Quotes

God does not brood over…

It is only we who brood over our sins. God does not brood over them, God dumps them at the bottom of the sea.
–Saint Benedict (480-547)

[Jesus] is the Bread sown in the virgin, leavened in the Flesh, molded in His Passion, baked in the furnace of the Sepulchre, placed in the Churches, and set upon the Altars, which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful.
–Saint Peter Chrysologus (c. 380-450)

Silence is the…

Silence is the beginning of purifying the soul.
–Saint Basil the Great (330-379)

Being alone with God’s Word…

Being alone with God’s Word is a dangerous matter. Of course, you can always find ways to defend yourself against it: Take the Bible, lock your door – but then get out ten dictionaries and twenty-five commentaries. Then you can read it just as calmly and coolly as you read newspaper advertising. With this arsenal you can really begin to wonder, ‘Are there not several valid interpretations?’ And what about the prospect of new interpretations? Perhaps there are five interpreters with one opinion and seven with another and two with a strange opinion and three who are wavering or who have no opinion at all. So you calmly conclude, ‘I myself am not absolutely sure about the meaning of this passage. I need more time to form an opinion.’ Good Lord! What a tragic misuse of scholarship that it makes it so easy for people to deceive themselves!”
— Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Penance, penance…

Our Holy Mother Church calls this Season before Easter a ‘penitential season.’ One of the main messages of Our Lady of Lourdes was: ‘Penance, penance, penance.’ This means: we must try to make up for our sins. With every sin there is a punishment as part of justice (break a window, fix it; sin, do penance); and not everyone has fulfilled this (including possibly ourselves!). So: it is a heroic act of mercy; love and wisdom to help the world to help atone for its sins.
— Fr. John Lombardi (1960-

Spirit of penitence…

Someone who is elated with wine speaks the truth on all subjects, even without meaning to. In the same way, anyone who is inebriated with the spirit of penitence will never be able to tell lies.
–Saint John Climacus (c. 525-606)

A perennial Pentecost…

The Church needs a perennial Pentecost. She needs fire in her heart, words on her lips, prophecy in her outlook.
–Blessed Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)

The Catholic Church…

The Catholic, or universal, Church gets her name from the fact that she is scattered through the whole world from the one end of the earth to the other, and also because she teaches universally and without omission all the doctrines which are to be made known to mankind, whether concerned with visible or invisible things, with heavenly or earthly things. Then again because she teaches one way of worship to all men, nobles or commoners, learned or simple; finally because she universally cures and heals every sort of sin which is committed by soul and body. Moreover there is in her every kind of virtue in words and deeds and spiritual gifts of every sort.
–Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386)

Happiness is found…

How mistaken are those people who seek happiness outside of themselves, in foreign lands and journeys, in riches and glory, in great possessions and pleasures, in diversions and vain things, which have a bitter end! In the same thing to construct the tower of happiness outside of ourselves as it is to build a house in a place that is consistently shaken by earthquakes. Happiness is found within ourselves, and blessed is the man who has understood this. Happiness is a pure heart, for such a heart becomes the throne of God.
–Saint Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920)

Renunciations we need to make…

We must now speak of the renunciations, of which tradition and the authority of Holy Scripture show us three, and which every one of us ought with the utmost zeal to make complete: The first is that by which as far as the body is concerned we make light of all the wealth and goods of this world; The second, that by which we reject the fashions and vices and former affections of soul and flesh; The third, that by which we detach our soul from all present and visible things, and contemplate only things to come, and set our heart on what is invisible.
–Saint John Cassian (c. 360-435)

To be dead with Christ…

To be dead with Christ, is to hate and turn from sin; and to live with Him, is to have our hearts and minds turned towards God and Heaven.
–Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Gaze at the Shepherd…

She does not look at the paths on which she is walking; she simply gazes at the Shepherd who is leading her.
–Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)

Have God as the center…

If you have God as the center of all your action, then you will reach the goal.
–Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925)

An Easter homily…

Do you honor God? Do you love him

—here’s the very feast for your pleasure.

