“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament … There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man. Oswald Chambers
It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only. William Blake
God is the god of the humble, the miserable, the afflicted, the oppressed, the desperate, and those who have been brought to nothing.
Martin Luther
On the Passover
Tell me angel, what deterred you? The slaughter of the sheep, or the life of the Lord? You were deterred because you witnessed the mystery of the Lord accomplish in the sheep. The life of the Lord in the sacrifice of the sheep. The figure of the Lord in the death of the Sheep. On the Passover, Melito of Sardis
Though you do not see him, you believe, and in believing there is unspeakable joy. Polycarp
You, O Christ my Savior, have become for me the path of life which leads to the father. There is but one path, and it is my joy, and at the end of it is the heavenly kingdom.
Ephraim the Syrian
Boniface attempted, in the place called Gaesmere, while the servants of God stood by his side, to fell a certain oak of extraordinary size, which is called, by an old name of the pagans, the Oak of Thor. And when in the strength of his steadfast heart he had cut the lower notch, there was present a great multitude of pagans, who in their souls were earnestly cursing the enemy of their gods. But when the fore side of the tree was notched only a little, suddenly the oak’s vast bulk, driven by a blast from above, crashed to the ground, shivering its crown of branches as it fell; and, as if by the gracious compensation of the Most High, it was also burst into four parts, and four trunks of huge size, equal in length, were seen, unwrought by the brethren who stood by. At this sight the pagans who before had cursed now, on the contrary, believed, and blessed the Lord, and put away their former reviling.
–Life of Boniface, Missionary to the Germans
He is great in heaven who humbly submits to his neighbor
He is great in heaven who humbly submits to his neighbor, and, without any cause for shame, bears patiently accusations made against him, even though they are false, if by this he may be at peace with his brother.
St. Basil the Great, Homily 20
If He offers nourishment to the birds…
If he offers nourishment to the birds, will he not offer to humankind food to nourish them? If those who do not labor find food, will not people find food, to whom God has given both the wisdom to work and the hope to enjoy it? God made all animals for humankind’s sake, but he made humankind for his own sake. Therefore, if he serves animals for humankind’s sake, will he not serve humankind for his own sake? God made all things in wisdom, but he made humankind not only in wisdom but also according to his own wisdom. Therefore, to the degree that the creation of humankind is more precious than that of animals, to the same degree God’s solicitude over humankind is greater than that over animals. God made all animals so that they would exist as long as they do, but when they die, they would become as if they had never been, but he made humankind so that he would live not only before death but even after death. Indeed, he would live more after death than before death because he lives before death in temptation but after death in glory. Therefore, if he helps those whom he has created so as to live for only a little while, will he not help humankind whom he has made so that they may live forever?
Opus imperfectum on Matthew, Homily 16
Locus Communis 