31 May 2025
The sharper you are at noticing other people’s failings, the more apt
will you be to overlook your own.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
On the Ascension
30 May 2025
Jesus didn’t travel thousands of miles like a space rocket. He rose up a little way above the earth and a cloud received Him out of their sight. All that was gone was the sight of Jesus. The cloud means that He is no longer within our ordinary limits. Jesus is now present and does things the whole range of God’s way of being present and doing things while remaining a man, but a man fulfilled and glorified. We confess this when we say that “He sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” The right hand is not some particular place as we think of, but the exercise of the whole power of God, which is now in the hands of Jesus.
So the ascension does not mean that Jesus has gone away. Quite the opposite. He is with us now even more powerfully than when men saw Him. We live, then, in the presence of our ascended, ever-present Lord. Because He is with us, we cannot be destroyed. Jesus has made the way to victory for us. He leads us that way, gives us strength and courage for it, and finally brings us to the bright cloud of heaven. We go on, then, from the ascension as did the first disciples “with great joy” (Luke 24:52).
Norman Nagel
Jesus didn’t travel thousands of miles like a space rocket. He rose up a little way above the earth and a cloud received Him out of their sight. All that was gone was the sight of Jesus. The cloud means that He is no longer within our ordinary limits. Jesus is now present and does things the whole range of God’s way of being present and doing things while remaining a man, but a man fulfilled and glorified. We confess this when we say that “He sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” The right hand is not some particular place as we think of, but the exercise of the whole power of God, which is now in the hands of Jesus.
So the ascension does not mean that Jesus has gone away. Quite the opposite. He is with us now even more powerfully than when men saw Him. We live, then, in the presence of our ascended, ever-present Lord. Because He is with us, we cannot be destroyed. Jesus has made the way to victory for us. He leads us that way, gives us strength and courage for it, and finally brings us to the bright cloud of heaven. We go on, then, from the ascension as did the first disciples “with great joy” (Luke 24:52).
Norman Nagel
On Contemplative Prayer
29 May 2025
Everyone is capable of inward contemplative prayer, and it is a terrible shame that almost all people have it in their heads not to do it. We are all called to this prayer as we are all called to eternal life. Contemplative prayer is nothing more than heartfelt affection and love. What is necessary is to love God and to focus on him.
Jean Guyon
Everyone is capable of inward contemplative prayer, and it is a terrible shame that almost all people have it in their heads not to do it. We are all called to this prayer as we are all called to eternal life. Contemplative prayer is nothing more than heartfelt affection and love. What is necessary is to love God and to focus on him.
Jean Guyon
God's Presence
28 May 2025
The presence of God calms the soul, and gives it quiet and repose.
François Fénèlon
The presence of God calms the soul, and gives it quiet and repose.
François Fénèlon
Faith and Trust in God
27 May 2025
Try not to worry. Everything in life has its ups and downs, yet above everything else, we must live a life of faith, seeing all things as coming from the hand of God and for our own good.
Blessed Luisitia Josefa
Try not to worry. Everything in life has its ups and downs, yet above everything else, we must live a life of faith, seeing all things as coming from the hand of God and for our own good.
Blessed Luisitia Josefa
A Good Deed
26 May 2025
A good deed is never lost. – He who sows courtesy, reaps friendship; he who plants kindness, gathers love; pleasure bestowed upon a grateful mind was never sterile, but generally gratitude begets reward.
Saint Basil the Great
A good deed is never lost. – He who sows courtesy, reaps friendship; he who plants kindness, gathers love; pleasure bestowed upon a grateful mind was never sterile, but generally gratitude begets reward.
Saint Basil the Great
The Light of World
25 May 2025
The city has no need of sun or moon because the church is not governed by the light or elements of the world. Rather, it is led through the darkness by Christ the eternal Sun.
Bede the Venerable
The city has no need of sun or moon because the church is not governed by the light or elements of the world. Rather, it is led through the darkness by Christ the eternal Sun.
