The chief end of our life is to live in communion with God. To this end the Son of God became incarnate, in order to return us to this divine communion, which was lost by the fall into sin. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we enter into communion with the Father and thus attain our purpose.
–Saint Theophane the Recluse (1815-1894)
Fasting, prayer, alms, and every other good Christian deed is good in itself, but the purpose of the Christian life consists not only in the fulfillment of one or another of them. The true purpose of our Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. But fasting, prayer, alms and every good deed done for the sake of Christ is a means to the attainment of the Holy Spirit. Note that only good deeds done for the sake of Christ bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Everything else that is not done for the sake of Christ, even if it is good, does not bring us a reward in the life to come, not does it bring the grace of God in this life.
–Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833)
Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
Is there anything nobler than the Mother of God? Anything more splendid than this woman chosen by Splendor itself? Anything more chaste than the one who conceived the physically untainted body?
–Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-397)
Never boast of what you know. The more one knows, the more he realizes how ignorant he is. Socrates used to say: Hoc unum scio me nihi scire. [I know only one thing: that I know nothing.] So be humble; first, by being convinced that you know nothing; secondly, by never using your knowledge for evil purposes; finally, by knowing what Jesus Christ teaches us – to forgive injuries received, to forgive our enemies.
–Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)
His whole life long he did nothing but go down. He went down in becoming flesh, he went down in becoming a baby, went down in obeying, went down in becoming poor, rejected, persecuted, crucified, in always taking the lowest place.
–Blessed Charles De Foucauld (1858-1916)
