Quotes

Humility is…

What is humility but truthfulness? There is no real difference.
–Walter Hilton (1340-1396)

Retain this humility…

One who loves God retains this humility at all times, not with weariness and struggle, but with pleasure and gladness.
–Walter Hilton (1340-1396)

[Christ] belongs to you, but more than that, he longs to be in you, living and ruling in you, as the head lives and rules the body. He wants his breath to be in your breath, his heart in your heart, and his soul in your soul.
–Saint John Eudes (1601-1680)

The Church had…

The Church had learnt, not at the end but at the beginning of her centuries, that the funeral of God is always a premature burial.
–GK Chesterton (1874-1936)

Accept what God wants to…

When we dare to testify to joy, in this world and now, is because we accept what God wants to give us.
–Jean-Marie Lustinger (1926-2007)

Instead of condemning…

Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.
–Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833)

Be as blind…

Be as blind to the faults of your neighbors is possible, trying at least to attribute a good intention of their actions.
–Blessed Solanus Casey (1870-1957)

Never cease loving a person…

Never cease loving a person, and never give up hope for him, for even the prodigal son who had fallen most low, could still be saved; the bitterest enemy and also he who was your friend could again be your friend; love that has grown cold can kindle again.
–Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Do not walk through time…

Do not walk through time without leaving worthy evidence of your passage.
–Saint John XXIII (1881-1963)

Seek God in every human life…

I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is in this person’s life. You can – you must – try to seek God in every human life.
–Pope Francis (1936-

What makes saints saints…

Although we tend to think about saints as holy and pious, and picture them with halos above their heads and ecstatic gazes, true saints are much more accessible. They are men and women like us, who live ordinary lives and struggle with ordinary problems. What makes them saints is their clear and unwavering focus on God and God’s people.
–Henri Nouwen (1932–1996)

To form Jesus in ourselves…

Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be the form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires and his disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God is given us to do unceasingly.
–Saint John Eudes (1601-1680)

Some Christians think…

Some Christians, who have a quietist tendency, are inclined to think that a person can rapidly reach perfection by the assiduous reading of the great mystics, without concerning himself enough with practising the virtues which these books recommend, and without remembering sufficiently that true contemplation should be completely penetrated by supernatural charity and forgetfulness of self.
–Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964)

We are judged…

Do all you can to be resigned to the Will of God in all the sufferings that God permits, in your tiredness and in all the work you have to do. Keep your heart at peace and be recollected; don’t get upset. If you can go to church,
–Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)

Be resigned to the will of God…

Do all you can to be resigned to the Will of God in all the sufferings that God permits, in your tiredness and in all the work you have to do. Keep your heart at peace and be recollected; don’t get upset. If you can go to church, go; if you can’t, stay quietly and contentedly at home; just do the Will of God in the work you have at hand.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

Gift of Wisdom…

Under the influence of the Gift of Wisdom, what is bitter becomes sweet, and weariness becomes repose.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

To worship God…

To worship God in spirit and truth means to worship God as we ought to worship Him. God is Spirit, so we must worship Him in spirit and truth, that is, by a humble and true adoration of spirit in the depth and center of our souls. God alone can see this worship; we can repeat it so often that in the end it becomes as if it were natural to us, and as if God were one with our souls, and our souls one with Him.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Estranged oneself from one’s self…

The more anyone estranges himself from himself, and passes out of himself into God, the more completely he is established in the very truth.
–Blessed Henry Suso (c. 1295–1366)

To do the will of God one…

To do the will of God, man must despise his own; the more he dies to himself, the more he will live to God.
–Saint Peter Claver (1581-1654)

Act the more humbly…

A person may be faithful; he may have the power to utter hidden mysteries; he may be discriminating in the evaluation of what is said and pure in his actions. But the greater he seems to be, the more humbly he ought to act, and the more zealous he should be for the common good rather than his own interest.
–Saint Clement (First Century)

Charity may be…

Charity may be a very short word, but with its tremendous meaning of pure love, it sums up man’s entire relation to God and to his neighbor.
–Saint Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)

God is charity…

It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for “God is Charity.”
–Saint Albert the Great (c. 1206-1280)

With faith and good works…

Girded with faith and the performance of good works, let us follow in His paths by the guidance of the Gospel.

