+ “At that time, Jesus made wine from water. Christ, both then and now, does not cease changing wills that are weak, powerless, and bland. Men and women are no different from water: often cold, impure, weak, faithless and bland. Accordingly, let us bring to the Lord [ourselves and] those...
+ “Let us also come to the circumcision of lips. The person who is ‘uncircumcised in lips’ (Ex 6:30) is he [or she] who has not yet ceased from evil talk, from obscene language, who disparages good people, who promotes false accusation, who sets brothers against themselves by making false...
+ Blessed Nativity Feast! On this night in which You were born, on this night of reconciliation, let no one be wrathful nor gloomy. On this all peaceful night let us not be menacing. This night belongs to the Sweet One; therefore, let us not be bitter or harsh. On...
+ Blessed New Year! My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. With these words, Mary confesses those gifts which had been specifically conceded to her, and then she enumerates too those ordinary kindnesses of God with which He does not stop consoling the...
+ In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin espoused to a man. Gabriel was sent to declare the salvation of the entire world. Gabriel was sent to bear to Adam the signature of his restoration; Gabriel was sent to a virgin to transform...
+ As far as the statement of Zacharias is concerned, For your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, we must not be of the opinion that the high priest who had gone in to pray for the people suddenly changed his mind and...
+ Holy Mary, blessed Mary, mother and virgin, virgin before giving birth, virgin after giving birth! I, for my part, marvel how a Virgin [i.e., Christ] is born of a virgin and how, after the birth of a Virgin, the mother is a virgin. Would you like to know how...
+ …And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Cor. 4:7). Why, then, I ask, do you glory in your goods as if they were your own instead of...
+ A Blessed Nativity Fast The death of the martyrs is not death but the beginning of a better life, the prelude of a more spiritual conversation, and a change from the worse to the better. Do not then look at the fact that the mere body of the martyr...
+ The care of our soul, dearly beloved, is very much like earthly cultivation. Just as in land which is tilled, some things are torn out, and others are completely uprooted so that which is good may be sown, this should also be the case in our soul. Vices should...
