Give me ten truly detached men. and I will convert the world with them. 101
St. Philip Neri
Remember that the Devil doesn't sleep, but seeks our ruin in a thousand ways. 102
St. Angela Merici
Proud is many a man who looks down on his neighbor because the wool of his gown is finer! Yet as fine as it is, a poor sheep wore it upon her back before it came upon his back, and all the while she wore it, she was after all still only a sheep. And why should he now think himself better than she was simply by having that wool - wool that, even though it is now his, is still not so truly his as it was truly hers? 103
St. Thomas More
We must neither doubt nor hesitate with respect to the words of the Lord; rather, we must be fully persuaded that every word of God is true and possible, even if our nature should rebel against the idea; for in this lies the test of faith. 104
St. Basil the Great
When you love unseemly conversation, you prepare a feast for demons and sell your soul for their fodder. 105
St. Ephraem the Syrian
In order to acquire tranquility in action it is necessary to carefully consider what we are capable of accomplishing and never to undertake more than that. It is self-love, ever more anxious to do much rather than to do well and this self-love that wishes to undertake everything and accomplishes nothing! 106
St. Francis DeSales
He who has undertaken the pastoring of souls must prepare himself to render to God an account of them. 107
St. Benedict of Nursia
We must also be especially resigned in mortal sickness. To accept death at such a time, in order that the Will of God may be fulfilled, merits for us a reward similar to that of the martyrs, because they accepted death to please God. 108
St. Alphonsus Liguori
Give me the grace to amend my life, and to have an eye to mine end, without the grudge of death, which to them that die in thee, good Lord, is the gate of a truly wealthy life. 109
St Thomas More
God being infinite beauty, the soul united to Christ draws upon himself the admiring and tender gaze of the Angels, who, were they capable of any passion, would be filled with envy at his lot. 110
Pope St. Pius X
He loves, He hopes, He waits. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep us waiting an instant. 111
St. Maria Goretti
A good work talked about is a good work spoiled. 112
St. Vincent de Paul
Do everything for the love of God and His glory without looking at the outcome of the undertaking. Work is judged, not by its result, but by its intention. 113
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
It is not enough for me that God has given me grace once, but He must give it always. I ask, that I may receive; and when I have received, I ask again. I am covetous of receiving God's bounty. He is never slow in giving, nor am I ever weary of receiving. The more I drink, the more thirsty I become. 114
St. Jerome
It is our part to seek, His to grant what we ask; ours to make a beginning, His to bring it to completion; ours to offer what we can, His to finish what we cannot. 115
St. Jerome
It is not expedient to wish to do everything all at once, or to think that all is lost if everybody else does not hurry along with us. 116
St. Vincent de Paul
I don't put a penny's value on this life if only our Lord will give me a tiny corner in Paradise. 117
St. Camillus de Lellis
Hell is full of the talented, but Heaven of the energetic. 118
St. Jane Francis de Chantal
The Holy Spirit rests in the soul of the righteous just like the dove in her nest. He hatches good desires in a pure soul, as the dove hatches her young. 119
St. John Vianney
God is like a mother who carries her child in her arms by the edge of a precipice. While she is seeking all the time to keep him from danger, he is doing his best to get into it. 120
St. John Vianney
God always gives a greater blessing to humble beginnings than to those that start with a chiming of bells. 121
St. Vincent de Paul
What was the life of Christ but a perpetual humiliation? 121
St. Vincent de Paul
Humility is to the various virtues what the chain is in a Rosary. Take away the chain and the beads are scattered; remove humility, and all virtues vanish. 122
St. John Vianney
Peace begins with a smile. 123
Blessed Mother Teresa
Let everyone who has the grace of intelligence fear that, because of it, he will be judged more heavily if he is negligent. Let him who has no intelligence or talent rejoice and do as much as he can with the little that he has; for he has been freed from many occasions of sin. 124
St. Bridget of Sweden
Be on such simple, cordial terms with those under you that when you are all together, it would be impossible to say which is the superior. 125
St. Vincent de Paul
When it's God Who is speaking . . . the proper way to behave is to imitate someone who has an irresistible curiosity and who listens at keyholes. You must listen to everything God says at the keyhole of your heart. 126
St. John Vianney
