Come worship the Lord

I need to worship because without it I can forget that I have a big God beside me and live in fear. I need to worship because without it I can forget his calling and begin to live in a spirit of self-preoccupation. I need to worship because without it I lose a sense of wonder and gratitude and plod through life with blinders on. I need worship because my natural tendency is toward self-reliance and stubborn independence. - John Ortberg

Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else. - Charles Spurgeon

You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come, Lord, stir us up and call us back. Kindle and seize us. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run. - Augustine of Hippo

On life

What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not. - St. Augustine

Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. 
       From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men—above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men. - Albert Einstein

Life never becomes a habit to me. It’s always a marvel.-  Katherine Mansfield

Three for St. Stephen

The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins. ―  Søren Kierkegaard,

We can see clearly that the end of following Christ wholeheartedly is to share, very possibly, in his very end. We can have great confidence that multitudes of fellow pilgrims have won the contest, fought the good fight, and endured martyrdom before the watching hosts of heaven. ― Greg Gordon, The Following of Christ

It is not the torture, but the cause which makes the martyr.  - St. Augustine 

We never seem to have enough

Patience is the companion of wisdom. - St. Augustine

Patience strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride, bridles the tongue. - George Horne

Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily. - Johann Friedrich von Schiller

Bonus Quote from the Office of Readings

For sin is taken away only by the gift of faith that works through love. - St. Augustine

For those who don't know, as a priest I say daily prayers with and for the Church. As a Diocesan Priest I pray five of the liturgical hours. Office of Readings is the first hour of the day.

Humble & angelic

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. - St. Augustine


I'll be away on Retreat the rest of the week and will return to regular posting this coming Saturday.

What God wants

Therefore, if something happens that we did not pray for, we must have no doubt at all that what God wants is more expedient than what we wanted ourselves. Our great Mediator gave us an example of this. After he had said: Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me, he immediately added, Yet not what I will, but what you will, Father, so transforming the human will that was his through his taking a human nature. As a consequence, and rightly so, through the obedience of one man the many are made righteous. - St. Augustine, Letter to Proba

A difficult truth

God foretold hardship upon hardship in this world until the end of time. And you want the Christian to be exempt from these troubles? Precisely because he is a Christian, he is destined to suffer more in this world.
- St. Augustine

Feast of St. Augustine

You are Christ,
my Holy Father,
my Tender God,
my Great King,
my Good Shepherd,
my Only Master,
my Best Helper,
my Most Beautiful and my Beloved,
my Living Bread,
my Priest Forever,
my Leader to my Country,
my True Light,
my Holy Sweetness,
my Straight Way,
my Excellent Wisdom,
my Pure Simplicity,
my Peaceful Harmony,
my Entire Protection,
my Good Portion,
my Everlasting Salvation.


Christ Jesus, Sweet Lord,
why have I ever loved,
why in my whole life
have I ever desired anything except You,
Jesus my God?
Where was I when I was not in spirit with You?
Now, from this time forth,
do you, all my desires, grow hot,
and flow out upon the Lord Jesus:
run... you have been tardy until now;
hasten where you are going;
seek Whom you are seeking.


O, Jesus may he who loves You
not be an anathema;
may he who loves You
not be filled with bitterness.

O, Sweet Jesus,
may every good feeling that is fitted for Your praise,
love You, delight in You, adore You!
God of my heart,
and my Portion, Christ Jesus,
may my heart faint away in spirit,
and may You be my Life within me!
May the live coal of Your Love
grow hot within my spirit
and break forth into a perfect fire;
may it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart;
may it glow in my innermost being;
may it blaze in hidden recesses of my soul;
and in the days of my consummation
may I be found consummated with You!

Amen.  - St. Augustine