We saw men and nations cut off from God, stirring up strife and discord and hurrying along the road to ruin and death, while the Church of God carries on her work of providing food for the spiritual life of men, nurturing and fostering generation after generation of men and women dedicated to Christ, faithful and subject to Him in His earthly kingdom, called by Him to eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Pope Pius XI
It has long been a common custom to give to Christ the metaphorical title of ‘King’, because of the high degree of perfection whereby He excels all creatures. So He is said to reign ‘in the hearts of men’, both by reason of the keenness of His intellect and the extent of His knowledge, and also because He is very truth, and it is from Him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind.
Pope Pius XI
This Kingdom is opposed to none other than to that of Satan and to the power of darkness. It demands of its subjects a spirit of detachment from riches and earthly things, and a spirit of gentleness. They must hunger and thirst after justice, and more than this they must deny themselves and carry the Cross.
Pope Pius XI
I have so often thought of and meditated on the holy eagerness of the patriarchs who so sighed for the coming of the Messiah, and I felt confused and was, moreover, so penetrated with grief, that I could scarcely refrain from weeping, so much was I ashamed to see the tepidity and indifference of these unhappy days.
St Bernard
Christ has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but His by essence and by nature.
St Cyril of Alexandria
The Son of God has taken upon Himself our poverty and miseries, in order that we may participate in His riches. His sufferings will one day render us impassable, and His death will make us immortal.
St Athanasius
