... all creatures under heaven, according to their nature, know, serve, and obey their Creater better than you; the devils did not crucify him, but you, incited by them, have crucified him, and still crucify him when you delight in vice and sin. 201
St. Francis of Assisi
Owing to the spirit of the world and tepidity, if the Savior returned to earth today to announce His doctrine in person, He would find as many opponents as He did among the Jews. 202
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
Remember this, Sister, for your whole life, as waters flow from the mountains down into the valleys, so, too, do God's graces flow only into humble souls. 203
St. Maria Faustina H. Kovalska
If the soul would know the merit which one acquires in temptations suffered in patience and conquered, it would be tempted to say: "Lord, send me temptations." 204
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
An external deed done without charity is without value, but when performed with charity - no matter how small or insignificant the action be - it becomes meritorious. God notes the love that impels the action and not the number of works done. 205
Thomas a' Kempis
The devil is like a rabid dog tied to a chain; beyond the length of the chain he cannot seize anyone. And you: keep at a distance. If you approach too near, you let yourself be caught. Remember that the devil has only one door by which to enter the soul: the will. 206
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Do not wait for leaders, do it alone, person to person. 207
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
It is necessary to be strong, in order to become great: that is our duty. Life is a struggle, which we cannot avoid. We must triumph! 208
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
That which comes from satan begins with calmness and ends in storm, indifference and apathy. 209
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Always be faithful to God in keeping the promises made to Him and do not bother about the ridicule of the foolish. Know that the saints were always sneered at by the world and worldlings; and they have trampled them under foot and triumphed over the world and its maxims. 210
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Continue to pray that God may console you when you feel that the weight of the Cross is becoming too burdensome. Acting thus you are not doing anything against the will of God, but are with the Son of God who, in the garden, asked His Father for some relief. 211
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Walk the way of the Lord in simplicity. Do not torment your spirit. Say the truth, always the truth. 212
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
The mercy of God, my son, is infinitely greater than your malice. 213
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
On this earth everyone has his cross. But we must act in such a way that we be not the bad, but good thief. 214
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Do not let your heart become troubled by the sad spectacle of human injustice. Even this has its value in the face of all else. And it is from this that one day you will see the justice of God rising with unfailing triumph. 215
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Divine goodness not only does not reject the repentant soul, but always seeks to find even the obstinate. 216
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Endeavor to unite to the simplicity of children the prudence of adults. 217
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
To doubt is the greatest insult to the Divinity. 218
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
In order to console a soul in it’s sufferings, point out to it all the good it can still do. 219
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Obey promptly! Do not consider the age or merit of the person. And in order to succeed, imagine you are obeyng the Lord. 220
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire. 221
St. Vincent Ferrer from On the Spiritual Life
Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession. 222
St. Joseph of Cupertino
Love is sufficient of itself; it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in the practice. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return. The sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him. 223
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to him. That is all the doing you have to worry about. 224
St. Jeanne de Chantal
The hands should be at work, the heart with God. 225
St. Mary Joseph Rosello
Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause. 226
St. John of Kanty
Do not be afraid. Death is only God who is passing by. 227
St. Jeanne Marie
You must be holy in the way that God asks you to be holy. God does not ask you to be a Trappist monk or a hermit. He wills that you sanctify the world in your everyday life. 228
St. Vincent Pallotti
Avoid slander because it is difficult to retract. Avoid offending anyone for to ask forgiveness is not delightful. 229
St. John Cantius
Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation. 230
St. Augustine
We therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to the study of divine truths. It is not enough barely to believe them, and let our thoughts now and then glance upon them: that knowledge which shows us heaven, will not bring us to the possession of it, and will deserve punishments, not rewards, if it remain slight, weak, and superficial. By serious and frequent meditation it must be concocted, digested, and turned into the nourishment of our affections, before it can be powerful and operative enough to change them, and produce the necessary fruit in our lives. For this all the saints affected solitude and retreats from the noise and hurry of the world, as much as their circumstances allowed them. 231
St. Apollinaris
Jesus is happy to come with us, as truth is happy to be spoken, as life to be lived, as light to be lit, as love is to be loved, as joy to be given, as peace to be spread. 231
St. Francis of Assisi
Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions. 232
St. Anthony of Padua
Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. 233
St. John of the Cross
Prayer reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures. It fills them with light, strength and consolation; and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home. 234
St Rose of Viterbo
The devil dreads fasting, prayer, humility, and good works: he is not able even to stop my mouth who speak against him. The illusions of the devil soon vanish, especially if a man arms himself with the Sign of the Cross. The devils tremble at the Sign of the Cross of our Lord, by which He triumphed over and disarmed them. 235
St Antony the Abbot
We must always choose the most perfect. Two good works present themselves to be done, one in favour of a person we love, the other in favour of a person who has done us some harm. Well, we must give preference to the latter. 236
St. John Vianney
Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, a particular form of State, or the repositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the worldly community... whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God. 237
Venerable Pope Pius XII
There can be no guilt except in that which the soul wills, or, not having willed it, approves it and does not make an effort to remove it. 238
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
One day I unwittingly made a mistake that incensed the master's son. He became furious, snatched me violently from my hiding place, and began to strike me ferociously with the lash and his feet. Finally he left me half dead, completely unconscious. Some slaves carried me away and lay me on a straw mat, where I remained for over a month. A woman skilled in this cruel art [tattooing] came to the general's house...our mistress stood behind us, whip in hand. The woman had a dish of white flour, a dish of salt and a razor... When she had made her patterns; the woman took the razor and made incisions along the lines. Salt was poured into each of the wounds... My face was spared, but 6 patterns were designed on my breasts, and 60 more on my belly and arms. I thought I would die, especially when salt was poured in the wounds...it was by a miracle of God I didn't die. He had destined me for better things. 239
St. Josephine Bakhita
(describing some miseries during her time as a slave.)
