If a box is filled with salt, it cannot be filled with sand, and if our hearts are filled with hatred of our neighbor, how can God fill them with His love? We must forgive others, for on no other condition will our own sins be forgiven. It is as simple as that. There can be and there will be no mercy toward us unless we ourselves are merciful.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
The real test of the Christian then is not how much he loves his friends, but how much he loves his enemies.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
What is necessary is to continue to love. How does a lamp burn, if it is not by the continuous feeding of little drops of oil? When there is no oil, there is no light and the bridegroom will say: “I do not know you.” Dear friends, what are our drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things from every day life: the joy, the generosity, the little good things, the humility and the patience. A simple thought for someone else. Our way to be silent, to listen, to forgive, to speak and to act. That are the real drops of oil that make our lamps burn vividly our whole life.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
You ask then how I knew He was present, when His ways can in no way be traced? He is life and power, and as soon as He enters in, He awakens my slumbering soul; He stirs and soothes and pierces my heart, for before it was hard as stone, and diseased.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
Blessed is the one who takes no more pride in the good that God says and does through him than in that which He says and does through someone else.
–Saint Francis of Assisi (1181–1226)
While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
–Saint Francis of Assisi (1181–1226)
