QUOTATION: Marriage

You know that marriage is for a lifetime? "Yes, we love each other, but we'll stay together as long as love lasts. When it's over, we go our separate ways." That is selfishness.

--Pope Francis

QUOTATION: Pro-Life and Forgiveness

We who reject abortion do not reject those who have had abortions. Rather, we embrace them with forgiveness and peace.

--Fr. Frank Pavone

QUOTATION: God's Love

You ask me whether Our Lord thinks of you, and whether He looks upon you with love. Yes, He thinks of you, and not only of you, but of the least hair of your head. This is an article of faith. We cannot doubt it.

--St. Francis de Sales, Consoling Thoughts

QUOTATION: Empathy

Whoever sheds a fervent tear for the hardships of his fellow man, heals his own wounds.

--St. Basil the Great

QUOTATION: Marriage

The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other. It is a perpetual exercise in mortification.

--St. Francis de Sales

QUOTATION: Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the greatest traitors that real virtue and solid devotion can ever have. It pretends to warm us to do good works, but doesn't and we grow cold; it makes us run only to make us trip. One must be careful of this on all occasions particularly at prayer. And to better succeed it would be well to remember that graces and the consolations of prayer are not waters of this earth, but of Heaven, and that therefore all our efforts are not sufficient to make them fall, even though it is necessary to prepare oneself with great diligence, but always humbly and tranquilly; one must keep ones heart turned to Heaven and wait from there the heavenly dew.

--St. Padre Pio

QUOTATION: Humility

Humilty is happy to be despised, to be without anything. It is not attached to anything, is not offended by anything. Humility is content…humility is satisfied with everthing.

--Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified

QUOTATION: Non-Catholic Thinking

What strikes me, when I think of the Catholic world, is that within Catholicism, there seems sometimes to predominate a non-Catholic way of thinking, and it can happen that this non-Catholic thought within Catholicism, will tomorrow be come the stronger. But it will never represent the thought of the Church. It is necessary that a small flock subsist, no matter how small it might be.

--Pope Paul VI

QUOTATION: God's Mercy

Our sins are nothing but a grain of sand alongside the great mountain of the mercy of God.

--St. Jean Vianney, the Cure d'Ars

QUOTATION: Responding to Evil

When confronted with an abyss of evil, the only response is an abyss of love.

--Pope John Paul II

QUOTATION: Silence

Silence is a sword in spiritual struggle. A talkative soul will never attain sanctity. The sword of silence will cut off everything that would like to cling to the soul. We are sensitive to words and quickly want to answer back, without taking any regard as to whether it is God’s will that we should speak. A silent soul is strong; no adversities will harm it if it perseveres in silence. The silent soul is capable of attaining the closest union with God. It lives almost always under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God works in a silent soul without hindrance.

--St. Faustina Kowalska, Diary, 477

QUOTATION: Hell

Hell makes a salutary impression only on those that love God; others make use of it only to insult Him more by blaspheming His justice.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: The Right to Life is the First Among Rights

The moral problem of abortion is of a pre-religious nature because the genetic code is written in a person at the moment of conception. A human being is there. I separate the topic of abortion from any specifically religious notions. It is a scientific problem. Not to allow the further development of a being which already has all the genetic code of a human being is not ethical. The right to life is the first among human rights. To abort a child is to kill someone who cannot defend himself.

--Pope Francis

QUOTATION: God's Hatred of Sin

When the Eternal Father saw His Own Son, His only well-beloved Son, most holy and most innocent, laden with the sins of others, He did not spare Him, as St. Paul says, but delivered Him up for us to the Cross and to death (Rom. 8, 32), so abominable and execrable is sin in His sight.

--St. John Eudes, The Four Foundations of Sanctity

QUOTATION: Noise

All of man’s problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

--Blaise Pascal

QUOTATION: Religious

They [religious] live more purely, they fall more rarely, they rise more speedily, they are aided more powerfully, they live more peacefully, they die more securely, and they are rewarded more abundantly.

--St. Bernard of Clairvaux

QUOTATION: Sacred Tradition Equal to Scripture

Of the dogmas and proclamations preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching, while others we have received in secret from the Tradition of the Apostles; these both have the same validity for true religion. And no one will gainsay these points, at least if he is even moderately versed in ecclesiastical institutions.

--St. Basil the Great

QUOTATION: Evil is No Argument Against God's Existence

The evil in the world must not make me doubt the existence of God. There could be no evil if there were no God. Before there can be a hole in a uniform, there must be a uniform; before there is death, there must be life; before there is error, there must be truth; before there is a crime, there must be liberty and law; before there is a war, there must be peace; before there is a devil, there must be a God, rebellion against whom made the devil.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Wartime Prayer Book

QUOTATION: Evangelization

The Church as ours and ours alone is a pointless game in a sandbox.

--Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, (Pope Benedict XVI ), 1970

QUOTATION: Humilty and Chastity

As a tower defends a camp, so does humility of heart guard the chastity of the body.

--St Anthony of Padua

QUOTATION: Anxiety

Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul, except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry.

