Quotes

Out of trials…

His Majesty (the Lord) rewards great services with trials, and there can be no better reward, for out of trials springs love for God.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Let us consider what the glorious Virgin endured, and what the holy apostles suffered, and we shall find that they who were nearest to Jesus Christ were the most afflicted.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

More you struggle…

Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

How to die…

Everything seems to me to pass so quickly that we must concentrate on how to die rather than on how to live. How sweet it is to die if one has lived on the Cross with Christ.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Trials endured…

Think often of the weariness of His journey and of how much harder His trials were than those which you have to suffer. However hard you may imagine yours to be, and however much affliction they may cause you, they will be a source of comfort to you, for you will see that they are matters for scorn compared with the trials endured by the Lord.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

To suffer willingly…

The road is narrow. He who wishes to travel it more easily must cast off all things and use the cross as his cane. In other words, he must be truly resolved to suffer willingly for the love of God in all things.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Bear the Cross of the Lord…

O you souls who wish to go on with so much safety and consolation, if you knew how pleasing to God is suffering, and how much it helps in acquiring other good things, you would never seek consolation in anything; but you would rather look upon it as a great happiness to bear the Cross of the Lord.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

The thicket of the Cross…

Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Who perseveres…

The whole substance of religion is faith, hope, and love…. All things are possible to him who believes, they are less difficult to him who hopes, they are more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Search unceasingly…

How happy we would be if we could find the treasure of which the Gospel speaks; all else would be as nothing. As it is boundless, the more you search for it the greater the riches you will find; let us search unceasingly and let us not stop until we have found it.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Act with confidence in God…

Use yourself then by degrees thus to worship Him, to beg His grace, to offer Him your heart from time to time, in the midst of your business, even every moment if you can. Do not always scrupulously confine yourself to certain rules, or particular forms of devotion; but act with a general confidence in God, with love and humility.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Continual conversation…

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God: those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it; yet I do not advise you to do it from that motive; it is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise; but let us do it from a principle of love, and because God would have us.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Difficulties in the spiritual life…

We must study ever to regard God and His Glory in all that we do, and say, and undertake. This is the end that we should set before ourselves, to offer to God a sacrifice of perfect worship in this life, as we hope to do through all eternity. We ought firmly to resolve to overcome, with the grace of God assisting us, the many difficulties which will meet us in the spiritual life.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Endure any trial…

One should always endure any trial for the sake of God with gratitude. Our life is a single minute in comparison with eternity; and therefore, according to the Apostle, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18).
–Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833)

Allows people to fall…

The Lord sometimes allows people who are devoted to Him to fall into such dreadful vices; and this is in order to prevent them from falling into a still greater sin– pride. Your temptation will pass and you will spend the remaining days of your life in humility. Only do not forget your sin.
–Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833)

The mercy of God…

The mercy of God is hidden in sufferings not of our choice; and if we accept such sufferings patiently, they bring us to repentance and deliver us from everlasting punishment.
–Saint Cosmas Aitolos (c. 1714 – 1779)

Receive God well…

You must receive God well; give Him a loving welcome, for then He has to pay us rent.
–Saint Bernadette (1844-1879)

Live seeking God…

Live seeking God, then you will not live without God.
–Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Seek God daily…

Seek God daily. But seek Him in your heart, not outside it. And when you find Him, stand with fear and trembling, like the Cherubim and Seraphim, for your heart has become a throne of God. But in order to find God, become humble as dust before the Lord, for the Lord abhors the proud; whereas He visits those that are humble in heart, wherefore He says: “To whom will I look, but to the one who is meek and humble in heart?”
–Saint Nectarius of Aegina (1846-1920)

Understand the great responsibility…

Christians, have we understood the great responsibility that we have taken on before God through baptism? Have we come to know that we must conduct ourselves as children of God, that we must align our will with the will of God, that we must remain free from sin, that we must love God with all our hearts and always patiently await union with Him? Have we thought about the fact that our heart should be so filled with love that it should overflow to our neighbor? Do we have the feeling that we must become holy and perfect, children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven? We must struggle for this, so that we may not be shown unworthy and rejected. Let none of us lose our boldness, nor neglect our duties, nor be afraid of the difficulties of spiritual struggle. For we have God as a helper, who strengthens us in the difficult path of virtue.
–Saint Nectarius of Aegina (1846-1920)

Never forget….

