This Letter was written by St. Thomas More to his daughter Margaret (Meg) from his cell in the Tower of London where he had been imprisoned by King Henry VIII. Soon after writing this Letter, Thomas was condemned to death on trumped up charges....
This excerpt from an festal letter by Saint Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria in the 4th century, emphasizes the proper spiritual preparation for the feast of Easter. We must purify ourselves for the worthy celebration of the festival, which is better commemorated by deeds than...
This Holy week reading on imitating Christ's death by being buried with him through baptism amplifies St. Paul's words in Romans 6:11 that in the sacrament of baptism we are baptized into Christ's death, being buried as it were with him under the saving waters...
Saint Jerome on the nature of true repentance and the gracious mercy of God, our loving Father....
Mercy, says Gregory of Zanianzen, is by no means the least of the beatitudes. It is what Christ has asked for rather than sacrifice; he asks us to show him mercy by showing mercy to the poor....
St. Augustine here speaks of Christ's laying down of his life, handed over to us in the Eucharist, as the perfection of love. Augustine's words, written in the early 5th century, are also compelling evidence for the practice and meaning of devotion to the...
John Chrysostom warns against giving honor to Christ by adorning the Church building to the neglect of the poor and suffering members of Christ's body, the Church in the truest sense. ...
With the coming of the New Covenant, much in the Old Law of Moses is rendered obsolete. But the Ten Commandments, otherwise known as the Decalogue, has eternal value, says St. Irenaeus, because it enshrines justice to God & neighbor....
St. Maximus the Confessor here makes clear the nature of true charity or love of God (one of the theological virtues), and affirms that it is not by faith alone that we secure our salvation, but also by a positive act of love of God...
Augustine describes the theological virtue of hope in terms of expanding the desire of our hearts to see God face to face, stretching the capacity of our souls to contain more of the fullness of his presence....