Are you his servant, knowing his wishes?

—be glad with your Master, share his rejoicing.

Are you worn down with the labor of fasting?

—now is the time of your payment.

Have you been working since early morning?

—now you will be paid what is fair.

Have you been here since the third hour?

—you can be thankful, you will be pleased.

If you came at the sixth hour,

you may approach without fearing:

you will suffer no loss.

Did you linger till the ninth hour?

—come forward without hesitation.

What though you came at the eleventh hour?

—have no fear; it was not too late.

God is a generous Sovereign,

treating the last to come as he treats the first arrival.

He allows all his workmen to rest—

those who began at the eleventh hour,

those who have worked from the first.

He is kind to the late-comer

and sees to the needs of the early,

gives to the one and gives to the other:

honors the deed and praises the motive.

Join, then, all of you, join in our Master’s rejoicing.

You who were the first to come, you who came after,

come and collect now your wages.

Rich men and poor men, sing and dance together.

You that are hard on yourselves, you that are easy,

honor this day.

You that have fasted and you that have not,

make merry today.

The meal is ready: come and enjoy it.

The calf is a fat one: you will not go hungry away.

There’s kindness for all to partake of and kindness to spare.

Away with pleading of poverty:

the kingdom belongs to us all.

Away with bewailing of failings:

forgiveness has come from the grave.

Away with your fears of dying:

the death of our Savior has freed us from fear.

Death played the master: he has mastered death.

The world below had scarcely known him in the flesh

when he rose and left it plunged in bitter mourning.

Isaias knew it would be so.

The world of shadows mourned, he cried, when it met you,

mourned at its bringing low, wept at its deluding.

The shadows seized a body and found it was God;

they reached for Earth and what they held was Heaven;

they took what they could see: it was what no one sees.

Where is death’s goad? Where is the shadows’ victory?

Christ is risen: the world below is in ruins.

Christ is risen: the spirits of evil are fallen.

Christ is risen: the angels of God are rejoicing.

Christ is risen: the tombs are void of their dead.

Christ has indeed arisen from the dead,

the first of the sleepers.

Glory and power are his for ever and ever. Amen.

–Saint Hippolytus (170-236)

We have life in us when…

When therefore we eat the holy flesh of Christ, the Savior of us all, and drink His precious blood, we have life in us, being made as it were, one with Him, and abiding in Him, and possessing Him also in us.
–Saint Cyril of Alexandria (378-444)

The most blessed sacrament…

Behold the source of every good, Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament, who says “If any man thirst, let him come to me.” (John 2:27) Oh, what torrents of grace have the saints drawn from the fountain of the Most Blessed Sacrament!
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

Speak about prayer and faith…

If you want with a few words to benefit one who is eager to learn, speak to him about prayer, right faith, and the patient acceptance of what comes. For all else that is good is found through these.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)

Take a long view…

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the masterbuilder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

–Ken Untener (1937-2004)

It is no small consolation…

It is no small consolation in this life to have someone to whom you can be united in the intimate embrace of the most sacred love; in whom your spirit can rest; to whom you can pour out your soul; in whose delightful company, as in a sweet consoling song, you can take comfort in the midst of sadness; in whose most welcome, friendly bosom you can find peace in so many worldly setbacks; to whose loving heart you can open, as freely as you would to yourself, your innermost thoughts.
— Saint Aelred of Rievaulx 1110-1167)

He became what…

He became what we are that He might make us what He is.
–Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 296-373)

Silence is a good thing…

Silence at the appropriate time is a good thing, being nothing other than the mother of wisest thoughts.
— Diadochus (Fourth Century)

All spiritual growth…

All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection. By reading we learn what we did not know; by reflection we retain what we have learned.
–Saint Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636)

Christ made my soul…

Christ made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him whom the angels serve.
— Saint Agnes (c. 291 – c. 304)

Charity is that…

Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved.
— Saint Robert Bellermine (1542-1621)

The school of Christ…

The school of Christ is the school of charity. On the last day, when the general examination takes place, there will be no question at all on the text of Aristotle, the aphorisms of Hippocrates, or the paragraphs of Justinian. Charity will be the whole syllabus.
— Saint Robert Bellermine (1542-1621)

When someone steals…

When someone steals another’s clothes we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the person who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the person who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.

