Words of Wisdom & Encouragement
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Extend mercy…
Extend mercy towards others, so that there can be no one in need whom you meet without helping. For what hope is there for us if God should withdraw His mercy from us?
–Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
Prefer service to…
It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. If a needy person requires medicine or other help during prayer time, do whatever has to be done with peace of mind. Offer the deed to God as your prayer.
–Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
Servant of the poor…
Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself. Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor.
–Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
Interrupted in prayer…
If a needy person requires medicine or other help during prayer time, do whatever has to be done with peace of mind. Offer the deed to God as your prayer. Do not become upset or feel guilty because you interrupted your prayer to serve the poor. God is not neglected if you leave him for such service. One of God’s works is merely interrupted so that another can be carried out.
–Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
Our hearts must be…
Our hearts must be changed; they must be purified as gold from which the dross is melted by fire before it comes from the crucible bright and glittering.
–Saint John of Ávila (1500-1569)
Affliction or consolation…
Affliction or consolation, health or sickness, is all one to a heart that loves. Since we wish only to please God, it should be enough for us that His Will is accomplished.
–Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)
To touch the poor…
To touch the poor to know, love and serve God is to do in part what the Savior of the world came to do on earth, to bring about the Kingdom of God.
–Saint Joan Antide-Thouret (1765-1826)
Model your humility…
Take as the model of your humility and your obedience your adorable Savior, Who submitted Himself to His eternal Father, unto death, even death on a cross.
–Saint Joan Antide-Thouret (1765-1826)
The true Christian…
The true Christian should be willing to endure the sufferings of the spirit as Jesus Christ did when He was betrayed by one of His disciples, denied by another, and abandoned by all.
–Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)
Believe in His Love….
Believe that He loves you. He wants to help you Himself in the struggles which you must undergo. Believe in His Love, His exceeding Love.
–Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)
Measure generosity by…
Never measure your generosity by what you give, but rather by what you have left.
–Blessed Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979)
Break some hearts…
Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them.
–Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Humble like Mary…
Be humble like Mary so that you can be holy like Jesus.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
If Jesus wants you…
We are at Jesus’ disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim His work in the street, if he wants you to clean the toilets all day, that’s all right, everything is all right. We must say, “I belong to you. You can do whatever you like.” And this…is our strength, and this is the joy of the Lord.
–Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
To love others…
To love others as God loves you, that is the measure of success.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
Charity is the bond…
Charity is the sweet and holy bond which links the soul with its Creator: it binds God with man and man with God.
–Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
A harvest of trials…
If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of great holiness which He desires you to attain. Do you want to become a great saint? Ask God to send you many sufferings. The flame of Divine Love never rises higher than when fed with the wood of the Cross, which the infinite charity of the Savior used to finish His sacrifice. All the pleasures of the world are nothing compared with the sweetness found in the gall and vinegar offered to Jesus Christ. That is, hard and painful things endured for Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
True holiness consists…
Make sure you let God’s grace work in your souls by accepting whatever he gives you, and giving him whatever he takes from you. True holiness consists in doing God’s will with a smile. Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your own weakness.
–Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
To forget ourselves…
The fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the wind, and join in the general Dance.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Souls are like athletes…
Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
When tribulations come…
When tribulations, infirmities, and contradictions come, we must not run away in a fright, but vanquish them.
–Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595)
True happiness is…
True happiness is not found in any other reward than that of being united with God. If I seek some other reward besides God Himself, I may get my reward but I cannot be happy.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Abandoning yourself to…
Although the draught may be bitter, drink it… Learn to love God as He loves you, and know that a true love will make you give yourself wholly to Him, and keep back nothing for yourself. Do not fear to place yourself in God’s hands, abandoning yourself entirely to Him.
— Saint John of Ávila (1500-1569)
Accept the adversities…
We must accept the adversities which God sends us without reasoning too much upon them, and we must take for granted that it is the best thing which could happen to us.
–Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595)
Remember Christ crucified…
Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you remember Christ crucified and be silent.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Enlightened by grace…
The commands of the Gospel are nothing else than God’s lessons, the foundations on which to build up hope, the supports for strengthening faith, the food that nourishes the heart. They are the rudder for keeping us on the right course, the protection that keeps our salvation secure. As they instruct the receptive minds of believers on earth, they lead safely to the kingdom of heaven… Now we are enlightened by the light of grace, and are to keep to the highway of life, with the Lord to precede and direct us.
–Saint Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258)
Counsels and commandments…
The Lord has given us many counsels and commandments to help us toward salvation. He has even given us a pattern of prayer, instructing us on how we are to pray. He has given us life, and with his accustomed generosity, he has also taught us how to pray. He has made it easy for us to be heard as we pray to the Father in the words taught us by the Son… What more effective prayer could we then make in the name of Christ than in the words of his own prayer?
–Saint Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258)
Surrender consists in…
Total surrender consists in giving ourselves completely to God – Why must we give ourselves fully to God? Because God has given himself to us. If God, who owes nothing to us, is ready to impart to us no less than himself, shall we answer with just a fraction of ourselves? To give ourselves fully to God is a means of receiving God himself. I for God and God for me. I live for God and give up my own self, and in this way induce God to live for me. Therefore to possess God we must allow him to possess our soul.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament…
Each time we look upon Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, He raises us up into deeper union with Himself, opens up the floodgates of His merciful love to the whole world, and brings us closer to the day of His final victory ‘where every knee will bend and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord’ The reign of God is already in your midst. The coming of Jesus to us in the Eucharist is assurance of His promise of final victory: “Behold, I come to make all things new.”
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
First forget yourself…
You must first forget yourself, so that you can dedicate yourself to God and your neighbor.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
Christians are enkindled…
Many lamps can be lit from one fire, and each one will shine out with the same nature of light. So it is when Christians are enkindled from that one nature and one divine fire, which is the Son of God. Then the lamps of their hearts are lit and burn brightly before him on the earth.
–Saint Macarius the Great (295-392)
Our emptiness and…
It is our emptiness and lowliness God needs, not our plenitude.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
An act of renunciation…
An act of renunciation is an act of union with God. The Divine Master looks lovingly upon a person who gains a victory over self.
–Saint Madeline Sophie Barat (1779-1865)
Ask our Lord…
Let us ask our Lord to work in us and through us, and let us do our utmost to draw Him down into our hearts, for He Himself has said: “Without Me you can do nothing.”
–Saint Madeline Sophie Barat (1779-1865)
To deny oneself…
To deny oneself means to give up one’s bad habits; to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad thoughts or desires; to suppress every evil thought; not to desire to do anything out of self love, but to do everything out of love for God.
–Saint Innocent of Alaska (1797-1879)
Surrender to the Lord…
When they have toiled for a long time and have found that their hearts, which long for happiness, are not satisfied in the life of the world in work and sweat, they surrender to the Lord in their poverty, and with this now voluntary poverty, contentment, faith, and child-like love of God enter their hearts. Thus, forced like Simon the Cyrene, they carry the cross after our Lord and are overwhelmed with hitherto unknown graces.
–Saint John Nepocumene Neumann (1811-1860)
Abandonment always leads…
It is the nature of abandonment always to lead a mysterious life, and to receive great and miraculous gifts from God by means of the most ordinary things, things that may be natural, accidental, or that seem to happen by chance, and in which there seems no other agency than the ordinary course of the ways of the world, or of the elements.
–Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)
Since God offers…
Since God offers to manage our affairs for us, let us once and for all hand them over to His infinite wisdom, in order to occupy ourselves only with Himself and what belongs to Him.
–Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)
Abortion victims…
There are two victims in every abortion: a dead baby and a dead conscience.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
To be perfect means…
To be perfect means to love God not a little, but a great deal. It means not to stop at the point at which we have arrived, but with His help to progress to love.