I prefer to be accused unjustly, for then I have nothing to reproach myself with, and joyfully offer this to the good Lord. Then I humble myself at the thought that I am indeed capable of doing the thing of which I have been accused. 127
St. Therese of Lisieux
Why should we defend ourselves when we are misunderstood and misjudged? Let us leave that aside. Let us not say anything. It is so sweet to let others judge us in any way they like. O blessed silence, which gives so much peace to the soul! 128
St. Therese of Lisieux
As soon as worldly people see that you wish to follow a devout life they aim a thousand darts of mockery and even detraction at you. The most malicious of them will slander your conversion as hypocrisy, bigotry, and trickery. They will say that the world has turned against you and being rebuffed by it you have turned to God. Your friends will raise a host of objections which they consider very prudent and charitable. They will tell you that you will become depressed, lose your reputation in the world, be unbearable, and grow old before your time, and that your affairs at home will suffer. You must live in the world like one in the world. They will say that you cansave your soul without going to such extremes, and a thousand similar trivialities. 129
St. Francis de Sales
Philothea, all this is mere foolish, empty babbling. These people aren't interested in your health or welfare. "If you were of the world, the world would love what is its own but because you are not of the world, therefore the world hates you," says the Savior. We have seen gentlemen and ladies spend the whole night, even many nights one after another, playing chess or cards. Is there any concentration more absurd, gloomy, or depressing than this last? Yet worldly people don't say a word and the players' friends don't bother their heads about it. If we spend an hour in meditation or get up a little earlier than usual in the morning to prepare for Holy Communion, everyone runs for a doctor to cure us of hypochondria and jaundice. People can pass thirty nights in dancing and no one complains about it, but if they watch through a single Christmas night they cough and claim their stomach is upset the next morning. Does anyone fail to see that the world is an unjust judge, gracious and well disposed to its own children but harsh and rigorous towards the children of God? 130
St. Francis de Sales
We can never please the world unless we lose ourselves together with it. It is so demanding that it can't be satisfied. "John came neither eating nor drinking," says the Savior, and you say, "He has a devil." "The Son of man came eating and drinking" and you say that he is "a Samaritan." It is true, Philothea, that if we are ready to laugh, play cards, or dance with the world in order to please it, it will be scandalized at us, and if we don't, it will accuse us of hypocrisy or melancholy. If we dress well, it will attribute it to some plan we have, and if we neglect our dress, it will accuse of us of being cheap and stingy. Good humor will be called frivolity and mortification sullenness. Thus the world looks at us with an evil eye and we can never please it. It exaggerates our imperfections and claims they are sins, turns our venial sins into mortal sins and changes our sins of weakness into sins of malice. 131
St. Francis de Sales
"Charity is kind," says Saint Paul, but the world on the contrary is evil. "Charity thinks no evil," but the world always thinks evil and when it can't condemn our acts it will condemn our intentions. Whether the sheep have horns or not and whether they are white or black, the wolf doesn't hesitate to eat them if he can. Whatever we do, the world will wage war on us. If we stay a long time in the confessional, it will wonder how we can have so much to say; if we stay only a short time, it will say we haven't told everything. It will watch all our actions and at a single little angry word it will protest that we can't get along with anyone. To take care of our own interests will look like avarice, while meekness will look like folly. As for the children of the world, their anger is called being blunt, their avarice economy, their intimate conversations lawful discussions. Spiders always spoil the good work of the bees. 132
St. Francis de Sales
Sin is a rejection of love. 133
Archbishop Justin Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia
Prayer is powerful beyond limits when we turn to the Immaculata who is queen even of God's heart. 134
St. Maximillian Kolbe
Christ said, "I am the Truth"; he did not say "I am the custom." 135
St. Toribio
Truth suffers, but never dies. 136
St. Teresa of Avila
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. 137
St. Francis of Assisi
To receive the grace of God you must go to the desert and stay awhile. 138
Blessed Charles de Foucauld
Let prayer delight thee more than disputations, and the charity which buildeth up more than the knowledge which puffeth up. 139