--St. Francis de Sales

QUOTATION: A Good Christian is Like a Dog

The dog is more loyal than a son, more obedient than a servant, and more docile than a child. Not only does he willingly do what his master orders, but he scans his master's face to tell from his looks what he wants, so that he can do it without being told to, with the greatest alacrity and joy. He even shares his master's affections, becoming a friend of his friends and an enemy of his enemies. I should practice all these beautiful traits in serving God, my beloved Master. Yes, I shall gladly do what He commands me, and I shall study to know and do his will without waiting for a command. I shall promptly and gladly do all that He disposes through his representatives, my superiors. I shall be a friend of the friends of God, and I shall treat his enemies as He tells me, barking out against their wickedness to make them leave it.

The dog watches by day and redoubles his vigilance by night. He guards the person and the property of his master. He barks at and bites all those he knows or suspects are planning to harm his master or his master's interests. I should strive to be always vigilant, and denounce vices, faults, and sins, and cry out against the enemies of the soul.

The dog's greatest joy is to be in his master's presence and walk along beside him. I shall strive always to walk joyfully in the presence of God, my dear Master. Thus I will never sin and will become perfect, according to his word: "Walk in my presence and be blameless.'' (Gen. 17:1).

--St. Anthony Mary Claret, Autobiography

QUOTATION: Temptation

As the pilot of a vessel is tried in the storm; as the wrestler is tried in the ring; the soldier in the battle, and the hero in adversity; so is the Christian tried in temptation.

--St. Basil the Great

QUOTATION: What Made Jesus Sad

The principal sorrow which afflicted the heart of Jesus so much was not the sight of the torments and infamy which men were preparing for him, but the sight of their ingratitude towards his immense love. He distinctly foresaw all the sins which we should commit after all his sufferings and such a bitter and ignominious death.

--St.Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist

QUOTATION: God's Mercy

Never forget this: the Lord never gets tired of forgiving us. It is we who get tired of asking for forgiveness.

--Pope Francis

QUOTATION: Why did not Christ show Himself to the whole Jewish people after His resurrection?

Why did not Christ show Himself to the whole Jewish people after His resurrection. I ask in reply, what would have been the use of it? a mere passing triumph over sinners whose judgment is reserved for the next world. On the other hand, such a procedure would have interfered with, nay, defeated, the real object of His rising again, the propagation of His Gospel through the world by means of His own intimate friends and followers. And further, this preference of the few to the many seems to have been necessary from the nature of man, since all great works are effected, not by a multitude, but by the deep-seated resolution of a few;—nay, necessary too from man's depravity, for, alas! popular favour is hardly to be expected for the cause of Truth. And our Lord's instruments were few, if for no other reason, yet at least for this, because more were not to be found, because there were but few faithful Israelites without guile in Israel according to the flesh.

--Blessed John Henry Newman, "Witnesses of the Resurrection", Parochial and Plain Sermons

QUOTATION: First Things First

When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.

--C.S. Lewis

QUOTATION: Original Sin

This act of disobedience, which is called his original sin, man lost nothing which was due to him or to his nature. He lost only gifts, and became as St. Augustine has said, ‘Just mere man.’ On Christmas day when you distribute gifts to your friends, a person with whom you are unacquainted would not dare come to you and argue because you had failed to give him gifts such as you had given your friends. Your answer would be: sir, I have done you no injustice. I have deprived you of nothing which is your due. I have even given to my friends that which was not theirs. And so it is with Original Sin.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Catholic Hour, "Love’s Overflow" 3/23/1930

QUOTATION: The Critic of Religion

Nobody supposes that the best critic of music is the man who talks coldly about music. But there is an idea that a man is a correct judge of religion because he looks down on religions.

--G.K. Chesterton

QUOTATION: Humilty is Truth

The reason why God is such a great Lover of humility is that He is a great Lover of truth. Humility is in fact truth, while pride is nothing but lying.

--St. Vincent de Paul

QUOTATION: The Right to Life

The right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture-- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.

--Pope John Paul II

QUOTATION: Contemplating Hell

Let us speak of hell.The greatest saints have been helped by this consideration, and they have found in it motives for loving Our Lord more. Love produces sanctity, but sometimes it has need of being helped by fear. There are times when it is necessary.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: How Bad is a Mortal Sin?

If all the calamities which have existed in the world since the creation and all the sufferings of hell were put into one side of a scale, and put one mortal sin into the other, it would outweigh all these evils, for it is incomparably greater.

--Louis de Granada

QUOTATION: Focusing on God

If we don’t think about God, everything ends up being about 'me' and my own comfort.

--Pope Francis

QUOTATION: Love and Evangelization

Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill.

It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is filled with the fire of charity— the fire of love of God and neighbor— it will work wonders.

--St. Anthony Mary Claret

QUOTATION: Immodesty

One cannot sufficiently deplore the blindness of so many women of every age and condition; made foolish by desire to please, they do not see to what a degree the indecency of their clothing shocks every honest man, and offends God. Most of them would formerly have blushed for those toilettes as for a grave fault against Christian modesty; now it does not suffice for them to exhibit them on the public thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of the churches, to assist at the Holy sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seducing food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table where one receives the heavenly Author of purity. And We speak not of those exotic and barbarous dances recently imported into fashionable circles, one more shocking than the other; one cannot imagine anything more suitable for banishing all the remains of modesty.

