Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardor and faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him.

He summed up his attitude in the words: “I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead.”

When he saw death imminent, he bade others share his joy: “Rejoice and be glad with me!”

And when danger, injustice and abuse threatened, he said: “I am content with weakness, mistreatment and persecution.”

These he called the weapons of righteousness, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from them.

Thus, amid the traps set for him by his enemies, with exultant heart he turned their every attack into a victory for himself.

Constantly beaten, abused and cursed, he boasted of it as though he were celebrating a triumphal procession and taking trophies home, and offered thanks to God for it all: “Thanks be to God who is always victorious in us!”

This is why he was far more eager for the shameful abuse that his zeal in preaching brought upon him than we are for the most pleasing honors, more eager for death than we are for life, for poverty than we are for wealth.

He yearned for toil far more than others yearn for rest after toil. The one thing he feared, indeed dreaded, was to offend God; nothing else could sway him. Therefore, the only thing he really wanted was always to please God.

The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ.

Enjoying this love, he considered himself happier than anyone else; were he without it, it would be no satisfaction to be the friend of principalities and powers.

He preferred to be thus loved and be the least of all, or even to be among the damned, than to be without that love and be among the great and honored.

To be separated from that love was, in his eyes, the greatest and most extraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been hell, and endless, unbearable torture.

So too, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing life, the world, the angels, present and future, the kingdom, the promise and countless blessings.

Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet.

John Chrysostom (c.347-407): Homily 2 on the Praises of St Paul, from the Office of Readings for the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25 @ Crossroads Initiative.

He permitted him to delight in the unimaginable beauties of paradise, and gave him dominion over everything upon earth.

Then, when man was deceived by the serpent and fell into sin, which led to death and to all the sufferings associated with death, God still did not forsake him.

He first gave man the law to help him; he set angels over him to guard him; he sent the prophets to denounce vice and to teach virtue; he restrained man’s evil impulses by warnings and roused his desire for virtue by promises.

Frequently, by way of warning, God showed him the respective ends of virtue and of vice in the lives of other men. Moreover, when man continued in disobedience even after he had done all this, God did not desert him.

No, we were not abandoned by the goodness of the Lord. Even the insult we offered to our Benefactor by despising his gifts did not destroy his love for us.

On the contrary, although we were dead, our Lord Jesus Christ restored us to life again, and in a way even more amazing than the fact itself, for his state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave.

He bore our infirmities and endured our sorrows. He was wounded for our sake so that by his wounds we might be healed.

He redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for our sake, and he submitted to the most ignominious death in order to exalt us to the life of glory.

Nor was he content merely to summon us back from death to life; he also bestowed on us the dignity of his own divine nature and prepared for us a place of eternal rest where there will be joy so intense as to surpass all human imagination.

How, then, shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us? He is so good that he asks no recompense except our love: that is the only payment he desires.

To confess my personal feelings, when I reflect on all these blessings I am overcome by a kind of dread and numbness at the very possibility of ceasing to love God and of bringing shame upon Christ because of my lack of recollection and my preoccupation with trivialities.

Basil the Great (330-379): Detailed Rules for Monks (Resp. 2, 2-4: PG 31, 914-915), taken from the Office of Readings for Tuesday of the Third week of Ordinary Time @ Crossroads Initiative.

If a man has tar on his hands, he removes it with a little cleansing oil; how much more, then, can you be made clean with the oil of God’s mercy.

You find no difficulty in washing your clothes; how much easier is it for the Lord to cleanse you from every stain, although you are bound to be tempted every day.

When you say to the Lord, ‘I have sinned’, He answers: ‘Your sins are forgiven you; I am He who wipes them out and I will remember them no more’(Matt. 9:2; Isa.43:25);

‘as far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your sins from you; and as a father shows compassion to his sons, so will I show compassion to you’ (Ps.103:12-13).

Only do not rebel against Him who has called you to pray and recite psalms, but cleave to Him throughout your life in pure and intimate communion, reverent yet unashamed in His presence, and always full of thanksgiving.

It is God who, by a simple act of His will, cleanses you. For what God chooses to make clean not even the great Apostle Peter can condemn or call unclean.

For he is told: ‘What God has cleansed, do not call unclean’ (Acts 10:15). For has not God in His love acquitted us? ‘Who then will condemn us?’ (Rom. 8:33-34).

When we call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not hard for our conscience to be made pure, and then we are no different from the prophets and the rest of the saints.

For God’s purpose is not that we should suffer from His anger, but that we should gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.