St. Robert Bellarmine
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. 140
St. Anthony of Padua
Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians. 141
St. Francis Xavier
Moreover the strongest support is provided not only to protect the young from evil, but also to rouse them and attract them more easily and gently to the performance of good works. Like the twigs of plants, the young are easily influenced, as long as someone works to change their souls. But if they are allowed to grow hard, we know well that the possibility of one day bending them diminishes a great deal and is sometimes utterly lost. 142
St. Joseph Calasanz
No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves? 143
St Maximilian Kolbe
Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity. 144
St. Therese of Lisieux
Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven. 145
St. Ephraem of Syria
He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come in conflict with it. 146
Blessed Titus Brandsma
If you commit any sin, repent of it at once and resolve to amend. If it is a grievous sin, confess it as soon as possible. 147
St. Alphonsus Liguori
We should have frequent recourse to prayer, and persevere a long time in it. God wishes to be solicited. He id not weary of hearing us. The treasure of His graces is infinite. We can do nothing more pleasing to him than to beg incessantly that He bestow them upon us. 148
St. John Baptist de la Salle
God bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves. 149
St. Augustine
Believe me, the writing of pious books, the composing of the most sublime poetry; all that does not equal the smallest act of self-denial. 150
St. Therese of Lisieux
Stop entertaining those vain fears. Remember it is not feeling which constitutes guilt but the consent to such feelings. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virture. 151
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
If we have obtained the grace of God, none shall prevail against us, but we shall be stronger than all who oppose us. 152
St. John Chrysostom
Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will make a man go to Heaven. 153
St. Camillus de Lellis
He does much in the sight of God who does his best, be it ever so little. 154
St. Peter of Alcantara
The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers. 155
St. Maximilian Kolbe
As fire has to have continuous contact with an object to affect it, so an intermittent thought cannot bring about passion in a heart; a certain amount of time is necessary. 156
St. Basil the Great
You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. 157
Leviticus 19:17-18
God does not command us to live in hair shirts and chains, or to chastise our flesh with scourges, but to love Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves. 158
St. Charles of Sezze
Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. 159
St. Thomas Aquinas
Humility is the only thing that no devil can imitate. If pride made demons out of angels, there is no doubt that humility could make angels out of demons. 160
St John Climacus
Compassion my dear brother 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. 161
St. Martin de Porres
God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self. 162
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family. 163
St. Angela Merici
Whatever did not fit in with my plan did lie within the plan of God. I have an ever deeper and firmer belief that nothing is merely an accident when seen in the light of God, that my whole life down to the smallest details has been marked out for me in the plan of Divine Providence and has a completely coherent meaning in God's all-seeing eyes. And so I am beginning to rejoice in the light of glory wherein this meaning will be unveiled to me. 164
St. Edith Stein
My hope is in Christ, who strengthens the weakest by His Divine help. I can do all in Him who strengthens me. His Power is infinite, and if I lean on him, it will be mine. His Wisdom is infinite, and if I look to Him for counsel, I shall not be deceived. His Goodness is infinite, and if my trust is stayed in Him, I shall not be abandoned. 165
St. Pope Pius X
To commit a murder, besides the not having the person in your power, there are many measures and precautions to take. A favorable opportunity must be waited for, and a place must be selected before we can put so damnable a design into execution. More than this, the pistols may misfire, blows may not be sufficient, and all wounds are not mortal. But to deprive a man of his reputation and honor, one word is sufficient. By finding out the most sensitive part of his honor, you may tarnish his reputation by telling it to all who know him, and easily take away his character for honor and integrity. To do this, however, no time is required, for scarcely have you complacently cherished the wish to calumniate him, than the sin is effected. 166
