Store up in your minds the Lord's words which you receive through your ears, for the Word of the Lord is the nourishment of the mind. . . . Be careful, then, that the word you have received through your ears remains in your heart.

-Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)

Among all human pursuits, the pursuit of wisdom is more perfect, more noble, more useful, and more full of joy.

-Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274)

Let us . . . acquire that meekness of him who said, "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart," so that he may teach us his ways and cause us to rest in the kingdom of heaven.

--Evagrius Ponticus (c. 345-399)

The work of the Spirit is the bringing to be of the vision of God . . . . The birth of the church is the beginning of the End. . . . The Kingdom of God as the miracle of . . . newness when "the blind see" makes its impact on history in the creation of a visionary community.

--Gabriel Fackre, A Christian Story

As this broken bread, scattered on the mountains, was gathered to be one, may your church be assembled in the same way from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. 

--The Didache (first century)

The sacrament of the Eucharist is itself a striking and  wonderful figure of the unity of the church, if we consider how  in the bread to be consecrated many grains go to form one whole . . . so that through [Christ] we may receive the spirit of charity in which we are bidden to live now no longer our own life but the life of Christ, and to love the Redeemer himself in all the members of his social body.

--Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi

Mystery of the living God, and of his love  for humankind, the Most High sends his Son to us and reveals himself as our Father; Christ exalted in glory gives us his Spirit in whom we praise you, God who is, who was, and who comes!

--Antiphon of Canticle of Mary, Trinity Sunday

If we are right to think that the Father gives and the Son receives the kiss, we do not err in thinking that the kiss itself is the Holy Spirit.

--Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

We know all too well that love is life or death, and when God's love is at issue, it is eternal life or eternal death.

--Henri Lacordaire, O.P. (1802-1861)

At Pentecost . . . . like the limbs of a single   body, the separated members of the human race would be restored to unity by being joined to Christ, their common head, and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the fire of love.

--Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

--Entrance antiphon for Mass

Come, Holy Spirit . . . shed a ray of light divine! . . . O most blessed Light divine, shed within these hearts of yours, and our inmost being fill!

--Pentecost sequence

Christ, who promised to make his disciples one in God with him, who promised that he would be in God and God in us, has realized this in a mysterious way: He has accomplished this great work, this stupendous privilege for us.

--John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

The experience of compassion is the experience of suffering or feeling with someone . . . . This is also the experience of solidarity . . . . The secret of Jesus' infallible insight and unshakable convictions was his unfailing experience of solidarity with God, which revealed itself as an experience of solidarity with humanity and nature.

--Albert Nolan, O.P.

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

--Mark 8:34

Christ's ascension means our future destiny is secured in God's kingdom. That is a destiny to dream about!

--Donald K. McKim

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

--Acts 1:8

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.

--Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world.

--Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

—Ephesians 2:19-21

How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?

—Vincent van Gogh

Suddenly I heard the words of Christ and understood them, and life and death ceased to seem to be evil, and instead of despair I experienced happiness and the joy of life undisturbed by death.

--Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord God.

—Ezekiel 34:31

He is our shepherd, and the sheep know his voice. If we are his sheep, we will listen to him, recognizing him and obeying him. Let us be sure to follow when he goes before us. . . . May we long to hear his voice; let us pray that he may give us attentive ears and a heart of good will.

—John Henry Newman (1801-1890)