So then, whether we are watchful in virtue or sometimes fall asleep, as is likely to happen because of our failings, yet shall we live with Christ.

As we look up to Him with cries of distress and continual lamentation, it is Christ Himself that we breathe.

[...] The great Physician of the sick is here beside us, He that bore our infirmities, that healed and still heals us by His wounds (Isa.53:5); He is here beside us and even now administers the medicine of salvation.

‘For’, He says’, I have afflicted you by My absence, but I will also heal you. So do not fear: for when My fierce anger has passed, I will heal you again.

[...] ‘For if a bird devotes itself with tender love to its nestlings, visiting them every hour, calling to them and feeding them, how much greater is My compassion towards My creatures!

John of Karpathos (7th century): For the Encouragement of the Monks in India, trans. G.E.H. Palmer, P. Sherrard, and K. Ware, The Philokalia, vol. 1 (Faber and Faber, London & Boston: 1979).

Three men came to Abraham, and stood over him

Observe how it is that they come upon him, but not against him. He had subjected himself to God’s will, and for this reason God is said to stand over him.

They stood over him; not against him to repulse him, but over him for protection. He received the three men and served them loaves out of three measures.

Why is this, brethren, unless it means the mystery of the Trinity?

He also served a bullock; not a tough one, but a good, tender one.

Now what is so good and tender as he who humbled himself even unto death? He himself is that fatted calf which the father killed upon receiving his repentant son.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only–begotten Son. For this reason Abraham went to meet the three men and adored them as one.

In the fact that he saw three, as was already said, he understood the mystery of the Trinity; but since he adored them as one, he recognized that there is one God in the three persons.

Now where did this happen? Near the oak of Mamre, which in Latin is interpreted as ‘vision’ or ‘discernment’.

The vision and discernment of Abraham delighted the Lord; Abraham was clean of heart, so he could see God. Therefore, in such a place and in such a heart the Lord can have his feast.

Of this vision our Lord spoke to the Jews in the Gospel when he said: Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day, he saw it and was glad.

He saw my day, he says, because he recognised the mystery of the Trinity. He saw the Father as day, the Son as day, the Holy Spirit as day, and in these three, one day.

Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and these three are one God. For individually each person is complete God.

Moreover, because of the unity of substance, in those three measures of flour the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not unfittingly understood.

However, this can also be taken in another way by understanding Sarah as the Church; the three measures of flour then are faith, hope, and charity.

In these three virtues all the fruits of the Church are contained, so that if a man merits to possess the three within himself, he can with security receive the entire Trinity at the banquet of his heart.

Caesarius of Arles (469/70-542): Sermon 83.2,4-5, trans. M. M. Mueller, Fathers of the Church series, vol. 47, from the Monastic Office of Vigils for Sunday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2.

He is a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.

By shedding his own blood he entered once and for all into the Holy Places.

He did not enter a place made by human hands, a mere type of the true one.

Rather, he entered heaven itself, where he is at God’s right hand interceding for us.

Quite correctly, the Church continues to reflect this mystery in her prayer.

This mystery of Jesus Christ the high priest is reflected in the apostle Paul’s statement:

Through him, then, let us always offer the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that profess belief in his name.

We were once enemies of the Father, but have been reconciled through the death of Christ.

Through him then we offer our sacrifice of praise, our prayer to God.

He became our offering to the Father, and through him our offering is now acceptable.

It is for this reason that Peter the apostle urges us to be built up as living stones into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

This then is the reason why we offer prayer to God our Father, but through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When we speak of Christ’s priesthood, what else do we mean than the incarnation?

Through this mystery, the Son of God, though himself ever remaining God, became a priest. To him along with the Father, we offer our sacrifice.

Yet, through him the sacrifice we now offer is holy, living and pleasing to God.

Indeed, if Christ had not sacrificed himself for us, we could not offer any sacrifice.

For it is in him that our human nature becomes a redemptive offering.

When we offer our prayers through him, our priest, we confess that Christ truly possesses the flesh of our race.

Clearly the Apostle refers to this when he says: Every high priest is taken from among men.

He is appointed to act on behalf of these same men in their relationship to God; he is to offer gifts and sacrifices to God.

We do not, however, only say “your Son” when we conclude our prayer.

We also say, “who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit”.

In this way we commemorate the natural unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is clear, then, that the Christ who exercises a priestly role on our behalf is the same Christ who enjoys a natural unity and equality with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Fulgentius of Ruspe (462/467—527/533): Epist. 14, 36-37 (CCL 92, 429-431) from the Office of Readings for Thursday in the 2^nd week of Ordinary Time @ Crossroads Initiative.

