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Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221 Verily, if thou desirest to have the Creator read more
Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221 Verily, if thou desirest to have the Creator of all creatures, thou must renounce all creatures; for it cannot be otherwise, but only insomuch as thy soul is emptied and bared; the less of the creature, the more of God: this is but a fair bargain.
Only one thing is quite certain: he too has his time and not more than his time. One day others read more
Only one thing is quite certain: he too has his time and not more than his time. One day others will come who will do the same things better. And some day he will have been completely forgotten--even if he should have built the pyramids or the St. Gotthard tunnel or invented atomic fission. And one thing is even more certain: whether the achievement of a man's life is great or small, significant or insignificant, he will one day stand before his eternal judge, and everything that he has done and performed will be no more than a mole hill, and then he will have nothing better to do than hope for something he has not earned: not for a crown, but quite simply for gracious judgment which he has not deserved. That is the only thing that will count then, achievement or not. "My kindness shall not depart from you." By this man lives. By this alone can he live.
At the resurrection the substance of our bodies, however disintegrated, will be united. We must not fear that the omnipotence read more
At the resurrection the substance of our bodies, however disintegrated, will be united. We must not fear that the omnipotence of God cannot recall all the particles that have been consumed by fire or by beast, or dissolved into dust and ashes, or decomposed into water, or evaporated into air.
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 It behooves us to accomplish what God requires of read more
Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 It behooves us to accomplish what God requires of us, even when we are in the greatest despair respecting the results.
Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109 For I seek not to understand in read more
Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109 For I seek not to understand in order that I may believe; but I believe in order that I may understand, for I believe for this reason: that unless I believe, I cannot understand.
Continuing a short series on topics of Christian apologetics: I desire to exercise my faith in the most difficult read more
Continuing a short series on topics of Christian apologetics: I desire to exercise my faith in the most difficult point, for to credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith, but persuasion. Some believe the better for seeing Christ's Sepulchre, and when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt not the miracle. Now contrarily I bless myself, and am thankful that I lived not in the days of miracles, that I never saw Christ nor His Disciples; I would not have been one of those Israelites that passed the Red Sea, nor one of Christ's patients, on whom He wrought His wonders; then had my faith been thrust upon me, nor should I enjoy that greater blessing pronounced to all that believe and saw not.
The last and highest result of prayer is not the securing of this or that gift, the avoiding of this read more
The last and highest result of prayer is not the securing of this or that gift, the avoiding of this or that danger. The last and highest result of prayer is the knowledge of God -- the knowledge which is eternal life -- and by that knowledge, the transformation of human character, and of the world.
He who has surrendered himself to it knows that the Way ends on the Cross -- even when it is read more
He who has surrendered himself to it knows that the Way ends on the Cross -- even when it is leading him through the jubilation of Gennesaret or the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.