Whoever has Christ in his heart, so that no earthly or temporal things -- not even those that are legitimate read more

Whoever has Christ in his heart, so that no earthly or temporal things -- not even those that are legitimate and allowed -- are preferred to Him, has Christ as a foundation. But if these things be preferred, then even though a man seem to have faith in Christ, yet Christ is not the foundation to that man.

The intelligence which has learned to be a law to itself, criticising, rejecting, appropriating, assimilating, cannot deny its nature and read more

The intelligence which has learned to be a law to itself, criticising, rejecting, appropriating, assimilating, cannot deny its nature and suspend its functions when it opens the New Testament. It cannot make itself the slave of men, not even though the men are Peter and Paul and John; no, not even though it were the Son of Man Himself. It resents dictation, not willfully nor wantonly, but because it must; and it resents it all the more when it claims to be inspired. If, therefore, the Atonement can only be received by those who are prepared from the threshold to acknowledge the inspiration and the consequent authority of Scripture, it can never be received by modern men at all.

... They haled him, trembling, to the Judgement Seat. "O Lord, behold the man who made the nails that read more

... They haled him, trembling, to the Judgement Seat. "O Lord, behold the man who made the nails that pierced Thy feet!" The Master laid a thin, scarred hand upon the shame-bowed head. "They were good nails," he said...

Commemoration of Rose of Lima, Contemplative, 1617 Four things a man must learn to do If he would make his read more

Commemoration of Rose of Lima, Contemplative, 1617 Four things a man must learn to do If he would make his record true: To think without confusion clearly, To love his fellow men sincerely, To act from honest motives purely, To trust in God and heaven securely. ... Henry van Dyke August 24, 2000 Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle Beginning a short series on the Bible: The Bible is a supernatural book and can be understood only by supernatural aid.

Such is our dependence upon God that we are obliged not only to do everything for His sake, but also read more

Such is our dependence upon God that we are obliged not only to do everything for His sake, but also to seek from Him the very power. This happy necessity of having recourse to Him in all our wants, instead of being grievous to us, should be our greatest consolation. What a happiness is it that we are allowed to speak to Him with confidence; to open our hearts and hold familiar conversation with him, by prayer! He Himself invites us to it.

Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066 [He said:] That all possible kinds of mortification, if they were void of read more

Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066 [He said:] That all possible kinds of mortification, if they were void of the love of God, could not efface a single sin.. That we ought, without anxiety, to expect the pardon of our sins from the blood of Jesus Christ, only endeavoring to love Him with all our hearts. That God seemed to have granted the greatest favors to the greatest sinners, as more signal monuments of His mercy.

Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888 Much of today's Christianity is almost completely read more

Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888 Much of today's Christianity is almost completely earthbound, and the words of Jesus about what follows this life are scarcely studied at all. This, I believe, is partly due to man's enormous technical successes, which make him feel master of the human situation. But it is also partly due to our scholars and experts. By the time they have finished with their dissection of the New Testament and with their explaining away as "myth" all that they find disquieting or unacceptable to the modern mind, the Christian way of life is little more than humanism with a slight tinge of religion.

Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471 When we are troubled with temptation and evil thoughts, read more

Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471 When we are troubled with temptation and evil thoughts, then we see clearly the great need we have of God, since without him we can do nothing good. No one is so good that he is immune to temptation; we will never [in this life] be entirely free of it.

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 I have seen minute-glasses: glasses so short liv'd! If I were to preach upon this text ("For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matt. 6:21), to such a glass, it would be enough for half the sermon, enough to show the worldly man his treasure, and the object of his Heart, to call his eye to that minute-glass, and to tell him, "There flows, there flies, your treasure, and your heart with it." But if I had a secular glass, a glass that would run an age; if the two hemispheres of the world were composed in the form of such a glass, and all the world burnt to ashes, and all the ashes, and the sands, and atoms of the world put into that glass, it would not be enough to tell the godly man what his treasure, and the object of his heart is. A parrot will sooner be brought to relate to us the wisdom of a council table, than any Ambrose, or any Chrysostom, men that have gold and honey in their names, shall tell us what the treasure of heaven is, and that man's peace, that hath set his Heart upon that treasure.