I will go up to the foot of the Cross; I will press my arms tightly around the cold body, the corpse of Christ, with the fire of my love.....I will unail it, with my reparation and mortifications....I will wrap it in the new winding-sheet of my clean life, and I will bury it in the clean rock of my breast, where no one can tear it away from me, and there, Lord, take your rest! Were the whole world to abandon you...serviam! I will serve you Lord.

-- St. Jose Maria Escriva

Of God, we cannot say all that ought to be said...In those matters that concern God, to confess our ignorance is already a great knowledge.

-- St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The Holy Spirit has both taught us and reminded us. He has taught us whatever it was that Christ did not teach to His Disciples, because they were not able to hear it; He reminded them of whatever the Lord had said to them, but which they could not remember, either because of its obscurity, or because they were slow of mind.

-- St. Theophylactus

When we depart from the truth, we simultaneously and increasingly choose vanity. Vanity is the absence of truth. With it we stumble into Hell. Lucifer withdrew the eyes of his understanding from this infinitely lovable Object and lowered them at once to a consideration of his own beauty. The Supreme beauty should have been his continual focus. In failing to persevere in truth, he perished in vanity.

-- St. Francis de Sales

Everyone -- past, present, and future -- will be judged. Now, then, is the time for mercy, while the time to come will be the time for justice only. For that reason, the present time is ours, but the future time will be God's only!

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

He who prays most receives most.

-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

1) Genesis 1:1 - 2:2 or Genesis 1:1, 26-31
Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12-14, 24, 35 or Psalm 33:4-7, 12-13, 20-22

2) Genesis 22:1-18 or Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18
Psalm 16:5, 8-11

3) Exodus 14:15 --15:1
(Ps) Exodus 15:1-6, 17-18

4) Isaiah 54:5-14
Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13

5) Isaiah 55:1-11
(Ps) Isaiah 12:2-6

6) Baruch 3:9-15, 32 - 4:4
Psalm 19:8-11

7) Ezekiel 36:16-28
Psalm 42:3, 5; Psalm 43:3-4 (Read when baptism is celebrated)
(Ps) Isaiah 12:2-6 or Psalm 51:12-15, 18-19 (Read when baptism is not celebrated)

8) Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

9) Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

Nations as well as individuals can violate God's laws. It follows that the evil that brings us to the tragic predicament must be expiated. Guilt must be atoned for. When man's will rebels against God's Will, man creates a tragic situation, which in the person is a sense of guilt and in the community of nations , a crisis. Our tragedy today is due basically to the human will opposing the Divine Will.

-- Bishop Fulton Sheen