“The time which interposes between the death of a man and the final resurrection holds souls in hidden retreats, accordingly as each is deserving of rest or hardship, in view of what is merited when it was living in the flesh. Nor can it be denied that the souls of...
“What is this great mystery about you, O holy Mother and Virgin?…You are the royal throne, around which angels stand to see their Lord and Creator seated upon it. You are called the spiritual Eden…for in the former Eden the earthly Adam dwelt, but in you the Lord from Heaven.”...
“O Love, Who are ever burning and are never extinguished, O Charity, my God, set me totally afire.” St. Augustine (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “Lucky the man who loves and longs for God as a smitten lover does for his beloved…Someone truly in love keeps before his mind’s...
“For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, not those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of...
“[Christ] is in the Father by reason of His divine nature, we are in Him by reason of His human birth, and He is in us through the mystery of the sacraments.” St. Hilary of Poitiers (4th century, Doctor of the Church) “When Adam sleeps, Eve is formed from his...
“We proclaim the Crucified and the devils quake. So don’t be ashamed of the cross of Christ. Openly seal it on your forehead that the devils may behold the royal sign and flee trembling far away. Make the sign of the cross when you eat or drink, when you sit,...
“God has desired that in spiritual combat we might fight rather with prayers than with our own strength.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “When a prayer, like a ray of the sun, arises from our tongue and comes forth from our mouth, our mind is...
“Human art, moreover, produces houses, and ships, and cities, and pictures. And how shall I tell what God makes? Behold the whole universe; it is His work: and the heaven, and the sun, and angels, and men, are the works of His fingers. How great is the power of God!...
“Emulate the tiny ant; be an ant of God. Listen to the word of God, and hide it in your heart. Collect plenty of food during the happy days of your spiritual summers. You will then be able to endure the difficult days of temptations during the winters of your...
“Let us be kind to one another after the pattern of the tender mercy and goodness of our Creator.” St. Clement of Rome (1st century) “The Lord does not say that the proof of His disciples’ faithfulness will be the working of wondrous miracles…What does He tell them? ‘You shall...