Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100 One can believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and feel no personal loyalty to Him at all -- indeed, pay no attention whatever to His commandments and His will for one's life. One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying.
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Good Friday Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761 Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, read more
Good Friday Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761 Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347 Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955 Our Blessed Lord hath recommended His love to us as the pattern and the example of our love to one another. As, therefore, He is continually making intercession for us all, so ought we to intercede and pray for one another. "A new commandment," saith He, "I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." The newness of this precept did not consist in this, that men were commanded to love one another for this was an old precept, both of the law of Moses and of nature. But it was new in this respect, that it was to initiate a new and, till then, unheard-of example of love; it was to love one another as Christ had loved us. And if men are to know that we are disciples of Christ, by thus loving one another according to His new example of love, then it is certain that if we are void of this love we make it as plainly known unto men that we are none of His disciples.
Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 There is a curious betrayal of the popular estimate read more
Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 There is a curious betrayal of the popular estimate of this world and the world to come, in the honour paid to those who cast away life in battle, or sap it slowly in the pursuit of wealth or honours, and the contempt expressed for those who compromise life on behalf of souls, for which Christ died. Whenever, by exertion in any unselfish cause, health is broken or fortune impaired, or influential friends estranged, the follower of Christ is called an enthusiast, a fanatic, or even more plainly a man of unsound mind. He may be comforted by remembering that Jesus was said to be beside Himself when teaching and healing left Him not leisure even to eat.
Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221 Some there are who presume so far read more
Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221 Some there are who presume so far on their wits that they think themselves capable of measuring the whole nature of things by their intellect, in that they esteem all things true which they see, and false which they see not. Accordingly, in order that man's mind might be freed from this presumption, and seek the truth humbly, it was necessary that certain things far surpassing his intellect should be proposed to man by God.
Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221 Theologically, we have been discovering anew that read more
Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221 Theologically, we have been discovering anew that the Church is not an appendage to the Gospel: it is itself a part of the Gospel. The Gospel cannot be separated from that new people of God in which its nature is to be made manifest.
Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582 Our body has this defect that, the more it is read more
Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582 Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.
Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543 Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 5. the ministry of read more
Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543 Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 5. the ministry of bearing "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2). Thus the law of Christ is a law of bearing. Bearing means forbearing and sustaining... The Christian must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated. It is, first of all, the freedom of the other person that is a burden to the Christian. The freedom of the other person includes all that we mean by a person's nature, individuality, endowment. It also includes his weaknesses and oddities, which are such a trial to our patience, everything that produces frictions, conflicts, and collisions among us. Then, there is the abuse of that freedom that becomes a burden for the Christian. In sin, fellowship with God and with his brother are broken. To cherish no contempt for the sinner but rather to prize the privilege of bearing him means not to have to give him up as lost, to be able to accept him, to preserve fellowship with him through forgiveness... The service of forgiveness is rendered by one to the others daily. It occurs, without words, in the intercessions for one another. He who is bearing others knows that he himself is being borne.
He that sees the beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the read more
He that sees the beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world... Unless this is seen, nothing is seen that is worth seeing: for there is no other true excellence or beauty.
Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550 In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each read more
Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550 In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member receives a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable. Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship.
Wisdom is meaningless until your own experience has given it meaning and there is wisdom in the selection of wisdom.
Wisdom is meaningless until your own experience has given it meaning and there is wisdom in the selection of wisdom.
