Baptism of Christ…

Today let us do honor to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received – though not in its fullness – a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
–Saint Gregory Nazianzen (329-c. 391)

Let us visit Christ…

Let us visit Christ wherever we may be. Let us care for him, feed him, clothe him, welcome him, honor him – not only at a meal, as some have done, or by anointing him, as Mary did, not only by lending him a tomb, like Joseph of Arimathea did, or by arranging for his burial, like Nicodemus, not only by giving him gold, frankincense and myrrh, like the Magi did before all the others. The Lord of all asks for mercy and sacrifice, and mercy is greater… Let us then show him mercy in the persons of the poor and those who today are lying on the ground, so that when we come to leave this world, we may be received into an everlasting dwelling place, by Christ our Lord. Amen
–Saint Gregory Nazianzen (329-c. 391)