–Saint Benedict (480-547)

Follow the light of faith…

It is absolutely necessary, both for our advancement and the salvation of others, to follow always and in all things the beautiful light of faith.
— Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)

Sufferings will be…

Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him; and the greatest pleasures will be, without Him, a cruel punishment to us.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Your God is…

Your God is ever beside you — indeed, He is even within you.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

To hear the voice of God…

I sought to hear the voice of God And climbed the topmost steeple, But God declared: “Go down again – I dwell among the people.”
–Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Give yourself to God…

You propose to give up everything to God; be sure, then, to include yourself among the things to be given up.
–Saint Benedict (480-547)

Look on Jesus…

Look then on Jesus, the author and preserver of faith: in complete sinlessness He suffered, and at the hands of those who were His own, and was numbered among the wicked. As you drink the cup of the Lord Jesus (how glorious it is!), give thanks to the Lord, the giver of all blessings.
–Saint Raymond of Penyafort (c. 1175-1275)

To be entrusted…

To be entrusted with the teaching of the young is a great gift and grace of God.
–Saint John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719)

Bump into wonder…

Not dawdling
not doubting
intrepid all the way
walk toward clarity
with sharp eye
With sharpened sword
clearcut the path
to the lucent surprise
of enlightenment
At every crossroad
be prepared to bump into wonder
–James Broughton (1913-1999)

The greatest act of faith…

The greatest act of faith is that which rises to your lips in total darkness together with the sacrifices, sufferings and wholehearted efforts of a determined will to do good. This act of faith strikes through the darkness of your soul like lightening. In the midst of tempest it raises you up and leads you to God.
–Saint Pio (1887-1968)

Jesus is…

Jesus is the Image of the Father, the center of the universe and of history. Jesus is our salvation, the radiance of the God we cannot see, the unquenchable fire of love, the one for whom the angels sigh, the Holy one of God, the true adorer, the eternal High Priest, the Lord of the Ages, the glory of God. Jesus is also our brother, and as such he takes his place beside us, to teach us the path we must follow to reach the invisible. And to make sure that we understand, he translates into visible terms the invisible things he has seen – as man he acts as God would act; he introduces the ways of the family of God on to the Earth and into the family of man.
–Carlo Carretto (1910-1988)

The power to forget…

Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.
— Saint Basil the Great (330-379)

Holy Spirit: the gift of God…

We receive our faith from the church and keep it safe; and it is as it were a precious deposit stored in a fine vessel, ever renewing its vitality through the Spirit of God, and causing the renewal of the vessel in which it is stored. For this gift of God has been entrusted to the church, as the breath of life to created man, to the end that all members by receiving it should be made alive. And herein has been bestowed on us our means of communion with Christ, namely the Holy Spirit, the pledge of immortality, the strengthening of our faith, the ladder by which we ascend to God.

–Saint Irenaeus (late Second Century)

Mothers of children…

Mothers of children, even if they have a thousand, carry each and every one fixed in their hearts, and because of the strength of their love they do not forget any of them. In fact, it seems that the more children they have the more their love and care for each one is increased.
–Saint Angela Merici (1474-1540)

To have pardoned…

Be assured that one great means to find favor when we appear before God is to have pardoned the injuries we have received here below.
–Blessed Louis de Granada (1505-1588)

Listen and attend…

Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.
–Saint Benedict (480-547)

Love with all…

Love with all the powers of your soul this God who is infinitely adorable and his divine Son who wanted to be crucified in reparation for our sins. May his beneficial thought never be absent from your spirit.
–Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)

Summit of happiness…

The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.
–Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

Humility easily accepts grace…

Nothing is more opposed to God than pride, for self-deification is concealed in it, its own nothingness or sin. Thus more than anything humility is acceptable to God, which considers itself nothing, and attributes all goodness, honor, and glory to God alone. Pride does not accept grace, because it is full of itself, while humility easily accepts grace, because it is free from itself, and from all that is created. God creates out of nothing. As long as we think that we can offer something of ourselves, He does not begin His work in us.
–Saint Philaret of Moscow (1782-1867)

Being saved or lost…

You know that there is no middle course, and that it is a question of being saved or lost for all eternity. It depends on us: either we may choose to love God eternally with the Saints in Heaven after we have done violence to self here below by mortifying and crucifying ourselves as they did, or else renounce their happiness by giving to nature all for which it craves.
–Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)

