"purity of life is part of religion"

"Religious virtue is divided into two parts, into that which pertains to the Divine and that which pertains to right conduct (for purity of life is part of religion)."

Διχῆ δὲ τῆς κατ' εὐσέβειαν ἀρετῆς διῃρεμένης, εἴς τε τὸ θεῖον καὶ τὴν εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἤθους κατόρθωσιν (μέρος γὰρ εὐσεβείας καὶ ἡ τοῦ βίου καθαρότης ἐστί), . . .

     Gregory of Nyssa, The life of Moses 2.166, trans. Everett Ferguson and Abraham J. Malherbe (Gregory of Nyssa:  The life of Moses, Classics of Western spirituality (New York; Mahwah, NJ:  Paulist Press, 1978), 96).  The footnote at this point reads, "This fact was not commonly recognized by the Greeks of the pre-Christian centuries.  See A. D. Nock, Conversion (Oxford, 1933), pp. 215 ff." (179n206).  Greek from the 3rd rev. & corr. (1968) ed. of SC 1, 212, 214.  Cf. GNO 7.1, p. 88 ll. 5-7.

"Before those who stood by | thou wast my helper and didst deliver me"

ἔναντι τῶν παρεστηκότων ἐγένου βοηθὸς καὶ ἐλυτρώσω με

     Sir 51:2 RSV.  Or "in the presence of those who stood by".  51:2-3 NETS:  "against those who stand by | you have been a help, and you have redeemed me".

The sacraments as an education in the use of things temporal

Source

"Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, benefitting from participation in heavenly things, we may be helped by what you give in this present age and prepared for the gifts that are eternal.  Through."

"Fac nos, quaesumus, Domine, caelestium rerum frequentatione proficere, ut et temporalibus beneficis adiuvemur, et erudiamur aeternis.  Per."

Cause us, we pray, O Lord, [so] to profit from the frequentation of things celestial, that we may be both helped by benefits temporal, and educated in [benefits] eternal.  Through.

     Prayer after Communion, Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Roman Missal. 

Grace both prevenient and sequent

May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works.  Through.

     Collect for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Roman Missal.  According to Bruylants (Corpus orationum seems to have overlooked it), this one is present already in Paris, B. N. lat. 12048 (8th century, at 244.2) and others.

Tua nos, quaesumus, Domine, gratia semper et praeveniat et sequatur, ac bonis operibus iugiter praestet esse intentos.  Per.

My rendition:

May your grace, O Lord, we pray, always both precede and follow us, and keep [us] constantly intent upon good works.

The execrable translation of 1973, according to Fr. Z:

Lord, our help and guide, make your love the foundation of our lives. May our love for you express itself in our eagerness to do good for others.

A voluntary subjection

      "What is being referred to is that subjection about which the divine apostle spoke, when the Son subjects to the Father those who freely accept subjection [1 Cor 15:28].  This subjection will be voluntary, and through it the last enemy, death, will be destroyed.  That which is in our power, our free will, through which the power of corruption entered into us, will surrender voluntarily to God and will have mastery of itself because it had been taught to refrain from willing anything other than what God wills. . . .
     "Do not be disturbed by what I have said.  I have no intention of denying free will.  Rather I am speaking of a firm and steadfast disposition, a willing surrender [(θέσιν . . . τὴν κατὰ φύσιν παγίαν τε καὶ ἀμετάθετον, ἤγουν ἐκχώρησιν γνωμικὴν)], so that from the one from who we have received being [(τὸ εἶναι)] we long to receive being moved [(τὸ κινεῖσθαι)] as well."

     St. Maximus the Confessor, Ambiguum 7, trans. Blowers & Wilken (On the cosmic mystery of Jesus Christ:  selected writings from St Maximus the Confessor, trans. Paul M. Blowers and Robert Louis Wilkin, Popular patristics series 25 (Crestwood, NY:  St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003), 51-52).  Greek from PG 91, col. 1076B.

"Time, in which we have found nothing to offer up to God, is lost for eternity"

      "Every offering has value only insofar as one snatches it away from one's own benefit and dedicates it to God through this self-conquest. One loves and gives precisely because one loves, and because one considers what is given as a good, as a treasure. Love of creatures must be subordinated to the love of God, whom one is pledged to love above all things.
     "Time, in which we have found nothing to offer up to God, is lost for eternity. If it is only the duties of our vocation that we fulfill with dedication to the will of God; if it is the sweat of our faces that, in resignation, we wipe from our brow without murmuring; if it is suffering, temptations, difficulties with our fellowmen—everything we can present to God as an offering and can, through them, become like Jesus his Son. Where the sacrifice is great and manifold, there, in the same proportion, is the hope of glory more deeply and more securely grounded in the heart of him who makes it."

     St. Francis Xavier Seelos (1819-1867), Letter, as translated for the Liturgy of the hours, 5 October, Archives of the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province, (variously (?) translated and) published now, presumably, in Sincerely, Seelos:  the collected letters of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, ed., trans., and introduced Carl Hoegerl, C.Ss.R. (New Orleans:  Seelos Center, 2008).

Aquinas in the first person

"Therefore, with trust in divine mercy, pursuing the task of a wise man, although this surpasses our own powers, our intention is to clarify, in our own small way, the truth which the Catholic faith professes, eliminating contrary errors.  [At this point St. Thomas speaks, as he very rarely does, in the first person:]  I do this so that I may make my own the words of Hilary:  I am mindful that I owe this to God as the greatest task of my life, that my every word and thought may speak of him."

"Assumpta igitur ex divina pietate fiducia sapientis officium prosequendi, quamvis proprias vires excedat, propositum nostrae intentionis est veritatem quam fides Catholica profitetur, pro nostro modulo manifestare, errores eliminando contrarios: ut enim verbis Hilarii utar, ego hoc vel praecipuum vitae meae officium debere me Deo conscius sum, ut eum omnis sermo meus et sensus loquatur."

     St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles I.2[.2], as translated Fr. Simon Francis Gaine, O.P., "Introduction to the life and work of St. Thomas Aquinas," Angelicum Thomistic Institute 2022 Student Summer Seminar "Aquinas, Philosophy, & Contemporary Science," 3-6 July 2022, at c. 22:13.  The Latin from here, where the Shapcote (FEDP) translation (with my emendations) appears: 

"Therefore, assuming the office of the wise man with confidence from God’s loving kindness, although it surpasses our own powers, the purpose we have in view is, in our own weak way, to declare the truth which the Catholic faith professes, while weeding out contrary errors; for, in the words of Hilary [(for, in order that I might make my own the words of Hilary)], I acknowledge that I owe my life’s chief occupation to God [(I am conscious of this, that I owe the chief office of my life to God)], so that every word and every thought of mine may speak of him [(On the Trinity 1, 37 =PL 10, col. 48)]."

Trans. Pegis:

"And so, in the name of the divine Mercy, I have the confidence to embark upon the work of a wise man, even though this may surpass my powers, and I have set myself the task of making known, as far as my limited powers will allow, the truth that the Catholic faith professes, and of setting aside the errors that are opposed to it.  To use the words of Hilary:  'I am aware that I owe this to God as the chief duty of my life, that my every word and sense may speak of Him.'"