Quotes

Living day to day…

It is the living from day to day, taking no thought for the morrow, seeing Christ in all who come to us, and trying literally to follow the Gospel that resulted in this work.
–Dorothy Day (1897-1980)

For he [Christ] said that a glass of water given to a beggar was given to him. He had Heaven hinge on the way we act toward him in his disguise of commonplace, frail, ordinary humanity. Did you give me food when I was hungry? Did you give me to drink when I was thirsty? Did you give me clothes when my own were rags? Did you come to see me when I was sick, or in prison or in trouble? And to those who say, aghast, that they never had a chance to do such a thing, that they lived two thousand years too late, he will say again what they had the chance of knowing all their lives, that if these things were done for the very least of his brethren they were done to him.
–Dorothy Day (1897-1980)

We have only today…

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

Must be time…

For a stalk to grow or a flower to open there must be time that cannot be forced; nine months must go by for the birth of a human child; to write a book or compose music often years must be dedicated to patient research. To find the mystery there must be patience, interior purification, silence, waiting.
–Saint John Paul (1920-2005)

Worry is a spiritual hangover…

We may not think of worry as a “spiritual hangover” but it is. Worry is the result of a lack of trust in God’s care and providence.
–Mother Angelica (1923-2016)

Dryness leads us…

Dryness leads us gently from vocal prayer, where we learn to speak to God; to Meditation, where we think of God; to Contemplation, where our heart merely gazes upon Him with a love too deep for words.
–Mother Angelica (1923-2016)

Commune with God…

When we desire to commune with God to strengthen our souls for combat in the battles of life, we can close our eyes. When we have done that, we have closed the “doors” of our senses. We have for a few moments closed out the world around us. Now..it is dark, and if we are quiet and become aware of this silence in our souls, we suddenly realize He is there.
–Mother Angelica (1923-2016)

Harboring resentment…

Our minds, like broken records, repeat, rehearse, rehash, and relive the hurts, the angry moments, and the disappointments. If this attitude continues for days, and days turn into years, we can be sure we are indulging in a bad attitude. The luxury of harboring a resentment has cost us dearly, for we are experiencing a “spiritual hangover.” We are allowing something that upset our souls to hang over for months or years and destroy us.
–Mother Angelica (1923-2016)

The Church is heir…

The Church is heir to a long tradition which, passed down from generation to generation, is further enriched by the experience of each individual. Your personal history has a place within the greater history of the Church.
–Pope Francis (1936-

The music of the young…

The music of the young should be listened to with the heart and not with the ears.
–Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)

For us to repent…

Although He is greatly upset by our offenses, God, in His infinite goodness, puts up with us, spreads a veil over our sins, and waits for us to repent.
–Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)

A school without music…

A school without music is a school without a soul, for music aids education. It is a most effective means to obtain discipline, morality, and help good feeling.
–Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)

The secret of being…

The secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for.
–Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

Without love…

Without love, deeds, however brilliant, count as nothing.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

Suffering passes…

Suffering passes; to have suffered willingly remains eternally.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

The only happiness…

The only happiness here below is to strive to be always content with what Jesus gives us.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

The value of life…

The value of our life does not depend on the place we occupy. It depends on the way we occupy that place.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

What is mysticism?

So the beginning of an answer to the question, ‘What is mysticism?’ must be this: mysticism is the passionate longing of the soul for God, the unseen reality, loved, sought, and adored in himself for himself alone.
–Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)

The mystics are…

The mystics — to give them their short, familiar name — are men and women who insist that they know for certain the presence and activity of that which they call the Love of God. They are conscious of that Fact which is there for all, and which is the true subject-matter of religion; but of which the average person remains either unconscious or faintly and occasionally aware.
–Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)

Life itself…

Life itself is a haphazard, untidy, messy affair.
–Dorothy Day (1897-1980)

Every happening…

Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message.
–Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990)

The smallest things…

Pure love… knows that only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest things out of great love – love, and always love.
–Saint Faustina (1905-1938)

