Quotes for Ash Wednesday: Ashes and Crosses

'The multitude who know nothing of continence live for the body, not for the spirit. But the body without spirit is "earth and ashes."'

St. Clement of Alexandria

'He who has not yet attained divine knowledge energized by love is proud of his spiritual progress. But he who has been granted such knowledge repeats with deep conviction the words uttered by the patriarch Abraham when he was granted the manifestation of God: "I am dust and ashes" (Gen. 18:27).'

St. Maximos the Confessor

'Love speaks little. The language of divine love is a burning heart; no words can express its ardors; they make of the loving soul a victim of love, a holocaust, consumed and reduced to ashes in the divine fire of charity.'

St. Paul of the Cross

'What hast thou to boast of, O dust and ashes, since of thyself thou art nought but nothingness and misery; thou shouldst never lose sight thereof and shouldst ever remain buried in this abyss of thy nothingness. Lest the greatness of My gifts lead thee to forget what thou art, behold I will set before thee this portrait of thyself.'

The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

'Lose thyself in My immensity and see that thou never depart therefrom. For shouldst thou do so, thou wilt never again obtain admittance.'

The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

'I have yet a rough and heavy cross to place upon thy weak shoulders; but I am powerful enough to sustain it; fear nothing, and let Me do with thee and in thee whatsoever I will.'

The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque