Patristic Quote of the Day

The earth of human nature was already cursed in the first liar. Only in the birth from the Blessed Virgin did it produce a blessed shoot, an exception to the vice of its roots. Its spiritual origin is acquired by anyone who is regenerated. And for every man who is born again, the water of baptism is like the virginal womb. The same Spirit that filled the Virgin now fills the baptismal font; hence, that sin, which was once removed by a holy conception, is now taken away by a mystic ablution. - St. Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, Sermo 24, 3