Unifying element to…

Is your life merely a continuous chain of events with time for sleeping, for rising, for eating, for study, for work, for relaxation, watching television, or reading newspapers? If there is not unifying element to your life, it will be meaningless. That element is the love of God. With it your life will change and all your actions will testify to God’s presence within you.
–Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuân (1928-2002)

The word mystic…

Perhaps I should clarify the word mystic. By mystic I mean any conscious union of God with humans, initiated and sustained by God; it is an experience which we cannot make, earn, or be responsible for. You cannot initiate or sustain it yourself.
–Armand M. Nigro, S.J. (1928-

Good opinion of…

Is it not excessively ridiculous to seek the good opinion of those whom you would never wish to be like?
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

Form good resolutions…

When we once begin to form good resolutions, God gives us every opportunity of carrying them out.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

Kingdom of heaven…

They seek not beyond what is necessary, they admire not the beauty of the body, they are not grieved at the loss of worldly wealth, therefore does the Savior say that theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

Are you angry?

Are you angry? Be angry at your sins, beat your soul, afflict your conscience, but strict in judgement and a terrible punisher of your own sins. This is the benefit of anger, wherefore God placed it in us.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

When we teach children…

When we teach children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their fellow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

Sign of the Cross…

When, then, you make the sign of the cross on the forehead, arm yourself with a saintly boldness, and reinstall your soul in its old liberty; for you are not ignorant that the cross is a prize beyond all price. Consider what is the price given for your ransom, and you will never more be slave to any man on earth. This reward and ransom is the cross. You should not then, carelessly make the sign on the forehead, but you should impress it on your heart with the love of a fervent faith. Nothing impure will dare to molest you on seeing the weapon, which overcometh all things.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

Come to the altar…

You envy the opportunity of the woman who touched the vestments of Jesus, of the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears, of the women of Galilee who had the happiness of following Him in His pilgrimages, of the Apostles and disciples who conversed with Him familiarly, of the people of the time who listened to the words of grace and salvation which came forth from His lips. You call happy those who saw Him…But, come to the altar and you will see Him, you will touch Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears, you will carry Him within you like Mary Most Holy.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

Do you fast?

Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works.

If you see a poor man, take pity on him.
If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him.
Do not let only your mouth fast,but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all the members of our bodies.
Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice.
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful.
Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.

For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?
— Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)

If you find a God…

If you find a God you understand, You have built yourself an idol.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Puts aside pardon…

He who thinks he lives without sin puts aside not sin, but pardon.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Searching for Him…

Why speed to the heavenly heights and the lowest parts of the earth searching for Him who is with us if we wish to be with Him?
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Does so with consent…

A man may lose the good things of this life against his will; but if he loses the eternal blessings, he does so with his own consent.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Forgiveness is…

Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Enter into your heart…

Enter then into your heart, and if you have faith, you will find Christ there. There He speaks to you. I the preacher, must raise my voice, but He instructs you more effectively in the silence. I speak in sounding words; He speaks within.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Do not complain…

Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. He did not in fact take this privilege from you. As he says, ‘Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers, you did to me.’
–Saint Augustine (354–430)

The older saints get…

The older saints get, the younger their hearts become. Do not let your heart grow old with the passing of time. Love with a love which daily grows ever more intense, ever more new, ever more pure—that is, with the love which God pours into your heart.
–Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuân (1928-2002)

When the devil…

When the devil wants to attack anyone, he first of all looks to see on what side his defenses are weakest or in worst order; then he moves up his artillery to make a breach at that spot.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

Path to virtue…

A man who finds the path to virtue difficult, yet sets out on it bravely to conquer himself, gains double the reward of those whose mild and slothful nature gives them no trouble.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

Whatever graces from God…

Whatever graces from God you find in yourself, look upon as gold and gems that the goodness of God the goldsmith has mercifully created out of wood fit only for the fire.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

Day of judgment…

I will carefully consider how, on the day of judgment, I would wish to have discharged my office or my duty; and the way I would wish to have done it then, I shall do now.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

Will never accomplish…

They who at the outset count up too strictly the difficulties and accidents of an undertaking, or who yield to fear too easily, will never accomplish anything great.
— Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

God wants you…

Don’t be afraid of what God has in store for you – love God very much for He wants to do you a great deal of good.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Some saints excelled…

Some of the saints excelled in one virtue, some in another, and although all have saved their souls, they have done so in very different ways, there being as many different kinds of sanctity as there are saints.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Accept and trust…

When you find yourself upset and disturbed over some situation you have to face, put yourself completely in God’s hands. Accept His good pleasure in advance. If you can, seek advice and wait for the situation to mature. Trust in the Passion of Jesus, who will not allow anything to harm you.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Misery and imperfection..

