“Thou art Wisdom itself.
Thou, the Food of the Angels, hast given Thyself in a fire of love to men; warm us, feed us with Thy sweetness, famished as we are. For Thou art all love, all sweet, without any bitterness. Clothe me, O Eternal Trinity, clothe me with Thyself, so that I may run my mortal course with true obedience and the light of holy Faith, with which light Thou hast inebriated my soul.”

Sainte CATHERINE OF SIENNA (1347 – 1380)
Dominican Tertiary and mystic

“Teaching is no joke, sonny! I’m not talking of those who get out of it with a lot of eyewash: you will knock up against plenty of them in the course of your life, and get to know them. Comforting truths, they call them! Truth is meant to save you first, and the comfort comes afterwards. Besides, you have no right to call that sort of thing comfort. Might as well talk about condolences! The Word of God is a red-hot iron. And you who preach it would like to pick it up with a pair of tongs, for fear of burning yourself, you don’t dare get hold of it with both hands. It’s too funny! Why, the priest who descends from the pulpit of Truth, with a mouth like a hen’s vent, a little hot, but pleased with himself, he’s not been preaching: at best he’s been purring like a tabby-cat. Mind you, that can happen to us all, we’re all half asleep, it’s the devil to wake us up, sometimes – the apostles slept all right at Gethsemane. Still, there’s a difference… and mind you, many a fellow who waves his arms and sweats like a furniture-mover isn’t necessarily any more awakened than the rest. On the contrary, I simply mean that when God happens to draw a word from me that is useful to souls, I know that it is so, by the pain that it brings me.”

Georges BERNANOS (1888 – 1948)
Writer