The diligent are tried, that they might add to their riches, the lax are tried, that they might guard themselves from what is harmful; the sleepy are tried, that they might be armed with wakefulness, those afar off are tried, that they might draw nearer to God; those who are God’s own are tried, that with boldness they might enter into His house.
–Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)
Why are you upset when things don’t go the way you wish? Who gets everything his way? I don’t. You don’t. No one does. Not one person on earth — not even a king or a pope — has a problem free life.
–Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
The more desperate things seem, the more must we hope in God. When man’s aid fails, God’s is close at hand.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
The whole course of Christianity from the first… is but one series of troubles and disorders. Every century is like every other, and to those who live in it seems worse than all times.
–Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