It is very good for us to know and feel our misery and imperfection, but we must not allow that to discourage us; rather, our awareness of our miseries should make us raise our hearts to God by a holy confidence, the foundation of which ought to be in Him…The throne of God’s mercy is our misery; therefore, the greater our misery the greater should be our confidence in God.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Our free will…

Our free will can stop or obstruct the course of God’s inspiration. When the favorable wind of God’s grace fills the sails of our soul, it is within our power to refuse consent, thereby impeding the effect of that favoring wind. But when our spirit sails along and makes a prosperous voyage, it is not we who cause the wind of inspiration to come to us. We neither fill our sails with it, nor do we give movement to the ship that is our heart: we consent to its movement. It is God’s inspiration, then, which impresses on our free will the gentle, blessed influence whereby it not only causes the will to see the beauty of the good, but also warms it, helps it, reinforces it and moves it so gently that by its agency, the will turns and glides freely toward the good.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Training yourself…

Put your hand to strong things, by training yourself in prayer and meditation, receiving the Sacraments, bringing souls to love God, infusing good inspirations into their hearts and in fine, by performing big, important works according to your vocation. But never forget to practice those little, humble virtues that grow at the foot of the cross: helping the poor, visiting the sick and taking care of your family with all the tasks that go with such things and with all the useful diligence that will not allow you to be idle.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

The same mistake…

Most commit the same mistake with God that they do with their friends: they do all the talking.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

How much God has put up with…

It isn’t hard to put up with others’ foibles when we realize how much God has put up with from us.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

See the most faults…

The one who sees the most faults in his neighbor is the one who has never looked into his own soul.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Two philosophies…

Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Five minutes of prayer…

It is not particularly difficult to find thousands who will spend. hours a day in exercising, but if you ask them to bend their knees to God in five minutes of prayer they protest that it is too long.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Believe in the devil…

Very few people believe in the devil these days, which suits the devil very well. He is always helping to circulate the news of his own death. The essence of God is existence, and He defines Himself as: ‘I am Who am.’ The essence of the devil is the lie, and he defines himself as: ‘I am who am not.’ Satan has very little trouble with those who do not believe in him; they are already on his side.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

I am a prisoner…

So long as there are poor, – I am poor, – So long as there are prisons, – I am a prisoner, – So long as there are sick, – I am weak, – So long as there is ignorance, – I must learn the truth, – So long as there is hate, – I must love, – So long as there is hunger, – I am famished. – Such is the identification Our Divine Lord would have us make with all whom He made in love and for love.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Let us love…

Let us love, since that is all our hearts were made for.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

If you judge people…

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

Listen in silence…

Listen in silence because if your heart is full of other things you cannot hear the voice of God.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

God speaks in silence…

Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen; for God speaks in the silence of the heart.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

If discouraged…

If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

Giving until it hurts…

You must give what will cost you something. This is giving not just what you can live without, but what you can’t live without, or don’t want to live without, something you really like. Then your gift becomes a sacrifice, which will have value before God. This giving until it hurts – this sacrifice – is what I call love in action.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

With dark emptiness…

‘Unless you become a little child.’ I am sure you will understand beautifully everything if you would only “become” a little child in God’s hands. Your longing for God is so deep, and yet He keeps Himself away from you. He must be forcing Himself to do so, because He loves you so much – as to give Jesus to die for you and for me. Christ is longing to be your Food. Surrounded with fullness of living Food, you allow yourself to starve. The personal love Christ has for you is infinite; the small difficulty you have regarding His Church is finite. Overcome the finite with the infinite. Christ has created you because He wanted you. I know what you feel – terrible longing with dark emptiness. And yet, He is the one in love with you.
–Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