Bede the Venerable
Avoid All Obstinacy
24 May 2025
Avoid all obstinacy; but when you have begun a thing well, stick to it, and do not basely flee through weariness or despair.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Avoid all obstinacy; but when you have begun a thing well, stick to it, and do not basely flee through weariness or despair.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
The Habit of Faith
23 May 2025
The light of faith makes us see what we believe. For just as, by the habits of the other virtues, man sees what is becoming to him in respect of that habit, so, by the habit of faith, the human mind is directed to assent to such things as are becoming to a right faith, and not to assent to others.
Thomas Aquarius
The light of faith makes us see what we believe. For just as, by the habits of the other virtues, man sees what is becoming to him in respect of that habit, so, by the habit of faith, the human mind is directed to assent to such things as are becoming to a right faith, and not to assent to others.
Thomas Aquarius
Theology
22 May 2025
Discussion of theology is not for everyone, I tell you, not for everyone–it is no such inexpensive or effortless pursuit. Nor, I would add, is it for every occasion, or every audience; neither are all its aspects open to inquiry. It must be reserved for certain occasions, for certain audiences, and certain limits must be observed. It is not for all people, but only for those who have been tested and have found a sound footing in study, and, more importantly, have undergone, or at the very least are undergoing, purification of body and soul. For one who is not pure to lay hold of pure things is dangerous, just as it is for weak eyes to look at the sun’s brightness.
Saint Gregory Nazianzen
Discussion of theology is not for everyone, I tell you, not for everyone–it is no such inexpensive or effortless pursuit. Nor, I would add, is it for every occasion, or every audience; neither are all its aspects open to inquiry. It must be reserved for certain occasions, for certain audiences, and certain limits must be observed. It is not for all people, but only for those who have been tested and have found a sound footing in study, and, more importantly, have undergone, or at the very least are undergoing, purification of body and soul. For one who is not pure to lay hold of pure things is dangerous, just as it is for weak eyes to look at the sun’s brightness.
Saint Gregory Nazianzen
The Bible
21 May 2025
We need a reference point in the music world to determine our concert pitch and this is the tuning fork. And so in our spiritual life we might feel that we are right in our opinion about God and spiritual things, unless we have the Bible we have no reference point.
Franz Mohr
We need a reference point in the music world to determine our concert pitch and this is the tuning fork. And so in our spiritual life we might feel that we are right in our opinion about God and spiritual things, unless we have the Bible we have no reference point.
Franz Mohr
Christ Crucified
19 May 2025
Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.
Saint Francis of Assisi
Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.
Saint Francis of Assisi
Unseen Warfare
17 May 2025
Just as people do not enter war in order to enjoy war, but in order to be saved from war, so we do not enter this world in order to enjoy this world, but in order to be saved from it. People go to wars for something greater than war. So we also enter this temporal life for the sake of something greater: for eternal life. And as soldiers think with joy about returning home, so also Christians constantly remember the end of their lives and their return to their heavenly fatherland.
Saint Theophan the Recluse
Just as people do not enter war in order to enjoy war, but in order to be saved from war, so we do not enter this world in order to enjoy this world, but in order to be saved from it. People go to wars for something greater than war. So we also enter this temporal life for the sake of something greater: for eternal life. And as soldiers think with joy about returning home, so also Christians constantly remember the end of their lives and their return to their heavenly fatherland.
Saint Theophan the Recluse
Accept Chastisement
16 May 2025
Whoever accepts the Lord’s chastisements as gifts find his soul’s salvation in them and a more glorious crown awaiting him in heaven.
Thomas à Kempis
Whoever accepts the Lord’s chastisements as gifts find his soul’s salvation in them and a more glorious crown awaiting him in heaven.
Thomas à Kempis
Hardships and Temptations
14 May 2025
Now there is no one who approaches God with a true and upright heart who is not tested by hardships and temptations. So in all these temptations see to it that even if you feel them, you do not consent to them, but bear them patiently and calmly with humility and long suffering.