–Saint Basil the Great (329-379)

Let your hands be open…

Do not let your hands be open to gather in; let them rather be open to give.

— Abba Chomai (A Desert Father)

What sort of people are we…

What sort of people are we if we want to receive, when God offers, but when God asks, we refuse to give? For when a poor man hungers, it is Christ who suffers want, as he himself has said: “I was hungry and you gave me no food.” Do not despise the misery of the poor if you want a sure hope of forgiveness for your sins. Christ is hungry now, brethren, in all the poor. He consents to suffer hunger and thirst – and whatever he receives on earth he will give back in heaven.

–Saint Caesarius of Arles (460-542)

Endure gratefully when tested…

When tested by some trial you should try to find out not why or through whom it came, but only how to endure it gratefully, without distress or rancor….If it is not easy to find anyone conforming to God’s will who has not been put to the test, we ought to thank God for everything that happens to us.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)

How can patience be…

How can your patience be rewarded if no adversity test it? How can you be a friend of Christ if you are not willing to suffer any hardship? Suffer with Christ and for Christ if you wish to reign with Him.
–Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)

Whatever the Lord…

Whatever the Lord sends us, He does only for the benefit and salvation of our soul. It may be that, in the beginning, it doesn’t seem to bring us any benefit, but later we’ll realize that what God has allowed us to go through has been better for us than what we ourselves would have wanted to happen.
–Saint Nil Sorski (c.1453-1508)

God has made…

God has made you in his image that you might in your person make the invisible Creator present on earth.

–Saint Peter Chrysologus (c. 380 – c. 450)

Remember Christian who…

Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God.

–Saint Leo the Great (c. 400-461)

God sometimes permits…

God, to procure His glory, sometimes permits that we should be dishonored and persecuted without reason. He wishes thereby to render us conformable to His Son, who was calumniated and treated as a seducer, as an ambitious man, and as one possessed.

–Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)

Into God’s arms…

Throw yourself into God’s arms. He will carry you when the road is rough.

–Saint John Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719)

God is waiting for you…

That is what He wants to do in you: at every moment, He wants you to go out of yourself, to leave all preoccupations, in order to withdraw into the solitude He has chosen for Himself in the depths of your heart. He is always there, even though you don’t feel it; He is waiting for you.
–Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880–1906)

Take an accounting…

Let every person take an accounting of the day’s and night’s doings, and if one has sinned, then one ought to stop sinning, and if one has not, then there should be no boasting of it . . . Let this observation be a safeguard against sinning: let us note and write down our actions and impulses of the soul as though we were to report them to each other.
–Saint Anthony of Egypt (c. 251-356)

Faith is a gift and a virtue…

Faith is at the same time a gift and a virtue. It is a gift of God, in so far as it is a light which God infuses into the soul, and it is also a virtue in so far as it is exercised by the soul. Hence faith is given us not only to serve as a rule of belief, but also of action.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

Each of us was once crooked…

Each one of us was once crooked; if we are no longer so, it is entirely due to the grace of Christ. Through his coming to our souls all our crooked ways have been straightened out.
–Origen (c. 184- c. 254)

The Spirit had restored me…

When I had drunk the spirit from Heaven, and the second birth had restored me so as to make me a new person, then immediately in a marvelous manner doubts began to be resolved, closed doors to be opened, dark places to be light; what before was difficult now seemed easy.
–Saint Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258)

The greater perfection…

The greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent it is upon divine grace.

–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

Grace and gratitude…

Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Gratitude evokes grace like the voice and echo. Gratitude follows grace as thunder follows lightning.

–Karl Barth (1886 – 1968)

The Holy Spirit…

The Holy Spirit is holiness, love, a kiss, a gift, union, consummation, and perfection.