We should never forget the two axioms: ‘Jesus is with me’ and ‘Whatever happens, happens by the will of God.’
–Blessed Charles De Foucauld (1858-1916)

Suffer and love…

It is when we are reduced to nothing that we have the most powerful means of uniting ourselves to Jesus and of doing good for souls. It is what Saint John of the Cross repeats at nearly every line. When we are able to suffer and love, we are doing a great deal, the most that someone can do in this world.
–Blessed Charles De Foucauld (1858-1916)

If the heart is…

If the heart is pure, simple, attached only to God, if the will is pure, simple, intent only on doing what God wills, on wanting what he wants, we will walk in full daylight during this life, for we shall be in the fullness of truth, and our life will be founded on the truth; our path will be in the light of our life at all times for the one who is the light of the world will enlighten it ceaselessly; and, at the end of our pilgrimage, we shall see God.
–Blessed Charles De Foucauld (1858-1916)

Keep spiritual peace…

It is impossible to keep spiritual peace if we do not take care of the mind, that is if we do not drive out thoughts that are displeasing to God and, on the contrary, keep thoughts which are pleasing to God. It is necessary to look into the heart with mind and see what is done there. Is it peaceful or not? If not, then find out in what you have sinned.
–Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938)

A religious life…

Immediately before, and for a good while after, my religious conversion, I was of the opinion that to lead a religious life meant one had to give up all that was secular and to live totally immersed in thoughts of the Divine. But gradually I realized that something else is asked of us in this world and that, even in the contemplative life, one may not sever the connection with the world. I even believe that the deeper one is drawn into God, the more one must “go out of oneself”, that is, one must go out to the world in order to carry the divine life into it.
–Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)

Have a simple and humble heart…

We cannot last long travelling in the desert if we do not have a simple and humble heart and if we still expect from life something other than God alone.
–René Voillaume (1905–2003)

True contemplative prayer…

Even in the act of true contemplative prayer, it is well to remember these strong words of Saint Paul’s: “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Cor 13:1–2). It is therefore essential that anyone who… is called to a contemplative life should take more care than anyone else that his prayer be a work of love, and that it be an authentic and living one.
–René Voillaume (1905–2003)

Accept our limitations…

We should humbly and realistically accept our limitations both in prayer and in action. It rests with us to devote ourselves to prayer, to prepare ourselves for it, to begin to pray, and to advance as best as we can, but we will come up against a limit beyond which only the Holy Spirit can enable us to pass. It is the same with action. We can indeed expend ourselves on a variety of activities but we shall find our limitations in the strength we bring to them, in our courage an detachment, and, above all, in the perfecting of our charity. Only the Holy Spirit can take us beyond these limitations. Whether in prayer or in action, we are, then, wholly dependent on the Holy Spirit.
–René Voillaume (1905–2003)

Accepting suffering…

I have shed many tears. I have, however, also obtained a favor; after each suffering I understood more clearly Jesus’ conduct towards me… This grace consists in accepting suffering with joy in the firm hope that suffering will come to an end one day.
–Marcel Nguyễn Tân Văn (1928–1959)

When the body is tried…

When the body is tried, then the soul is sanctified. With sickness, our body is pained, this mud-built house of ours, but thus its tenant, our soul, will rejoice eternally in the heavenly palace which Christ will prepare for us.
–Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain (1924-1994)