–Pope John Paul I (1912-1978)
Grace cannot be stockpiled…
If God wants you to do something, he’ll make it possible for you to do it, but the grace he provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on him from hour to hour, and the greater our awareness of this fact, the less likely we are to faint or fail in a crisis
–Louis Cassels (1922-1974)
Listen to others…
It is best to first listen to others before we attempt to help them.
–Peter Van Breemen, S.J (1927-
At Christmas and today…
At Christmas he was born a man; today he is reborn sacramentally. Then he was born from the Virgin; today he is born in mystery. When he was born a man, his mother Mary held him close to her heart; when he is born in mystery, God the Father embraces him with his voice when he says: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: listen to him. The mother caresses the tender baby on her lap; the Father serves his Son by his loving testimony. The mother holds the child for the Magi to adore; the Father reveals that his Son is to be worshipped by all the nations.
–Saint Maximus of Turin (Fourth and Fifth Century)
The Eucharist contains…
While all the sacraments confer grace, the Eucharist contains the author of grace, Jesus Christ Himself.
–John Hardon (1914-2000)
The same Jesus…
In the consecrated Host we find the same Jesus whom Mary brought into the world, whom the shepherds found wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger; whom Mary and Joseph nurtures and watched over as He grew before their eyes; the Jesus who called the apostles to follow Him, who captivated and taught the multitudes, who performed the most startling miracles; who said He was the “light” and “life” of the world, who forgave Magdalen and raised Lazarus from the dead; who for love of us sweat blood, received the kiss of a traitor, was made one enormous wound, and died on the Cross; that same Jesus who rose again and appeared to the Apostles and in whose wounds Thomas put his finger; who ascended into heaven, who now is seated in glory at the right hand of His Father, and who, in union with the Father, sends us the Holy Spirit.
–Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen (1893-1953)
Be not grieved…
When you are prevented from laboring for God’s glory, either by reason of bodily infirmity or from some other cause which shows forth his divine pleasure, be not grieved. Instead, cast yourself with confidence into the arms of the One who knows what is most to your advantage and who draws you in in proportion to your own abandonment.
–Saint Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419)
Become a true Christian…
Unless a man gives himself entirely to the Cross, in a spirit of humility and self-abasement; unless he casts himself down to be trampled underfoot by all and despised, accepting injustice, contempt and mockery; unless he undergoes all these things with joy for the sake of the Lord, not claiming any kind of human reward whatsoever – glory or honor or earthly pleasures – he cannot become a true Christian.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)
The Cross our seal…
Let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are traveling, and when we are at rest.
–Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386)
Be faithful to God…
It is our duty, therefore, to be faithful to God, pure in heart, merciful and kind, just and holy; for these things imprint in us the outlines of the Divine likeness, and perfect us as heirs of eternal life.
–Saint Cyril of Alexandria (378-444)
We need action…
We do not want words alone, for there are too many words among people today. What we need is action, for that is what we are looking for, not words which do not bear fruit.
–Abba James (a Desert Father)
Pray simply…
Pray Simply. Do not expect to find in your heart any remarkable gift of prayer Consider yourself unworthy of it-then you will find peace. Use the empty, cold dryness of your prayer as food for your humility. Repeat constantly: “I am not worthy, Lord, I am not worthy!” But say it calmly, without agitation. This humble prayer will be acceptable to God.
–Saint Macarius of Optina (1788-1860)
If we seek God…
If we seek God, He will show Himself to us, and if we keep Him, He will remain close to us.
–Saint Arsenius (350-450)
Bear heavenly fruit…
Just as it is impossible to be at the same moment both a plant and a seed, so it is impossible for us to be surrounded by worldly honor and at the same time to bear heavenly fruit.
