What menaces there were from the executioner, to frighten her; what promises made, to win her over; what influential people desired her in marriage! She answered: “To hope that any other will please me does wrong to my Spouse. I will be his who first chose me for himself… (Saint Ambrose, on the martyrdom of[…]
Quotes
To enter the kingdom of God we must endure many tribulations. If there are many persecutions, there are many testings; where there are many crowns of victory, there are many trials of strength. It is then to your advantage if there are many persecutors; among many persecutions you may more easily find a path to[…]
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater (J.R.R. Tolkien)
There is an inertia in our nature that makes us dull; and in our attempt to penetrate your truth we are held within the bounds of ignorance by the weakness of our minds. Yet we do comprehend divine ideas by earnest attention to your teaching and by obedience to the faith which carries us beyond[…]
Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him. (Saint Gregory Nazianzen, +390)
The study of truth requires a considerable effort – which is why few are willing to undertake it out of love of knowledge – despite the fact that God has implanted a natural appetite for such knowledge in the minds of men (Saint Thomas Aquinas, +1274)
Go humbly, humble are the skies, And low and large and fierce the Star; So very near the Manger lies, That we may travel far. Hark! Laughter like a lion wakes, To roar to the resounding plain. And the whole heaven shouts and shakes, For God Himself is born again, And we are little children[…]
I am nothing. Only a tool in the hands of providence; a lowly instrument at the service of St. Joseph (Saint Andre Bessette, +1937)
This came to be fulfilled, as we know, from the time when the star beckoned the three wise men out of their distant country and led them to recognise and adore the King of heaven and earth. The obedience of the star calls us to imitate its humble service: to be servants, as best we[…]