The spiritual journey…

A cup is a container for holding something. Whatever it holds has to eventually be emptied out so that something more can be put into it. I have learned that I cannot always expect my life to be full. There has to be some emptying, some pouring out, if I am to make room for the new. The spiritual journey is like that-a constant process of emptying and filling, of giving and receiving, of accepting and letting go.
–Joyce Rupp (1943-

Grace is to help…

What grace is meant to do is to help good people, not to escape their sufferings, but to bear them with a stout heart, with a fortitude that finds its strength in faith.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

A Christian is…

A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Throw yourselves…

Do not be afraid to throw yourself on the Lord! He will not draw back and let you fall! Put your worries aside and throw yourself on him; He will welcome you and heal you.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Weaknesses and deficiencies…

Weaknesses and deficiencies … play a most important part in all our lives. It is because of them that we need others and others need us. We are not all weak in the same spots, and so we supplement and complete one another, each one making up in himself for the lack in another.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Faith is a matter…

We too often forget that faith is a matter of questioning and struggle before it becomes one of certitude and peace. You have to doubt and reject everything else in order to believe firmly in Christ, and after you have begun to believe, your faith itself must be tested and purified.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Prayer is a way…

Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him…who loves us, who is near to us.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Gratitude takes nothing…

Gratitude takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

The Spiritual life…

The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

To attain true peace one…

Now, if one will attain to true peace, he must yield himself up to this spiritual destitution; he must make nothing of it; he must in all single heartedness resign himself to the holy will of God, and suffer this oppression of spirit in all patience; yes, even if it were to endure to the end of the world.
–Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)

Prayer is union with God…

Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When the heart is pure and united with God it is consoled and filled with sweetness; it is dazzled by a marvelous light. In this intimate union God and the soul are like two pieces of wax moulded into one; they cannot any more be separated. It is a very wonderful thing, this union of God with his insignificant creature, a happiness passing all understanding.
–Saint John Vianney (1786-1859)

Prayer is to our soul what…

Prayer is to our soul what rain is to the soil. Fertilize the soil ever so richly, it will remain barren unless fed by frequent rains.
–Saint John Vianney (1786-1859)

The saints had…

The saints had no hatred, no bitterness; they forgive everything and think they deserve much more for their offenses against God.
–Saint John Vianney (1786-1859).

The beginnings of temptation…

Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks. Someone has said very aptly: “Resist the beginnings; remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength.” First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.
–Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

The same Christ there is ever…

He will be with you also, all the way, that faithful God. Every morning when you awaken to the old and tolerable pain, at every mile of the hot uphill dusty road of tiring duty, on to the judgment seat, the same Christ there as ever, still loving you, still sufficient for you, even then. And then, on through all eternity.
–Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

God often gives…

God often gives in one brief moment that which He has for a long time denied.
–Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

A need of dying well…

There is need of living well, but there is even more need of dying well. A good death is everything, especially today where people think only of things and enjoyment here on earth, rejecting eternity.
–Blessed Louis Guanella (1842-1915)

We are becoming…

We are becoming as we go.
–Joan Chittester (1936-

Advent is about…

Advent is about learning to wait. It is about not having to know exactly what is coming tomorrow, only that whatever it is, some hard, some uplifting, is sign of the work of God alive in us… We learn in Advent to stay in the present, knowing that only the present well lived can possibly lead us to the fullness of life.
–Joan Chittester (1936-

Advent reminds us…

The function of Advent is to remind us what we’re waiting for as we go through life too busy with things that do not matter to remember the things that do. When year after year we hear the same scriptures and the same hymns of longing for the life to come, of which this one is only its shadow, it becomes impossible to forget the refrains of the soul. Advent relieves us of our commitment to the frenetic in a fast-paced world. It slows us down. It makes us think. It makes us look beyond today to the “great tomorrow” of life.
–Joan Chittester (1936-

