If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
In time of desolation one should never make a change, but stand firm and consistent in the resolutions and decisions that guided one the days before the desolation, or to the decision which one observed in the preceding time of consolation. For just as the good spirit guides and rejoices us in consolation, so in desolation it is the evil spirit which guides and counsels.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
A rough and unshapen log has no idea that it can be made into a statue that will be considered a masterpiece, but the carver sees what can be done with it. So many seem to know scarcely anything of the Christian life and do not understand that God can mould them into saints, until they put themselves into the hands of that almighty Artisan.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
Open your ears to the voices of nature, and you will hear them in concert inviting you to the love of God.
— Blessed Louis de Granada (1505-1588)
One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.
–Saint Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
There are two kinds of people that keep silence; the one because they have nothing to say, the other because they have too much.
–Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717)
