God gives you the power to perform miracles by touching the hearts of those entrusted to your care. This is the greatest miracle you can perform and one which God expects of you. Frequently ask him for the grace to touch hearts. (Meds 180,139, 81)
–Saint John Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719)
Thus speaks the Lord and His word is holy and true. What kind of advantage do children have over adults? They have three advantages: in faith, in obedience and in forgiveness. The child asks the parent about everything and whatever the parent replies, the child believes its parent. The child is obedient to its parent and easily subordinates its will to the will of the parent. The child is forgiving even though he provokes easily, but the child forgives quickly… In addition to that, comes purity and joy. A child is not greedy; a child is not lustful; and a child is not vain glorious. The child has an eye unspoiled by vices and a joy unspoiled by worries.
— Saint Nicholas Velimirovic (1880-1956)
It is only we who brood over our sins. God does not brood over them, God dumps them at the bottom of the sea.
–Saint Benedict (480-547)
[Jesus] is the Bread sown in the virgin, leavened in the Flesh, molded in His Passion, baked in the furnace of the Sepulchre, placed in the Churches, and set upon the Altars, which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful.
–Saint Peter Chrysologus (c. 380-450)
Silence is the beginning of purifying the soul.
–Saint Basil the Great (330-379)
Being alone with God’s Word is a dangerous matter. Of course, you can always find ways to defend yourself against it: Take the Bible, lock your door – but then get out ten dictionaries and twenty-five commentaries. Then you can read it just as calmly and coolly as you read newspaper advertising. With this arsenal you can really begin to wonder, ‘Are there not several valid interpretations?’ And what about the prospect of new interpretations? Perhaps there are five interpreters with one opinion and seven with another and two with a strange opinion and three who are wavering or who have no opinion at all. So you calmly conclude, ‘I myself am not absolutely sure about the meaning of this passage. I need more time to form an opinion.’ Good Lord! What a tragic misuse of scholarship that it makes it so easy for people to deceive themselves!”
— Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
