The supreme antidote against strife and confusion, the supreme principle of unity and service in the Church, was also the read more

The supreme antidote against strife and confusion, the supreme principle of unity and service in the Church, was also the greatest gift of the Spirit and the perfect and abiding proof of its presence, namely, love. This introduces a third criterion of the Spirit, and on the wider stage of the moral life. It is loyalty to the moral ideal of Christ. "If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk" (Gal. 5:25). Where the Spirit dwells, it produces a new, a higher, a unique type of moral life. For Paul, the Christian life was not the normal and natural product of human activity, but a gracious divine gift, received by the descent of the Spirit into the human heart, for "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22-23). And there is yet one higher manifestation of the Spirit, the participation in the divine sonship of Jesus Christ. "And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6). Where sonship is, there the Spirit is. On the other hand, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:l4). Where the Spirit leads, there sonship is... The possession of the Spirit and participation in Christ's sonship are but two aspects of the same experience. Here, the phenomenon, if it may be so called, bears its own credentials. Sonship is a self-evident work of the Spirit. But the evidence is available only for its owners in order that the Spirit of adoption may attest itself to others, it must issue in the life according to the Spirit, by walking in the spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957 When once a man begins to read more

Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957 When once a man begins to build a system, the very gifts and qualities which might serve in the investigation of truth, become the greatest hindrances to it. He must make the different parts of the scheme fit into each other; his dexterity is shown, not in detecting facts, but in cutting them square... I hope you will not forget that the Bible is the history of God's acts to men, not of men's thoughts about God. It begins from Him. He is acting and speaking in it throughout.

We ought not to forget that the whole Church, quite as much as any part of it, exists for the read more

We ought not to forget that the whole Church, quite as much as any part of it, exists for the sole reason of finally becoming superfluous. Of heaven St. John the Divine said, "I saw no temple therein.".

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 If one could talk absolutely humanly about Christ, one would read more

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 If one could talk absolutely humanly about Christ, one would have to say that the words: "my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" are impatient and untrue. They can only be true if God says them, and consequently also when the God-Man says them. And indeed since it is true, it is the very limit of suffering.

The Creed sets forth what Christ suffered in the sight of men, and then appositely speaks of that invisible and read more

The Creed sets forth what Christ suffered in the sight of men, and then appositely speaks of that invisible and incomprehensible judgment which he underwent in the sight of God in order that we might know not only that Christ's body was given as the price of our redemption, but that he paid a greater and more excellent price in suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man.

Commemoration of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Writer, Hermit, Mystic, 1349 I have often, on my knees, been shocked to read more

Commemoration of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Writer, Hermit, Mystic, 1349 I have often, on my knees, been shocked to find what sort of thoughts I have, for a moment, been addressing to God; what infantile placations I was really offering, what claims I have really made, even what absurd adjustments or compromises I was, half-consciously, proposing. There is a Pagan, savage heart in me somewhere. For unfortunately the folly and idiot-cunning of Paganism seem to have far more power of surviving than its innocent or even beautiful elements. It is easy, once you have power, to silence the pipes, still the dances, disfigure the statues, and forget the stories; but not easy to kill the savage, the greedy, frightened creature now cringing, now blustering in one's soul.

Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. read more

Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when He called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone, you are rejecting Christ's call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called.... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called -- the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ.

Nothing is so easy to men of goodwill as goodwill itself, and this is all that God requires. Every act read more

Nothing is so easy to men of goodwill as goodwill itself, and this is all that God requires. Every act of goodwill permanently and sensibly increases goodwill. Trifling acts of goodwill are often more efficacious in this way than great ones. A flower given in kindness and at the right time profits more, both to giver and receiver, than some vast material benefit in which the goodwill is hidden by the magnitude of the act. Some little, sensible, individual touch from the hand of our Lord may convert the heart more than the contemplation of His death for us.

Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258 It is only by forgetting yourself that you can draw near read more

Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258 It is only by forgetting yourself that you can draw near to God.