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December 19
“Upon the love of friends, I readily cast myself without reservation, especially when chafed and wearied by the scandals of this world; and in their love I rest without any disturbing care: for I perceive that God is there. … When I perceive that a man is burning with Christian love and feel that thereby he has been made a faithful friend to me, whatever plans or thoughts of mine I entrust to him I regard as entrusted not to the man, but to God.”
Letter 73, 20

December 18
“When pride has crept into a servant of God, straightaway envy is to be found there too. The proud person cannot help being envious. Envy is the daughter of pride; but this mother is unable to be barren; wherever she is, she immediately gives birth … If your thoughts run on these lines, you won’t be great in your own eyes. After all, what you should rather be thinking about is what you lack, instead of what advantages you have … If you’re thinking of how much you’re still falling short, you start groaning; and when you groan, you are worrying about yourself, you will be humble, you will walk more securely, you won’t tumble over a cliff, you won’t be puffed up like a balloon. … First among the vices … is pride, next envy. It’s not envy, you see, that has given birth to pride, but pride has given birth to envy. It’s only a love of excelling, after all, that is envious.”
Sermon 354, 5-6

December 17
“It is one thing to throw off a fever, another to recover from the weakness which the fever leaves behind it; it is one thing to remove from the body a weapon stuck in it, another to heal the wound it made with a complete cure. The first stage of the healing is to remove the cause of the debility, and this is done by pardoning all sins. The second stage is healing the debility itself, and this is done gradually by making steady progress in the renewal of this image of God.”
The Trinity XIV.17.23

December 16
“Do not stay outside yourself, but enter within yourself, because within the interior person truth dwells; and if you find that your nature is changeable, transcend yourself; never forget that in climbing above the heights of yourself, you are lifting yourself higher than your soul, which is gifted with reason. Direct your steps, therefore, to where the light of reason is enkindled.”
On True Religion 39, 72

December 15
“Be particularly mindful of the poor, so that what you deprive yourself of by living sparingly, you may lay away in heavenly treasures. Let the needy Christ receive what the fasting Christian deprives himself of. Let the restraint of the willing soul be the sustenance of the one in need. Let the voluntary neediness of the one who has an abundance become the necessary abundance of the one in need.”
Sermon 210,10,12

December 14 – SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
“Do not be slow to make a vow, for it is not through your own power that you will keep it. You will be found wanting if you trust in yourselves, but if you trust in him to whom you make your vow, then make a vow and you will keep it safely.”
Exposition on Psalm 75, 16

December 13 – SAINT LUCY
“It is God alone who both gives virginity and protects it. And God is love! Love, therefore, is the guardian of virginity, but humility is the dwelling-place of this guardian. He indeed dwells there who said that the Holy Spirit rests on the humble, the peaceful, and the one who fears his words … Humble spouses more easily follow the Lamb than proud virgins.”
On Holy Virginity 51,52

December 12 – OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
“Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, not to make the world, not to create all things visible and invisible, not to perform miracles and raise the dead, but that I am meek and humble of heart. Do you want to be great? Then begin with what is very small. Do you want to construct a lofty building? Think first of the foundation, which is humility. The more massive the building one has in mind and plans to construct, the deeper the foundations must be laid.”
Sermon 69, 2-3

December 11 – SAINT DAMASUS
“Let me seek you, Lord, even while I am calling upon you, and call upon you even as I believe in you; for to us you have indeed been preached. My faith calls upon you, Lord, this faith which is your gift to me, which you have breathed into me through the humanity of your Son and the ministry of your preacher.”
Confessions I.1.1

December 10
“Everyone must do what he or she can. If one person is not capable of as much as another, then he or she can still attain it in the other who does have this capability. The condition is that one love and esteem in the other the attainments which one does not have because of one’s own limitations. Thus, the person with fewer capabilities ought not to impede the person with more; nor should those who are more gifted put pressure on others who are less gifted. You have to render an account of your conscience to God alone. But the only thing that you owe one another is love for one another.”
Letter 130.16.31