QUOTATION: Evil

Pain and sadness are not the greatest evil; worse is judging evil to be good and not rejecting it.

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

QUOTATION: Desolation

There is nothing which occasions so diligent a search for God as does desolation; neither is there anything that attracts God to the heart so much as desolation, since the acts of conformity to the divine will which are made in desolation are more pure and perfect than others; and hence, the greater the desolation, the greater is the humility, the purer is the resignation, the purer is the confidence, the purer are the prayers, and so the more abundant are the divine graces and assistances.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Way of Salvation and Perfection

QUOTATION: Tears

There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.

-- Archbishop Oscar A. Romero

QUOTATION: Sadness

Melancholy is the poison of devotion. When one is in tribulation, it is necessary to be more happy and more joyful because one is nearer to God.

--St. Clare of Assisi

QUOTATION: Sadness

Excessive sadness seldom springs from any other source than pride.

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: The Difference Between Good and Bad Sadness

Those who are possessed of a bad sadness have their souls troubled with ever so many horrors, errors, and useless fears, with dread of being abandoned by God, of being in His disfavour, of being unfit to appear before Him in order to ask pardon. Every thing seems to go contrary to their salvation; they are like Cain, who thought every one he should meet would kill him. They think that God is unjust towards them, and will be severe to them even to eternity, and that it is all in their regard alone, while the rest of the world is perfectly happy at their expense: all which proceeds from a secret pride, persuading them that they ought to be better and more fervent than others, more perfect than any one else.

But good sadness discourses in this manner: "I am a miserable, vile, and abject creature, and therefore God will show me mercy; for power is made perfect in infirmity, and there is nothing astonishing in being poor and miserable."

--St. Francis de Sales, Consoling Thoughts

QUOTATION: Sense of Humour

A sad nun is a bad nun… I am more afraid of one unhappy sister than a crowd of evil spirits. What would happen if we hid what little sense of humor we had? Let each of us humbly use this to cheer others.

--St. Teresa of Avila

QUOTATION: Sadness

O Lord, as often as I find myself troubled and dejected, I find that I have departed from your teaching.

--Thomas à Kempis

QUOTATION: Sad Faces

It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.

--St. Francis of Assisi