Waiting is the grace…

Waiting — that cold, dry period of life when nothing seems to be enough and something else beckons within us — is the grace that Advent comes to bring. It stands before us, within us, pointing to the star for which the wise ones from the East are only icons of ourselves.We all want something more. Advent asks the question, what is it for which you are spending your life? What is the star you are following now? And where is that star in its present radiance in your life leading you? Is it a place that is really comprehensive enough to equal the breadth of the human soul?
–Joan Chittester (1936-

Never be afraid…

One of the things we absolutely owe our Lord is never to be afraid.
–Blessed Charles De Foucauld (1858-1916)

Real faith causes…

Real faith causes every impossibility to disappear. It makes a nonsense of those words, anxiety, danger and fear. It makes us walk through life with calm peace and deep joy, like a child holding its mother’s hand.
–Blessed Charles De Foucauld (1858-1916)

Have this faith…

Let us have this faith which banishes all fear. We have besides us, facing us, in us, our Jesus, our God who loves us infinitely, is all-powerful, knows what is best for us, tells us to seek the kingdom and that the rest will be given to us.
–Blessed Charles De Foucauld (1858-1916)

True friendship…

True friendship ought never to conceal what it thinks.
–Saint Jerome (c. 340-420)

Saintly words…

Instead of speaking saintly words we must act them.
–Saint Jerome (c. 340-420)

A friend is…

A friend is long sought, hardly found, and with difficulty kept.
–Saint Jerome (c. 340-420)

Returning thanks…

No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.
–Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-397)

A happy marriage…

What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.
–Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Effort, not results…

Remember, God does not pay us for results, but for effort.
–Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)

Do all things well…

For the greater glory of God, the important thing is not to do many things, but to do all things well.
–Saint Bernadette (1844-1879)

Doing good during…

Nulla dies sine linea: Do not let a day pass without doing some good during it.
–Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595)

A taste of Hell…

He who continues in anger, strife, and a bitter spirit, has a taste of the air of hell.
–Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595)

Obedience is the…

Obedience is the true holocaust which we sacrifice to God on the altar of our hearts.
–Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595)

Faith is but…

What is faith but a carriage to heaven?
–Saint Aelred of Rievaulx 1110-1167)

I believe in…

I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand.
–Saint Anselm (1033-1109)

To be happy…

If you want to be happy, be.
–Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

To be deep into history is…

To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.
–Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Angels can fly…

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
–GK Chesterton (1874-1936)

Holiness is so…

Holiness is something so great and precious that one cannot pay too much for it.
–Saint Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682)

Gratitude and generosity…

Recognize to whom you owe the fact that you exist, that you breathe, that you understand, that you are wise, and, above all, that you know God and hope for the kingdom of heaven. You have been made a child of God, co-heir with Christ. Where did you get all this, and from whom?…. What benefactor has enabled you to look out upon the beauty of the sky, the sun in its course, the circle of the moon, the countless number of stars, with the harmony and order that are theirs, like the music of a harp? Who has blessed you with rain, with the art of husbandry, with different kinds of food, with the arts, with houses, with laws, with states, with a life of humanity and culture, with friendship and the easy familiarity of kinship? … Is it not God who asks you now in your turn to show yourself generous … Because we have received from him so many wonderful gifts, will we not be ashamed to refuse him this one thing only, our generosity?
–Saint Gregory Nazianzen (329-c. 391)

Accept all things…

Where can a man warm himself better than by the fire? So it is in God. Man must bring all that concerns him to God, and leave all with Him. God will provide for him in the best of ways. He must trust all things to God; and, in that trust, he must be ready to accept all things, as for the best, and rest in the divine peace.
–Johannes Tauler (c. 1300–1361)

Grow closer to…

You don’t have to leave the world to be holy and grow closer to the Holy One.
–Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)

Give yourself entirely to God…

Give yourself entirely to God, enter and hide in the hidden ground of your soul.
— Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)

Acknowledgement of…

The acknowledgment of our weakness is the first step in repairing our loss.
–Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