–Emil Merch (1890-1940)

If you do not hope…

If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.

–Saint Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215)

Do not boast of good…

Those who fear the Lord do not boast of their good observance. They consider that everything good in them comes not from themselves but from the Lord. They glorify him who is acting in them, saying with the prophet: ‘Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name give the glory.’

— Saint Benedict (480-547)

Face suffering…

Let us strive to face suffering with Christian courage. Then all difficulties will vanish and pain itself will become transformed into joy.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Time for confession….

The present time is the time for confession. Confess what you have done, whether by words or by actions, whether by day or by night. If you confess at the acceptable time, you will receive the heavenly treasure on the Day of Salvation.

–Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386)

Death is but a passage…

Death is no longer an irreversible tragedy but a passage from this temporary world of vanity and sorrows to the world of bright and joyous life.
–Saint Innocent of Alaska (1797-1879)

No one can serve God…

No one can serve God without rising above every worldly preoccupation.
–Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395)

Focus on the eternal…

Focus on the eternal. Just as a basic concern is to be careful of anything that might be harmful to our physical health, so our spiritual concern should watch out for anything that might harm our spiritual life and the work of faith and salvation. Therefore, carefully and attentively assess your inner impulses: are they from God or from the spirit of evil?
–Saint John Maximovich (1896-1966)

Listen to your conscience…

If you want spiritual health, listen to your conscience, do all it tells you, and you will benefit. God and our conscience know our secrets. Let them correct us.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)

Knowledge of what is good…

Knowledge of what is good for him has been given to everyone by God; but self-indulgence leads to negligence, and negligence to forgetfulness.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)

This is called conscience…

When God created man He sowed in him something divine, a certain thought which has in itself, like a spark, both light and warmth; a thought which enlightens the mind and indicates to it what is good and what is evil—this is called conscience, and it is a natural law.
–Saint Dorotheus of Gaza (Sixth Century)

In the image of God…

All of us who are human beings are in the image of God. But to be in his likeness belongs only to those who by great love have attached their freedom to God.

–Saint Diadochus of Photike (c. 400 – c. 486)

God built heaven and earth…

God built heaven and earth to be the dwelling place of the human race. But He also built the human body and soul to make them His own abode, so that He might dwell therein and rest there as in a well kept house. . . In their houses, human beings carefully accumulate their wealth. The Lord in His house, our soul and body, amasses and stores up the heavenly riches of the Spirit.

–Pseudo-Macarius (Fifth Century)

The Christian is one who…

The Christian is one who imitates Christ in thought, word and deed, as far as is possible for human beings, believing rightly and blamelessly in the Holy Trinity.
–Saint John Climacus (c. 525-606)

Unite simplicity with prudence…

Endeavor to unite to the simplicity of children the prudence of adults.

–Saint Pio (1887-1968)

Open our hearts by prayer…

Such is our dependence upon God that we are obliged not only to do everything for His sake, but also to seek from Him the very power. This happy necessity of having recourse to Him in all our wants, instead of being grievous to us, should be our greatest consolation. What a happiness is it that we are allowed to speak to Him with confidence; to open our hearts and hold familiar conversation with him, by prayer! God Himself invites us to it.
–François Fénelon (1651-1715)

Devote yourself in prayer…

The more you devote yourself in prayer the more you will do well in your work.
–Saint John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719)

Be eager to talk with Jesus…

Show the great love you have for Jesus by being eager to talk with him in prayer.
–Saint John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719)

The treasure of grace is…

We should have frequent recourse to prayer, and persevere a long time in it. God wishes to be solicited. He is not weary of hearing us. The treasure of His graces is infinite. We can do nothing more pleasing to God than to beg incessantly that He bestow them upon us.
–Saint John Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719)

A heart dedicated to God…

Each of you should strive again and again to have a heart dedicated to God, discerning in its thoughts, wary in temptation, free of anger, separated from judgments, pining with longing for eternity, wounded with love, shining in intellect, careful in works, raised up by contemplation, concerned about the good, cut to pieces by sorrow for sin, holy in its manner of life, guarded by fear, adorned with grace.
–Blessed Humbert of Romans (c.1194-1277)

