ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

To see visible objects we need the eyes of the body. To understand intelligible truths we need the eyes of the mind. To have the vision of divine things we cannot do without faith. What the eye is for the body, faith is for reason. To be more precise; the eye needs the light which puts it in contact with visible things; reason needs faith to show it divine things. THEODORET The Cure of Pagan Diseases  

Some people live to eat, just as the animals do ‘whose life is no more than feeding their stomachs’. But our Teacher exhorts us to eat in order to live. Nourishment is not what we are here for, nor is pleasure our purpose in life. We only use them during our sojourning here as the Word instructs us, and he chooses our nourishment with immortality in view. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA The Teacher

If our Savior himself has declared: “By your endurance you will gain your souls,” should it not be a man's great happiness to possess his soul? The more perfect our patience, the more absolutely do we possess it. Let us frequently call to mind that as our Lord has saved us by patient suffering, so we also ought to work out our salvation by sufferings and afflictions; enduring injuries and contradictions with all possible meekness. ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

Many appear full of mildness and sweetness as long as everything goes their own way; but the moment any contradiction or adversity arises, they are in a flame, and begin to rage like a burning mountain. Such people as these are like red-hot coals hidden under ashes. This is not the mildness which Our Lord undertook to teach us in order to make us like unto Himself. ST. BERNARD

Human reason is very deficient in things concerning God. A sign of this is that philosophers in their researches, by natural investigation into human affairs, have fallen into many errors, and have disagreed among themselves.... It was necessary for Divine matters to be delivered to them by way of faith, being told to them, as it were, by God Himself who cannot deceive. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

It is not those who commit the least faults who are the most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immoderately apprehensive of tripping. ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

A person who governs his passions is master of the world. We must either rule them, or be ruled by them. It is better to be the hammer than the anvil. ST. DOMINIC

As the world needs poets, priests, dancers, dreamers, artists, singers, prophets—all of them devotees of sign and symbol—so too [it needs] monks who live in touch with reality. This in turn becomes both model and inspiration for all caught in the materiality of the material, out of touch with the hidden glory that is all around us. MATTHEW KELTY My Song is of Mercy

True virtue has no limits, but goes on and on, and especially holy charity, which is the virtue of virtues, and which having a definite object, would become infinite if it could meet with a heart capable of infinity. SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES

Some no doubt have come to the Jordan to gawk or ridicule or even spy on John; but very many others convinced by his impassioned appeal for repentance and conversion of heart have come to seek his baptism. They will remove their outer garments first of all. John will then immerse them; holding them firmly by the shoulders and drawing them down into the cool water, perhaps calling out a prayer as he does so. People are coming up from the water, splashing and gasping for air. Maybe they too murmur prayers and promises to God; maybe there are tears. Probably it is all a bit chaotic.   Jesus too has been deeply moved, captivated by the Baptist’s call to repentance and renewal, and he senses that something crucial is occurring for Israel. And so he wants to be with his people for the unprecedented covenantal gathering which he perceives is being enacted here at the Jordan. For in response to John’s preaching, the people of Israel have become conscious of their sinfulness and conscious o...

We cannot live the Christian life without a certain measure of mortification. If our conduct is to be in harmony with the spirit of the Gospel we must be able to say “no" at times to our natural inclinations, and to develop constantly in ourselves the capacity for effort. When Saint Benedict tells his disciples to deny themselves so that they may follow Christ, he is propounding not merely a principle of gymnastic asceticism but a law which is essential for every form of Christian life. DOM IDESBALD RYELANDT, O.S.B. Union With Christ

No pilgrim soul can worthily love God. But when a soul does everything possible and trusts in divine mercy, why would Jesus reject such a spirit? Has he not commanded us to love God according to our strength? If you have given and consecrated everything to God, why be afraid? ST. PADRE PIO

Holiness cannot grow simply in precise fidelity to the duties of our state: that is only the preparation we must provide. If God does us the favor of desiring to lead us further, he brings about circumstances that oblige us to be more generous in our fidelity. "It is circumstances that make saints, it is not saints that make circumstances.” That was the profound way our great Father Abbot used to put it. CÉCILE BRUYÈRE The Spirit of Solesmes

The Magi found three things in Christ— namely, royal dignity: "he shall rain as king and deal wisely” (Jer. 23:5); and therefore, they offered gold in tribute. The greatness of the priesthood: and, therefore, frankincense, as a sacrifice. Man's mortality: and therefore, myrrh. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS Commentary on Matthew

Before the time of prayer we must put ourselves in the state of mind we would wish to have in us when we actually pray. It is an inexorable fact that the condition of the soul at the time of prayer depends upon what shaped it beforehand. JOHN CASSIAN Conferences 10.14