The Christian law commands that we forgive our enemies and those who have wronged us. I must therefore say here that I forgive Taikosama. I would rather have all the Japanese become Christians. 240
St. Paul Miki one of the Martyrs of Nagasaki
http://faithofthefatherssaints.blogspot.com/2006/01/martyrs-of-nagasaki.html
Prayer ought to be humble, fervent, resigned, persevering, and accompanied with great reverence. One should consider that he stands in the presence of a God, and speaks with a Lord before whom the angels tremble from awe and fear. 241
St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
There is no more evident sign that anyone is a saint and of the number of the elect, than to see him leading a good life and at the same time a prey to desolation, suffering, and trials. 242
St. Aloysius Gonzaga
I ought to die of shame to think I have not already died of gratitude to my good God. 243
St. Julie Billiart
Our actions have a tongue of their own; they have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words. 244
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. ... If a man wants to be always in God's company, he must pray regularly and read regularly. When we pray, we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us. 245
St. Isidore of Seville
There will never be any separation between our souls. I will live in Him. Search for Jesus and in Him you'll find me; and there the three of us will continue our intimate conversations, the ones we'll be carrying on there forever in eternity. 246
St. Terese of the Andes
Our Lord does not come down from Heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to him - the heaven of our souls, created in His Image, the living temples of the Adorable Trinity. 247
St. Therese of Lisieux
He who does not acquire the love of God will scarcely persevere in the grace of God, for it is very difficult to renounce sin merely through fear of chastisement. 248
St. Alphonsus Liguori
If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth. 249
St. Thomas Aquinas
Make Christ more visible than we ourselves. 250
Blessed Maria Karlowska
How do you think that with a bone only three fingers high we should understand the meanings of the designs of God? 251
St. John Joseph, (tapping his forehead)
If there be a true way that leads to the Everlasting Kingdom, it is most certainly that of suffering, patiently endured. 252
St. Colette
What does it avail to know that there is a God, which you not only believe by Faith, but also know by reason: what does it avail that you know Him if you think little of Him? 253
St Thomas More
The devil will try to upset you by accusing you of being unworthy of the blessings that you have received. Simply remain cheerful and do your best to ignore the devil's nagging. If need be even laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Satan, the epitome of sin itself, accuses you of unworthiness! When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future! 254
St. Teresa of Avila
Woe to me if I should prove myself but a halfhearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain. 255
St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen
In suffering, love, and in loving, suffer! 256
Blessed Maria Lopez of Jesus
For there are three ways of performing an act of mercy: the merciful word, by forgiving and by comforting; secondly, if you can offer no word, then pray - that too is mercy; and thirdly, deeds of mercy. And when the Last Day comes, we shall be judged from this, and on this basis we shall receive the eternal verdict. 257
St. Faustina Kowalska
Never see a need without trying to do something about it. 258
Blessed Mary Mackillop
I die the King's good servant, but God's first. 259
St. Thomas More (at his execution)
Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering, nor by the meager fruit of your labours. Remember that God rewards not according to results, but effort. 260
Blessed Zefirino Agostini
Do you desire to study to your advantage? Let devotion accompany all your studies, and study less to make yourself learned than to become a saint. Consult God more than your books, and ask him, with humility, to make you understand what you read. Study fatigues and drains the mind and heart. Go from time to time to refresh them at the feet of Jesus Christ under his cross. Some moments of repose in his sacred wounds give fresh vigor and new lights. ... begin or end your study ... by prayer. Science is a gift of the Father of lights; do not therefore consider it as barely the work of your own mind or industry. 261
St. Vincent Ferrer
Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ. For all the benefits Thou hast given me. For all the pains and insults which Thou has borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, may I know Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, follow Thee more nearly, day by day. Amen. 262
A prayer by St. Richard of Chichester
I tell you truly, my beloved, that our carelessness and our humiliation and our turning aside from the way are not a loss to us only, but they are a weariness for the angels and for the saints in Jesus Christ. Our humiliation gives grief to them all, and our salvation gives joy and refreshment to them all. 263
St. Antony the Great
I thank God that I have not a penny in the world to dispose of. 264
St. Lawrence O’Toole, Bishop
(On his deathbed when someone asked him if he had a will.)