O happy heart…

O happy heart which shows itself to be a throne on which God may sit, a chamber in which God may rest, a seal on which the likeness of God is impressed, a cellar filled with God’s own vintage, a book in which God’s memories are written, gold which God moulds to any form.
–Blessed Humbert of Romans (c.1194-1277)

We call friends…

By the law of charity we are ordered to welcome into the bosom of love not only our friends but also our enemies. But we call friends only those to whom we have no qualm about entrusting our heart and all its contents.
— Saint Aelred of Rievaulx 1110-1167)

Fortitude tells us…

Fortitude tells us to be strong and constant in the service of God, showing a cheerful face in trials, tribulations, weariness and sickness, as in prosperity and joy, and to be thankful to Jesus Christ far the one and the other.
–Saint John of God (1495-1550)

Desire to do the will of God…

If anyone truly desires to do the will of God with all their heart, God will never abandon them but will constantly guide them along the paths of his will. If someone really sets their heart on the will of God, God will find even a little child to illuminate so as to communicate his will to that person. But if a person does not truly desire the will of God, even if they were to go to a prophet, God would put it into the heart of that prophet to give a response comparable to the deceit that was in the seeker’s heart.
–Saint Dorotheus of Gaza (Sixth Century)

Guard your heart…

Do your utmost to guard your heart, for out of it comes life.
–Walter Hilton (1340-1396)

The way to free…

When you see a condemned man on his way to the gallows, it moves you to pity. If you could do something to free him, you would do it. Well, brothers and sisters, when I see a person in mortal sin, I see someone drawing nearer with every step to the gallows of hell. And seeing him in this unhappy state, I happen to know the way to free him: that he be converted to God, ask God’s pardon, and make a good confession. Woe betide me if he does not.
— Saint Anthony Claret (1807-1870)

Wicked companions…

Nothing can be more dangerous than keeping wicked companions. They communicate the infection of their vices to all who associate with them.
–Saint John Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719)

Turn to Jesus…

Let us turn to Jesus! He alone is the way that leads to eternal happiness, the truth who satisfies the deepest longings of every heart, and the life who brings ever new joy and hope, to us and to our world.
— Pope Benedict XVI (1927-

Blessed stillness gives birth…

Blessed stillness gives birth to blessed children: self-control, love and pure prayer.
— Saint Thalassios the Libyan (6th-7th Centuries)

The conscientious reader…

The conscientious reader will be more concerned to carry out what he has read than merely to acquire knowledge of it. In reading we aim at knowing, but we must put into practice what we have learned in our course of study.
–Saint Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636)

Read good books…

Read good and useful books, and abstain from reading those that only gratify curiosity.
— Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)

Maintain a spirit of peace…

Maintain a spirit of peace and you will save a thousand souls.
–Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833)

Do our best…

Whether your specialty is meditation and prayers, or caring for the sick and sweeping the floors in service of Christ, what should it matter? We are to do our best whatever we do.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Only one death, only one life…

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life… If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Resigned to God’s will…

A soul who is really resigned to God’s will does not become attached to any created thing because he sees clearly that all things are nothing except God.
–Blessed Henry Susone (c. 1295-1366)

The best thing…

The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.
–Dorothy Day (1897-1980)

None are so poor…

None are so poor that they have nothing to give and none are so rich that they have nothing to receive.
–Saint John Paul (1920-2005)

Wealth consists not…

Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants.
–Esther de Waal

The victory of the Cross…

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.
–Saint Leo the Great (c. 400-461)

The whole world preaches…

Listen to the sermon preached to you by the flowers, the trees, the shrubs, the sky, and the whole world. Notice how they preach to you a sermon full of love, of praise of God, and how they invite you to glorify the sublimity of that sovereign Artist who has given them being.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

Every blade of grass…

Every blade of grass is a blade of grace, a grace note in God’s single Song. Nature is not blind and dumb. Nature is eloquent. Human science is blind and dumb if it does not hear this eloquence.
–Peter Kreeft (1937- )

