As an audience maintains silence to hear better the voice of an orator, as music lovers keep silence during a symphony to admire its artistic beauty, so the silence of contemplation is nothing other than the indispensable condition for hearing the voice of God and addressing to Him our heartfelt words.
–Luis M. Martinez (1881-1956)
If we want to attain silence in the interior of our hearts, we ought to begin by investigating the causes of the clamor within us. Ordinarily there are two causes of interior noise: the imagination and the heart. How often it happens that we enter the presence of Jesus to converse sweetly with Him, and then the imagination begins to skip around, carrying us hither and thither… At other times, the source of the din is in the heart. Except in cases of abnormal agitation, the imagination never produces the clamor that the heart produces. When we are under the stress of some particular emotion, such as love, fear, desire, or anger, we cannot compose our spirit; our soul seems like a city full of noise.
–Luis M. Martinez (1881-1956)
Perseverance is the most desirable gift we can hope for in this life, and the one which…we cannot have but from the hand of God, who alone can assure him that stands, and help him up that falls.Therefore we must incessantly demand it, making use of the means which Our Savior has taught us to the obtaining of it: prayer, fasting, alms-deeds, frequenting the sacraments, intercourse with the good, the hearing and reading of holy words.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
I see that all of the seasons of the year converge in your soul: at times you experience all the dryness, distraction, disgust and boredom of winter; at other times, all the dew and fragrance of the little flowers in May time; and again, the warmth of a desire to please God. All that remains is autumn, and you say that you do not see much of its fruit. Yet it often happens that in threshing the wheat and pressing the grapes we discover more than the harvest or vintage promised. You would like it to be always spring or summer; but no, dear daughter, we have to experience interior as well as exterior changes. Only in heaven will everything be springtime as to beauty, autumn as to enjoyment and summer as to love. There will be no winter there; but here below we need winter so that we may practice self-denial and the countless small but beautiful virtues that can be practiced during a barren season. Let us go on our little way; so long as we mean well and hold on to our resolve, we can only be on the right track.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
We must strive to embrace the crosses which God sends us with a willing, even joyful, heart.
–Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos (1819–1867)
Do not think that now you do not need to come to church if I am not here to look after you. You must attend church not for people, but for God, Who sees the hearts of those who come.
–Saint John Maximovich (1896-1966)
