Suffering in serving others

It is to those who have the most need of us that we ought to show our love more especially. 1
St. Francis de Sales

Love the poor tenderly, regarding them as your masters and yourselves as their servants. 2
St. John of God

No one has ever been accused for not providing ornaments, but for those who neglect their neighbour a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all. 3
St John Chrysostom

The bread you store up belongs to the hungry; the cloak that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor. 4
St. Basil the Great

The rich man who gives to the poor does not bestow alms but pays a debt. 5
St. Ambrose of Milan

It would be considered a theft on our part if we didn't give to someone in greater need than we are. 6
St. Francis of Assisi

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. 7
St. Irenaeus of Lyons

The poor and the sick are our owners and they represent the very person of Jesus Christ. 8
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. 9
St. Catherine of Genoa

Do not wait for leaders, do it alone, person to person. 10
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

In order to console a soul in it’s sufferings, point out to it all the good it can still do. 11
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

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. 12
St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Never see a need without trying to do something about it. 13
Blessed Mary Mackillop

He who loses an opportunity is like the man who lets a bird fly from his hand, for he will never recover it. 14
St. John of the Cross

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. 15
St. Francis of Assisi

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. 16
St. Alphonsus Liguori

The Sister catechist must be ready, at every moment, to instruct the little ones and the uneducated. She must not count the sacrifices such a ministry demands, indeed she should desire to die while doing it, if this be God's will. 17
Blessed Giulia Salzano

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. 18
St. Vincent Pallotti

All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone - for the good, and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good. 19
St. John Vianney

I have heard that it is very difficult to convert Chinese, and so I had never, ever, wanted to go to China. A kind of resentment had slipped into my heart at the very word, China. But the Provincial enlightened me. I understood that it was the will of God that I should go to China. Joy and gratitude then filled my heart. 20
St. Remigius Isoré

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. 21
Blessed Louis Tezza

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. 22
St. Augustine of Hippo

The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God. Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics, and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death so that we may also share their crowns of glory. 23
St. John of Damascus

I will not live an instant that I do not live in love. Whoever loves does all things without suffering, or, suffering, loves his suffering. 24
St. Augustine

The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ's sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. 25
St. Seraphim of Sarov

Man's value before God is estimated by the dispositions of his heart, its uprightness, its good will, its charity, and not by keenness of intellect or extent of knowledge. 26
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich

If we wish to keep peace with our neighbor, we should never remind anyone of his natural defects. 27
St. Philip Neri

My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings. 28
St. Isaac Jogues

It is not the actual physical exertion that counts toward a man's progress, nor the nature of the task, but the spirit of faith with which it is undertaken. 29
St. Francis Xavier

He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor. 30
St. Bede the Venerable

If you want God to hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor. If you wish God to anticipate your wants, provide those of the needy without waiting for them to ask you. Especially anticipate the needs of those who are ashamed to beg. To make them ask for alms is to make them buy it. 31
St. Thomas of Villanova

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. 32
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. 33
St. Augustine of Hippo

The bread which you use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit. 34
St. Basil

Admire the goodness of the Creator, who causes the one to suffer in order to free the other. 35

We should never abandon, on account of the difficulties we encounter, an enterprise undertaken with due reflection. 36
St. Vincent de Paul

After knowing the will of God in regard to a work which we undertake, we should continue courageously, however difficult it may be. We should follow it to the end with as much constancy as the obstacles we encounter are great. 37
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. 38
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

May I not come before You with empty hands, since we are rewarded according to our deeds. 39
St. Teresa of Jesus

We should be cordial and affable with the poor, and with persons in humble circumstances. We should not treat them in a supercilious manner. Haughtiness makes them revolt. On the contrary, when we are affable with them, they become more docile and derive more benefit from the advice they receive. 40
St. Vincent de Paul

Love ought to consist of deeds more than of words. 41
St. Ignatius of Loyola

If you have a sick or lonely person at home, be there. Maybe just to hold a hand, maybe just to give a smile, that is the greatest, the most beautiful work. 42
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

The poor do not need our sympathy and our pity. The poor need our love and compassion. 43
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

People are hungry for God. Do you see that? Quite often we look but do not see. We are all passing through this world. We need to open our eyes and see. 44
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Love does not measure; it just gives. 45
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Sometimes it is harder for us to smile at those who live with us, the immediate members of our families, than it is to smile at those who are not so close to us. Let us never forget: love begins at home. 46
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Let us not love by words alone, but let us love until it hurts. 47
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