–Saint Synkletike (a Desert Mother) (d. 350)
Prayer is good…
Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent on God, is illumined by his infinite light. I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods but continuous throughout the day and night.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)
Long for God…
Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in meditation; at other times also, when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy, performing works of charity, giving generously in the service of others, our spirit should long for God and call him to mind, so that these works may be seasoned with the salt of God’s love, and so make a palatable offering to the Lord of the universe. Throughout the whole of our lives we may enjoy the benefit that comes from prayer if we devote a great deal of time to it.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)
Prayer is…
Prayer is the light of the spirit, true knowledge of God, mediating between God and man. The spirit, raised up to heaven by prayer, clings to God with the utmost tenderness; like a child crying tearfully for its mother, it craves the milk that God provides. It seeks the satisfaction of its own desires, and receives gifts outweighing the whole world of nature. Prayer stands before God as an honored ambassador. It gives joy to the spirit, peace to the heart. I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God, love too deep for words, a gift not given by man but by God’s grace.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)
Practice prayer…
Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer. In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive him as in a splendid palace, and through his grace you will already possess him, his image enthroned in the temple of your spirit.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)
This precious name…
How sweet is this precious Name to those that seek and love Jesus Christ! Jesus is their sole desire, their only delight. How beloved is this all-holy Name to Jesus’ servants and prisoners, captives of His love! Jesus is in their thoughts, Jesus is upon their lips. With the heart they believe in Jesus unto righteousness; with the mouth they confess Jesus unto salvation (Rom. 10). Whether they are sitting or walking – whatever they may be doing – Jesus is before their eyes.
–Saint Dimitry of Rostov (1651-1709)
Taking up our cross…
Taking up our cross means obediently and humbly submitting ourselves to those temporary sorrows and afflictions that Divine Providence sees fit to allow against us for the cleansing away of our sins. Then the cross will serve us as a ladder from earth to heaven. The thief in the Gospels who ascended this ladder ascended from out of terrible crimes into most radiant heavenly habitations. From his cross he pronounced words filled with humility of wisdom; in humility of wisdom he entered into the knowledge of God, and through the knowledge of God, he acquired heaven. We receive the due reward of our deeds, he said. ‘Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.’ (Lk. 23:41–42) When sorrows encompass us, let us also, beloved brothers and sisters, repeat the words of the good thief—words that can purchase paradise!
–Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807-1867)
Our Lord Jesus Christ…
Our Lord Jesus Christ spent His earthly life in the greatest humbleness, being subjected to constant sorrows and harassment, being persecuted, slandered, humiliated by His enemies, who finally sent Him to a shameful death with criminals. The path of salvation that leads to eternal life has been established by the Lord as a narrow way full of sorrows – established both by the Lord’s holy example and by His holy teaching. The Lord advised His disciples and His followers that they would be sorrowful in the world, i.e. during their earthly lives, that the world would hate them, would persecute and humiliate them, would put them to death. The Lord likened His disciples’ and followers’ situation among depraved humanity to that of sheep among wolves. From this we can see that a life on earth full of trials and tribulations is the Lord’s own establishment for His true servants. And being the Lord’s own establishment, it cannot be deflected by any human means, any wisdom, any sensibility, any prudence, any vigilance.
–Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807-1867)
Hope in God…
How wonderful, how pleasing, how charming is the image of those who hope in the God Who saves, in God the compassionate, the God of mercy, the good God Who loves mankind.People who hope in God are truly blessed. God is their constant helper and they fear no evil, even if others provoke them. They hope in God and do good. They have set their every hope on Him and they confess to Him with all their heart. He is their boast, their God and they call upon Him day and night. Their mouths direct praise to God; their lips are sweeter than honey and wax when they open them to sing to God; their tongue, full of grace, is moved to glorify God. Their heart is eager to call upon Him, their mind ready to be elevated towards Him, their soul is committed to God and “His right hand has upheld them”. “Their souls will boast in the Lord”. They ask and receive from God whatever their heart desires. They ask and find whatever they seek. They knock and the gates of mercy are opened.
–Saint Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920)
True prayer is…
True prayer is undistracted, prolonged, performed with a contrite heart an alert intellect. The vehicle of prayer is everywhere humility, and prayer is a manifestation of humility. For being conscious of our own weakness, we invoke the power of God.
–Saint Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920)
Do not despair…
The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that he will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Only with the passage of time and with fervor will they be conquered. Don’t let anything deprive you of hope.
