Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870 Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life read more

Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870 Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life in the Church of England, 1876 The sacred page is not meant to be the end, but only the means toward the end, which is knowing God himself.

Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist Continuing a series on God and the human condition: If we are read more

Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist Continuing a series on God and the human condition: If we are directed only by our particular natures, and regulate our inclinations by no higher rule than that of our reasons, we are but moralists; divinity will still call us heathens. Therefore this great work of charity must have other motives, ends, and impulsions. I give no alms to satisfy the hunger of my brother, but to fulfil and accomplish the will and command of my God; I draw not my purse for his sake that demands it, but his that enjoined it; I relieve no man upon the rhetoric of his miseries, nor to content mine own commiserating disposition, for this is still but moral charity, and an act that oweth more to passion than reason.

It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth read more

It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.

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.

For us, murder is once for all forbidden... It makes no difference whether one take away the life once born, read more

For us, murder is once for all forbidden... It makes no difference whether one take away the life once born, or destroy it as it comes to birth. He is a man, who is to be a man; the fruit is always present in the seed.

Feast of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407 We assemble not in the church to pass away read more

Feast of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407 We assemble not in the church to pass away the time, but to gain some great benefit for our souls. If therefore we depart without profit, our zeal in frequenting the church will prove our condemnation. That so great a judgment comes not upon you, when ye go hence ponder the things ye have heard, and exercise yourselves in confirming our instruction -- friend with friend, fathers with their children, masters with their slaves -- so that, when ye return hither and hear from us the same counsels, ye may not be ashamed, but rejoice and be glad in the conviction that ye have put into practice the greater part of our exhortation. Not only must we meditate upon these things here -- for this short exhortation sufficeth not to eradicate the evil -- but at home let the husband be reminded of them by the wife, and the wife by the husband, and let an emulation obtain in families to the fulfilment of the divine law.

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century On humanist assumptions, life leads to nothing; and every read more

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century On humanist assumptions, life leads to nothing; and every pretense that it does not is a deceit.

Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533 Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, read more

Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533 Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897 To live of love, it is to know no fear; No memory of past faults can I recall; No imprint of my sins remaineth here; The fire of Love divine effaces all. O sacred flames! O furnace of delight! I sing my safe sweet happiness to prove. In these mild fires I dwell by day, by night. I live of love!

The church has failed to follow her appointed pathway of separation, holiness, heavenliness and testimony to an absent but coming read more

The church has failed to follow her appointed pathway of separation, holiness, heavenliness and testimony to an absent but coming Christ; she has turned aside from that purpose to the work of civilizing the world, building magnificent temples, and acquiring earthly power and wealth, and, in this way, has ceased to follow in the footsteps of Him who had not where to lay His head.