Winter White

'The Virgin Mother, all pure and all white, will make her servants pure and white.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'We give our youth to the devil, and the remains of our life to the Good God, who is so good that He deigns to be content with even that. . . but, happily, everyone does not do so. A great lady has been here, of one of the first families in France; she went away this morning. She is scarcely three-and-twenty, and she is rich-very rich indeed. . . She has offered herself in sacrifice to the good God for the expiation of sins, and for the conversion of sinners. She wears a girdle all armed with iron points; she mortifies herself in a thousand ways; and her parents know nothing of it. She is white as a sheet of paper. Hers is a beautiful soul, very pleasing to the good God, such as are still to be found now and then in the world, and they prevent the world from coming to an end.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

'Turn to Me, says the Lord of Hosts and I will turn to you. Why do you wish to perish? (mark how tenderly the Lord speaks.) And why will you die, O house of Israel? Why will you fling yourselves into that burning furnace? Return and live. Return to me, I await you with open arms, ready to receive and pardon you. Doubt not of this, O sinner, continues the Lord. Learn to do well. . . And then come and accuse Me, says the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow. Take courage, says the Lord, change your life, come to me, and if I do not pardon you, accuse me. As if he were to say, Accuse me of lying and bad faith; but, no, I shall not be unfaithful: your conscience now so black, shall by my grace become as white as snow. No; I will not chastise you if you reform, says the Lord, because I am God, not man. I will not execute the fierceness of My wrath, . . . because I am God, and not man. He says besides, that men never forget an injury, but that when he sees a sinner repentant he forgets all his offences. I will not remember all his iniquities that he has done. Let us then at once return to God, but let it be at once. We have offended him enough already, let us not tempt his anger any further. Behold him, he calls us, and is ready to pardon us if we repent of our evil deeds, and promise him to change our lives.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was Ancient of Days took His seat; His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was like fiery flames, its wheels were like a burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.'

Daniel 7:9-10

'And God is called the One who sits and who is the Ancient of days, in order that His character as eternal Judge might be indicated. . His garment is shining white like the snow, and the hair of His head is like pure wool. The Savior also, when He was transfigured on the mount and assumed the glory of His divine majesty, appeared in shining white garments. And as for the fact that His hair is compared to perfectly pure wool, the even-handedness and uprightness of His judgment is shown forth, a judgment which shows no partiality in its exercise. Moreover He is described as an elderly man, in order that the ripeness of His judgment may be established. His throne consists of fiery flames, in order that sinners may tremble before the severity of the torments [of hell], and also that the just may be saved, but so as by fire.'

St. Jerome

'Brethren and fathers, since we have been counted worthy to celebrate the forefeast of the divine Transfiguration, from this then let us compose an instruction, discharging our duty in a few words. On the one hand, all the feasts of the Lord expound the mysteries of his sojourn in the flesh, such as that he was born, that he was baptized, that he was crucified, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, that he was taken up in glory; while the mystery of the Transfiguration hints at the restoration in the age to come. For in the same way that "his face blazed like the sun, while his garments became white as light" [Matt. 17,2], in the same way he will come from heaven like lightning, with power and great glory to judge the universe. And as Peter, James and John were with him on the holy mountain, so the elect will be with him in the kingdom of heaven, enjoying his ineffable manifestation as God and inexpressible joy. And who is adequate for all this? Who is worthy to attain that joy? Who else but one whose way of life is pure and undefiled?'

St. Theodore the Studite

'I had a banner of which the field was sprinkled with lilies; the world was painted there, with an angel at each side; it was white, of the white cloth called 'boccassin'; there was written above, I believe, 'Jhesus Maria'; it was fringed with silk.'

St. Joan of Arc

'Jesus was obedient even to the death of the Cross, therefore I wish to obey even to my last sigh, so as to pay homage to the obedience of Jesus in the Sacred Host; and the whiteness of the Host teaches me that I must be a pure victim, in order to be sacrificed to Him.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

'For since our God is pure, or rather the highest light, he comes to the pure, and as he has placed a pure soul in us, he will also ask it from us pure. For since it has been made according to God's image and likeness, that is to say as a figure1 of the divine beauty, it has also shared in that beauty. And knowing this the poet speaks thus, "Lord, by your will you granted power to my beauty" [Psalm 29,8], that is to say to the beauty of the soul, lest, having turned away towards the ugly passions of sin and become disfigured, it fall from God and his divine rewards. Since therefore it is agreed that our soul should be like this, lovely and beautiful, and that we should give it back to God like a pledge on the last day, the day of resurrection, I beg and urge that we love this beauty and carefully guard this loveliness, not turning back to the fair things of the present age or to the beauties of flesh and blood. They are not beauties, but idols of beauty; they are rather corruption and change. And this we can learn from the end of things, for one who today is outstandingly beautiful and fair of face is tomorrow cast into a tomb, stinking and abhorrent. So there is nothing fair and loveable but exemplary virtue, which should be our chief pursuit, my brothers. But if admittedly it frequently happens that the soul grows slack and is defiled by unseemly thoughts -- for who will boast that they have a pure heart? -- let it be quickly made clean again and brought back to its former condition, lest by delaying in evil it gives birth to death. And let no one ever say that they cannot be made clean again, stained as they are by many sins, when they listen to the One who said, "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Though they are like crimson, I will make them white as wool" [Isaias 1,18]. Do you see God's ineffable love for humankind? Not only has he promised to purify, but to bring the one who repents to the pinnacle of loveliness.'

St. Theodore the Studite

'The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, "As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;" adding, moreover, this gracious declaration "Repent O house of Israel, of your iniquity. Say to the children of My people, though your sins reach from earth to heaven, I and though they be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sackcloth, if you turn to Me with your whole heart, and say, Father! I will listen to you, as to a holy people." And in another place He speaks thus: "Wash you, and become clean; put away the wickedness of your souls from before mine eyes; cease from your evil ways, and learn to do well; seek out judgment, deliver the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and see that justice is done to the widow; and come, and let us reason together. He declares, Though your sins be like crimson, I will make them white as snow; though they be like scarlet, I will whiten them like wool. And if you be willing and obey Me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse, and will not hearken unto Me, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things."'

Pope St. Clement I of Rome, 'Epistle to the Corinthians'