–Saint Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920)
God fulfills…
God fulfills your desires in a manner that you do not know.
–Saint Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920)
Struggle humbly…
One doesn’t need muscles in the spiritual life. We must struggle humbly, we must ask for God’s mercy and we must be grateful to Him for everything. He who abandons himself into the hands of God, without any plan of his own, will pass into God’s plan.
–Saint Paisos the Athonite (1924-1994)
God caresses hearts…
At all times God caresses the hearts of all the people with His love, but we are not aware of it because our hearts have gathered a crust.
–Saint Paisos the Athonite (1924-1994)
Jesus Christ has…
Jesus Christ has won heaven for us, and has promised it to us if we live to the end with a living faith, a strong hope, and a burning love for God and our neighbor.
–Saint Joan Antide-Thouret (1765-1826)
What is prayer?
What is prayer if not a long love dialogue in which the soul lays bare to God all its needs, its delights, its love, and its gratitude.
–Ronda Chervin (1937-
Welcome silence…
Above anything, welcome silence, for it brings fruits that no tongue can speak of, neither can it be explained.
–Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)
A Christian is not…
A Christian is not his own master, since all his time belongs to God.
–Saint Ignatius of Antioch (First Century)
When we make…
When we make our own calculations, we need so many numbers and factors that any mistake is possible. The Lord’s calculation boils down to love.
–Adrienne von Speyr (1902-1967)
Learning to love others…
The first step in learning to love others is the attempt to understand them.
–Adrienne von Speyr (1902-1967)
The sins of others…
The sins of others can never become the measure of your own.
–Adrienne von Speyr (1902-1967)
When we confess…
When we sin, we think we are geniuses; when we confess, we know we are idiots.
–Adrienne von Speyr (1902-1967)
Without the Lord…
Without the Lord, the disciple no longer knows who he is.
–Adrienne von Speyr (1902-1967)
Whenever anyone seeks…
Our Savior repeats his words: ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.’ He quenched the thirst not only of those who came to him then. Whenever anyone seeks him he is freely admitted to the presence of the Savior. The grace of the feast [Easter] is not restricted to one occasion. Its rays of glory never set. It is always at hand to enlighten the mind of those who desire it. Its power is always there for those whose minds have been enlightened and who meditate day and night on the holy Scriptures.
–Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 296-373)
Celebrate the feast…
When we celebrate the feast [Easter] in our own day, what path are we to take? As we draw near to this feast, who is to be our guide? Beloved, it must be none other than the one whom you will address with me as our Lord Jesus Christ. He says: ‘I am the way.’ As blessed John tells us: it is Christ ‘who takes away the sin of the world.’ It is he who purifies our souls, as the prophet Jeremiah says: ‘Stand upon the ways; look and see which is the good path, and you will find in it the way of amendment for your souls.’
–Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 296-373)
Weep over your sin…
Weep over your sin: it is a spiritual ailment; it is death to your immortal soul; it deserves ceaseless, unending weeping and crying; let all tears flow for it, and sighing come forth without ceasing from the depths of your heart. In profound humility I weep for all my sins, voluntary and involuntary, conscious and unconscious, covert and overt, great and little, committed by word and deed, in thought and intention, day and night, at every hour and minute of my life.
–Saint Basil the Great (330-379)
Whoever offers repentance…
Whoever offers repentance ought not only to wash his sin with tears, but ought to cover his former transgressions with better deeds, lest the sin be imputed to him.
–Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-397)
The sacred days…
Behold, Dearly Beloved, the sacred days are drawing near, the acceptable time…. And so you must be more earnest in prayer and in almsgiving, in fasting and in prayer. He that till now has given alms, in these days let him give more, for as water quenches a flaming fire, so does almsgiving wipe out sin (Ecces. 3:33). He that till now fasted and prayed, let him fast and pray still more, for there are certain sins which are not cast out, except by prayer and fasting (Mt. 17:20). Should anyone cherish anger towards another, let him forgive from his heart. Should anyone take unjustly what belongs to another, let him restore it…. And though a Christian should abstain at all times from cursings and revilings, from oaths, from excessive laughter and from idle words, he must do this especially in these holy days which are set apart so that, during these forty days, he may by penance wipe out the sins of the whole year.
–Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-397)
God loves us more…
God loves us more than a father, mother, friend, or any else could love, and even more than we are able to love ourselves.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)
True prayer before God…
What prayer could be more true before God the Father than that which the Son, who is Truth, uttered with His own lips?
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)
Rise again from the dust…
He who walking on the sea could calm the bitter waves, who gives life to the dying seeds of the earth; he who was able to loose the mortal chains of death, and after three days’ darkness could bring again to the upper world the brother for his sister Martha: he, I believe, will make Damasus rise again from the dust.
–Saint Damasus (c. 305-384) (from an epitaph written for himself)
None beyond help…
No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.
–Saint Leo the Great (c. 400-461)
Anxiety and pride…
The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.
–Saint Leo the Great (c. 400-461)
Any time is right…
What is the appropriate time for performing works of charity? My beloved children, any time is the right time, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace. Charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.
–Saint Leo the Great (c. 400-461)
Charity should know no limit…
So the faithful should look into themselves and carefully examine their minds and the impulses of their hearts. If they find some of the fruits of love stored in their hearts then they must not doubt God’s presence within them, but to make themselves more and more able to receive so great a guest they should do more and more works of durable mercy and kindness. After all, if God is love, charity should know no limit, for God himself cannot be confined within limits.
–Saint Leo the Great (c. 400-461)
God’s will is to save us…
God’s will is to save us, and nothing pleases him more than our coming back to him with true repentance…So it was that Christ proclaimed that he had come to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous, and that it was not the healthy who required a doctor, but the sick. He declared that he had come to look for the sheep that was lost, and that it was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that he had been sent.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)
Pursue the spiritual path…
The goal of all who pursue the spiritual path is to do the will of Christ, their God, to be reconciled with the Father through communion in the Spirit, and so to achieve their salvation. For only in this way is the soul’s salvation attained.
–Saint Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022)
Grace perfects…
Grace does not destroy nature, it perfects it.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
The things we love…
The things that we love tell us what we are.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Self-denial unites our…
Now I understand well that what unites our soul most closely to God is self-denial; that is, joining our will to the will of God. This is what makes the soul truly free, contributes to profound recollection of the spirit, and makes all life’s burdens light, and death sweet.
–Saint Faustina (1905-1938)
Our perfection consists…
Our perfection certainly consists in knowing God and ourselves.
–Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Submission to the….
Faithful submission to the will of God, always and everywhere, in all events and circumstances of life, gives great glory to God. Such submission to the will of God carries more weight with Him than long fasts, mortifications and the most severe penances.
–Saint Faustina (1905-1938)
God is always close…
Man goes far away or near but God never goes far-off; he is always standing close at hand, and even if he cannot stay within he goes no further than the door.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
What one should be…
One must not always think so much about what one should do; but rather what one should be. Our works do not ennoble us, but we must ennoble our works.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
They don’t rightly love God…
Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow – for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not rightly love God, when they love Him for their own advantage.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
The love of Jesus…
The love of Jesus is at once avid and generous. All that He has, all that He is, He gives; all that we are, all that we have, He takes.
–Jan Van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)
These make one good…
Hear now three things which constitute a good person. The first, which a good person must have, is a clean conscience without reproach of mortal sin…The second thing which pertains to a good person is that he must in all things be obedient to God, and to Holy Church, and to his own proper convictions… The third thing which behoves every good person is that in all his deeds he should have in mind, above all else, the glory of God… Behold, these three things, when they are possessed in this way, make one good.
–Blessed John Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)
Flee to our Lord…
Flee to our Lord, and we shall be strengthened. Touch him, and we shall be cleansed. Cling to him, and we shall be safe and sound from every danger. For it is the will of our courteous Lord that we should be as much at home with him as heart may think or soul desire.
–Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
Don't Be Shy
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