St. John Chrysostom
According to the divine plan, action must be fed with prayer. The interior life is the wellspring of the apostolate. Do not believe in the slogan, "The priest is sanctified in sanctifying others" - it's an illusion. The real formula is, "Sanctify yourself so as to sanctify others." 167
Blessed Edward Poppe
Envy is a sadness which we feel on account of the good that happens to our neighbour. 168
Saint John Vianney
... whoever is envious is proud. ... envy comes to us from Hell; the devils having sinned through pride, sinned also through envy, envying our glory, our happiness. ... Why do we envy the happiness and the goods of others? Because we are proud; we should like to be the sole possessors of talents, riches, of the esteem and love of all the world! We hate our equals, because they are our equals; our inferiors, from the fear that they may equal us; our superiors, because they are above us. In the same way, my children, that the devil after his fall felt, and still feels, extreme anger at seeing us the heirs of the glory of the good God, so the envious man feels sadness at seeing the spiritual and temporal prosperity of his neighbour. We walk, my children, in the footsteps of the devil; like him, we are vexed at good, and rejoice at evil. If our neighbour loses anything, if his affairs go wrong, if he is humbled, if he is unfortunate, we are joyful. . . we triumph! The devil, too, is full of joy and triumph when we fall, when he can make us fall as low as himself. ... Shall we be richer, because our neighbour is poorer? Shall we be greater, because he is less? Shall we be happier, because he is more unhappy? St. Cyprian said that other evils had limits, but that envy had none. In fact, my children, the envious man invents all sorts of wickedness; he has recourse to evil speaking, to calumny, to cunning, in order to blacken his neighbour; he repeats what he knows, and what he does not know he invents, he exaggerates. . . Through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world; and also through envy we kill our neighbour; by dint of malice, of falsehood, we make him lose his reputation, his place. . . . 169
St. John Vianney
Your first task is to be dissatisfied with yourself, fight sin, and transform yourself into something better. Your second task is to put up with the trials and temptations of this world that will be brought on by the change in your life and to persevere to the very end in the midst of these things. 170
St. Augustine
Make up your mind to become a saint. 171
St. Maria Mazarello
Mary's viginity and giving birth, and even the Lord's death escaped the notice of the prince of this world; these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were accomplished in God's silence. 172
St. Ignatius of Antioch
If I were worthy of such a favor from my God, I would ask that he grant me this one miracle: that by His grace He would make of me a good man. 173
St. Ansgar
[It] is not enough to pray, Thy kingdom come, but to work, so that the Kingdom of God will exist among us today. 174
Blessed Ursula Ledochowska
Let us not esteem worldly prosperity or adversity as things real or of any moment, but let us live elsewhere, and raise all our attention to Heaven; esteeming sin as the only true evil, and nothing truly good, but virtue which unites us to God. 175
St. Gregory Nazianzen
As long as any one has the means of doing good to his neighbours, and does not do so, he shall be reckoned a stranger to the love of the Lord. 175
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
Whatever troubles may be before you, accept them bravely, remembering Whom you are trying to follow. Do not be afraid. Love one another, bear with one another, and let charity guide you all your life. God will reward you as only He can. 176
Blessed Mary MacKillop
Remember that the Christian life is one of action; not of speech and daydreams. Let there be few words and many deeds, and let them be done well. 177
St. Vincent Pallotti
In prosperity, give thanks to God with humility and fear lest by pride you abuse God's benefits and so offend him. 178
St. Louis IX
Whatever you do, think not of yourself, but of God. 179
St Vincent Ferrer
Without Prayer nothing good is done. God's works are done with our hands joined, and on our knees. Even when we run, we must remain spiritually kneeling before Him. 180
Blessed Luigi Orione
To those who wish to stand in God's grace, neither the guardianship of saints nor the defenses of angels are wanting. 181
St. Hilary of Poitiers: (Commentary on the Psalms, 365AD)
The poor and the sick are our owners and they represent the very person of Jesus Christ. 182
St. Luigi Scrosoppi
If it were given to a man to see virtue's reward in the next world, he would occupy his intellect, memory and will in nothing but good works, careless of danger or fatigue. 183
St. Catherine of Genoa
