Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundations.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
My friends, consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God’s coming as a guest into our hearts! If some rich and influential friend were to come to your home, you would promptly put it all in order for fear something there might offend your friend’s eyes when he came in. Let all of us then who are preparing our inner homes for God cleanse them of anything our wrongdoing has brought into them.
–Saint Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)
Who can be ignorant how much the heron and the hawk surpass all other birds in the swiftness of their flight? But an ostrich has the likeness of their wing, but not the celerity of their flight.nFor it cannot in truth rise from the ground, and raises its wings, in appearance as if to fly, but yet never raises itself from the earth in flying. Thus, doubtless, are all hypocrites, who, while they simulate the conduct of the good, possess a resemblance of a holy appearance, but have no reality of holy conduct.
–Saint Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)
The spirit of humility is sweeter than honey, and those who nourish themselves with this honey produce sweet fruit.
–Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
Grace is a certain beginning of glory in us.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
There is a huge silence inside each of us that beckons us into itself, and the recovery of our own silence can begin to teach us the language of heaven. –Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