Saint Albert the Great
Now there is no one who approaches God with a true and upright heart who is not tested by hardships and temptations. So in all these temptations see to it that even if you feel them, you do not consent to them, but bear them patiently and calmly with humility and long suffering.
Saint Albert the Great
Bread and Wine
13 May 2025
Why did Our Blessed Lord use bread and wine as the elements of this Memorial? First of all, because no two substances in nature better symbolize unity than bread and wine. As bread is made from a multiplicity of grains of wheat, and wine is made from a multiplicity of grapes, so the many who believe are one in Christ. Second, no two substances in nature have to suffer more to become what they are than bread and wine. Wheat has to pass through the rigors of winter, be ground beneath the Calvary of a mill, and then subjected to purging fire before it can become bread. Grapes in their turn must be subjected to the Gethsemane of a wine press and have their life crushed from them to become wine. Thus, do they symbolize the Passion and Sufferings of Christ, and the condition of Salvation, for Our Lord said unless we die to ourselves we cannot live in Him. A third reason is that there are no two substances in nature which have more traditionally nourished man [and woman] than bread and wine. In bringing these elements to the altar, men [and women] are equivalently bringing themselves. When bread and wine are taken or consumed, they are changed into [one’]s body and blood. But when [Jesus] took bread and wine, He changed them into Himself.
Fulton J. Sheen
Why did Our Blessed Lord use bread and wine as the elements of this Memorial? First of all, because no two substances in nature better symbolize unity than bread and wine. As bread is made from a multiplicity of grains of wheat, and wine is made from a multiplicity of grapes, so the many who believe are one in Christ. Second, no two substances in nature have to suffer more to become what they are than bread and wine. Wheat has to pass through the rigors of winter, be ground beneath the Calvary of a mill, and then subjected to purging fire before it can become bread. Grapes in their turn must be subjected to the Gethsemane of a wine press and have their life crushed from them to become wine. Thus, do they symbolize the Passion and Sufferings of Christ, and the condition of Salvation, for Our Lord said unless we die to ourselves we cannot live in Him. A third reason is that there are no two substances in nature which have more traditionally nourished man [and woman] than bread and wine. In bringing these elements to the altar, men [and women] are equivalently bringing themselves. When bread and wine are taken or consumed, they are changed into [one’]s body and blood. But when [Jesus] took bread and wine, He changed them into Himself.
Fulton J. Sheen
Prayer and Humility
12 May 2025
Arm yourself with prayer rather than a sword; wear humility rather than fine clothes.
Saint Dominic de Guzman
Arm yourself with prayer rather than a sword; wear humility rather than fine clothes.
Saint Dominic de Guzman
On Death
10 May 2025
All the disciples of Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who perish. But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection.
St. Athanasius
All the disciples of Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who perish. But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection.
St. Athanasius
Trampling on Death
9 May 2025
All the disciples of Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who perish. But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection.
St. Athanasius
All the disciples of Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who perish. But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection.
St. Athanasius
Bringing Peace to Others
8 May 2025
You cannot cure the soul of others or ‘help people,’ without having changed yourself. You cannot put in order the spiritual economy of others, so long as there is chaos in your own soul. You cannot bring peace to others if you do not have it yourself. Often, we help other people, not by a series of conscious acts directed upon their soul, but rather by influencing them through our spiritual gifts, without ourselves seeing or knowing how we do so. Once (St.) Anthony the Great asked a visitor who said nothing at all, ‘Why do you not ask me anything?’ and the other answered, ‘It is enough for me to look at you, holy father’.