The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example. Our Lord, in His wonderous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers. Thus the decisions your children have made don't make you a failure as a parent in God's eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God's grace can touch a hardened heart. Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When parents pray the Rosary,at the end of each decade they should hold the Rosary aloft and say to her,"With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart", she will attend to their souls. 184
St. Louise de Marillac
Pray that neither self indulgence nor pride, nor any other evil passion, prevent me from seeing in my patients Jesus who suffers, and from healing and comforting Him. 185
St. Richard Pampuri (in a letter to his sister, a missionary nun)
... our Lord Jesus, whose footsteps we ought to follow, called his betrayer “friend,” and offered himself willingly to his executioners. Therefore all those who unjustly inflict upon us tribulations, anguish, shame and injuries, sorrows and torments, martyrdom and death, are our friends whom we ought to love much, because we shall gain eternal life by those things which they make us suffer. And let us hate our body with its vices and sins, because by living in pleasures it wishes to rob us of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and eternal life, and to lose itself with everything else in hell.” 186
St. Francis of Assisi
You must speak to Jesus also with the heart, besides with the lips; indeed, in certain cases you must speak to Him only with the heart. 187
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Do not worry over things that generate preoccupation, and anxiety. One thing only is necessary: to lift up your spirit and love God. 188
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Often place your confidence in Divine Providence and be assured that sooner heaven and earth shall pass away than that the Lord neglect to protect you. 189
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
God loves man with an infinite love and when He punishes, He does so with reverence, almost fearing to hurt. 190
St. Padre Pio Pietrelcina
Say to God: Do you want greater love from me? I have no more. Give me more, therefore, and I will offer it to You. Don’t doubt. God will accept this offer. 191
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Often kiss Jesus with affection and you will recompense Him for the sacrilegious kiss of the unfaithful Apostle, Judas. 192
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Walk in the way of the Lord with simplicity and do not torment your spirit. You must hate your defects, but with a quiet hate, not troublesome and restless. 193
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Why should you worry whether God wants you to reach the heavenly home by way of the desert or by the fields, when by the one as well as by the other one arrives all the same at a Blessed Eternity? Keep far from you excessive preoccupation which arises from the trials which the good God wishes to visit upon you. 194
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Jesus who cannot suffer long to keep you in affliction will come to relieve and comfort you by infusing fresh courage into your soul. 195
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
The longer the trial to which God subjects you, the greater the goodness in comforting you during the time of trial and in the exaltation after the combat. 196
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
You know well that at the birth of our Lord the shepherds heard the angelic and divine chants of the heavenly spirits. The Scriptures say so. But they do not say that his Virgin Mother and
St. Joseph, who were nearer to the Child, heard the voices of the angels or saw those miracles of splendor. On the contrary, they heard the Child weeping and saw by the light of a poor lantern the eyes of the Divine Child all bathed in tears, in sighs and shivering with cold. Now I ask you: Would you not have preferred to have been in the dark stable, filled with the cries of the little Child, rather than to have been with the shepherds, beside yourself with joy over those sweet melodies from heaven and the beauties of this wonderful splendor? 197
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
When you do not succeed in meditating well, do not for this reason cease to do your duty. If there are many distractions do not lose heart. Make a meditation of patience; you will profit all the same. 198
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
When you have distractions, don’t distract yourself still more by stopping to consider the why and the wheerefore. 199
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Remember it is not feeling which constitutes guilt but the consent to such feelings. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virtue. 200
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