Get to heaven…

We cannot get to Heaven on a featherbed.
—Saint Thomas More (1478-1535)

Practice self-denial…

Begin to practice self-denial in little things, so that later you will be able to do so in bigger ones.
–Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)

Let the Word of God…

Let the Word of God come; let it enter the church; let it become a consuming fire, that it may burn the hay and stubble, and consume whatever is worldly; there is heavy lead of iniquity in many; let it be molten by divine fire; let the gold and silver vessels be made better, in order that understanding and speech, refined by the heat of suffering, may begin to be more precious.
–Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-397)

As long as a single passion…

As long as a single passion reigns in our hearts, though all the others should have been overcome, the soul will never enjoy peace.
–Saint Joseph Calasanz (1556-1648)

Keep your soul…

Keep your soul at peace, in order to be able to be attentive and very faithful to the inner movement of the Holy Spirit.
–Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868)

A sinful soul…

A sinful soul, full of passions, cannot have peace and rejoice in the Lord, even if it had charge over all earthly riches, even if it ruled over the whole world. If it was suddenly said to such a king, happily feasting and sitting on his throne, “King, now you will die,” his soul would be troubled and he would tremble with fear, and he would see his powerlessness. But how many beggars there are, whose only wealth is love for God, and who, if you said to them, “You will die now,” would answer peacefully, “Let God’s will be done. Glory to the Lord, that He has remembered me and wants to take me to Himself.”
— Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938)

Unless the Spirit…

We must realize that the grace of the Holy Spirit is necessary not only for those who teach but also for those who are taught. Unless the Spirit is present in the heart of the listener, the teacher is wasting his breath. Unless there is a teacher within us, the teacher without works in a vacuum.
–Rabanus Maurus (c.780-856)

No limit to charity…

If God is love, charity should know no limit, for God cannot be confined.
–Saint Leo the Great (c. 400-461)

Remember to consider…

Remember to consider only Christ in the person of the poor. Serve them always as you would serve Christ himself.
–Saint Joan Antide-Thouret (1765-1826)

Everybody is your neighbor…

Do not discriminate among the sick. Give aid to all without exception; your vocation obliges you not to exclude anyone, for everybody is your neighbor.
–Blessed Angela Truszkowska (1825-1899)

Worship in spirit…

The Lord died in those days, that we should no longer do the deeds of death. He gave His life, that we might preserve our own from the snares of the devil. And, what is most wonderful, the Word became flesh, that we should no longer live in the flesh, but in spirit should worship God, who is Spirit.
–Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 296-373)

Open the doors of the heart…

Near as the body is to the soul, the Lord is nearer, to come and open the locked doors of the heart, and to bestow on us the riches of heaven.
–Saint Macarius the Great (c. 300-391)

The marriage bed…

Let there be one home, one table, a shared wealth, one bed, and one soul for you, and make room for the fear of the Lord in your midst. Fear of the Lord is the ornament of the marriage bed; the marriage bed that is devoid of it will be judged cursed and unclean by the Lord.
–Elizabeth of Schönau (1129-1165)

God cares not…

God cares not for your works, when He is deprived of your heart and love.
–Johannes Tauler OP (1300–1361)

Turn away from all…

Turn away from all that you will so soon be forced to leave; set not your heart on anything so transitory.
–Saint John of Ávila (1500-1569)

Persevere in prayer…

Do not be upset if you do not immediately receive what you asked God to give you. The Lord wants to give you greater things than you have even thought to pray for – to teach you to persevere in prayer.

–Evagrius Ponticus (345-399)

Acceptable prayer is…

How lovely is prayer, and how radiant are its works. Prayer is acceptable to God when it goes with good deeds, and it is heard when it rises out of a spirit of forgiveness. Prayer is always answered when it is pure and sincere. Prayer is powerful when it is suffused with God’s vigor.
–Saint Aphrahat the Persian (270-345)

Words of Wisdom & Encouragement

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Don't Be Shy