A treasury of the Church
The Library
One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Sayings of the saints — East and West, ancient and modern — gathered as a single choir, to be tasted slowly.
July’s gathering · a fresh selection each month
The whole choir of the Great Tradition.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
“Just as a fish dies if it lingers on dry land, so the monk who lingers outside his cell loses the intensity of inner peace.”
“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. God alone is enough.”
“The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
“Stay in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”
“To come to the knowledge you have not, you must go by a way in which you know not.”
“We are formed by what we love, and we love what we behold.”
“I have found Heaven on earth, since Heaven is God, and God is in my soul.”
“Grace is opposed to earning, but not to effort.”
“Watchfulness is a continual fixing of one’s gaze on the Jesus Prayer.”
“Love your neighbour with all your heart, and you will already be on the way to the Father.”
“I would rather feel compunction than be able to define it.”
“I have prayed for forty years to be delivered from anger, and the Lord has not yet heard me. So I keep praying.”
“The spiritual life is first and foremost a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied; it is to be lived.”
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me… but I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.”
“Prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.”
“That they may all be one… so that the world may believe.” — John 17:21