Jesus has many…

Jesus has now many lovers of the heavenly kingdom but few bearers of his cross.
–Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

Give thanks to God…

Let us give thanks to God continually. For, it is outrageous that when we enjoy His benefaction to us in deed every single day, we do not acknowledge the favor with so much as a word; and this, when the acknowledgment confers great benefit on us. He does not need anything of ours, but we stand in need of all things from Him. In point of fact, thanksgiving adds nothing to Him, but it brings us closer to Him.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407

Repentance is a medicine…

Do not be ashamed to enter again into the Church. Be ashamed when you sin. Do not be ashamed when you repent. Pay attention to what the devil did to you. These are two things: sin and repentance. Sin is a wound; repentance is a medicine. Just as there are for the body wounds and medicines, so for the soul are sins and repentance. However, sin has the shame and repentance possesses the courage.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

Prayer extinguishes…

As water extinguishes fire, so prayer extinguishes the heat of the passions.
— Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

A Christian who…

Nothing is more frigid than a Christian, who cares not for the salvation of others.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

The Holy Scriptures…

The Holy Scriptures lead us to God and open the path to the knowledge of God.
— Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

God is pleased…

God is more pleased by one work, however small, done secretly, without desire that it be known, than a thousand done with the desire that people know of them. Those who work for God with purest love not only care nothing about whether others see their works, but do not even seek that God himself know of them.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

God is never absent…

God is never absent from the soul.
— Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

An occupied heart…

God does not fit in an occupied heart.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

A good confession…

If you would know whether you have made a good confession, ask yourself if you have resolved to abandon your sins.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

Mercy is a compassion…

Mercy is a compassion that seeks to unburden the sorrows of others as if they were our own. But if we have no such compassion, then how can compassion ever come back to us? Unless we throw something up, nothing will come down; unless there is an action, there can never be a reaction; unless we give, it shall not be given to us; unless we love, we shall not be loved; unless we pardon evil, our evil shall not be forgiven; unless we are merciful to others, God cannot be merciful to us.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Live what you believe or…

If you do not live what you believe, you will end up believing what you live.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

In silence God…

What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us. In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

The humble one…

The proud man counts his newspaper clippings; the humble, his blessings.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

To save the world…

To create the world cost God nothing; to save it from sin cost His Life Blood.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Find the truth…

It is easy to find truth, though it is hard to face it, and harder still to follow it.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Silence is the…

Silence is the root of our union with God and with one another. In silence we are filled with the energy of God Himself that makes us do all things in joy. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

Saints are sinners…

Saints are only sinners who keep trying.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

Prayer is mortar…

Prayer is the mortar that holds our house together.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

By vehement desire…

The grace of contemplation is granted only in response to a longing an importunate (burning) desire: Nevertheless, God will not present Himself, even in passing, to every soul; but only to that soul which is shown, by great devotion, vehement desire, and tender affection, to be His bride, and to be worthy that the Word in all His beauty should visit her as a Bridegroom.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

God alone can satisfy…

God alone can satisfy our desires… It is not very intelligent to desire what can never satisfy. While enjoying wealth, you keep searching for something you still lack. You run back-and-forth from one pleasure to another, becoming tired, but never satisfied… Eventually we will come to say to God, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” Anything else is doomed to failure.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

See the light…

If you do not reach the point of despair, you will never see the Light.
–Gabriela Papayannis (1897-1992)

To feel hopeless…

No one has the right to sit down and feel hopeless. There’s too much to do.
–Dorothy Day (1897-1980)

The dark night…

Every contemplative (and not only the gifted mystic), if his contemplation is an expression of a living discipleship, must be prepared to experience the dark night to some degree. It is a sign that he is on the path of Christ, i.e., it is a sign of consolation, even though it is bound to take the form of a withdrawal of consolation.
–Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988)

To saints…

To saints, their very slumber is a prayer.
— Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

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