“Why are there those who are poor and those who are rich? Why do wicked men proper and why are the just in need?”

He heard a voice answering him, “Anthony, keep your attention on yourself; these things are according to the judgment of God, and it is not to your advantage to known anything about them.”

Someone asked Abba Anthony, “What must one do in order to please God?”

The old man replied, “Pay attention to what I tell you: whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes, whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will be saved.”

Abba Anthony said to Abba Poemen, “This is the great work of man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.

He also said, “Whoever has not experienced temptation cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” He even added, “Without temptations no-one can be saved.”

Abba Pambo asked Abba Anthony, “What ought I to do?” and the old man said to him, “Do not trust in your own righteousness, do not worry about the past, but control your tongue and your stomach.”

Abba Anthony said, “I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, “What can get through from such snares?” Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’”

He also said, “Some have afflicted their bodies by asceticism, but they lack discernment, and so they are far from God.”

He said also, “Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.”

One day some old men came to see Abba Anthony. In the midst of them was Abba Joseph. Wanting to test them, the old man suggested a text from the Scriptures, and, beginning with the youngest, he asked them what it meant.

Each gave his opinion as he was able. But to each one the old man said, “You have not understood it.” Last of all he said to Abba Joseph, “How would you explain this saying?” and he replied, “I do not know.”

Then Abba Anthony said, “Indeed, Abba Joseph has found the way, for he has said: ‘I do not know.’”

Antony the Great (c.251-356): Thirty-Eight Sayings, 2-9, 17,  translated by the Sr Benedicta Ward SLGin The Sayings of the Desert Fathers; online text here.

[St Anthony said]

And let no one turn to the things behind, like Lot’s wife, all the more so that the Lord hath said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and turning back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven”.

And this turning back is nought else but to feel regret, and to be once more worldly-minded. But fear not to hear of virtue, nor be astonished at the name.

For it is not far from us, nor is it without ourselves, but it is within us, and is easy if only we are willing.

That they may get knowledge, the Greeks live abroad and cross the sea, but we have no need to depart from home for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, nor to cross the sea for the sake of virtue.

For the Lord aforetime hath said, “The kingdom of heaven is within you”.

Wherefore virtue hath need at our hands of willingness alone, since it is in us and is formed from us. For, when the soul hath its spiritual faculty in a natural state, virtue is formed.

And it is in a natural state when it remains as it came into existence. And when it came into existence it was fair and exceeding honest.

For this cause Joshua, the son of Nun, in his exhortation said to the people, “Make straight your heart unto the Lord God of Israel”, and John, “Make your paths straight”.

For rectitude of soul consists in its having its spiritual part in its natural state as created.

But on the other hand, when it swerves and turns away from its natural state, that is called vice of the soul.

Thus the matter is not difficult. If we abide as we have been made, we are in a state of virtue, but if we think of ignoble things we shall be accounted evil.

If, therefore, this thing had to be acquired from without, it would be difficult in reality; but if it is in us, let us keep ourselves from foul thoughts.

And as we have received the soul as a deposit, let us preserve it for the Lord, that He may recognise His work as being the same as He made it.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Life of St Anthony, 55.

Through continually invoking Jesus the peacemaker against them, it remains invulnerable.

[...] Extreme watchfulness and the Prayer of Jesus Christ, undistracted by thoughts, are the necessary basis for inner vigilance and unfathomable stillness of soul, for the deeps of secret and singular contemplation, for the humility that knows and assesses, for rectitude and love.

This watchfulness and this Prayer must be intense, concentrated and unremitting.

It is written: ‘Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord, Lord” shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father’ (Matt. 7:21).

The will of the Father is indicated in the words: ‘You who love the Lord, hate evil’ (Ps. 97:10).

Hence we should both pray the Prayer of Jesus Christ and hate our evil thoughts. In this way we do God’s will.

Through His incarnation God gave us the model for a holy life and recalled us from our ancient fall.

In addition to many other things, he taught us, feeble as we are, that we should fight against the demons with humility, fasting, prayer and watchfulness.

For when, after His baptism, He went into the desert and the devil came up to Him as though He were merely a man, He began His spiritual warfare by fasting and won the battle by this means – though, being God, and God of gods, He had no need of any such means at all.

I shall now tell you in plain, straightforward language what I consider to be the types of watchfulness which gradually cleanse the intellect from impassioned thoughts.

