Blessed Elijah typified our Lord and Savior. Just as Elijah suffered persecution by the Jews, so our Lord, the true Elijah, was condemned and despised by the Jews. Elijah left his own people, and Christ deserted the synagogue; Elijah departed into the wilderness, and Christ came into the world. Elijah was fed in the desert by ministering ravens, while…

What is so finite and limited as a fulfilling [of the law]? Therefore, whatever you do, do it for the love of Christ, and let the intention or end of all your actions look to him. Do nothing for the sake of human praise, but everything for love of God and the desire for eternal life. Then you will see the end of all perfection, and when you have reached…

When Isaac himself carried the wood for the sacrifice of himself, in this, too, he prefigured Christ our Lord, who carried his own cross to the place of his passion. Of this mystery much had already been foretold by the prophets: "And his government shall be upon his shoulders." Christ, then, had the government upon his shoulders when he carried his cross…

We read in sacred Scripture, dearly beloved, that holy counsel should keep those who are solicitous for their soul's salvation, as the divine Word puts it: "Holy counsel shall keep you." If holy counsel keeps a soul, that which is unholy not only fails to keep it but even kills it. Perhaps someone says, Who can always be thinking of God and eternal bliss,…

Jesus received his body, that is, the church, and he filled her with the fire of the Holy Spirit in order that the will of the Father might be fulfilled. "And there were voices and thunder and lightning and earthquakes." All of these things are the spiritual proclamations and virtues of the church.

The devil, as well as every unclean spirit along with their leader, were expelled from the hearts of the saints to the earth, that is, to persons who are wise only in earthly things and have their entire hope in earthly things.

For this reason it ought to be clear to your minds that the fig tree was an image of the law, just as it is certain that the cluster of grapes prefigured the Savior, as the church declares in the Canticle of Canticles: "My brother is for me a cluster of henna." Christ, indeed, cannot exist without the law or the law without Christ, for we have said that…

It was not without reason, beloved brethren, nor without the signification of some mystery that there was a flame in the bush: "And the bush was not consumed." Indeed, the bush was a genus of thorns. What the earth has produced for sinful man cannot be put in any kind of praise, for it was first said to man when he sinned: "Thorns and thistles shall the…

The souls of all men and women know that they are spouses of Christ if they are willing to preserve both bodily chastity and virginity of heart. For Christ is to be understood as the spouse of their souls, not of their bodies.

I do not consider this as a material blessing, as though the man who observes God's law will obtain that common bread in abundance. Why not? Do not wicked sinners also eat bread, not only in abundance but even in luxury? Therefore let us look rather to him who says, "I am the living bread that has come down from heaven." And "he who eats this bread shall…

The wicked man is never secure but is always disturbed and wavering. He is tossed about by every wind of doctrine to deceitful error, by the craft of men. However, the just man who observes God's law dwells in security on his land, because he governs his body in fear of God and brings it into subjection. His understanding is firm when he says to God,…

If we carefully heed the fact that Christ hungers in the person of the poor, beloved, it will be profitable for us.… Listen and see, a coin and a kingdom. What comparison is there, beloved? You give the poor a coin and receive a kingdom from Christ; you bestow a mouthful and are given eternal life; you offer clothes, and Christ grants the forgiveness of…