Sed non una est causa certaminis...

From Pope Saint Leo the Great's 9th homily for Lent, the 6th lesson at Matins for Passion Sunday. 

Sicut ergo totíus est corporis pie vívere, ita totíus est témporis crucem ferre: quæ mérito ferri unicuíque suadétur, quia propriis modis atque mensuris ab unoquóque tolerátur. Unum nomen est persecutiónis, sed non una est causa certáminis: et plus plerumque periculi est in insidiatore occulto, quam in hoste manifesto.

As it is the duty of the whole body of the Church to live godly, so is it at all times her lot to bear the Cross, her lot and each individual's, who differ every one from another in the way in which they have to carry it, and the shape in which it is laid upon them. One example of this is persecution, but there is no one way in which the Cross is borne; there is often more danger in the ambush than in the pitched field of battle.




LDVM


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