Grace demands…
For as the pen or the dart requires the hand of the user, so grace also demands believers.
–Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386)
I am not a saint…
No, I am not a Saint; I’ve never performed the actions of a Saint. I’m a very little soul upon whom God has bestowed graces; that’s what I am. What I say is the truth; you’ll see this in Heaven.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Become a saint…
I always wanted to become a saint…Instead of being discouraged, I told myself that God would not make me wish for something impossible…I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight. It is your arms, Jesus, which are the elevator to carry me to heaven. So there is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must become less and less.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Nature and grace…
God displays in a marvelous manner the incomprehensible riches of his power in the vast array of things that we see in nature, but he causes the infinite treasures of his goodness to show forth in an even more magnificent way in the unparalleled variety that we see in grace. In a holy excess of mercy, God is not content in solely with granting to his people, that is, to the human race, a general or universal redemption whereby everyone can be saved. God has diversified redemption in many ways, so that while God’s generosity shines forth in all this variety, the variety itself, in turn, adds beauty to his generosity.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Devotion practiced differently…
At creation God commanded plants to bear fruit, each according to its kind. (Genesis 1:11-12) In the same way, he commanded Christians, who are the living plants of his church (John 15:5), to produce fruits of devotion, each according to ability and state in life. It must be obvious that devotion ought to be practiced differently by the gentleman, the artist, the employee, the prince, the widow, the celibate, the spouse.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
The secrecy of your heart…
Retire into the secrecy of your own heart, and open it to receive what is wont to come from so powerful a Light. Beseech the same Lord that, as He has deigned to place Himself within your hands, He will give you the further grace to esteem and venerate and love Him as you should.
–Saint John of Avila (1500-1569)
About
