What is suitable…
His Majesty knows best what is suitable for us; it is not for us to advise him what to give us, for He can rightly reply that we know not what we ask.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Your cross a gift…
The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart. He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
However small the sins…
However small the sins that you may confess may be, always have sincere sorrow for them, together with a firm resolution to correct them in the future. Many who confess their venial sins out of custom and concern for order, but without thought of amendment, remain burdened with them for their whole lives and thus lose many spiritual benefits and advantages.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Language should be…
Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say everything that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. You must become accustomed never to tell a deliberate lie whether to excuse yourself or for some other purposes, remembering always that God is the ‘God of truth.’
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
The heart rather than words…
To mutter something with the lips is not praying if one’s heart is not joined to it. To speak it is necessary first to have conceived interiorly what we wish to say. There is first the interior word, and then the spoken word, which causes what the interior has first pronounced to be understood. Prayer is nothing other than speaking to God. Now it is certain that to speak to God without being attentive to Him and to what we say to Him is something that is most displeasing to Him…God tests more the heart of the one who prays rather than the words pronounced by one who prays.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Each day is unique..,
Each day is unique. There are cloudy days and sunny; wet days and dry; windy days and calm. The seasons roll by as day turns into night and night into day. This variety makes beauty. It’s the same way with your life. There are ups and downs; no two days, no two hours, are ever exactly alike.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
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