People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some…
Mental cases, mental illness, and physical illnesses, as well as poverty, are calls upon our compassion, because we must see Christ in them, but it is so hard to see Christ in anyone who is…
Turn your attention upon yourself and beware of judging the deeds of other men, for in judging others a man labors vainly, often makes mistakes, and easily sins; whereas, in judging and taking stock of…
To become Christian is, fundamentally, to perceive that it isn’t just others who have scapegoats. And note that the two greatest Christians, the founders of the Church, Peter and Paul, were two converted persecutors. Before…
And how dare you say to your brother, “Let me take that splinter out of your eye,” when, look, there is a great log in your own? –The Gospel of Matthew, 7:4
A certain brother inquired of Abbot Pastor, saying: What shall I do? I lose my nerve when I am sitting alone at prayer in my cell? The elder said to him: Despise no one, condemn…
The more those thinking about throwing the first stone perceive the responsibility they would assume in throwing it, the greater the chance they will let their hands fall and drop the stone. ––René Girard, I…
We named our firstborn after Maximilian Kolbe, because naming one’s children after saints is what Roman Catholics do. We believe doing so wins the newborn the patronage of the saint in heaven. But there was…
The great benefit to be derived from reading pre-modern authors is to come to realize that after all, we [moderns] might have been mistaken. –C.F.J. Martin, quoted in Sohrab Ahmari, The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the…
1. To give and not to takethat is what makes man human. 2. To serve and not to rulethat is what makes man human. 3. To help and not to crushthat is what makes man…