Busyness is a disease…

The biggest disease in North America is busyness.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Feel his presence…

If we can, by God’s grace, turn ourselves entirely to Him, and put aside everything else in order to speak with Him and worship Him, this does not mean that we can always imagine Him or feel His presence.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Created for joy…

Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and joy you have not yet begun to live.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Want to be a saint…

“What do you want to want to be, anyway?” “I don’t know; I guess what I want to be is a good Catholic.” “What you should say,” –he told me– “what you should say is that you want to be a saint.”
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Humility to realize…

One has to be alone, under the sky, Before everything falls into place and one finds his or her own place in the midst of it all. We have to have the humility to realize ourselves as part of nature.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Pray for our neighbor…

It is better to pray with good will for our neighbor, rather than to denounce him for every sin.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)

Assailed be demons…

There are said to be five reasons why God allows us to be assailed by demons. The first is so that, by attacking and counterattacking, we should learn to discriminate between virtue and vice. The second is so that, having acquired virtue through conflict and toil, we should keep it secure and immutable. The third is so that, when making progress in virtue, we should not become haughty but learn humility. The fourth is so that, having gained some experience of evil, we should ‘hate it with perfect hatred’ (cf. Ps. 139:22). The fifth and most important is so that, having achieved dispassion, we should forget neither our own weakness nor the power of Him who has helped us.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

Jesus is waiting…

Go and find Him when your patience and strength run out and you feel alone and helpless. Jesus is waiting for you in the chapel. Say to Him, ‘Jesus, you know exactly what is going on. You are all I have, and you know all things. Come to my help.’ And then go, and don’t worry about how you are going to manage. That you have told God about it is enough. He has a good memory.
–Saint Jeanne Jugan (1792-1879)

Christ in the Eucharist…

When I am before the Blessed Sacrament I feel such a lively faith that I can’t describe it. Christ in the Eucharist is almost tangible to me…When it is time for me to leave, I have to tear myself away from His sacred presence.
–Saint Anthony Claret (1807-1870)

Joseph adored Jesus…

Words cannot express the perfection of his adoration. If Saint John leaped in the womb at the approach of Mary, what feelings must have coursed through Joseph during those six months when he had at his side and under his very eyes the hidden God! If the father of Origen used to kiss his child during the night and adore the Holy Spirit living within Him, can we doubt that Joseph must often have adored Jesus hidden in the pure tabernacle of Mary? How fervent that adoration must have been..
— Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868)

Find Jesus in the Holy Eucharist…

Is not our Lord as meek and humble in the Blessed Sacrament as He was during His life on earth? Is He not always the Good Shepherd, the Divine Consoler, the Changeless Friend? Happy the soul that knows how to find Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and in the Eucharist all things!
–Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868)

Forsake ourselves and…

In our approach to God, we must carry with us ourselves and all our works, as a perpetual sacriﬁce to God; and in the Presence of God, we must forsake ourselves and all our works, and, dying in love, go forth from all creatureliness into the superessential richness of God: there we shall possess God in an eternal death to ourselves.
–Blessed John Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)

Abandoned themselves…

And because they have abandoned themselves to God in doing, in leaving undone, and in suffering, they have steadfast peace and inward joy, consolation and savor, of which the world cannot partake; neither any dissembler, nor the man who seeks and means himself more than the glory of God.
–Blessed John Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)

New life within us…

But when we transcend ourselves, and become in our ascent towards God, so simple that the naked love in the height can lay hold of us, where love enfolds love, above every exercise of virtue that is, in our Origin, of Which we are spiritually born, then we cease, and we and all our selfhood die in God. And in this death we become hidden sons of God, and find a new life within us: and that is eternal life.
–Blessed John Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)

Abandonment to God…

If there be anything that is capable of setting the soul in a large place it is absolute abandonment to God. It diffuses in the soul a peace that flows like a river and the righteousness which is as the waves of the sea.
— François Fénèlon (1651-1715)

