G.K. Chesterton
“People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy.” - G.K. Chesterton
Benedictine monk
“Thou art hidden, but I see Thee.
Thou art silent, but I hear Thee.
Thou art immobile, but Thou reachest out
to draw me in and hold me against Thy Heart.
One who possesses Thee in the Sacrament of Thy love,
possesses everything.”
~Prayer of a Benedictine monk
(Max Picard
“Silence stands outside the world of profit and utility; it cannot be exploited for profit; you cannot get anything out of it. It is ‘unproductive’ Therefore it is regarded as valueless. Yet there is more help and healing in silence than in all the 'useful things.’ Purposeless, unexplainable silence suddenly appears at the side of the all-too-purposeful, and frightens us by its very purposelessness. It interferes with the regular flow of the purposeful. It strengthens the untouchable, it lessens the damage inflicted by exploitation. It makes things whole again, by taking them back from the world of dissipation into the world of wholeness. It gives something its own holy uselessness, for that is what silence itself is: holy uselessness.” (Max Picard)
Hebrews
“And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the blood of the everlasting testament, Fit you in all goodness, that you may do his will; doing in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.” - Hebrews 13:20-21
Saint Richard of Chichester
Prayer of Saint Richard of Chichester
Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits and blessings
which You have given me,
For all the pains and insults
which You have borne for me.
Merciful Friend, Brother, and Redeemer,
May I know You more clearly,
love You more dearly,
and follow You more nearly,
day by day.
Revelation
“They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings.”
- Revelation 17:14
St. John Cassian
“whosoever continues in simplicity and innocence is not injurious or offensive to any one, but being content with his own simple condition endeavours simply to defend himself from being spoiled by his foes, and becomes a sort of spiritual hedgehog and is protected by the continual shield of that rock of the gospel, i.e., being sheltered by the recollection of the Lord’s passion and by ceaseless meditation on the verse given above he escapes the snares of his opposing enemies. And of these spiritual hedgehogs we read in Proverbs as follows: And the hedgehogs are a feeble folk, who have made their homes in the rocks. And indeed what is feebler than a Christian, what is weaker than a monk, who is not only not permitted any vengeance for wrongs done to him but is actually not allowed to suffer even a slight and silent feeling of irritation to spring up within?”
St. John Cassian
Saint Louis De Montfort
“Mary is God's garden of Paradise, His own unspeakable world, into which His Son entered to do wonderful things, to tend it and to take His delight in it. He created a world for the wayfarer, that is, the one we are living in. He created a second world - Paradise - for the Blessed. He created a third for Himself, which He named Mary. She is a world unknown to most mortals here on earth. Even the angels and saints in heaven find her incomprehensible, and are lost in admiration of a God who is so exalted and so far above them, so distant from them, and so enclosed in Mary, His chosen world, that they exclaim: "Holy, holy, holy" unceasingly.” ~ Saint Louis De Montfort, The Secret of Mary
G.K. Chesterton
"Christianity even when watered down is hot enough to boil all modern society to rags.“ - G.K. Chesterton
-St. Gregory the Great
“The preacher should be sensitive to the mind of his hearer and never overtax it, for the string of the soul when stretched more than it can bear can very easily snap…For all deep things should be covered up before a multitude of hearers, and scarcely opened to a few….Every preacher should give forth a sound more by his deeds than by his words; by good living he should imprint footsteps for men to follow rather than by speaking show them the path of truth.”
-St. Gregory the Great
St Isaiah the Solitary On Garding the Intellect
2. Our teacher Jesus Christ, out of pity for mankind and knowing the utter mercilessness of the demons, severely commands us: ‘Be ready at every hour, for you do not know when the thief will come; do not let him come and find you asleep’ (cf. Matt. 24:42-43). He also says: ‘Take heed, lest your hearts be overwhelmed with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and the hour come upon you unawares’ (cf. Luke 21:34). Stand guard, then, over your heart and keep a watch on your senses; and if the remembrance of God dwells peaceably within you, you will catch the thieves when they try to deprive you of it. When a man has an exact knowledge about the nature of thoughts,* he recognizes those which are about to enter and defile him, troubling the intellect with distractions and making it lazy. Those who recognize these evil thoughts for what they are remain undisturbed and continue in prayer to God
Bible
Ecclesiastes 12:12-14:
“But, my son, be warned: there is no end of opinions ready to be expressed. Studying them can go on forever, and become very exhausting!
Here is my final conclusion: fear God and obey his commandments, for this is the entire duty of man. For God will judge us for everything we do, including every hidden thing, good or bad.”
The Hobbit
“‘Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!’ said Bilbo.
‘Of course!’ said Gandalf. ‘And why should not they prove true? Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!’
‘Thank goodness!’ said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco-jar.”
— The last page of The Hobbit
Genesis 18:20-21
“The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out.” Genesis 18:20-21
Revelation 1:7
"Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him— even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen."
- St. Augustine
“Because a thing is eloquently expressed it should not be taken to be as necessarily true; nor because it is uttered with stammering lips should it be supposed false.”