Quote/s of the Day – 17 July – Tuesday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 11:20-24
Speaking of: Seeking Repentance with the Fathers
“When once you have departed this life,
there is no longer any place for repentance,
no way of making satisfaction.
Here, life is either lost or kept.
Here, by the worship of God and by the fruit of faith,
provision is made for eternal salvation.
Let no one be kept back either by his sins
or by his years from coming to obtain salvation.
To him who still remains in this world,
there is no repentance that is too late.”
St Cyprian of Carthage (c 200- c 258)
Father of the Church
“Do you fast?
Then feed the hungry,
give drink to the thirsty,
visit the sick, do not forget the imprisoned,
have pity on the tortured,
comfort those who grieve and who weep,
be merciful, humble, kind, calm, patient, sympathetic,
forgiving, reverent, truthful and pious,
so that God might accept your fasting
and might plentifully grant you the fruits of repentance.”
“Since it is likely that, being men, they would sin every day,
St Paul consoles his hearers by saying ‘renew yourselves’
from day to day.
This is what we do with houses:
we keep constantly repairing them as they wear old.
You should do the same thing to yourself.
Have you sinned today?
Have you made your soul old?
Do not despair, do not despond
but renew your soul by repentance and tears and Confession
and by doing good things.
And never cease doing this.”
“If repentance is neglected for an instant,
one can lose the power of the Resurrection
as he lives with the weakness of tepidity
and the potential of his fall.”
St John Chrysostom (347-407)
Father and Doctor of the Church
“Reform yourself and so be always ready.
Be not afraid of the last day, as a thief,
who will break up your house as you sleep
but awake and reform yourself today.”
“In failing to confess, Lord,
I would only hide You from myself,
not myself from You.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church
“To do penance
is to bewail the evil we have done
and to do no evil
to bewail.”
St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Repentance raises the fallen,
mourning knocks at the gate of Heaven
and holy humility opens it.”
“Repentance is the renewal of baptism.
Repentance is a contract with God for a second life.
A penitent is a buyer of humility.
Repentance is constant distrust of bodily comfort.
Repentance is self-condemning reflection of carefree self-care.
Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair.
A penitent is an undisgraced convict.
Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord
by the practice of good deeds contrary to the sins.
Repentance is purification of conscience.
Repentance is the voluntary endurance of all afflictions.
A penitent is the inflicter of his own punishments.
Repentance is a mighty persecution of the stomach
and a striking of the soul into vigorous awareness.”
“Confession is like a bridle that keeps the soul
which reflects on it from committing sin
but anything left unconfessed
we continue to do without fear as if in the dark.”
AnaStpaul 