QUOTATION: The Number One Problem in the Church

Spiritual malnourishment is the number one problem facing our Church.

--Bishop Robert Barron

QUOTATION: Personal Encounter with Jesus

Neither theological knowledge nor social action alone is enough to keep us in love with Christ unless both are preceded by a personal encounter with Him. Theological insights are gained not only from between two covers of a book, but from two bent knees before an altar. The Holy Hour becomes like an oxygen tank to revive the breath of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the foul and fetid atmosphere of the world.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

QUOTATION: Prayer

Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervour dies out. The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer, and to my great joy groups devoted to prayer and intercession, the prayerful reading of God’s word and the perpetual adoration of the Eucharist are growing at every level of ecclesial life. Even so, “we must reject the temptation to offer a privatized and individualistic spirituality which ill accords with the demands of charity, to say nothing of the implications of the incarnation”. There is always the risk that some moments of prayer can become an excuse for not offering one’s life in mission; a privatized lifestyle can lead Christians to take refuge in some false forms of spirituality.

--Pope Francis Evangelii Gaudium #262, November 24, 2013.

QUOTATION: Spiritual Change

Most men are intuitively aware that no change except a spiritual change will be enough: the extreme sensitiveness and ready anger of those who urge revolutions against society and morality as their remedy are a proof of the insecurity of their position. The violence of their opposition to all criticism is a sure sign of the defenselessness of their own position; even they suspect that mankind stands less in need of revolution than redemption.

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

QUOTATION: Self-Rule

There is nothing more dangerous to the spiritual life than to wish to rule ourselves after our own way of thinking.

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: Busy Yourself in Spiritual Things

Persevere in labors that lead to salvation. Always be busy in spiritual actions. In this way, no matter how often the enemy of our souls approaches, no matter how many times he may try to come near us, he’ll find our hearts closed and armed against him.

--St. Cyprian of Carthage

QUOTATION: Excessive Attachment

The fly that clings to honey hinders its flight, and the soul that allows itself attachment to spiritual sweetness hinders its own liberty and contemplation.

--St. John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love, #24

QUOTATION: Fight Your Spiritual Weaknesses

Fight against that weakness which makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of lukewarmness... and, in the words of the Scripture, God will vomit the lukewarm out of his mouth.

--St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 325

QUOTATION: The Community of Spiritual Goods

The selflessness of Christian love founds a kind of communism of spiritual goods, and the more perfectly a Christian develops this selfless love in himself, the more all others can live on his goods as if they were his own.

--Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mary, the Church at the Source, 1980

QUOATION: Spiritual Reading

You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.

--St. Athanasius

QUOTATION: Progress in the Spiritual Life

Do not think you have made any progress unless you esteem yourself inferior to all.

--Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

QUOTATION: The Spiritual Life

A spiritual life without prayer is like the Gospel without Christ.

--Henri Nouwen

QUOTATION: Modern Civilization

We understand absolutely nothing about modern civilization if we do not admit first of all that it is a universal conspiracy against every kind of interior life.

--Georges Bernanos, La France contre les robots 

QUOTATION: Loving God

At the beginning one loves God for only his gifts or for the emotions He sends us. He treats us then, ‘like a young woman who is being courted.’ If gifts are no longer given in abundance after true marriage has occurred it is not because the husband’s love is less, but because it is greater. For now he gives himself. It is not the husband’s gifts that his wife loves nor his compliments, nor even the thrill of pleasure she gets from his company. She loves him. The moment the Lover is loved for Himself, then the nature of the gifts ceases to matter. If God withdraws all sensible gifts it is only because He wants the union between the soul and Himself to be more personal and less dependent on His generosity. 

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, That Tremendous Love

QUOTATION: What Halts Spiritual Progress

I must consider those failures of mine which are usually called small, and which are generally overlooked. These are the cause of the slow, halting progress of my spiritual life. It is not a question of greater or less condescension or kindness on the part of God, it is a question of man's co-operation with him. His graces are always available; it is our failings which prevent their being of use to us.

--Pope St. John XXIII, Journal of a Soul

QUOTATION: Spiritual Worldliness

Spiritual worldliness is nothing other than a radically anthropocentric attitude. This attitude would be irremediable in the case-- supposing it were possible-- of a man endowed with all spiritual perfections who did not refer them to God.

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

QUOTATION: Sayings to Live By

In order to live always well, we must store up deeply in our minds certain general maxims of eternal life, such as the following:

All passes away in this life, whether it be joy or sorrow; but in eternity nothing passes away.

What good is all the greatness of this world at the hour of death?

All that comes from God, whether it be adverse or prosperous, all is good, and is for our welfare.

We must leave all, to gain all.

There is no peace to be found without God.

To love God and save one's soul is the one thing needful.

We need only be afraid of sin.

If God be lost,all is lost.

He that desires nothing in this world is master of the whole world.

He that prays is saved, and he that prays not is damned.

Let me die, and give God pleasure.

God is cheap at any cost.

Every pain is slight to him who has deserved hell.

He bears all who looks on Jesus crucified.

Everything becomes a pain that is not done for God.

Whoever wishes for God alone is rich in every good. Happy the man who can say: " My Jesus, I desire Thee alone, and nothing more! "

He that loves God, finds pleasure in everything; he that loves not God, finds no true pleasure in anything.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist

QUOTATION: Spiritual Apathy

Stagnant water soon grows putrid; a soul left at ease, without any struggle or temptation, stands in great danger of perishing from some self-conceit of her own merit; she perhaps imagines herself to have already attained to perfection, and therefore has little fear; and consequently takes little pains to recommend herself to God and to secure her salvation; but when, on the contrary, she is agitated by temptations, and sees herself in danger of rushing headlong into sin, then she has recourse to God; she goes to the divine Mother; she renews her resolution rather to die than to sin; she humbles herself, and casts herself into the arms of the divine mercy: in this manner, as experience shows us, the soul acquires fresh strength and closer union with God.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist

QUOTATION: Riches

The more worldly prosperity you enjoy, the more destitute you are likely to be of spiritual riches, for an abundance of this world's goods leads you to trust in them rather than in God. Oh! That you knew the misery which such prosperity prepares for you! The desire of more which springs from the love of riches is a torment which far exceeds the pleasure we derive from their possession. It will entangle you in a thousand temptations, fill you with cares, and under the delusive image of pleasure plunge you into renewed sin and prove an inexhaustible source of trouble and disquiet. Again, riches are acquired only at the expense of pain and labor; they are preserved only by care and anxiety; and they are never lost without bitter vexation and grief. But, worse than all this, they are rarely accumulated without offense against God; for, as the proverb says, "A rich man is either a wicked man or a wicked man's heir."

--Louis de Granada, The Sinner's Guide

QUOTATION: Spiritual Progress

Let each one remember that he will make progress in all spiritual things only insofar as he rids himself of self-love, self-will, and self-interest.

-- St. Ignatius Loyola