proclaimed that the foundation of love may be laid in Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace. In His name I ask it. Amen.
Lutheran Book of Prayer
Thy Strong Word
26 May 2024
The Word of God stands in the midst even of those who know him not, and never fails the prayer of anyone.
Origen
The Word of God stands in the midst even of those who know him not, and never fails the prayer of anyone.
Origen
Busybody
25 May 2024
For while it is men's duty to examine themselves, and to order their conduct according to God's will, they leave this alone to busy themselves with the affairs of others: and if they see any infirm, forgetting as it seems their own frailties, they make it an excuse for faultfinding, and a handle for calumny. For they condemn them, not knowing that being equally afflicted with the same infirmities as those whom they censure, they condemn themselves.
St. Cyril of Alexandria
For while it is men's duty to examine themselves, and to order their conduct according to God's will, they leave this alone to busy themselves with the affairs of others: and if they see any infirm, forgetting as it seems their own frailties, they make it an excuse for faultfinding, and a handle for calumny. For they condemn them, not knowing that being equally afflicted with the same infirmities as those whom they censure, they condemn themselves.
St. Cyril of Alexandria
Our Will
24 May 2024
Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession.
Saint Joseph of Cupertino
Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession.
Saint Joseph of Cupertino
On Patience
23 May 2024
Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is timing, it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.
Blessed Fulton Sheen
Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is timing, it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.
Blessed Fulton Sheen
God's Will
22 May 2024
Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here, that we may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, . . . for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.
Blessed John Henry Newman
Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here, that we may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, . . . for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.
Blessed John Henry Newman
Become Holy
21 May 2024
Every Christian should find for himself the imperative and incentive to become holy. If you live without struggle and without hope of becoming holy, then you are Christians only in name and not in essence. But without holiness, no one shall see the Lord, that is to say they will not attain eternal blessedness. It is a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (I Tim. 1:15). But we deceive ourselves if we think that we are saved while remaining sinners. Christ saves those sinners by giving them the means to become saints.
Saint Philaret of Moscow
Every Christian should find for himself the imperative and incentive to become holy. If you live without struggle and without hope of becoming holy, then you are Christians only in name and not in essence. But without holiness, no one shall see the Lord, that is to say they will not attain eternal blessedness. It is a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (I Tim. 1:15). But we deceive ourselves if we think that we are saved while remaining sinners. Christ saves those sinners by giving them the means to become saints.
Saint Philaret of Moscow
On Compassion
20 May 2024
Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain,
to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us
to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep
with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak,
vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion
means full immersion in the condition of being human. It is not surprising that compassion, understood
as suffering with, often evokes in us a deep resistance and even protest.
Henri Nouwen
On Prayer
13 May 2024
At the times when you remember God, increase your prayers, so that when you forget Him, the Lord may remind you.
Saint Mark the Ascetic
At the times when you remember God, increase your prayers, so that when you forget Him, the Lord may remind you.
Saint Mark the Ascetic
Homily on Motherhood
12 May 2024
The mother by a single glance, by a single kiss, by her sweet voice and her delicate caresses, can immediately arouse in the child’s heart the leaning and inclination toward the good. Likewise, by a single disapproving glance, by a single tear falling on her cheeks, by a single expression suggestive of her heart’s sorrow, she can remove the child from the most destructive danger of the heart. The child, nurtured in his mother’s bosom and warmed in his mother’s embrace, begins to love before he learns the concept of love, and he begins to subordinate his will to the moral law before he learns the concept of the moral law, and it is the mother alone who is most suited to arousing in the child’s heart his first conception of God. Because of this, Basil the Great says (Letter 223), “The conception of God which I received in childhood from my blessed mother – it was this conception, brought to maturity, that I had within myself. For I did not change from one set of opinions to another in the maturation of my reason, but rather I brought to completion the beginnings handed down to me by her.”
St. Nectarios of Aegina
The mother by a single glance, by a single kiss, by her sweet voice and her delicate caresses, can immediately arouse in the child’s heart the leaning and inclination toward the good. Likewise, by a single disapproving glance, by a single tear falling on her cheeks, by a single expression suggestive of her heart’s sorrow, she can remove the child from the most destructive danger of the heart. The child, nurtured in his mother’s bosom and warmed in his mother’s embrace, begins to love before he learns the concept of love, and he begins to subordinate his will to the moral law before he learns the concept of the moral law, and it is the mother alone who is most suited to arousing in the child’s heart his first conception of God. Because of this, Basil the Great says (Letter 223), “The conception of God which I received in childhood from my blessed mother – it was this conception, brought to maturity, that I had within myself. For I did not change from one set of opinions to another in the maturation of my reason, but rather I brought to completion the beginnings handed down to me by her.”
St. Nectarios of Aegina
Praising God
11 May 2024
The deepest level of worship is praising God through the pain, Thanking God through the trials, Trusting Him when we're tempted to lose hope and loving Him, even when He seems distant and far away. At my lowest, God is my hope At my darkest, God is my light At my weakest, God is my strength At my saddest, God is my comforter.
J. C. Ryle
The deepest level of worship is praising God through the pain, Thanking God through the trials, Trusting Him when we're tempted to lose hope and loving Him, even when He seems distant and far away. At my lowest, God is my hope At my darkest, God is my light At my weakest, God is my strength At my saddest, God is my comforter.
