Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Quote from Pope Leo the Great

Today is Ash Wednesday. For Lent, I will endeavour to read the Church Fathers every single day, so you might expect some excerpts of what I've read on this blog.

Today I read Sermon 49 of Pope Leo the Great:

It is equally dangerous not to have what we want at all, and to have it in the fullest measure. There is a trap in the fullness of riches, a trap in the straits of poverty. The one lifts us up in pride, the other incites us to complaint. Health tries us, sickness tries us, so long as the one fosters carelessness and the other sadness. There is a snare in security, a snare in fear; and it matters not whether the mind which is given over to earthly thoughts, is taken up with pleasures or with cares; for it is equally unhealthy to languish under empty delights, or to labour under racking anxiety.