--Pope Benedict XV, Sacra Propediem

QUOTATION: Truth

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

--Blaise Pascal

QUOTATION: Confession Requires Humility

A soul does not benefit from the sacrament of confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery.

--St. Faustina Kowalska

QUOTATION: Evil as an Argument for the Existence of God

Discord would not offend our ears if there were not a standard of perfect harmony against which to judge all sounds. In the same way the existence of evil is an argument for the existence of God. We should not recognize imperfections as such unless there were a Perfect which they opposed. The world cannot be rationally explained without God; its very complexity forces the mind to believe that there must be something beyond all this, to have put it together. When we see a painting inside a frame, we know that someone has joined the two together. When we see a watch, we know that some intelligence has assembled it. Matter does not form itself into patterns without intelligence to guide it. The whole material universe is an argument for God.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Crisis in History

QUOTATION: The Conversion of Heretics

Heretics are to be converted by an example of humility and other virtues far more readily than by any external display or verbal battles. So let us arm ourselves with devout prayers and set off showing signs of genuine humility and go barefooted to combat Goliath.

--St. Dominic

QUOTATION: Loving

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving.

--St. Francis de Sales

QUOTATION: Conditional Obedience to Christ

There are many religious Catholics whose readiness to change is merely a conditional one. They exert themselves to keep the commandments and to get rid of such qualities as they have recognized to be sinful. But they lack the will and the readiness to become new men all in all, to break with all purely natural standards, to view all things in a supernatural light.

They prefer to evade the act of metanoia: a true conversion of heart. Hence with an undisturbed conscience they cling to all that appears to them legitimate by natural standards. Their conscience permits them to remain entrenched in their self-assertion. For example, they do not feel the obligation of loving their enemies; they let their pride have its way within certain limits; they insist on the right of giving play to their natural reactions in answer to any humiliation.

They maintain as self-evident their claim to the world’s respect, they dread being looked upon as ‘fools of Christ’; they accord a certain role to human respect, and are anxious to stand justified in the eyes of the world also. They are not ready for a total breach with the world and its standards; they are swayed by certain conventional considerations; nor do they refrain from ‘letting themselves go’ within certain limits. There are various types and degrees of this reserved form of the readiness to change; but common to them all is the characteristic of a merely conditional obedience to the Call and an ultimate abiding by one’s natural self.

--Dietrich von Hildebrand, Transformation in Christ

QUOTATION: The Right to Life

For man, the right to life is the fundamental right. And yet, a part of contemporary culture has wanted to deny that right, turning it into an "uncomfortable" right, one that has to be defended. But there is no other right that so closely affects the very existence of the person!

The right to life means the right to be born and then continue to live until one's natural end: "As long as I live, I have the right to live.” The question of conceived and unborn children is a particularly delicate yet clear problem. The legalization of the termination of pregnancy is none other than the authorization given to an adult, with the approval of an established law, to take the lives of children yet unborn and thus incapable of defending themselves.

It is difficult to imagine a more unjust situation, and it is very difficult to speak of obsession in a matter such as this, where we are dealing with a fundamental imperative of every good conscience – the defense of the right to life of an innocent and defenseless human being.

--Pope John Paul II

QUOTATION: Wisdom

Wisdom enters through love, silence, and mortification. It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.

--St. John of the Cross

QUOTATION: Make the Best of Suffering

Moreover, let me appeal to your self-interest. Will you not at least make a virtue out of necessity? You must suffer. You cannot escape it, for it is a law of your nature. Can you resist the almighty power of God when He is pleased to send you afflictions? Knowing these truths, and knowing that your sins deserve more than you can bear, why will you struggle against your trials? Why not bear them patiently, and thus atone for your sins and merit many graces? Is it not madness to try to escape them, and thereby lose the blessings they can give, receiving instead a weight of impatience and misery which only adds to the load you must carry? Stand prepared, then, for tribulations, for what can you expect from a corrupt world, from a frail flesh, from the envy of devils, and from the malice of men, but contradictions and persecutions?

--Louis de Granada, The Sinner's Guide

QUOTATION: Divine Justice

God would rather cease to be God than to suffer sin to go unpunished.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: Repentance

The problem is not that we are sinners, the problem is not repenting of sin, not being ashamed of what we have done.

--Pope Francis

QUOTATION: Slavery

But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.

--C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy

QUOTATION: Jesus' Profession

Among so many different professions, why did Jesus Christ choose one so laborious and so low? It is to teach men that since original sin, they have two great disorders to combat—pride and luxury—and that the only way to arrive at their final end is by the path of humiliation and suffering.

--St. Ignatius Loyola, Spiritual Exercises

QUOTATION: Morality

Unless we have a moral principle about such delicate matters as marriage and murder, the whole world will become a welter of exceptions with no rules. There will be so many hard cases that everything will go soft.

--G.K. Chesterton, “The New Immoral Philosophy,” Sept. 21, 1929.