What then are we afraid of? Can we have too much of God? Is it a misfortune to be freed read more

What then are we afraid of? Can we have too much of God? Is it a misfortune to be freed from the heavy yoke of the world, and to bear the light burden of Jesus Christ? Do we fear to be too happy, too much delivered from ourselves, from the caprices of our pride, the violence of our passions, and the tyranny of this deceitful world?

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary If you were to rise early every read more

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary If you were to rise early every morning, as an instance of self-denial, as a method of renouncing indulgence, as a means of redeeming your time and of fitting your spirit for prayer, you would find mighty advantages from it. This method, though it seem such a small circumstance of life, would in all probability be a means [toward] great piety. It would keep it constantly in your head that softness and idleness were to be avoided and that self-denial was a part of Christianity... It would teach you to exercise power over yourself, and make you able by degrees to renounce other pleasures and tempers that war against the soul.

Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389 Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, read more

Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389 Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, Staretz, 1833 The fool for Christ holds a prophetic role in Christianity, from the early church to Russian Orthodox "pilgrims" and such later fools as Luther, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky, who were seekers after the true, the good, the holy, the beautiful. They were insane -- not in a clinical sense, but in the madness of the Holy, an insanity which ordinary sanity refuses to admit.

Not only do we not know God except through Jesus Christ; We do not even know ourselves except through Jesus read more

Not only do we not know God except through Jesus Christ; We do not even know ourselves except through Jesus Christ.

It is not true that the assertion of spiritual principle is vain because we can not see at the moment read more

It is not true that the assertion of spiritual principle is vain because we can not see at the moment how to express that principle in action. It would assuredly make a difference if Christians, in their approach one to another, realized that, in spite of appearances, they were in fact one. If, in their seeking after external reunion, they realized that they were seeking not to create a unity which does not yet exist, but to find an expression for a unity which does exist, which is indeed the one elemental reality, they would approach one another in a better frame of mind. The common recognition of the principle would in itself be a unifying force of great value, and would dispose those who shared it to approach questions of difference in a spirit of unity which would immensely assist their deliberations.

The Augustinian doctrine of the damnation of unbaptized infants
and the Calvinistic doctrine of reprobation . . . surpass read more

The Augustinian doctrine of the damnation of unbaptized infants
and the Calvinistic doctrine of reprobation . . . surpass in
atrocity any tenets that have ever been admitted into any pagan
creed.

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century "The Law", he says, "was our 'pedagogue', until Christ should come." read more

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century "The Law", he says, "was our 'pedagogue', until Christ should come." Those words have been interpreted as though they described the Law as a preparatory education, continued at a higher stage by Christ. That, however, is not quite what Paul meant. The "pedagogue" in Greek society was not a schoolmaster, he did not give lessons. He was a slave who accompanied a boy to school, and both waited upon him and exercised a supervision which interfered with the boy's freedom of action. He is, in fact, a figure in the little allegory which Paul gives us to illustrate the position of the People of God before Christ came. There was a boy left heir to a great estate. He was a minor, and so must have guardians and trustees. He was as helpless in their hands as if he had been a slave. He must live on the allowance they gave him, and follow their wishes from day to day. They gave him a "pedagogue" to keep him out of mischief. He could not please himself, or realize his own purposes and ambitions. Yet all the time he was the heir; the estate was his, and no one else's. Just so the People of God, the Divine Commonwealth, was cramped and fettered by ignorance and evil times. It remained in uneasy expectation of one day coming into active existence. At last the heir came of age: guardians and trustees abdicated their powers, and the grown man possessed in full realization all that was his. So now the fettered life of the Divine Commonwealth bursts its bonds and comes into active existence... The intervention of law was not a reversal of God's original and eternal purpose of pure love and grace towards men, it only subserved that purpose, while it seemed to contradict it, just as the presence of the "pedagogus" might seem to the high-spirited young heir quite contrary to the rights secured to him by his father's will.

Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373 I have held many things in my hands, and read more

Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373 I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.

Feast of Richard of Chichester, Bishop, 1253 Commemoration of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Moral Philosopher, 1752 Consider that read more

Feast of Richard of Chichester, Bishop, 1253 Commemoration of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Moral Philosopher, 1752 Consider that it is not failing in this or that attempt to come to Christ, but a giving-over of your endeavors, that will be your ruin.