God is always with you…

Always have the fear of God in your heart, and remember that God is always with you, everywhere, whether you are walking or sitting.
–Saint Gennadius of Constantinople (Fifth Century)

The greatest renewal…

IF
all the sleeping folks will wake up, and
all the lukewarm folks will fire up, and
all the disgruntled folks will sweeten up, and
all the discouraged folks will cheer up, and
all the depressed folks will look up, and
all the estranged folks will make up, and
all the gossiping folks will shut up, and
all the dry bones will shake up, and
all the true soldiers will stand up, and
all the church members will pray up, and
if the Savior of all will be lifted up,
then we can have the greatest renewal
this world has ever known.
–Richard Cushing (1895-1970)

Cheerfulness is…

Cheerfulness consists in not regarding things as our own, but as entrusted to us by God for the benefit of our fellow servants. It consists in scattering them abroad generously with joy and magnanimity, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
–Saint Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022)

If you remain constant in faith…

If then you remain constant in faith in the face of trial, the Lord will give you peace and rest for a time in this world, and for ever in the next.
–Saint Jerome Emiliana (1481-1537)

God is infinite and…

God is infinite and without end, but the soul’s desire is an abyss which cannot be filled except by a Good which is infinite; and the more ardently the soul longeth after God, the more she wills to long after him; for God is a Good without drawback, and a well of living water without bottom, and the soul is made in the image of God, and therefore it is created to know and love God.
–Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)

Sorrow can be…

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

There is still time…

There is still
time for endurance,
time for patience,
time for healing,
time for change.
Have you slipped? Rise up.
Have you sinned? Cease.
Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside.
— Saint Basil (329-379)

Renouncing your will…

But above all preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the divine heart. In this way his will can carry out for us whatever contributes to his glory, and we will be happy to be his subjects and to trust entirely in him.
–Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647- 1690)

Make use of tradition…

It is needful also to make use of tradition, for not everything can be gotten from sacred Scripture. The holy apostles handed down some things in the scriptures, other things in tradition.
–Saint Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 315-403)

Do the Will of God…

If you are faithful to do the Will of God in time, yours shall be accomplished throughout eternity.
–Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647- 1690)

God is truly worshipped…

God is truly worshiped when someone actually gives full attention to God with feelings of awe, love, devotion, respect, and wonder. Such a moment is genuine worship.
–Guigo I (c. 1083-1136)

Be humble in this life…

Be humble in this life, that God may raise you up in the next. Be truly moderate and do not punish or condemn anyone immoderately. Be gentle so that you may never oppose justice. Be honorable so that you may never voluntarily bring disgrace upon anyone. Be chaste so that you may avoid all the foulness of lust like the pangs of death.
–Saint Stephen of Hungary (967-1038)

Method of prayer…

The great method of prayer is to have none. If in going to prayer one can form in oneself a pure capacity for receiving the spirit of God, that will suffice for all method.
–Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)

Govern your passions…

Those who govern their passions are masters of the world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them.
–Saint Dominic (1170-1221)

Seven Modern Deadly Sins…

Seven Modern Deadly Sins

Politics without principles
Pleasures without conscience
Wealth without work
Knowledge without character
Industry without morality
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice.

–Frederic Donaldson (1860-1953)

We can believe…

We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.
–Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Seven Deadly Sins…

Seven Deadly Sins

Pride
Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Anger
Envy

–Traditional

For the greater glory of God…

I am not capable of doing big things, but I want to do everything, even the smallest things, for the greater glory of God.
–Saint Dominic Savio (1842-1857)

Never confuse error…

One must never confuse error and the person who errs.
–Saint John XXIII (1881 – 1963)

Divine Love…

That One Thing which is needful for all [cf. Lk 11:42] is Divine Love. The better part is an inward life, with loving adherence to God… But there are some foolish people who would be so inward that they would neither do anything nor serve anyone, even in the things of which their neighbor has need. Behold, these are neither hidden friends nor faithful servants of God.
–Blessed Jan van Ruusbroec (1293–1381)

Honor each other…

With patience and compassion let the man support the frailty of the woman, and the woman support the frailties of the man. Do not disdain each other; instead, vie in showing the greater honor to each other. Bitter and contentious words should never arise between you; rather, reprove each other in the spirit of gentleness.
–Elizabeth of Schönau (1129-1165)

Happiness is found…

Happiness is to be found only in the home where God is loved and honored, where each one loves and helps, and cares for the others.
–Saint Theophane Venard (1829-1861)