Offering ourselves to God…

If we look carefully within ourselves, we shall find that there are certain limits beyond which we refuse to go in offering ourselves to [God]. We hover around these reservations, making believe not to see them, for fear of self-reproach… The more we shrink from giving up any such reserved point, the more certain it is that it needs to be given up. If we were not fast bound by it, we should not make so many efforts to persuade ourselves that we are free.
–François Fénelon (1651-1715)

Perfect love of God…

Perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

Inner conflict is…

The real conflict is inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the catacombs of concentration camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are victories on the battle-field if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?
–Saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941)

Compromise is…

Compromise is a word found only in the vocabulary of those who have no will to fight.
–Saint Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975)

Know what sin is…

And when I fall, the first time especially, what a light I have on myself! I thought I was strong, that gross temptation would not move me, that I would be faithful in all sorts of environment. I am down–in the dirt–I know myself now! But I know God, too, as I did not before, now I know the radiance of the shadowless light, I know now what sin is.
–Caryll Houselander (1901-1954)

Stay with God…

For now, stay with God, and go with God.
–Saint John of God (1495-1550)

Confidence in God alone…

God wishes us not to rest upon anything but His infinite goodness; do not let us expect anything, hope anything, or desire anything but from Him, and let us put our trust and confidence in Him alone.
–Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584)

The more the soul…

The more the soul loves, the more it desires to love, and the greater its suffering, the greater its healing.
–Saint Columbanus (543-615)

Cleanse your mind…

Cleanse your mind from anger, remembrance of evil, and shameful thoughts, and then you will find out how Christ dwells in you.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

Persistant discipline…

A small but persistent discipline is a great force; for a soft drop tailing persistently, hollows out hard rock.
–Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)

United with your soul…

If something has become deeply united with your soul, you should not only regard it as your possession in this life, but believe that it will accompany you into the life to come. If it is something good, rejoice and give thanks to God in your mind; if it is something bad, grieve and sigh, and strive to free yourself from it while you are still in the body.
–Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)

Become a saint…

Make up your mind to become a saint.
–Saint Mary Mazzarello (1837-1881)

To become saints…

God’s invitation to become saints is for all, not just a few. Sanctity therefore must be accessible to all. In what does it consist? In a lot of activity? No. In doing extraordinary things? No, this could not be for everybody and at all times. Therefore, sanctity consists in doing good, and in doing this good in whatever condition and place God has placed us. Nothing more, nothing outside of this.
–Blessed Louis Tezza (1841-1923)

Jesus can make you a saint…

Ask Jesus to make you a saint. After all, only He can do that. Go to confession regularly and to Communion as often as you can.
— Saint Dominic Savio (1842-I857)

The name of God…

In times of affliction, unceasingly call out to the merciful God in prayer. The unceasing invocation of the name of God in prayer is a treatment for the soul which kills not only the passions, but even their very operation. As a doctor finds the necessary medicine, and it works in such a way that the sick person does not understand, in just the same way the name of God, when you call upon it, kills all the passions, although we don’t know how this happens.
— Saint Barsanuphius the Great (Sixth Century)

Kneeling is helpful…

At the time of darkness, more than anything else kneeling is helpful.
— Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)

Find suitable time…

Every one should find some suitable time, day or night, to sink into his depths, each according to his own fashion. Not every one is able to engage in contemplative prayer.
–Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)

Perfect spiritual love…

To harbor no envy, no anger, no resentment against an offender is still not to have charity for him. It is possible, without any charity, to avoid rendering evil for evil. But to render, spontaneously, good for evil — such belongs to a perfect spiritual love.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

God will help you…

God will help you carry your cross, and will give you strength and grace. God takes our human staff from us and gives us His Cross instead. We must receive it with faith and generosity.
–Saint Joan Antide-Thouret (1765-1826)

Abandon yourself…

Abandon yourself unto His fatherly hands and you will find joy. If we meditate on Christ crucified, our sadness would turn into joy. Ask God that we may have the happiness
of contemplating Him in Heaven.
–Saint Joan Antide-Thouret (1765-1826)

Words of Wisdom & Encouragement

Browse or Search:

All Quotes

Don't Be Shy