Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

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Writings of the Church Fathers

Ignatius of Antioch

“No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.” Born aroud… Read More ›

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Faith makes Christians and God works miracles

Possibly a contentious unbeliever will maintain that we worshiping images in our churches are convicted of praying to lifeless idols. Far be it from us to do this. Faith makes Christians, and God, who cannot deceive, works miracles. We do not rest contented with mere colouring. With the material picture before our eyes we see… Read More ›

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There is no injustice in God

Why does God make certain men sheep and not others, since there is no partiality in him? This is the question which certain people pose with more curiosity than mental capacity, and the blessed Apostle answers, Who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Does the clay pot say to its maker: Why… Read More ›

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Late have I loved you . . .

O Eternal truth, true love and beloved eternity. You are my God. To you do I sigh day and night. When I first came to know you, you drew me to yourself so that I might see that there were things for me to see, but that I myself was not yet ready to see… Read More ›

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Return to your heart and hold fast to Him

If physical things please you, then praise God for them, but turn back your love to Him who created them, lest in the things that please you, you displease Him. If souls please you, love them in God; for in themselves they are changeable, but in Him they are firmly established. Without Him they pass… Read More ›

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Learning from St. Bernard

St. Bernard of Clairvaux towers above most other monastic figures in the West – his words form a beautiful and timeless foundation for much of Western monasticism since, and in his day, he was the greatest of saints.  Considered the last of the Fathers of the Church, St. Bernard left an unparalleled legacy behind him. So… Read More ›

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Prudence in Speech

The tongue should be prudently restrained, but not completely tied up. It is written: Whoever is wise will keep silence until the right moment. In other words, when it is seen that speech would be opportune the censorship of silence is relaxed, and an effort made to speak some appropriate word. Elsewhere it is written:… Read More ›

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The Savior works mightily every day

31. “We are agreed that a dead person can do nothing: yet the Savior works mightily every day, drawing men to religion, persuading them to virtue, teaching them about immortality, quickening their thirst for heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring strength in face of death, manifesting Himself to each, and displacing the… Read More ›

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The beginning of the future age

As, then, Jonah spent three days and as many nights in the whale’s belly, and was delivered up sound again, so shall we all, who have passed through the three stages of our present life on earth — I mean the beginning, the middle, and the end, of which all this present time consists —… Read More ›

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Contemplation of how God is understood from Creation

So therefore when the Saints behold the creation, and its fine order and proportion and the need that each part has of the whole, and how all the perfect parts have been fashioned wisely and with providence in accordance with reason that fashioned them, and how what has come to be is found to be… Read More ›

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