In these times of spiritual warfare I have no wish to conceal beneath words whatever in this treatise may be of use, especially to more simple people.

[...] One type of watchfulness consists in closely scrutinizing every mental image or provocation; for only by means of a mental image can Satan fabricate an evil thought and insinuate this into the intellect in order to lead it astray.

A second type of watchfulness consists in freeing the heart from all thoughts, keeping it profoundly silent and still, and in praying.

A third type consists in continually and humbly calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ for help.

A fourth type is always to have the thought of death in one’s mind.

These types of watchfulness, my child, act like doorkeepers and bar entry to evil thoughts.

Hesychios the Priest (?6^th-9^th century): On Watchfulness and Holiness chs 8-18,  Text from G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (trans. and eds.) The Philokalia: The Complete Text, vol. I (Faber & Faber, London & Boston: 1979), pp. 163-165.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 5:3).

What is meant by “the poor in spirit?” The humble and contrite in mind.

For by “spirit” He hath here designated the soul, and the faculty of choice.

That is, since many are humble not willingly, but compelled by stress of circumstances, letting these pass (for this were no matter of praise), He blesses them first, who by choice humble and contract themselves.

But why said he not, “the humble,” but rather “the poor?”

Because this is more than that. For He means here them who are awestruck, and tremble at the commandments of God.

Whom also by His prophet Isaiah God earnestly accepting said, “To whom will I look, but to him who is meek and quiet, and trembleth at My words?” (Isa. 66:2).

For indeed there are many kinds of humility: one is humble in his own measure, another with all excess of lowliness.

It is this last lowliness of mind which that blessed prophet commends, picturing to us the temper that is not merely subdued, but utterly broken, when he saith, “The sacrifice for God is a contrite spirit, a contrite and an humble heart God will not despise” (Ps. 50:17).

[...] For the greatest of evils, and those which make havoc of the whole world, had their entering in from pride.

For the devil, not being such before, did thus become a devil; as indeed Paul plainly declared, saying, “Lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6).

The first man, too, puffed up by the devil with these hopes, was made an example of, and became mortal.

For expecting, to become a god, he lost even what he had. And God also upbraided him with this, and mocking his folly, said, “Behold, Adam is become as one of us” (Gen. 3:22).

And each one of those that came after did hereby wreck himself in impiety, fancying some equality with God:

Since, I say, this was the stronghold of our evils, and the root and fountain of all wickedness, Jesus, preparing a remedy suitable to the disease, laid this law first as a strong and safe foundation.

For this being fixed as a base, the builder in security lays on it all the rest. But if this be taken away, though a man reach to the Heavens in his course of life, it is all easily undermined, and issues in a grievous end.

Though fasting, prayer, almsgiving, temperance, any other good thing whatever, be gathered together in thee; without humility all fall away and perish.

John Chrysostom (c.347-407): Homily 15,2-3 on St Matthew’s Gospel.

For in the creation of woman dust is not taken from the ground as before; a body is not formed from earth; inanimate matter is not transformed by the breath of God into a living soul.

Instead flesh grows upon bone, a complete body is given to the flesh, and the power of the spirit is added to the complete body.

That this is the way the resurrection will take place God pro­claimed through the Prophet Ezekiel to teach us what his power would accomplish in time to come.

Then everything will happen at once: the body will be there, the spirit will fly towards it, and none of his works will be lost to God.

Now this, according to the Apostle, is the mystery hidden for long ages in God, namely, that the Gentiles are joint heirs with the Jews, part of the same body, having a share in his promise in Christ, who is able, as the same Apostle says, to transform our humble bodies into the likeness of his own glorious body.

Therefore when the heavenly Adam rose again after the sleep of his passion, he recog­nised the Church as his bone, its flesh not now created from dust or given life by breath, but growing upon bone it became a body made from a body and was perfected by the coming of the Spirit.

For those who are in Christ will rise again like Christ, in whom the resurrection of all flesh has already taken place, since he himself was born in our flesh with the power of God by which the Father begot him before the world began.

And since Jew and Greek, barbarian and Scythian, the slave and the free, men and women, are all one in Christ, since flesh is recognized as proceeding from flesh, and the Church is the body of Christ, and the mystery which is in Adam and Eve is a prophecy concerning Christ and the Church, all that has been prepared by Christ and the Church for the end of time was already accomplished in Adam and Eve at the beginning of time.

Hilary of Poitiers (c.300-368): On the Mysteries; from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Tuesday of the 1^st  Week in Ordinary Time Year 2.