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." 265
St. Albert the Great
I have made a contract with my body. It has promised to accept harsh treatment from me on earth, and I have promised that it shall receive eternal rest in heaven. 266
St. Peter of Alcantara
A thousand difficulties do not make a single doubt. 267
St. John Henry Cardinal Newman
When we pray, the voice of the heart must be heard more than proceedings from the mouth. 268
St. Bonaventure
God dwells within you, and there you should dwell with Him. 269
St. Teresa of Avila
He who loses an opportunity is like the man who lets a bird fly from his hand, for he will never recover it. 270
St. John of the Cross
Heaven is filled with converted sinners of all kinds, and there is room for more. 271
St. John Cafasso
These days no one thinks of the fears the future holds; no one takes to heart the day of judgment, and the wrath of God; the punishments to come upon unbelievers, and the eternal torments decreed for the faithless. Whatever a conscience would fear if it believed, our conscience, because it no longer believes, doesn't fear at all. If only it believed, it would take heed; and if it took heed, it would escape. 272
St. Cyrian of Carthage
We should even go beyond doing what is required in order to avoid scandal. 273
St. Basil the Great
The purpose of temporal tranquility, which well-ordered policies establish and maintain, is to give opportunities for contemplating truth. 274
St. Thomas Aquinas
Suffering borne in the will quietly and patiently is a continual, very powerful prayer before God. 275
St. Jane Frances de Chantal
So good a thought is virtue that even its enemies applaud and admire it. 276
St. John Chrysostom
Seal the cross openly on your forehead, so that the demons, seeing the royal sign, will tremble and flee away. 277
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Whenever I go to the chapel, I put myself in the presence of our good Lord, and I say to him, "Lord, I am here. Tell me what you would have me do." If he gives me some task, I am content and I thank him. If he gives me nothing, I still thank him since I do not deserve to receive anything more than that. And then, I tell God everything that is in my heart. I tell him about my pains and my joys, and then I listen. If you listen, God will also speak to you, for with the good Lord, you have to both speak and listen. God always speaks to you when you approach him plainly and simply. 278
St. Catherine Laboure
The goodness of God knows how to use our disordered wishes and actions, often lovingly turning them to our advantage while always preserving the beauty of ‘His’ order. 279
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen away, and to bring home those who have lost their way. Many who seem to us to be children of the Devil will still become Christ's disciples. 280
St. Francis of Assisi
Our body is like armor, our soul like the warrior. Take care of both, and you will be ready for what comes. 281
St. Amma Sycletice
Believe me, the writing of pious books, the composing of the sublimest poetry; all that does not equal the smallest act of self-denial. 282
St Therese of Lisiuex
Let us meditate today on the condition of our soul. Are we making a sincere effort to rectify our intentions, to sanctify our daily responsibilities? There are things we fail to remember, not because we have short memories but because we are short of love. The person in love does not forget! 283
St Teresa of Avila
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. 284
St Maximus the Confessor
God is always almighty; He can at all times work miracles, and He would work them now as in the days of old were it not that faith is lacking! 285
St John Vianney
Don't say you have a chaste mind if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart. 286
St. Augustine
We should love and feel compassion for those who unjustly oppose us, since they harm themselves and do us good, for they adorn us with crowns of everlasting glory. 287
St Anthony Mary Zaccaria
I do not really know if it is a gain to exchange the crown of martrydom with two or three years of life in freedom. But I leave the good Lord to decide. 288
Blessed Pavol Goidic
The envious man is cruel, proud, unfaithful, impatient, and quarrelsome; and, what is strange, when this vice gains the mastery, he is no longer master of himself, and he is unable to correct his many faults. If the bond of peace is broken, if the rights of fraternal charity are violated, if truth is altered or disguised, it is often envy that hurries him on to crime. 289
St Cyprian of Carthage
The grace of contemplation is granted only in response to a longing insistent desire. 290
St Bernard of Clairvaux
And of what should we be afraid? Our captain on this battlefield is Christ Jesus. We have discovered what we have to do. Christ has bound our enemies for us and weakened them that they cannot overcome us unless we so choose to let them. So we must fight courageously and mark ourselves with the sign of the most Holy Cross. 291
St Catherine of Siena
The Prayer of the sick person is his patience and his acceptance of his sickness for the love of Jesus Christ. Make sickness itself a prayer, for there is none more powerful, save martyrdom! 292
St Francis de Sales
We must understand then, that even though God doesn't always give us what we want, He always gives us what we need for our salvation. 293
St Augustine
It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer and a virtuous life. 294
St John Chrysostom
Be careful to give no credit to yourself for anything; if you do, you are stealing from God, to whom alone every good thing is due. 295
St. Vincent de Paul
We must show charity towards the sick, who are in greater need of help. Let us take them some small gift if they are poor, or, at least let us go and wait on them and comfort them. 296
St. Alphonsus Liguori
Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips: That my heart may not incline to evil words, and seek excuses in sins. 297
Psalm 111:3-4
The patient and humble endurance of the Cross - whatever nature it may be - is the highest work we have to do. 298
St Katherine Drexel
When we must do something we dislike, let us say to God, " My God I offer You this in honor of the moment when You died for me." 299
St. John Vianney
We must love our neighbor as being made in the image of God and as an object of His love. 300
St. Vincent de Paul
