On Repentance

7 December 2022

The main thing in repentance is the anguish of the heart over being deficient in the Lord’s eyes and a firm resolution to try to be diligent in everything in the future.

      Saint Theophan the Recluse

Courage Follows Repentance

6 December 2022

Pay attention carefully. After the sin comes the shame; courage follows repentance. Did you pay attention to what I said? Satan upsets the order; he gives the courage to sin and the shame to repentance.

        Saint John Chrysostom

Rejoicing In God's Love

5 December 2022

Wonderful and splendid is the place where the Lord lives. And therefore it is his will that we turn quickly at his gracious touch, rejoicing more in the fullness of his love than sorrowing over our frequent failures.

        Saint Julian of Norwich

Desire and Prayer

4 December 2022

There is another inward kind of prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart… If you do not want to pause in prayer then never pause in your longing. Your continuous desire is your continuous prayer. If you cease to desire than you will have fallen silent in your prayer.

        Saint Augustine

Believe in the Gospels

3 December 2022

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.

        Saint Augustine

The Liturgy of Advent

2 December 2022

The liturgy of Advent…helps us to understand fully the value and meaning of the mystery of Christmas. It is not just about commemorating the historical event, which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village of Judea. Instead, it is necessary to understand that the whole of our life must be an ‘advent,’ a vigilant awaiting of the final coming of Christ. To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, one day will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize him as present in the events of daily life. Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously.

        St. John Paul II

A Savior is Born

1 December 2022

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