The roots of war are in the way we live our daily lives, the way we develop our industries, build up our society, and consume goods. We have to look deeply into the situation, and we will see the roots of war. We cannot just blame one side or the other. We have to transcend the tendency to take sides.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

Mercy is the image of God, and the merciful are, in fact, God dwelling on the earth. As God is merciful to all, without distinction, so the merciful should share benefits equally. . . . The merciful person is another God on the earth.
—Rabban Youssef Bousnaya, 10th-century Syrian monk

Just as God has shown us his mercy and faithfulness—his mercy by forgiving our sins and his faithfulness by keeping his promises—so we too should practice mercy and faithfulness in our own lives. Let us show mercy to the sick and needy, even our enemies, and practice faithfulness by refraining from sin.
—Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

The highest wisdom is kindness.
—The Talmud

God wants our infinite desire.
—Saint Catherine of Siena

If Christ is not raised for us, he is not raised at all, for there is no reason for him to be raised for himself. In him, the cosmos is resurrected, in him heaven is resurrected, in him earth is resurrected; for there will be “a new heaven and a new earth.”
—Saint Ambrose (340-397)

With every virtue you practice, do not think of the painful effort involved, but of the sweetness of the reward; and above all remember that your struggles are for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Then you will easily rise above them and live out your whole lifetime in happiness.
—Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)

Today we still cast the net. And Christ fills it. And Christ calls to conversion [those] who are found “in the depths of the sea,” as the psalm has it (Ps. 69:15), that is to say, among the waves and tempests of the world.
—Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 377-444)

Christ says: Give me this fisherman, this man without education or experience . . . . Although I mean to include senators, orators, or emperors among my recruits, even when I have won over the senator I shall still be surer of the fisherman.
—Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

To love another person is to see the face of God.
—Alaine Boubil (French)/ Kretzmer (English), lyricists of  Les Miserables.

Desiring to win over the whole world and bring its inhabitants to God the Father . . . and, in sense, renewing the face of the earth, the Lord of the universe took the form of a servant and brought the good news to the poor. This, he said, was why he had been sent.
—Saint Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)

The Holy Spirit gives wisdom against folly, understanding against dullness, counsel against rashness, fortitude against fears, knowledge against ignorance, piety against hardness of our heart, and fear against pride.
—Pope Saint Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)

When you read about Jesus in the synagogues of Galilee . . . take care not to regard those people as uniquely privileged and yourselves as deprived of his teaching. . . . He still speaks to us assembled here today . . . . Throughout the world Jesus looks for instruments through which he can continue his teaching. Pray that I may be one of them, and that he may find me ready and fit to sing his praises.
—Origen (183-253)

God’s word is so rich that it is a treasury of every good. From it flow faith, hope, love, and all the virtues, the many gifts of the Spirit.
—Saint Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619)

Whenever you go to Mass, you run the risk of falling into grace.
—Bishop Richard J. Sklba

In the parlance of John’s gospel, his hour was the time of the crucifixion. In that hour Jesus would take his own bride and his glory would be fully revealed. For now, out in Cana, the disciples and Jesus’ mother saw and tasted a new, fine wine that would revive a failing feast. Glorious though it was, however, it was only the beginning.
—Frederick Niedner

Truly spiritual gifts, genuinely charismatic persons all are activated by the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Personal faith is never private, for it exists only in a public body for the common good.
—Rev. John Gibbs

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it.
—Michelangelo (c. 1500)

When Israel crossed the Red Sea, the angels were about to break forth in song, but the Holy One rebuked them, “My children are drowning, and you would sing?”
—The Talmud

People of every nation, come and receive the immortality given in Baptism. . . . Do you wish to know how to do this? By water and the Holy Spirit. This is to say, by the water through which we are born again and given life, and by the Spirit who is the Comforter sent for your sake to make you a child of God.
—Third-century homily

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.
—Rabindranath Tagore

The epiphanies of Christ: “Three mysteries mark this holy day: Today the star leads the Magi to the infant Christ; today water is changed into wine for the wedding feast; today Christ wills to be baptized by John in the river Jordan to bring us salvation.”
—Antiphon for Evening Prayer, Epiphany 

The day on which Christ first showed himself . . . as the savior of the world should be held in holy reverence by us. We should experience in our hearts the same joy as the three wise men felt when the sign of the new star led them into the presence of the King of heaven and earth, and they gazed in adoration upon the one in whose promised coming they had put their faith.
—Leo the Great (c. 400-461)

Today the Bridegroom claims his bride, the church, since Christ has washed away her sins in Jordan’s waters; the Magi hasten with their gifts to the royal wedding; and the wedding guests rejoice . . . alleluia.
—Antiphon for Morning Prayer, Epiphany

Mystery may be “shown, witnessed, revealed, but not explained.”
—Lewis Hyde

“Il piatto no si restituisce vuoto.”  ("Never return an empty plate.")
—an old Italian Proverb

A child needs both to be hugged and unhugged. The hug lets her know she is valuable. The unhug lets her know that she is viable.
—Polly Berrien Berends, Gently Lead

As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.
–Pope John Paul II

Today is the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh.
—Proclamation of the Birth of Christ