Our Lord never asks sacrifices from us beyond our strength. At times, it is true this Divine Savior makes us feel all the bitterness of the chalice that He is offering our soul. When He asks the sacrifice of all that is precious in this world, it is impossible, without a very special grace, not to cry out like Him in the garden of agony… It is very consoling to think that Jesus, the Strong God, knew our weaknesses.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
No doubt, it is a grace to receive the sacraments. When God does not permit it, it is good too! Everything is grace! When I shall have arrived at port, I will teach you how to travel…on the stormy sea of the world: with surrender and the love of a child who knows his Father loves him and cannot leave him alone in the hour of danger…The way of simple love and confidence is really made for you.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
The past is not what it was.
–GK Chesterton (1874-1936)
You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.
–GK Chesterton (1874-1936)
The Eight Benefits of Frequent Confession
(1) genuine self-knowledge is increased
(2) Christian humility grows
(3) bad habits are corrected
(4) spiritual neglect and tepidity (lukewarmness) are resisted
(5) the conscience is purified
(6) the will strengthened
(7) a salutary self-control is attained
(8) and grace is increased in virtue of the Sacrament itself.
–Pope Pius XII (1876-1958)
Life is a precious and unique gift, and we squander it foolishly and carelessly, forgetful of its brevity. Either we look back with yearning on the past or else we live in the expectation of a future in which, it seems to us, life will really begin: whereas the present – that is, our life as it actually is – is wasted in these fruitless dreams and regrets.
–Alexander Elchaninov (1881-1934)
