“True repentance is to cease to sin.” St. Ambrose of Milan (4th century, Doctor of the Church) “Much time I had spent in vanity, and had wasted nearly all my youth acquiring the sort of wisdom made foolish by God. Then once, like a man roused from deep sleep, I...
“Chastity will be lost where the distinction between the sexes is not observed.” St. Ambrose of Milan (4th century, Doctor of the Church) From purity part 3, September 2018 “There are some who wish to be humble, but without being despised, who wish to be happy with their lot, but...
“There is only one thing to be feared…only one trial, and that is sin…All the rest is beside the point, whether you talk of plots, feuds, betrayals, slanders, abuses, accusations, confiscations of property, exile, sharpened words, open sea, or universal war. Whatever they may be, they are all fugitive and...
“God did not tell us to follow Him because he needed our help, but because He knew that loving Him would make us whole.” St. Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century) From discipleship part 1, February 2006 “To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; to seek...
“For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon Himself the holy flesh by the holy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He wove for Himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our mortal body,...
“Watch with the heart, watch with faith, watch with hope, watch with charity, watch with good works; and then, when you shall sleep in your body, the time will come that you shall rise. And when you shall have risen, make ready the lamps. Then shall they go out no...
“’And [Naaman] dipped himself…seven times in the Jordan.’ It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water...
“Let the cross, as our seal, be boldly made with our fingers upon our brow, and on all occasions: over the bread we eat, over the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings, before sleep…it is a grace from God, a badge of the faithful, and a...
“We don’t walk to God with the feet of our body, nor would wings, if we had them, carry us to Him; but we go to Him by the affections of our soul.” St. Augustine (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “Lord, since eternity is Yours, are You unaware of...
“Once, in Cana of Galilee, He turned water into wine, resembling blood. Is it incredible, then, that He should have turned wine into blood? When called to a bodily marriage, He miraculously worked that wonder. Shall He not rather be acknowledged to have given the fruit of His body and...