ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

When a person has overcome one temptation and his faith has been tried in it, there upon he comes to another, and he passes as it were from one stage to the next; and when he has mastered whatever may befall him and faithfully endured it, he goes onto another. And thus he is said to have proceeded by stages as he submits to each of the trials of life and the tests of faith, and in them the virtues are acquired one by one. Likewise in them there is fulfilled what has been written, "They shall go from strength to strength” [Psalm 84:7], until the final stage is attained, which is the summit of the virtues, and the river of God is crossed and the promised inheritance is received. ORIGEN Homilies on Numbers  

This morning a dazzling excerpt from the Last Supper Discourse in John’s Gospel, something we usually hear in Eastertide. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. ..I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete…love one another as I love you.” Jesus invites us to remain with him, in him, in the Father. This remaining and abiding have been enabled by God’s enfleshment in Christ, this “utmost gesture of his self-surrender and self-donation” which will reach its culmination on the cross. There on the cross, Love’s Sacred Heart will be pierced and the gushing spring of his love fully revealed.   We are invited simply to remain, to be drenched beneath this spring, remarkable in its immediacy, overwhelming in its immensity and beauty. Such is the passion of the Word, the eternal Eros of his self-emptying love. God has fallen in love, espoused us to himself, given himself over to us completely, irrevocably and welcomed us into the e...

The way to achieve stability in our soul is to beseech God that in each of our undertakings we may have a successful outcome, to give him full gratitude for having provided us with the power to perform what we have done, and to persevere in our goal of pleasing him…. For, unless we adopt this approach, how can we possibly reconcile the two texts of the Apostle Paul, "Pray without ceasing" and "At work day and night” [1 Thessalonians 2:9]? Nonetheless, even though the law requires us to give thanks at each and every moment and both nature and reason demonstrate that thanksgiving is one of life's necessities, we should not overlook the fixed times for communal prayer, for these times have been selected with an eye to the necessity that each has his own distinctive way of remembering God's good gifts. BASIL THE GREAT The Longer Rules 37

In the type of bread his body is given to you, and in the type of wine his blood is given to you, so that by partaking of the body and blood of Christ you may be one body and one blood with him also. For thus also we become bearers of Christ, because his body and blood are distributed throughout our members. Thus, according to the blessed Peter, "we become partakers of the divine nature” [2 Peter 1:4]. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM Mystagogical Catechesis 4.3

Desire itself is your prayer, and if your desire is continuous your prayer is unceasing. For the Apostle did not say in vain, "Pray without ceasing.” Is it possible that we should unceasingly bend the knee or prostrate our body or raise up our hands that he should tell us, "Pray without ceasing”? Or, if we say that we pray in this manner, I do not think that we are able to do it unceasingly. There is another prayer that is unceasing and interior, and it is desire. Whatever else you do, if you desire that sabbath [i.e., eternal life] you do not cease to pray. If you do not wish to stop praying, do not stop desiring. Your unceasing desire is your uninterrupted voice. You will grow silent if you stop loving. SAINT AUGUSTINE Exposition of the Psalms 37.14

Indeed, this participation in the body and blood of the Lord, when we eat the bread and drink the cup, teaches us that we should die to the world and have our life hidden with Christ in God [see Colossians 3:3], that we should crucify our flesh with its vices and wicked desires [see Galatians 5:24]. Thus it happens that all the faithful, who love God and their neighbor, drink of the cup of the Lord’s love even if they do not drink of the cup of his bodily suffering. And when they have become inebriated with it they have put to death their members that are upon the earth [see Colossians 3:5] and, having clothed themselves with the Lord Jesus Christ [see Galatians 3:27], they pay no heed to the desires of the flesh [see Galatians 5:16]. The gift of love confers this upon us—that we should in fact be what we celebrate mystically in the sacrifice. FULGENTIUS OF RUSPE Against Fabian 28.18-19

Each of us can say to the tempter, “Unlike you, I have not yet become an outcast from heaven through my pride. By my baptism I have become one with Him. It is you that should fall prostrate before me.” SAINT GREGORY NAZIANZEN