As far as I am concerned, the greatest suffering is to feel alone, unwanted, unloved. The greatest suffering is also having no one, forgetting what an intimate, truly human relationship is, not knowing what it means to be loved, not having a family or friends. 48
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

People have forgotten what the human touch is, what it is to smile, for somebody to smile at them, somebody to recognize them, somebody to wish them well. The terrible thing is to be unwanted. 49
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

I repeat that the poor, the sufferers from leprosy, the rejected, the alcoholics, whom we serve, are beautiful people. Many of them have wonderful personalities. The experience which we have by serving them, we must pass on to people who have not had that wonderful experience. 50
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Truly, matters in the world are in a bad state; but if you and I begin in earnest to reform ourselves, a really good beginning will have been made. 51
St. Peter of Alcantara

I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself from it." 52
St. Faustina Kowalska (the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to her in a vision)

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. 53
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. 54
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

When an action is blamable, let us excuse the intention. 55
St. Teresa Margaret Redi

Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love? 56
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

I wonder what the world would be like if there were not innocent people making reparation for us all? Today the Passion of Christ is being relived in the lives of those who suffer. To accept that suffering is a gift of God. Suffering is not a punishment. Jesus does not punish. Suffering is a sign--a sign that we have come so close to Jesus on the cross that he can kiss us, show us that he is in love with us by giving us an opportunity to share in his Passion. Suffering is not a punishment, nor a fruit of sin; it is a gift of God. He allows us to share in his suffering and to make up for the sins of the world. 57
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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. 58
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. 59
Mother Teresa

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. 60
John Henry Cardinal Newman

If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first of all with your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire. 61
St. Vincent Ferrar

It is best to first listen to others before we attempt to help them. 62
Father Peter Van Breemen, S.J

Something can be done everywhere for the glory of God. 63
St. Clement Hofbauer

Every family should have a room where Christ is welcome in the person of the hungry and thirsty stranger. 64
St. John Chrystostom

It is not necessary to have great things to do. I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God. 65
Brother Lawrence

Graciousness in accepting service is as blessed as graciousness in giving it. 66
Sister Mary Catherine Nolan, O.P.

Try to acquire the virtues you believe lacking in your brothers. Then you will no longer see their defects, for you will no longer have them yourself. 67
St. Augustine

One must do all one can do for everybody, expecting no return save from God only. 68
St. John Vianney

The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other; it is a perpetual exercise in mortification. 69
St. Francis de Sales

If you are going to do something for the poor, the abused, or the imprisoned, above all be faithful. People with broken lives often come from lives with broken promises. 70
Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J.

Peace begins with a smile--smile five times a day at someone you really don't want to smile at. Do it for Peace. 71
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen; for God speaks in the silence of the heart. 72
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

The more the soul loves, the more it desires to love, and the greater its suffering, the greater its healing. 73
St. Columban

We must make our homes centers of compassion and forgive endlessly. 74
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

It is only for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give them. 75
St. Vincent de Paul

Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment. 76
Jean De La Bruyere

The most beautiful act of faith is the one made in darkness, in sacrificing, and with extreme effort. 77
St. Padre Pio

Here is a rule for everyday life: Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God. 78
St. John Vianney

We may be excused for not always being bright, but we are not excused for not being gracious, yielding and considerate. 79
St. Francis de Sales

I never looked at the masses as my responsibility. I can only love one person at a time. So I began. I picked up one person. Maybe if I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up forty-two thousand. 80
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy. It depends upon the way we occupy that place. 81
St. Therese of Lisieux

What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience. 82
St. Francis de Sales

Watch, O Lord, with those who wake or watch or weep tonight, and give your angels and saints charge over those who sleep. Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ. Rest your weary ones. Bless your dying ones. Soothe your suffering ones. Pity your afflicted ones, shield your joyous ones. And all for love's sake. 83
St. Augustine

Let us not be justices of peace, but angels of peace. 84
St. Therese of Lisieux

Every effort to make society sensitive to the importance of the family, is a great service to humanity. 85
Pope John Paul II

The love of Christ knows no limits. It never ends; it does not shrink from ugliness and filth. 86
St. Edith Stein

I will be kind to everybody, particularly to those whom I find troublesome. 87
St. Anthony Mary Claret

There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things. 88
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

True charity consists in putting up with all one's neighbors fault's; never being surprised by his weakness, and being inspired by the least of his virtues. 89
St. Therese of Liseux

The means for maintaining perfect love is to accomplish frequent acts of love. Fire is kindled by the wood we cast into it and love is enkindled by acts of love. 90
St. Alphonsus Liguori

If we practice love of neighbor with great perfection, we will have done everything. 91
St. Teresa of Avila