QUOTATION: Contrition

If you commit a venial fault, make an act of the love of God and of contrition, purpose of amendment, and forth with resume your wonted, tranquility. To remain troubled after a fault is the greatest fault that a person can commit, for a troubled soul is incapable of doing the least good. If, by mischance, the fault has been grievous, then immediately make an act of contrition (which is sufficient to recover the divine grace), resolve never to be guilty of the same again, and take the first opportunity of going to confession.

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

QUOTATION: Hating Sin

The common mode of reasoning adopted by the religion of the day is this: some sins are compatible with true faith, viz. sins of infirmity; therefore, wilful transgression, or what the text calls "departing" from God, is compatible with it also. Men do not, and say they cannot, draw the line; and thus, from putting up with small sins, they go on to a sufferance of greater sins. Well, I would take the reverse way, and begin at the other end. I would force upon men's notice that there are sins which do forfeit grace; and then if, as is objected, that we cannot draw the line between one kind of sin and another, this very circumstance will make us shrink not only from transgressions, but also from infirmities. From hatred and abhorrence of large sins, we shall, please God, go on to hate and abhor the small.

--Blessed John Henry Newman, “Transgressions and Infirmities”, Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. 5

QUOTATION: Right and Wrong

Sins do not become virtues by being widely practiced. Right is still right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Peace of Soul, 1949

QUOTATION: Sins and Merits

The devil writes down our sins--our guardian angel all our merits. Labor that the guardian angel's book may be full and the Devil's empty.

--St. Jean Vianney

QUOTATION: Eyes On Your Own Soul!

No, my dear brethren, while anyone passes his time in watching the conduct of other people, he will neither know nor belong to God. If only, my dear children, we were able to arrive at the stage of eradicating this first of the capital sins from our hearts, our neighbour would never do any wrong according to us. We should never amuse ourselves by examining his conduct. We should be content to do nothing else save weep for our own sins and work as hard as we could to correct them.

--St. Jean Vianney

QUOTATION: What Saddened Jesus During the Passion

But it was not so much the sorrows of his Passion which saddened and embittered the life of our Redeemer, as the sight of all the sins which men would commit after his death.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ

QUOTATION: Sins

Our sins, then, do not prevent us from becoming saints; God offers us readily every assistance if we only desire it and ask it. What more remains? It remains for us to give ourselves entirely to God, and to devote to his love at least the remainder of our days in this life.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ

QUOTATION: Small Sins

The devil belittles small sins; otherwise he cannot lead us into greater ones.

--St. Mark the Ascetic

QUOTATION: Christianity

Christianity does not exist without a Cross. There is no possibility to exit from our sins ourselves.

--Pope Francis, Homily, April 8, 2014

QUOTATION: God's Mercy

The days of our life are much less numerous than our sins, for; we can offend by every one of our thoughts, and even mix up sin with our good works. We should have to despair at having sinned so much, of feeling ourselves again so borne to evil, if God were not infinitely good.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: Unrepented Sin

A sin not quickly repented of is both a sin and a cause of sin.

--Pope St. Gregory I

QUOTATION: The Risks of Testimony

The more lurid the old adam, the more impressive the new, so that, in testifying, converts have a way of dwelling upon their past sins and misdemeanours in such detail and so ardently that an element of exhibitionism and even spiritual pornography-- if there is such a thing-- is liable to creep in.

--Malcolm Muggeridge, Conversion: A Spiritual Journey

QUOTATION: Spiritual Corruption

It would be fair to say that sins are forgiven but corruption cannot be forgiven. This is simply because at the bottom of every corrupt attitude is a weariness with the transcendent: instead of God, who never tires of forgiving, the corrupt person sets himself up as sufficient for his own salvation-- he has tired of asking for forgiveness.

--Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Pope Francis), "Corruption and  Sin",  The Way of Humility, 2005

QUOTATION: Our Spiritual Poverty

If we knew the depth of our poverty, we would not be at all surprised by our falls, but rather astonished, and we would thank God, after sinning, for not allowing us to fall even deeper and still more frequently.

--St. Maximillian Kolbe

QUOTATION: Repentance

A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I said: I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord and you forgave the weakness of my heart. Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse you within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of the Lord.

-- St. John Chrysostom

QUOTATION: The Obstacles to Devotion

The first thing that hinders devotion are our sins, not only mortal sins but also venial sins. While little sins do not take away charity, they diminish its fervor, which is the same as devotion. So we should carefully avoid them, if not for the harm they do, at least for the great good that they prevent.

Excessive remorse of conscience that flows from our sins also impedes devotion. It makes the soul restless, depressed, faint and weak for every good practice.

Scruples obstruct devotion for the same reason. They are like thorns that prick the conscience and prevent it from resting in God and enjoying true peace.

Too many cares constitute another hindrance. They are those mosquitos from Egypt that disturb the soul. They do not allow it to sleep the spiritual sleep that lulls the soul in prayer. What’s worse, they disturb the soul and divert it from its spiritual exercise.

Preoccupation with sensual comforts is another block to devotion because the person who indulges too much in worldly delights does not deserve those of the Holy Spirit.

--St. Peter of Alcantara

QUOTATION: Sins

The sins against sex are the most humiliating, but the sins against charity are the most damning.

--Fr. Benedict Groeschel

QUOTATION: Lukewarmness

You marvel, doubtless, why a soul that is cold should be less displeasing to God than one that is lukewarm. The reason for this is that coldness, or the state of the sinner devoid of all virtues, is more easily cured than lukewarmness, which represents the man of few virtues, and these only exterior practices without the life of charity. The man who is loaded with sins can be brought to realize his malady, and so induced to take the proper remedies. But the man who is lukewarm rests on that false security which, as was the case with the Pharisee, leads him to believe that he possesses all the treasures of virtue. Though these soulless practices avail him naught, he will not realize his sad state, and consequently will take no measures for amendment.

--Louis de Granada, The Sinner's Guide

QUOTATION: Hating Our Neighbour's Faults

Too much hatred of our neighbor's faults begets more aversion than amendment, and, far from helping him, puts him to flight.

--St. Ignatius Loyola

QUOTATION: Anger at One's Sin

To be angry at ourselves after the commission of a fault is a fault worse than the one committed, and will be the occasion of many other faults; it will make us leave off our devotions, prayers, and communions; or if we do practice them, they will be done very badly.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist