To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.

Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 We can have no power from Christ unless we read more

Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 We can have no power from Christ unless we live in a persuasion that we have none of our own.

Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471 It is no great matter to associate with the read more

Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471 It is no great matter to associate with the good and gentle; for this is a naturally pleasing to all, and everyone willingly enjoyeth peace, and loveth those best that agree with him. But to be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace, and a most commendable thing.

Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304 Most Christians are affected far more than they know by the read more

Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304 Most Christians are affected far more than they know by the standards and methods of the surrounding world. In these days when power and size and speed are almost universally admired, it seems to me particularly important to study afresh the "weakness", the "smallness of entry", and the "slowness" of God as He begins His vast work of reconstructing His disordered world. We are all tempted to take short cuts, to work for quick results, and to evade painful sacrifice. It is therefore essential that we should look again at love incarnate in a human being, to see God Himself at work within the limitations of human personality, and to base our methods on what we see Him do.

Honor and glory are indeed due to God and to Him alone, but He will accept neither of them if read more

Honor and glory are indeed due to God and to Him alone, but He will accept neither of them if they be not preserved in the honey of love. Love is sufficient of itself; it pleases by itself and on its own account. Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit. It is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love that I may love. Love is a great thing provided it recurs to its beginning, returns to its origin, and draws always from that Fountain which is perpetually in flood. Of all the feelings and affections of the soul, love is the only one by which the creature, though not on equal terms, is able to respond to the Creator and to repay what it has received from Him. For when God loves us He desires nothing but to be loved. He loves for no other reason, indeed, than that He may be loved, knowing that by their love itself those who love Him are blessed.

Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957 Above all, desire to please Christ; dread read more

Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957 Above all, desire to please Christ; dread his disapproval above everything else.

Feast of Michael & All Angels The Law cuts into the core of the evil, it reveals read more

Feast of Michael & All Angels The Law cuts into the core of the evil, it reveals the seat of the malady, and informs us that the leprosy lies deep within.

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397 It is a great mystery of divine love, that not even read more

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397 It is a great mystery of divine love, that not even in Christ was exception made of the death of the body; and although He was the Lord of nature, He refused not the law of the flesh which He had taken upon Him. It is necessary for me to die; for Him it was not necessary.

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 The world would use us read more

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 The world would use us just as it did the martyrs, if we loved God as they did.