Detachment, Page: Quotes, Spiritual (life)
Christ died for love of us: let us suffer for love of Him. He carried His cross: let us help Him to bear it. He was dishonored, therefore renounce honor: He suffered torments, let them come to me. He lived [lacking] many necessities, let me go destitute. Jesus made Himself a stranger for me, let me have nothing in which my heart can rest. He died for me; may my life be a continual death for the love of Him. Therefore, care less for temporal things and attend instead to those which are more important. Withdraw your heart from the world before God takes your body from it: keep your mind in perfect peace however much it is occupied in business.
–Saint John of Avila (1500 – 1569)
Grace, Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Spiritual (life)
Those who imagine they can attain to holiness by any wisdom or strength of their own will find themselves after many labors, and struggles, and weary efforts, only the farther from possessing it, and this in proportion to their certainty that they of themselves have gained it.
–Saint John of Avila (1500-1569)
Detachment, John of the Cross (1542-1591), Page: Quotes, Quote Author, Quote Topic
The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Grace, Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Sainthood
God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.
–Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Evangelization, Page: Quotes, Quote Topic
Blessed the one who has become a good spiritual net and caught many for the good Lord, such a one will greatly praised by the Lord.
–Saint Ephrem of Syria (c. 306-373)
Creation, Gregory Nazianzen (329-c. 391), Love, Page: Quotes, Quote Author, Quote Topic
Let us put into practice the supreme and primary law of God. He sends down rain on just and sinful alike, and causes the sun to rise on all without distinction. To all earth’s creatures he has given the broad earth, the springs, the rivers and the forests. He has given the air to the birds, and the waters to those who live in the water. He has given abundantly to all the basic needs of life, not as a private possession, not restricted by law, not divided by boundaries, but as common to all, amply and in rich measure. His gifts are not deficient in any way, because he wanted to give equality of blessing to equality of worth, and to show the abundance of his generosity.
–Saint Gregory Nazianzen (329-c. 391)
