There are many kinds of alms the giving of which helps us to obtain pardon for our sins; but none is greater than that by which we forgive from our heart a sin that someone has committed against us. 

—Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

Whom must we recognize in this father? God, of course: No one is father as he is, no one is benevolent as he is. This is why he will welcome you—you who are his child, even if you have wasted what you had received from him, even if you arrive naked—because you have come back . . . . 

—Tertullian (160-220)

To the one who still remains in this world, no repentance is too late. 

—Saint Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258)

Why do you ask my name, which is mysterious?” 

—Judges 13:18

As well as the vision of Christ’s glory . . .  something else occurred which was to serve as a vital confirmation, not only of the disciples’ faith, but of ours as well. From a cloud on high came the voice of God the Father saying: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
—Saint Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)

I never spoke with God, / Nor visited in heaven; / Yet certain am I of the spot / As if the chart were given.
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Nothing restrains anger, curbs pride, heals the wound of malice, bridles self-indulgence, quenches the passions, checks avarice, and puts unclean thoughts to flight as does the name of Jesus.
—Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

After baptism you should not be filled with food and drink from a well-laden table, but you should devote yourself to fasting.
—Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)

The food of real love is sacrifice.
—Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)

At our first steps toward authenticity—or love or compassion or any high calling—every devil in hell will come out to meet us.
—Gregg Levoy in Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life­

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” [Rev. 21:1].

—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)

I am afraid that if we begin to put our trust in human help, some of our divine help will fail us.

—Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582)

We need to understand our exploration is not an effort to get anywhere. My starting point is that we’re already there. We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.

–Richard Rohr, O.F.M. from Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer

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)

Whoever has been called to the preaching of the gospel should obey instantly and without delay.
—Saint Basil the Great (329-379)

Ira Progoff describes in At a Journal Workshop, a group of archaeologists discovered an ancient Egyptian tomb in which lay a portion of a tree. Embedded in the wood was a seed, which they planted, merely to see if anything would happen. They never expected that after three thousand years the seed would grow—but it did.
—Greg Levoy in Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life

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)

I have found my place in the church, and this place, O my God, you have given me. In the heart of the church, my mother, I will be love . . . .”

—Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)

For being the Good Book, the Bible is filled with a lot of people doing some awfully bad things.

–Anonymous

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 teaching 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

Now this transformation of the water from its own substance into another testified to the powerful presence of the Creator. Only he who made it out of nothing could change water into something whose use was quite different.
—Fifth-century homily

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, Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota

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

Peoples 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

In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us and guide our feet on the path to peace.
—Luke 1:78