Within marriage the careful, painstaking, selfless cultivation of friendship with one's spouse is not only the most joyful and rewarding of endeavors but also the most practical of occupations --- "practical" that is, if what one envisions in one's life as the most desirable thing is not career success or money or fame or comfort or reputation, but joy in love resulting from great length of days spent in the company of one's beloved. ~Brother Simeon

"The comfort zone is the danger zone." ~Daniel Henderson

"It is bad to be ignorant, but someone who is ignorant of the courses of the planets can yet be wise in the ways of men. Stupidity is different. Stupidity, I believe, takes real work. Nature provides each of us with a certain measure of dullness and sluggishness of mind; it is only by means of persistence and, for some, hard study that one can deepen that dullness into stupidity." ~Anthony Esolen

“Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it.” ~Blessed Pope John Paul II

BLESSED FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS!

“In truth, in very truth, the presence of Francis, our brother and our father, was light, not only to us who were close to him but also to those who were more removed from us in calling and in life. He was as light sent forth from the True Light, to enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; that he might guide their feet into the way of peace. He did this even as the True Daystar from on high enlightened his heart and inflamed his will with the fire of His love. When he preached the Kingdom of God…he made ready for the Lord a new people throughout the whole world.” ~From the letter of Brother Elias announcing the death of Saint Francis of Assisi

"For not only does sound reason direct us to refuse the guidance of those who do or teach anything wrong, but it is by all means vital for the lover of truth, regardless of the threat of death, to choose to do and say what is right even before saving his own life." ~A. W. Tozer

As Caesar demands of us the stamp of his likeness, so does God also. And as we render money to the one, so we give our souls to the other,…our souls enlightened and sealed with the light of His countenance. ~The Venerable Bede

"Let us not ask of the Lord deceitful riches, nor the good things of this world, nor transitory honors; but let us ask for light." ~Gregory Nazianzen