Alexander Elchaninov
You cannot cure the soul of others or ‘help people,’ without having changed yourself. You cannot put in order the spiritual economy of others, so long as there is chaos in your own soul. You cannot bring peace to others if you do not have it yourself. Often, we help other people, not by a series of conscious acts directed upon their soul, but rather by influencing them through our spiritual gifts, without ourselves seeing or knowing how we do so. Once (St.) Anthony the Great asked a visitor who said nothing at all, ‘Why do you not ask me anything?’ and the other answered, ‘It is enough for me to look at you, holy father’.
Alexander Elchaninov
On Prayer
7 May 2025
The most powerful prayer, one well-nigh omnipotent, and the worthiest work of all is the outcome of a quiet mind. The quieter it is the more powerful, the worthier, the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is. To the quiet mind all things are possible. What is a quiet mind? A quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, nothing worries, which, free from ties and from all self-seeking, is wholly merged into the will of God and dead to its own.
Meister Eckhart
The most powerful prayer, one well-nigh omnipotent, and the worthiest work of all is the outcome of a quiet mind. The quieter it is the more powerful, the worthier, the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is. To the quiet mind all things are possible. What is a quiet mind? A quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, nothing worries, which, free from ties and from all self-seeking, is wholly merged into the will of God and dead to its own.
Meister Eckhart
On Corporate Worship
6 May 2025
The role of the people in services of corporate worship is [. . .] a most important one. If it is true that, in a sense, a liturgy is a drama, then is it likewise true that in the Lutheran church all worshipers are not merely onlookers, but dramatis personae, performers of the Liturgy, Onlookers may dream away time and while away the moments, but performers must be alert and on the job; they must exert themselves and put forth effort. Those who fault The Lutheran Liturgy, who see in it only a form and little that is of spiritual value, often betray with their remarks that they do not really participate as they should, but merely look on; [. . .] it would be well for them to begin with themselves before they fault others.
Walter E. Buszin
The role of the people in services of corporate worship is [. . .] a most important one. If it is true that, in a sense, a liturgy is a drama, then is it likewise true that in the Lutheran church all worshipers are not merely onlookers, but dramatis personae, performers of the Liturgy, Onlookers may dream away time and while away the moments, but performers must be alert and on the job; they must exert themselves and put forth effort. Those who fault The Lutheran Liturgy, who see in it only a form and little that is of spiritual value, often betray with their remarks that they do not really participate as they should, but merely look on; [. . .] it would be well for them to begin with themselves before they fault others.
Walter E. Buszin
The Humble Soul
5 May 2025
Humility is dependence on God as pride is independence of Him. The humble soul is always the thankful soul.
Blessed Fulton Sheen
Humility is dependence on God as pride is independence of Him. The humble soul is always the thankful soul.
Blessed Fulton Sheen
Blessings of Honest Labor
4 May 2025
Those of you who earn your bread by means of your toil and sweat should rejoice, because that bread is blessed; and if you give a little of it as alms it is reckoned as much.
St. Kosmas Aitolos
Those of you who earn your bread by means of your toil and sweat should rejoice, because that bread is blessed; and if you give a little of it as alms it is reckoned as much.
St. Kosmas Aitolos
In and With the Lord
3 May
2025
Yesterday I was crucified with Him. Today I am glorified
with Him! Yesterday I died with Him. Today I am made alive with Him! Yesterday
I was buried with Him. Today I rise again with Him! To Him who suffered and
rose for us, let us offer — what? Maybe you’ll think I’m going to say we should
offer Him gold, silver, costly tapestries, or crystal-clear precious stones.
But such things are the earth’s mere vanishing stuff, forever limited to this
world, generally owned by bad people — the world’s slaves, the bondsmen of this
world’s Prince.
St Gregory Nazianzen
Light of Light
1 May 2025
The man who gazes on heaven with a clear eye will see all the better the darkness of earthly things: for though these emit a certain kind of brilliance, the splendor of heaven darkens all their light.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
The man who gazes on heaven with a clear eye will see all the better the darkness of earthly things: for though these emit a certain kind of brilliance, the splendor of heaven darkens all their light.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
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