Prayer of St. Ephrem

The Prayer of St. Ephrem is taken in the Byzantine Church during  the Liturgy of the Presanctified (Liturgy of Pope St. Gregory the Great, taken by both Catholic and Orthodox alike during this period), during all services of the Divine Office during Lent and at various other times during the day - recommended at morning, noon, evening ─ upon arising and before retiring for the night.

{Making a prostration}

O LORD, Master of my life, grant that I may not be infected with the
spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness, with the spirit of ambition and 
vain talking.

{Making a prostration}

Grant instead to me, your servant, the spirit of purity and of 
humility, the spirit of patience and neighborly love.

{Making a third prostration}

O Lord and King, grant me the grace of being aware of my sins and of 
not thinking evil of those of my brethren.

For you are blessed, now and ever, and forever.  

Amen.

LORD JESUS CHRIST, King of Kings, You have power over life
and death. You know what is secret and hidden, and neither our
thoughts nor our feelings are concealed from You. Cure me of
duplicity; I have done evil before You.

Now my life declines from day to day and my sins increase. 
O Lord, God of souls and bodies, You know the extreme frailty of
my soul and my flesh. Grant me strength in my weakness, O Lord,
and sustain me in my misery.

Give me a grateful soul that I may never cease to recall
Your benefits, O Lord most bountiful. Be not mindful of my many
sins, but forgive me all my misdeeds.

O Lord, disdain not my prayer ─ the prayer of a wretched
sinner; sustain me with Your grace until the end, that it may
protect me as in the past. It is Your grace which has taught me
wisdom; blessed are they who follow her ways, for they shall
receive the crown of glory.

In spite of my unworthiness, I praise You and I glorify You,
O Lord, for Your mercy to me is without limit. You have been my
help and my protection. May the name of Your majesty be praised
forever. To you, our God, be glory. Amen.

~St. Ephrem

(Source: EWTN)

St. Augustine: Pentecost

“THIS operation, visibly exhibited, and presented to mortal eyes, is called the sending of the Holy Spirit; not that His very substance appeared, in which He Himself also is invisible and unchangeable, like the Father and the Son, but that the hearts of men, touched by things seen outwardly, might be turned from the manifestations in time of Him as coming to His hidden eternity as ever present.”

~St. Augustine: De Trinitate, 2, 5.

The Pentecost, by El Greco.

Oil on canvas, 1596-1600; Museo del Prado, Madrid.

St. Augustine: Of Christ's Ascension into Heaven

"WE BELIEVE that He Ascended into Heaven, which place of blessedness He has likewise promised unto us, saying, They shall be as the angels in the heavens, in that city which is the mother of us all, the Jerusalem eternal in the heavens. But it is wont to give offense to certain parties, either impious Gentiles or heretics, that we should believe in the assumption of an earthly body into heaven. The Gentiles, however, for the most part, set themselves diligently to ply us with the arguments of the philosophers, to the effect of affirming that there cannot possibly be anything earthly in heaven. For they know not our Scriptures, neither do they understand how it has been said, It is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body. For thus it has not been expressed, as if body were turned into spirit and became spirit; inasmuch as at present, too, our body, which is called animal (animale), has not been turned into soul and become soul (anima). But by a spiritual body is meant one which has been made subject to spirit in such wise that it is adapted to a heavenly habitation, all frailty and every earthly blemish having been changed and converted into heavenly purity and stability. This is the change concerning which the apostle likewise speaks thus: We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed. And that this change is made not unto the worse, but unto the better, the same [apostle] teaches, when he says, And we shall be changed. But the question as to where and in what manner the Lord's body is in heaven, is one which it would be altogether over-curious and superfluous to prosecute. Only we must believe that it is in heaven. For it pertains not to our frailty to investigate the secret things of heaven, but it does pertain to our faith to hold elevated and honorable sentiments on the subject of the dignity of the Lord's body."

~St. Augustine: Of Faith and the Creed, Chap. VI. (A discourse delivered before a council of the whole North African Episcopate assembled at Hippo-Regius.)

No. 38 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 22. Ascension, 

by Giotto di Bonde. Fresco, 1304-06;
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua.

St. Augustine: The Confessions

Recommended reading:

The Confessions: Saint Augustine of Hippo (Ignatius Critical Editions). This edition is an excellent English translation as well as a superb study edition under the editorship of the eminent scholar, Joseph Pearce.  

Read about or purchase this book at:
• Amazon
• Ignatius Press

The Confessions - Study Guide,
by Joseph Pearce (Ignatius Critical Editions)
• Ignatius Press

St. Cyril of Alexandria: "Mary, Mother of God"

"HAIL, from us, Mary, Mother of God, majestic common-treasure of the whole world, the lamp unquenchable, the crown of virginity, the staff of orthodoxy, the indissoluble temple, the dwelling of the Illimitable, Mother and Virgin, through whom He in the holy Gospels is called the ‘Blessed Who cometh in the name of the Lord.’ "

 ~St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homilies, 4.

Visitation, by Domenico Ghirlandaio.

Tempera on wood, c. 1491; Musée du Louvre, Paris.

St. Augustine: "The liberal arts"

"For to men who, though they are unjust and impious, imagine that they are well educated in the liberal arts, what else ought we to say than what we read in those writings which truly merit the name of liberal,— "if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed" (Jn 8:36)? For it is through Him that men come to know, even in those studies which are termed liberal by those who have not been called to this true liberty, anything in them which deserves the name. For they have nothing which is consonant with liberty, except that which in them is consonant with truth."

~St. Augustine: excerpt from Letter 101, (To Memor; AD 409).

Pope St. Leo I: "Christ's Ascension"

“SINCE then Christ’s Ascension is our uplifting, and the hope of the body is raised, whither the glory of the Head has gone before, let us exult, dearly beloved, with worthy joy and delights in the loyal paying of thanks. For today not only are we confirmed as possessors of paradise, but have also in Christ penetrated the heights of heaven.”

~St. Leo I, ‘Sermons,’ 73:4.

Ascension of Christ, by Andrea di Vanni d'Andrea.
Tempera on wood, 1355-60; The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.