Quotes

Words of Wisdom & Encouragement

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We all have…

We all have to die … and it will be hard for us if, while we are in this world, we do not love each other, if we are not reconciled to our enemies, whom we have offended, and if one has grieved another, if we do not forgive him. Then we will not have eternal blessedness in that world, and the heavenly Father will not forgive our sins.
–Saint Peter of Cetinje (1747-1830)

Pride is an illusion…

Pride is an illusion, a lie and a thief. And since it is a truth of faith that we are nothing, he who esteems himself and thinks that he is someone is a seducer who deceives himself.
— Saint John Eudes (1601-1689)

Proudly dispute…

Whoever will proudly dispute and contradict will always stand outside the door. Christ, the master of humility, manifests His truth only to the humble and hides Himself from the proud.
— Saint Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419)

Complete happiness…

I have my room, some books and a nearby chapel. That is complete happiness.
— Saint Miguel of Ecuador (1854-1910)

The Word of God…

Without the Word of God no creature has being. God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible. The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. All creation is awakened, called, by the resounding melody, God’s invocation of the Word. This Word manifests in every creature.Now this is how the spirit is in the flesh – the Word is indivisible from God.
— Saint Hildegarde of Bingen (1098-1179)

Scruples hinder…

Scruples, too…  hinder devotion; for they are like thorns which prick the conscience and diquiet it, and will not allow it to find repose and comfort in God.
— Saint Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562)

By the Eucharist…

By the Sacraments, and especially by the Eucharist, Jesus Christ comes down to enrich us with His grace. He pours it out upon us without measure, for He also is a limitless ocean whose fullness overflows upon us without ever being exhausted.
–Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858-1935)

Most Blessed Sacrament…

Our Redeemer, ever present in the most Blessed Sacrament, extends His hand to everyone. He opens His heart and says, “Come to Me, all of You.”
— Saint Raphael Kalinowski (1835-1907)

Strive to increase…

Strive to increase from day to day your faith in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, and never cease to wonder at the miraculous mystery of it, reflecting on how God manifests Himself to you in the guise of bread and wine, and becomes essentially present in you, to make you more holy, righteous and blessed. For blessed are they who do not see, yet believe; according to the words of the Savior (cf. Jn. 20:29).
— Lawrence Scupoli (1529-1610)

In the sacrament…

If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude.
–Saint Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)

Grace of graces…

The Sacrament [of the Holy Eucharist] is the Gift of gifts, and the Grace of graces. When the almighty and eternal God comes to us with all the perfection of His thrice holy humanity and His divinity, He surely does not come empty-handed.
— Saint Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)

One Eucharist…

Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: for there is one Flesh of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His Blood; one altar, as there is one bishop with the presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons.
— Saint Ignatius of Antioch (First Century)

Only God’s bread…

I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed from the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

— Saint Ignatius of Antioch (First Century)

Not what, but why…

It is not what is done, but why it is done that matters.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

In all our deeds…

In all of our deeds God looks at the intention, whether we do it for His sake, or for the sake of some other intention.
— Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

The perfect person…

The perfect person does not only try to avoid evil. Nor does he do good for fear of punishment, still less in order to qualify for the hope of a promised reward. The perfect person does good through love. His actions are not motivated by desire for personal benefit, so he does not have personal advantage as his aim. But as soon as he has realized the beauty of doing good, he does it with all his energies and in all that he does. He is not interested in fame, or a good reputation, or a human or divine reward. The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.
— Saint Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215)

Moral principles…

Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right.
–Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Do not listen…

And do not listen to those who keep saying, ‘The voice of the people is the voice of God.’ because the tumult of the crowd is always close to madness.
–Saint Alcuin (c. 735-804)

To eat less…

You must teach yourself how to eat less, but with discernment, insofar as your work allows. The measure of temperance should be such that after lunch you want to pray.

— Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938)

Missionaries will have…

The missionaries will have to understand that they are stones hid under the earth, which will perhaps never come to light, but which will become part of the foundations of a vast, new building.
— Saint Daniel Comboni (1831-1881)

Death-bed repentance…

There is one case of death-bed repentance recorded, that of the penitent thief, that none should despair; and only one that none should presume.
— Saint Augustine (354-430)

Vocal prayer…

Vocal prayer… must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don’t call prayer–however much the lips may move.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Most Blessed Sacrament…

If we were to approach the most Blessed Sacrament with great faith and love, once would be enough to make us rich.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

To be little…

To be little in his sight is not enough; we must be nothing– this is the foundation upon which he would build… The greater our annihilation, the loftier the building he erects thereon.
–Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)

Only two things…

The Lord asks only two things of us: love for his Majesty and love for our neighbor. It is for these two virtues that we must strive, and if we attain them perfectly we are doing his will and so shall be united with him … The surest sign that we are keeping these commandments is, I think, that we should really be loving our neighbor: for we cannot be sure if we are loving God, although we may have good reasons for believing that we are, but we can know quite well if we are loving our neighbor. And be certain that, the farther advanced you find you are in this, the greater the love you will have for God.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Of what use…

