Reading the Holy Gospel nourishes in us the habit of prayer, builds up our faith, and disposes us to trust in the Lord rather than in ourselves… We must believe, then, in order to pray; and we must ask God that the faith enabling us to pray may not fail. Faith gives rise to prayer, and this prayer obtains an increase of faith.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
When you have to listen to abuse, that means you are being buffeted by the wind. When your anger is roused, you are being tossed by the waves. So when the winds blow and the waves mount high, the boat is in danger, your heart is imperiled, your heart is taking a battering. On hearing yourself insulted, you long to retaliate; but the joy of revenge brings with it another kind of misfortune-shipwreck. Why is this? Because Christ is asleep in you. What do I mean? I mean you have forgotten his presence. Rouse him, then; remember him, let him keep watch within you, pay heed to him…. A temptation arises: it is the wind. It disturbs you: it is the surging of the sea. This is the moment to awaken Christ and let him remind you of those words: “Who can this be? Even the winds and the sea obey him.”
–Saint Augustine (354-430
However severe God’s guidance may seem to us at times, it’s always the guidance of a Father who is infinitely good, wise, and kind. He leads us to our goal by different paths. And after all . . . let’s be honest —isn’t it true that we tend to spoil the work of grace in us? So it’s to our advantage to experience the withdrawal of grace and abandonment by God. Then we must act as little children do in the dark — clasp the hand of father or mother, and go where we are led.
–Saint Julie Billiart (1751-1816)
It is a good thing to use the tongue sparingly, and to keep a calm and rightly balanced heart in the use of speech. For it is not right to say things that are foolish and absurd, or to utter all that occurs to the mind. We ought instead to know and reflect that, though we are far separated from heaven, God hears what we say, and that it is good for us to speak without offense.
–Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus ( c. 213– c. 270)
Beginners in the service of God sometimes lose confidence when they fall into any fault. When you feel so unworthy a sentiment rising within you, you must lift your heart to God and consider that all your faults, compared with divine goodness, are less than a bit of tattered thread thrown into a sea of fire… So, when you have committed a fault, humble yourself before God, and cast your fault into the infinite ocean of, charity, and at once it will be effaced from your soul; at the same time all distrust will disappear.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
I do not understand how it is possible not to trust in Him who can do all things. With Him, everything; without Him, nothing. He is Lord. He will not allow those who have placed all their trust in Him to be put to shame.
–Saint Faustina (1905-1938)
