Category Archives: today

FEBRUARY 20 – SAINT MAURA
“When I gave into lust habit was born, and when I did not resist the habit it became a necessity. These were the links which together formed what I have called my chain, and it held me fast in the duress of servitude.”
Confessions VIII, 5

FEBRUARY 19 – SAINT CORRADO
“My true brothers are those who rejoice for me in their hearts when they find good in me, and grieve for me when they find sin. They are my true brothers, because whether they see good in me or evil, they love me still. To such as these I shall reveal what I am. Let them breathe a sigh of joy for what is good in me and a sigh of grief for what is bad.”
Confessions X, 4

FEBRUARY 18 – SAINT SIMEON
“Men go out and gaze in astonishment at high mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the broad reaches of rivers, the ocean that encircles the world, or the stars in their courses. But they pay no attention to themselves.”
Confessions X, 8

FEBRUARY 17 – SAINT DONATO
“Nothing deserves to be despised more than vice; yet I have in more and more to vice simply in order not to be despised. If I had not sinned enough to rival other sinners, I used to pretend that I had done things I had not done at all, because I was afraid that innocence would be taken for cowardice and chastity for weakness.”
Confessions, II, 3

FEBRUARY 16 – BLESSED SIMON OF CASCIA, O.S.A.
“O eternal truth, true love and beloved eternity. You are my God. To you do I sigh day and night. When I first came to know you, you drew me to yourself so that I might see that there were things for me to see, but that I myself was not yet ready to see them. Meanwhile, you overcame the weakness of my vision, sending forth most strongly the beams of your light, and I trembled at once with love and dread.”
Confessions, VII, 10

FEBRUARY 15 – SAINT FAUSTINO
“Look into my heart, O God, the same heart on which you took pity when it was in the depths of the abyss. Let my heart now tell you what prompted me to do wrong for no purpose, and why it was only my own love of mischief that made me do it. The evil in me was foul, but I loved it. I loved my own perdition and my own faults, not the things for which I committed wrong, but the wrong itself.”
Confessions II, 4

FEBRUARY 14 – SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS
“If you are upset at having to set aside some great work that you consider more important than the task you are now forced to do, you ought to reflect that it is uncertain what is indeed more important. If something happens to disturb your plans, you should get on with doing it lest you be broken.”
On Catechizing the Uninstructed, 14.20

FEBRUARY 13 – BLESSED CHRISTINE OF SPOLETO, O.S.A.
“I am asking you to think hard about what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will say at the end of the world, when He comes to judgement; that He will gather all the nations together in His presence, and divide mankind into two parts, placing some on the right hand, others on the left … This is my recommendation to you, my brothers and sisters; give earthly bread, and knock at the door of the heavenly bread; the Lord is bread.”
Sermon 389, 5-6

FEBRUARY 12 – SAINT DAMIAN
“Lord, you frighten me! You demand from me what you gave me. You gave me my talents because you want to profit from them. You don’t want them hidden away in some secret place. You don’t want to get back only what you gave me. You want more. You want back all your money, every coin that bears your image – i.e., every human soul that ever existed.”
Sermon 125, 8

February 11 – OUR LADY OF LOURDES
The Virgin Mary is both holy and blessed, and yet the Church is greater than she. Mary is a part of the Church, a member of the Church, a holy, an eminent – the most eminent – member, but still only a member of the entire body. The body undoubtedly is greater than she, one of its members. This body has the Lord for its head, and head and body together make up the whole Christ. In other words, our head is divine – our head is God.
Sermon 25