War is an iniquity…

For a Christian who believes in Jesus and his Gospel, war is an iniquity and a contradiction.
–Saint John XXIII (1881 – 1963)

Anger is overcome…

Anger is overcome by mildness, rage is extinguished by gentleness, cruelty is subverted by goodness.
–Saint Peter Chrysologus (c. 380 – c. 450)

The Cross is…

Therefore, the Cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the Cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation – very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The Cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God’s suffering and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered.
–Saint Andrew of Crete (Seventh and Eighth Century)

Almsgiving, fasting, and prayer…

Almsgiving heals the irascible part of the soul; fasting extinguishes the concupisence; and prayer purifies the mind and prepares it for the contemplation of reality.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

From the moment you start praying…

From the moment you start praying, raise your heart upward and turn your eyes downward. Come to focus in your innermost self and there pray in secret to your Heavenly Father.
–Saint Aphrahat the Persian (270-345)

Cling to God with open heart…

We cannot acquire pure prayer unless we cling to God with an open heart, since it is God alone who gives the gift of prayer to one who prays, and God who teaches us mystical knowledge.
–Saint Theodoros the Ascetic (Seventh Century)

The mind is fixed on God…

There are three kinds of attention that can be brought to vocal prayer: one which attends to the words, lest we say them wrong; another which attends to the sense of the words; and a third which attends to the end of the prayer, namely, God, and to the thing we are praying for. This last kind of attention is most necessary, and even uneducated people are capable of it. Moreover, this attention, whereby the mind is fixed on God, is sometimes so strong that the mind forgets everything else.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Sometimes I consider…

Sometimes I consider myself there, as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue: presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to make His perfect image in my soul, and render me entirely like Himself.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Pray night and day…

Pray night and day. Pray when you are happy, and pray when you are sad.
–Saint Theodoros the Ascetic (Seventh Century)

Nothing is past…

Nothing is past, present or future, or even eternal; all is present in this deliriously wonderful sea. When one returns to and in himself, he sees and feels himself to be less than the tiniest jot.
–Blessed John of Saint Samson (1571-1636)

Hope is some extraordinary…

Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them.
–Vincent McNabb (1868-1943)

Silence opens…

Silence opens the inner fount from which the word arises.
–Roman Guardini (1885-1968)

To explain the Absolute…

When challenged to explain the Absolute
I shall fall still, I shall be silent as a mute.
–Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)

Make a manger…

If in your heart you make
a manger for Love’s birth,
Then God will once again
become a child on earth.
–Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)

True prayer requires…

True prayer requires no word, no chant
no gesture, no sound.
It is communion, calm and still
with our own Ground.
–Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)

Give yourselves to God who…

Do not think that you will be set free by things which are harmful. You do not know what is good for you in the way that God does. Therefore, give yourselves to him who holds the key to the universe. For even if you ask nothing but merely groan under the impulse of the grace that dwells in you, he handles your affairs wisely and will ensure that you get what you need.
–Saint Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393-457)

Let no one despair of being…

Let no one despair of being saved. For if the diseases of wickedness that oppress us are great, there is an almighty mighty doctor coming who can deliver us. But all of us should remember that the same Son of God who comes in meekness to save us will come again in severity to judge us.
–Venerable Bede (c. 673-735)

An encounter with…

We are not heading for an eternal void and an eternal silence but we are on our way to an encounter, an encounter with Him who created us and loves us more than mother and father.
–Raniero Cantalamessa (1936-

God loves us…

God wills only our good; God loves us more than anybody else can or does love us.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

Anyone who loves God in the…

Anyone who loves God in the depths of his heart has already been loved by God. In fact, the measure of a man’s love for God depends upon how deeply aware he is of God’s love for him. When this awareness is keen it makes whoever possesses it long to be enlightened by the divine light, and this longing is so intense that it seems to penetrate his very bones. He loses all consciousness of himself and is entirely transformed by the love of God.
–Saint Diadochus of Photike (c. 400 – c. 486)

Abandon self-love…

Whoever is in love with himself is unable to love God. The man who loves God is the one who abandons his self-love for the sake of the immeasurable blessings of divine love. Such a man never seeks his own glory but only the glory of God.
–Saint Diadochus of Photike (c. 400 – c. 486)

