You receive the Body of the Lord with special care, lest even a tiny crumb of the consecrated gift fall to the floor. You should receive the Word of the Lord with equal care and reverence, lest the tiniest word of it fall to the floor.
— Origen (c. 184- c. 254)
If you want tonight your spirit with God, you need to understand the true nature of spirituality. Some consider only appearances. They concentrate on penances, vigils, fasting, and other physical deprivations. Others indulge in long prayers, attend public services frequently, spend many hours in church, and take Communion as often as they can. These people are all misguided. These things are little more than the side effects of true piety. While these tools are useful in the spiritual life, they are not its essence… We can become so attached of these rituals that we completely neglect to notice any inner movement of our own hearts. Then we become filled with empty ideas and think that we have tasted the joys of paradise and the delight of angels. We think we have seen God but all we have seen is the devil’s decoy.
— Lawrence Scupoli (1529-1610)
At the times when you remember God, increase your prayers, so that when you forget Him, the Lord may remind you.
— Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)
Gaze first upon the poverty of Jesus, placed in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. What marvellous humility! What astounding poverty! The King of angels, Lord of heaven and earth, is laid in a manger. Consider next the humility, the blessed poverty, the untold labours and burdens which he endured for the redemption of the human race. Then look upon the unutterable charity with which he willed to suffer on the tree of the cross and to die thereon the most shameful kind of death.
— Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253))
In all of our deeds God looks at the intention, whether we do it for His sake, or for the sake of some other intention.
— Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)
Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
