QUOTATION: Aiming for Heaven

The Gospel then has come to us, not merely to make us good subjects, good citizens, good members of society, but to make us members of the New Jerusalem, and "fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God." Certainly no one is a true Christian who is not a good subject and member of society; but neither is he a true Christian if he is nothing more than this. If he is not aiming at something beyond the power of the natural man, he is not really a Christian, or one of the elect.

--Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, “The Visible Church for the Sake of the Elect”, Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 4.

QUOTATION: The Good News

The message that electrified the first century was not, 'Love your enemies,' but, 'He is risen.'

--Msgr. Ronald Knox

QUOTATION: The Gospel's Authority

But should you meet with a person not yet believing the Gospel, how would you reply to him were he to say, I do not believe? For my part, I should not believe the Gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.

--St. Augustine, Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental, Chapter 5.

QUOTATION: Salvation

To save our souls we must live according to the maxims of the Gospel, and not according to those of the world.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori

QUOTATION: Who Would Have Believed ...?

Truly admirable is the doctrine of Christ our teacher, which however is hidden from the "wise" of this world. For who would have believed, unless God had said it, that it is a blessed thing to be poor, but rich in afflictions?

--St. Robert Bellarmine, The Eternal Happiness of the Saints

QUOTATION: The Gospel

A church that doesn’t provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed – what gospel is that?

--Archbishop Oscar Romero

QUOTATION: The Gospel of John

No one can grasp the meaning of the Gospel (of John) unless he has rested on the breast of Jesus, and unless he has received from Him Mary, who becomes his mother also.

--Origen, Commentary on John

QUOTATION: Now is the Time to Preach the Gospel

Now more than ever, in a world that is often without light and without the courage of noble ideals, people need the fresh vital spirituality of the gospel. Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first apostles who preached Christ and the good news of salvation in the squares of cities, towns, and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the gospel. It is the time to preach it from the rooftops. Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine modes of living in order to take up the challenge of making Christ known in the modern metropolis. It is you who must “go out into the roads and lanes” and invite everyone you meet to the banquet that God has prepared for His people.

--Pope John Paul II