“He put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:22,23
“Do not, therefore, exaggerate the evils of the pestilence.” - Martin Luther - LW 22:419
"Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” Matthew 7
”My sins run out behind me and I do not see them.” - The Desert Fathers
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” - Matthew 6:20
“Some robbers once came into a hermitage and said, ‘We’ve come to take everything out of your cell.’ The hermit said, ‘Take whatever you see, my sons.’ So they took what they found in the cell, and went away. But they missed a little bag that was hidden in the cell. The hermit picked it up and ran after them, shouting, ‘My sons, you missed this; take it!’ They were amazed at his patience and restored everything, and did penance to him. They said to each other, ‘Truly this is a man of God.’” - The Desert Fathers
John 8 - 54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.' 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." 57 So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
“Behold, I am making all things new.” - Revelation 21:5
“But in this I stood, contemplating it generally, darkly and mournfully, saying in intention to our Lord with very great fear: Ah, good Lord, how could all things be well, because of the great harm which has come through sin to your creatures? And here I wished, so far as I dared, for some plainer explanation through which I might be at ease about this matter. And to this our blessed Lord answered, very meekly, and with a most loving manner, and he showed that Adam's sin was the greatest harm ever done or ever to be done to the end of the world. And he also showed me that this is plainly known to all Holy Church upon earth.
Furthermore, he taught that I should contemplate the glorious atonement, for this atoning is more pleasing to the blessed divinity and more honourable for man's salvation, without comparison, than ever Adam's sin was harmful. So then this is our blessed Lord's intention, and in this teaching we should pay heed to this: For since I have set right the greatest of harms, then it is my will that you should know through this that I shall set right everything which is less." Julian of Norwich” - Julian of Norwich, Showings, Chapter 29
“For you I wait all day long.” Psalm 25:5
“The one piece of mail certain to go unread into my wastebasket is the letter addressed to the ‘busy pastor'.’” - Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor, p. 17
“Do not try to be more generous than God.” Bernard of Clairvaux - Sermons on the Song of Songs, 18:3
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory…” John 1:14
“Naturally also, through this union of the immortal Son of God with our human nature, all men were clothed with incorruption in the promise of resurrection. For the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word’s indwelling in a single body, the corruption that goes with death has lost its power over all.” - Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Chapter 9
“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.” - Luke 4:1-2
“They have learnt well from everyday experience with the support of many others in a community how to fight against the devil. Thus they are well trained in the ranks of their brothers and sisters before they have the confidence to do without that support and venture into single combat in the desert relying only on their own arms and the help of God in their battle against the evil temptations of body and mind.” Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 1