Of what use is it to weigh down Christ’s table with golden cups, when he himself is dying of hunger? First, fill him when he is hungry; then use the means you have left to adorn his table. Will you have a golden cup made but not give a cup of water? What is the use of providing the table with cloths woven of gold thread, and not providing Christ himself with the clothes he needs? What profit is there in that? Tell me: If you were to see him lacking the necessary food but were to leave him in that state and merely surround his table with gold, would he be grateful to you or rather would he not be angry? What if you were to see him clad in worn-out rags and stiff from the cold, and were to forget about clothing him and instead were to set up golden columns for him, saying that you were doing it in his honor? Would he not think he was being mocked and greatly insulted?
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Let us leave…

Let us leave a little room for reflection in our lives, room too for silence. Let us look within ourselves and see whether there is some delightful hidden place inside where we can be free of noise and argument. Let us hear the Word of God in stillness and perhaps we will then come to understand it.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

God provides…

God provides the wind, Man must raise the sail.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Desire only God…

Desire only God, and your heart will be satisfied.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

What do you…

What do you possess if you possess not God?
— Saint Augustine (354-430)

Give me chastity…

Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Eternity is the…

Eternity is the now that does not pass away.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

God gives…

God gives where he finds empty hands.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Doubt his but…

Doubt is but another element of faith.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

Find delight…

Find delight in contemplation.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

To sing…

To sing is to pray twice.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)

What more do…

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near… Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Don’t permit your…

Don’t permit your miseries or defects to depress you. Rather, let them be steps by which you descend the deep mine where we find the precious gem of holy humility. Learn that it is our littleness that buys this unique and true treasure that alone renders the soul that possesses it blessed in time and in eternity.
–Saint Paola Frassinetti (1809-1892)

What God asks…

What God asks is a will which will no longer be divided between Him and any creature, a will pliant in His hands, which neither desires anything nor refuses anything, which wants without reservation everything which He wants, and which never, under any pretext, wants anything which He does not want.
–François Fénèlon (1651-1715)

If you wish…

If you wish to attain to true knowledge of the Scriptures, hasten to acquire first an unshakeable humility of heart. That alone will lead you, not to the knowledge that puffs up, but to that which enlightens, by the perfecting of love.
–Saint John Cassian (c. 360-435)

Abandonment is…

Abandonment is the casting off of all selfish care, that we may be altogether at the Divine Disposal.
–Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717)

Every child that…

Every child that isn’t born, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted, has the face of Jesus Christ, has the face of the Lord.
–Pope Francis (1936-

Having no other…

Indeed, having no other choice, but that up ardently reaching after Him, of dwelling ever with Him, and in sinking into nothingness before Him, we should accept indiscriminately all His dispensations, whether obscurity or illumination, fruitfulness or barrenness, weakness or strength, sweetness or bitterness, temptations, distractions, pain, weariness, or doubts; and none of these should, for one moment, retard our course.
–Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717)

Take the days…

Take the days as they come, the good with a grateful heart, and the bad for the sake of those which follow, because misfortune is only a passerby.
–Blessed Titus Brandsma (1881–1942)

It is not…

It is not enough to have knowledge, one must also apply it. It is not enough to have wishes, one must also accomplish.
–Johann von Goethe (1749-1832)

Accustom yourself…

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Anger is a nail…

[Anger] keeps alive sin, hates justice, ruins virtue, poisons the heart, rots the mind, defeats concentration, paralyzes prayer, puts love at a distance, and is a nail driven into the soul.
–Saint John Climacus (c. 525-606)

Souls without prayer…

Souls without prayer are like bodies, palsied and lame, having hands and feet they cannot use.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

A good thing…

It’s a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.
–Madeline L’Engle (1918-2007)

Addicted to anger…

All the days of their life, persons addicted to anger are unhappy, because they are always in a tempest.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

Freedom from anger…

The first step towards freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.
–Saint John Climacus (c. 525-606)

Those who cannot…

Those who cannot see Christ in their neighbor are atheists indeed.
–Dorothy Day (1897–1980)

It is better…

It is better to be cheated into giving too much then to lose one’s soul by giving too little.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

A classic is…

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.
–Italo Calvino (1923-1985)

It is essential…

It is essential to read and meditate on the scriptures. Christianity without the Bible is a contradiction in terms. Preaching not anchored in the scriptures is equally impossible. There is no true religious formation which is not based on the Gospel.
–Carlo Carretto (1910-1988)

Christmas is built…

Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.
–GK Chesterton (1874-1936)

Read the Gospel…

Read and re-read ceaselessly the Holy Gospel… so as to always have before one’s mind the actions, words and thoughts of Jesus, in order to think, speak and act like Jesus, to follow the examples and teachings of Jesus, not the examples and ways of behaving of the world. So easily do we fall into this latter, as soon as we take our eyes off the Divine Model.
–Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858–1916)

