Quotes from Peter Damian

He pours light into our minds, arouses our desire and gives us strength... As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit is the life of our souls.

We hold our tongues in check because if they are undisciplined they empty the soul of the strength of heavenly grace, and weaken its healthful vigour.

Do not be depressed. Do not let your weakness make you impatient. Instead, let the serenity of your spirit shine through your face. Let the joy of your mind burst forth.

Nobody can fight properly and boldly for the faith if he clings to a fear of being stripped of earthly possessions.

There is particularly bitter irony for the modern reader in Damian's citation of traditional laws that rigorously punish child sex abusers, sending them to monastic prisons for the rest of their lives for a single offense. In the Book of Gomorrah we hear the voice of a prophet speaking to us over the span of centuries, reminding us of vital truths we have abandoned, and calling us to repentance.

If anyone dares to condemn or assail our decree of apostolic sanction, he should know that he is in danger of losing his own grade of order. For he who does not attack a vice, but rather coddles it, is justly judged guilty of the death together with those who die by that vice.

Far may it be from my lord, that while a tyrant is restrained by fear after cutting down only two or three men, the sword of him who is the master of all Christian mercy should run riot for the slaughter of so many souls.

Receive the Body and Blood of Christ very frequently. The sight of a Christian's lips red with the Blood of Christ terrifies the enemy. He immediately recognizes the sign of his own ruin. He cannot stand the instrument of divine victory by which he was taken captive and cast down.

I have placed the keys of the whole universal Church in your hands, and over that which I have redeemed by the spilling of my own blood, I placed you as my vicar.… I, however, who have given you such and so many things, do not find law or justice in your balance, and I depart from your tribunals despised and unavenged.41