St. Cyprian, a pagan convert who went on to become bishop of Carthage in the 3rd Century, gives us one of the earliest and most extensive commentaries on the Lord's Prayer, aka the "Our Father." Here is the complete text of his treatise....
Cyprian, a third century bishop, explains the meaning of two of the petitions of the Lord's prayer - give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us....
Ambrose explains how the delighteful book of the psalms provides a true gymnasium for the soul with exercises to develop every virtue, and condense all parts of the Old Covenant - law, prophecy, and history and foreshadow the New Covenant as well, predicting as they...
Origen, commenting on the book of Joshua, shows that the early Church saw the sacrament of baptism not only as the crossing of the Red Sea, but also as the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land....
Evangelization--Here Pope Paul VI clearly declares that his message is not about himself or the Church, but Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Like St. Paul, he is an evangelist, an apostle and witness of Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. ...
Dorotheus, a sixth century abbot, here speaks here of a shallow sort of happiness and peace that disappears when hardship comes or offense is given. The true "peace that passes understanding" cannot easily be disturbed by adversity or robbed by those giving offense....
This excerpt from the 2nd century Letter to Diognetus explains to pagan readers how the Church is in the world and not of it, and why this is a cause of persecution. Christians, he explains, are to the world as the soul is to the...
This excerpt on the sacrament of baptism from St. Basil the Great’s book On the Holy Spirit (ca. AD 360) describes how baptism fulfills what Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3 about being born again in water and the Spirit. He also here outlines...
Cyril of Alexandria here emphasizes that the risen body of Jesus Christ, received in the Eucharist, gives life to those who receive it, expelling death and corruption....
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household from 1980 to the present, here discusses the experience known in charismatic and Pentecostal circles as "the baptism in the Holy Spirit" and how it relates to the sacraments of baptism and confirmation....