Quite gently utter…

It is well to seek greater solitude so as to make room for the Lord and allow His Majesty to do His own work in us. The most we should do is occasionally, and quite gently, to utter a single word, like a person giving a little puff to a candle, when he sees it has almost gone out, so as to make it burn again
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Scripture restrains and corrects…

Scripture takes away none of the things given by God for our use, but it restrains immoderation and corrects unreasonableness.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

Scripture must become…

For the theologian, just as much as for the contemplative, Scripture, more than being just a source, must become the sea in which all life’s rivers lose themselves.
–Charles Journet (1891–1975)

Christmas gifts…

And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused–and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself.
―Sigrid Undset (1882-1949)

Although we are…

Although we are distinguishable by our very different personalities, as were for instance Peter, or John, or Thomas, or Matthew, yet we are merged as it were in a single body in Christ by feeding on his unifying body.
–Saint Cyril of Alexandria (378-444)

From silly devotions…

From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

A church that…

Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent.
–Pope Francis (1936-

Going to confession…

Going into the confessional, always remember that it is Christ who welcomes; it is Christ who listens; it is Christ who pardons; it Christ who gives peace.
–Pope Francis (1936-

We must restore…

We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.
–Pope Francis (1936-

We are not…

We are not on earth to guard a museum, but to tend a blooming garden full of life.
–Saint John XXIII (1881 – 1963)

But the Church…

You could say to me, “But the Church is made up of sinners; we see them every day.” And this is true: we are a Church of sinners. And we sinners are called to let ourselves be transformed, renewed, sanctified by God.
–Pope Francis (1936-

Compassion is…

Compassion is preferable to cleanliness. Reflect that with a little soap I can easily clean my bed covers, but even with a torrent of tears I would never wash from my soul the stain that my harshness toward the unfortunate would create.
–Saint Martin de Porres (1579-1639)

The Church is…

I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.
–Pope Francis (1936-

Ten Commandments…

The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden.
–GK Chesterton (1874-1936)

A ladder to God…

Contemplation is a ladder to God. And when you come down the ladder, come to the aid of your neighbour in need.

–Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)

Aided by grace…

It is no longer the soul recollecting itself; it is God who recollects it and draws it toward the inner sanctuary. This is the beginning of contemplation; it is infused [by God], since we cannot procure it for ourselves by our own activity aided by grace.
–Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964)

Contemplation is…

Contemplation is a silent prayer which takes place in recollection in the secret of the heart, and is directly ordered to union with God.
–Raïssa Maritain (1883–1960)

Let not your…

Let not your inward devotion be visible unless in great necessity.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Spreading light…

There are only two ways of spreading light – to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
–Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

Welcomed, loved, forgiven…

The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven, and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel.
–Pope Francis (1936-

Win the world…

He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come in conflict with it.
–Blessed Titus Brandsma (1881–1942)

God sought me…

God sought me out when I fled from him; he will not abandon me now that I seek him, or at least do not flee from him anymore.
–Saint Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682)

Live your way…

You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.
–Henri Nouwen (1932–1996)

Mercy is greater…

Mercy will always be greater than any sin, no one can put a limit on the love of the all-forgiving God. Just by looking at him, just raising our eyes from ourselves and our wounds, we leave an opening for the action of his grace. Jesus performs miracles with our sins, with what we are, with our nothingness, with our wretchedness.
–Pope Francis (1936-

Key of love…

Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Without the Cross…

When we walk without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we proclaim Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly. We may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, all of this, but we are not disciples of the Lord.
–Pope Francis (1936-

In the dark…

In nature, when the sun goes down and night falls, we no longer see the objects surrounding us, but we do see distant objects not visible during the day, such as the stars, which are thousands of light-years away. And the sun must hide that we may see them, that we may be able to glimpse the depths of the firmament. Analogously, during the night of the spirit we see much farther than during the luminous period preceding it; the inferior lights must be taken away from us in order that we may begin to see the heights of the spiritual firmament.
–Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964)

We cannot be free…

It is true that we cannot be free from sin, but at least let our sins not be always the same.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Go in search…

We need no wings to go in search for Him, but only to look upon Him present within us.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Like an embrace…

In the night of humility into which God asks us to enter, we can encounter the burning power of his Love. And how much more profoundly is his tenderness that pushes himself to give himself to us in the Eucharist. Each time it is like an embrace that pulls us to his heart, at one at the the same time crucified and glorified.
–Charles Journet (1891–1975)

My nothingness…

God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was no longer the center of my life and therefore I could see God in everything.
–Bede Griffiths (1906-1993)

Grow quiet…

We must grow quiet enough to realize God’s omnipresence, to feel his comforting hand and open our hearts within, silently, letting his healing have its way. Then the waters will flow over the arid soil and things will start to grow again. If only we keep still. God permits many wounds– but there are also miracles.
–Alfred Delp (1907-1945)

No one should…

No one should think or say anything of another which he would not wish thought or said of himself.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

To drink of this spring…

Do not be afraid that the Lord Who has called us to drink of this spring will allow you to die of thirst.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

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