The desire to pray…

The desire to pray is already an effect of prayer.
–René Voillaume (1905–2003)

Brazenly asking God…

If we go on crying out and do not receive any answer, this is for our advantage: instead of losing heart and growing weary, we should go on brazenly asking God, for it is certain that “at an acceptable time” and at the appropriate hour he will answer us and deliver us.
–Sahdona (b. 600-649)

Faith causes and delivers…

Faith causes the barren to sprout forth. It delivers from the sword. It raises up from the pit. It enriches the poor. It releases the captives. It delivers the persecuted. It brings down the fire. It divides the sea. It cleaves the rock, and gives to the thirsty water to drink. It satisfies the hungry It raises the dead, and brings them up from Sheol. It stills the billows. It heals the sick. It conquers hosts. It overthrows walls. It stops the mouths of lions and quenches the flame of fire. It humiliates the proud and brings the humble to honor. All these mighty works are wrought by faith.
–Saint Aphrahat (c. 270–c. 345)

Walk as Jesus walked…

One who claims to abide in Christ ought to walk as he walked. Would you follow Christ? Then be humble as he was humble. Do not scorn his lowliness if you want to reach his exaltation. Human sin made the road rough. Christ’s resurrection leveled it. By passing over it himself he transformed the narrowest of tracks into a royal highway way Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and charity. Everyone wants to get to the top- well, the first step to take is humility. Why take strides that are too big for you-do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with the first step, humility, and you will already be climbing.
–Saint Caesarius of Arles (460-542)

We are called to renounce…

When the Lord tells us in the Gospel that anyone who wants to be his follower must renounce himself, the injunction seems harsh; we think he is imposing posing a burden on us. But an order is no burden when it is given by one who helps in carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ if not where he has already gone? We know that he has risen and ascended cended into heaven; there, then, we must follow him. There is no cause for despair-by ourselves we can do nothing, but we have Christ’s promise.
–Saint Caesarius of Arles (460-542)

Anxiety proceeds from…

Anxiety proceeds from an inordinate desire to be freed from present evil or to acquire a hoped for good. Yet there is nothing that tends more to increase evil and prevent enjoyment of good that to be disturbed and anxious. Birds stay caught in nets and traps because when they find themselves ensnared they flutter about wildly trying to escape and in so doing entangle themselves all the more.Whenever you urgently desire to escape from a certain evil or obtain a certain good you must be especially careful both to put your mind at rest and in peace and to have a calm judgment and will. Then try gently and meekly to accomplish your desire,taking in regular order the most convenient means.
–Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

What God has joined together…

‘What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.’ What does that mean? God, creating the human race, took flesh out of flesh and joined them in a union, and thus established that this connection must not hastily be broken. How? Because in the union of man and woman flesh will be united to flesh and blood to blood by a legal ceremony, so they cannot be divided from each other in foolish haste.
–Saint Hildegarde of Bingen (1098-1179)

Seek Jesus Christ…

Seek Jesus Christ with faith and love. Do not forget that He gave His life on the Cross for our sakes, to deliver us from sin and eternal torment, and to dwell in our hearts, that we might have great joy. Do not forget, we have all been bought with the price of His blood, and we should belong to Him, as to our Redeemer.
–Saint John of Kronstadt (1829-1908)

Always ask the help of Christ…

You cannot conquer any passion, any sin without gracious help; therefore, always ask the help of Christ, your Savior. It was for this that He came into the world, for this that He suffered, died, and rose from the dead, in order to help us in everything, to save us from sin, and from the violence of the passions, to cleanse us from our sins, to bestow upon us power in Holy Spirit to do good works, to enlighten us, to strengthen us, to give us peace. You ask how you can save yourself when sin stands at every step, and you sin at every moment? There is a simple answer to this: at every step, at every moment, call upon the Savior, remember the Savior, and you will save yourself and others.
–Saint John of Kronstadt (1829-1908)

The power of prayer…

Great is the power of prayer – a queen, as one might say, having free access always to the King, and able to obtain whatever she asks. In order to be heard, it is not necessary to read from a book a beautiful form of prayer adapted to the circumstances; if it were so, how greatly to be pitied should I be!
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

I say very simply to God…

Each prayer is more beautiful than the others. I cannot recite them all and not knowing which to choose, I do like children who do not know how to read, I say very simply to God what I wish to say, without composing beautiful sentences, and he always understands me.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

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