Only one who fears God is rich, says St. Ephrem the Syrian. All earthly riches are really poverty, because they lead us away from our true riches. No one in creation is rich but one who fears God; no one is truly poor but one who lacks the truth. How needy and not rich is the one whose need witnesses against him that even from the abject and the beggars he needs to receive a gift! He is truly a... Read more
Writing to a monk, St. Basil praises continence. It isn’t just the celibacy practiced by monks, he says: continence is a way of life for everyone, and it leads us to God. The fruit of continence is the companionship of God. For not to be corrupted is to have part with God; just as to be corrupted is the companionship of the world. Continence is denial of the body, and confession to God. It withdraws from anything mortal, like a... Read more
Following the doctrine of St. Paul, St. Athanasius tells us that marriage and consecrated virginity both have a place in God’s plan. Those who marry bear fruit for God, and they will receive great rewards. But virginity bears even greater fruit and brings even greater rewards. There are two ways in life. The first is more moderate and ordinary—I mean marriage. The second is angelic and unsurpassed—namely virginity. Now if someone chooses the way of the world, namely marriage, he... Read more
Review by Julie Abell One thing I have learned over my life is that thinking that I am the only person I know experiencing such and such emotions is false. Loneliness, for example, is something I have felt at parties and on camping trips accompanying family friends. Early on I would have myself a pity party, but as always, when I finally confided in a friend or just listened to a friend having her own pity-party I discovered that I... Read more
Barbarian invaders had violated many consecrated virgins in Rome. Was their chastity destroyed? No, says St. Augustine: the purity of the body depends on the purity of the soul, not on the violence of the unpredictable outside world. The sanctity of the body does not depend on the integrity of its members, or on their being untouched. After all, they are subject to various accidents that hurt them and wound them, and the surgeons who bring relief often perform operations... Read more
If you keep your gaze trained on things that are above, says St. Gregory the Great, you’ll be able to walk the right path through your life here on earth. Lift your faithful hearts, dear friends, to the gracious blaze of eternal light, and pay close attention, in adoration of the mysteries given for our salvation, to the things that have been done for you. Love the purity of a chaste life, because Christ is the Son of a virgin.... Read more
Fr. Charles P. Connor, S.T.L., Ph.D., is a professor of systemic theology and Church history at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He has co-produced dozens of series for EWTN and is actively engaged in preaching retreats for priests and laity throughout the United States. A priest of the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, he served in diocesan parishes for eighteen years, including as rector of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton. Fr. Connor holds a number of degrees from the... Read more
St. John Chrysostom tells Christian husbands that they need to treat their wives with the respect they deserve. In a Christian marriage, a husband is as responsible to the wife as the wife is to the husband. If your wife is always going out in public assemblies, you’re severe in blaming her. But you spend whole days at public shows, and you don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. When it comes to your wife’s modesty, you’re so strict that... Read more
Roman law severely punished women for adultery, but figured boys will be boys. Asterius of Amasea, however, tells us that God has no double standard. The laws of marriage apply exactly equally to husband and wife. Let both parties to the marriage contract practice self-control in the unbroken bond of wedlock. For where the honor of marriage is maintained, there must necessarily be affection and peace, with no vulgar and unlawful desire to excite the soul and expel legitimate and... Read more
So you think your spouse is impossible. Well, that may be true, says Asterius of Amasea. But everyone’s human, and you’re not so easy to get along with, either. “My wife’s disposition,” he says, “is mean and hateful, and her tongue is violent, and her tastes are not domestic, and her house is ill-managed.” So be it. Granted. I am persuaded so far, and accept it, like the judges who are not very critical in hearing, but are readily carried... Read more
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