J. C. Ryle
On Gratitude
10 May 2024
I ought to die of shame to think I have not already died of gratitude to my good God.
Saint Julie Billiart
I ought to die of shame to think I have not already died of gratitude to my good God.
Saint Julie Billiart
Spirit of Compassion
9 May 2024
We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God.
Saint Vincent de Paul
We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God.
Saint Vincent de Paul
On Fasting
8 May 2024
Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice. Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin. Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful. Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip. Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism. For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?
Saint John Chrysostom
Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice. Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin. Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful. Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip. Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism. For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?
Saint John Chrysostom
The Martyrs’ Tomb
7 May 2024
For the martyrs’ tomb is a soldier’s tent. And if you open wide the eyes of faith, you will see the breastplate of righteousness lying there, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the greaves of the Gospel, the sword of the Spirit, hurling the very head of the devil to the ground.
St. John Chrysostom
For the martyrs’ tomb is a soldier’s tent. And if you open wide the eyes of faith, you will see the breastplate of righteousness lying there, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the greaves of the Gospel, the sword of the Spirit, hurling the very head of the devil to the ground.
St. John Chrysostom
On Doctrine
6 May 2024
Woe to those whose Christianity consists in nothing more than habitually going to church and other religious exercises or in experiencing a sense of excitement and a lasting interest in religion, without securing a clear knowledge of the right doctrine. Our text tells us that these are children who are “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”
C. F. W. Walther
Woe to those whose Christianity consists in nothing more than habitually going to church and other religious exercises or in experiencing a sense of excitement and a lasting interest in religion, without securing a clear knowledge of the right doctrine. Our text tells us that these are children who are “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”
C. F. W. Walther
Missal of Saint Gall
5 May 2024
Here comes the day which the Lord hath made: It destroys death. All creatures keep a feast of joy at the resurrection of Jesus. Flowers spring up, meadows are again clothed in their rich verdure, and birds, now that gloomy winter is past, carol in sweet jubilation. The sun and moon, which mourned at Jesus death, are brighter now than ever. The earth, that shook at his death and seemed ready to fall to ruin, now puts on her richest green to greet her risen God. Let us, therefore, be glad on this day whereon our Jesus, by his resurrection, opened to us the way of life. Let stars and earth and sea rejoice: Let all the choirs of the blessed in heaven give praise to the Trinity. Amen.
Here comes the day which the Lord hath made: It destroys death. All creatures keep a feast of joy at the resurrection of Jesus. Flowers spring up, meadows are again clothed in their rich verdure, and birds, now that gloomy winter is past, carol in sweet jubilation. The sun and moon, which mourned at Jesus death, are brighter now than ever. The earth, that shook at his death and seemed ready to fall to ruin, now puts on her richest green to greet her risen God. Let us, therefore, be glad on this day whereon our Jesus, by his resurrection, opened to us the way of life. Let stars and earth and sea rejoice: Let all the choirs of the blessed in heaven give praise to the Trinity. Amen.
Christ's Star
3 May 2024
The star came to rest above the place where the child was. At the sight of it the wise were filled with great joy and that great joy should fill our hearts as well. It is the same as the joy the shepherds received from the glad tidings brought by the angels. Let us join the wise men in worship and the shepherds in giving glory to God. Let us dance with angels and sing: To us is born this a savior who is Christ the Lord. The Lord is God and he has appeared to us, not as God which would have terrified us in our weakness, but as a slave in order to free those living in slavery. Could anyone be so lacking in sensibility and so ungrateful as not to join us all in our gladness, exultation, and radiant joy?
Saint Basil the Great
The star came to rest above the place where the child was. At the sight of it the wise were filled with great joy and that great joy should fill our hearts as well. It is the same as the joy the shepherds received from the glad tidings brought by the angels. Let us join the wise men in worship and the shepherds in giving glory to God. Let us dance with angels and sing: To us is born this a savior who is Christ the Lord. The Lord is God and he has appeared to us, not as God which would have terrified us in our weakness, but as a slave in order to free those living in slavery. Could anyone be so lacking in sensibility and so ungrateful as not to join us all in our gladness, exultation, and radiant joy?
Saint Basil the Great
Christ Crucified
2 May 2024
For by the sacrifice of His own body, He both put an end to the law
which was against us, and made a new beginning of life for us, by the hope of
resurrection which He has given us. For since from man it was that death
prevailed over men, for this cause conversely, by the Word of God being made
man has come about the destruction of death and the resurrection of life; as
the man which bore Christ says: For since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall
all be made alive: and so forth. For no longer now do we die as subject to
condemnation; but as men who rise from the dead we await the general
resurrection of all, which 1 Timothy 6:15 in its own times He shall show, even
God, Who has also wrought it, and bestowed it upon us.
St. Athanasius of
Alexandria
Gaze Upon Jesus
1 May 2024
Gaze first upon the poverty of Jesus, placed in a manger, wrapped in
swaddling clothes. What marvellous humility! What astounding poverty! The King
of angels, Lord of heaven and earth, is laid in a manger. Consider next the
humility, the blessed poverty, the untold labours and burdens which he endured
for the redemption of the human race. Then look upon the unutterable charity
with which he willed to suffer on the tree of the cross and to die thereon the
most shameful kind of death.
Saint Clare of Assisi
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)