QUOTATION: The Eucharist

Christ held Himself in His hands when He gave His Body to His disciples saying, 'This is my Body'. No one partakes of this Flesh before he has adored It.

--St. Augustine

QUOTATION: Shallow Religion

We are cherishing a shallow religion, a hollow religion, which will not profit us in the day of trouble. The age loves an exclusively cheerful religion. It is determined to make religion bright and sunny and joyous......we take what is beautiful and attractive, shrink from what is stern and painful.

--Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman

QUOTATION: Virtue in the Priesthood

If any one receive Holy Orders without having led the requisite good life, not only would he himself commit a mortal sin, but also the bishop who confers them upon him without having been morally certain, by sufficient proofs, of the good conduct of the candidate.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist

QUOTATION: Holiness

It is not those who commit the least number of faults, that are the most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immoderately apprehensive of tripping, or even of falling and being dirtied a little, provided they advance.

--St. Francis de Sales, Consoling Thoughts

QUOTATION: Virtue

The work of virtue is only a co-operation with the divine action of Jesus Christ in us. He comes to aid us and to make us do what He Himself is doing.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: Hope

If everything were already known and assured to us, where would be room for our confidence in God? Now we have only the shadow of these things. Where would be room for hope, if we possess them already?

--St. Ignatius Loyola

QUOTATION: Rules for Carrying Crosses

* Not to deliberately cause crosses, by one's own fault.

* Be aware of one's neighbour's good.

* Admire the sublime virtue of the saints without pretending to attain to it.

* Ask God for the wisdom of the cross.

* Humble oneself for one's faults, without worrying. God humbles us to purify us.

* Avoid the trap of pride in one's crosses.

* Profit by little sufferings rather than great ones.

* Love crosses, not with an emotional love, but with rational and supernatural love.

* Suffer all sorts of crosses, without exception and without choice.

* Never complain against creatures.

* Accept the cross only with gratitude.

* Take up some voluntary crosses.

--Adapted from St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross

QUOTATION: Eyes on the Crucifix!

Keep your eyes on the crucifix, for Jesus without the cross is a man without a mission, and the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever.

-- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

QUOTATION: Defend Life

Never tire of firmly speaking out in defense of life from its conception and do not be deterred from the commitment to defend the dignity of every human person with courageous determination. Christ is with you: be not afraid!

--Pope John Paul II

QUOTATION: Christ's Poverty

Man's sin consists in this that he so cleaves to bodily goods that he neglects what is good spiritually. It was therefore necessary for the Son of God to show this in the humanity he had taken, through all he did and suffered, so that men should repute temporal things, whether good or evil, as nothing, for otherwise, hindered by an exaggerated affection for them, they would be less devoted to spiritual things.

Christ therefore chose poor people for his parents, people nevertheless perfect in virtue, so that none of us should glory in the mere rank or wealth of our parents.

He led the life of a poor man, to teach us to set no store by wealth.

He lived the life of an ordinary man, without any rank, to wean men from an undue desire for honours.

Toil, thirst, hunger, the aches of the body, all these he endured, to encourage men, whom pleasures and delights attract, not to be deterred from virtue by the austerity a good life entails.

He went so far as to endure even death, lest the fear of death might at any time tempt man to abandon the truth. And lest any of us might dread to die even a shameful death for the truth, he chose to die by the most accursed death of all, by crucifixion.

--St. Thomas Aquinas

QUOTATION: Anxiety

I worry until midnight and from then on I let God worry.

--St. Luigi Guanella

QUOTATION: 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 but one mortal sin into the other, it would outweigh all these evils, for it is incomparably greater. This is a truth which must be strongly felt and constantly remembered. I know that the world judges differently, but the darkness which reigns in this second Egypt cannot change the real character of sin.

--Louis de Granada, The Sinner's Guide

QUOTATION: Cultural Dialogue

A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures.

--Pope Benedict XVI

QUOTATION: Argument

It is absurd to argue with men as to torture them into believing.

--Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman

QUOTATION: How Not to Pursue Holiness

The mistake is, that some indeed wish to become saints, but after their own fashion; they would love Jesus Christ, but in their own way, without forsaking those diversions, that vanity of dress, those delicacies in food : they love God, but if they do not succeed in obtaining such or such an office, they live discontented; if, too, they happen to be touched in point of esteem, they are all on fire; if they do not recover from an illness, they lose all patience. They love God; but they refuse to let go that attachment for the riches, the honors of the world, for the vainglory of being reckoned of good family, of great learning, and better than others. Such as these practise prayer, and frequent Holy Communion; but inasmuch as they take with them hearts full of earth, they derive little profit. Our Lord does not even speak to them, for he knows that it is but a waste of words.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist

QUOTATION: We Are Children of God

We always want to go to God by way of our misery. Doubtless, before God one should not be without humility. Let us not, however, remain too, much in our lowliness. Let us think that, although a sinner, we are always the son, and He is the Father. Let us not always be like mendicants groaning at the gate and exposing our miseries. We must remember our title of son, the most beautiful, the most influential of all our names.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: To Be a Good Servant of God

To be a good servant of God is not to be always consoled, always in sweetness, always without aversion or repugnance for virtue; if it were, then neither St. Paul, nor St. Angela, nor St. Catherine of Sienna, would have properly served God. To be a good servant of God is to be charitable towards our neighbour, to possess an inviolable resolution in the superior part of the soul to follow the will of God, to have such a profound humility and simplicity as will make us confide entirely in God and rise again when we fall, to endure patiently ourselves and our abjections, and to endure tranquilly our neighbours and their imperfections.

--St. Francis de Sales, Consoling Thoughts

QUOTATION: The Weak in Virtue

Never be severe in respect to those whose virtue is weak ; the defiance we might arouse would produce more evil than any good results we could hope for from a severe reprimand.

--St. Ignatius Loyola

QUOTATION: Mistakes as Crosses

If you make a blunder which brings a cross upon you, whether it be inadvertently or even through your own fault, bow down under the mighty hand of God without delay, and as far as possible do not worry over it. You might say within yourself, "Lord, here is a sample of my handiwork." If there is anything wrong in what you have done, accept the humiliation as a punishment for it; if it was not sinful, accept it as a means of humbling your pride. Frequently, even very frequently, God allows his greatest servants, those far advanced in holiness, to fall into the most humiliating faults so as to humble them in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. He thus keeps them from thoughts of pride in which they might indulge because of the graces they have received, or the good they are doing, so that "no-one can boast in God's presence.

--St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross

QUOTATION: Living without Belief

To surrender who you are and to live without belief is more terrible than dying – even more terrible than dying young.

--St. Joan of Arc

QUOTATION: Human Dignity

How is it still possible to speak of the dignity of every human person when the killing of the weakest and most innocent is permitted? In the name of what justice is the most unjust of discriminations practised: some individuals are held to be deserving of defence and others are denied that dignity?

--Pope John Paul II, Address to the Participants at the Study Conference on The Right to Life and Europe, 18 December 1987

QUOTATION: Saving Faith

But the faith by which we are cleansed from sin is not that faith which can exist side by side with sin, the faith called formless, but faith formed, that is to say, faith made alive by charity. So that the Passion of Christ is not through faith applied merely to our understanding but also to our will. Again, it is from the power of the Passion of Christ that the sins are forgiven which are forgiven by faith in this way.

--St. Thomas Aquinas

QUOTATION: Truth

Truth is meant to save you first, and the comfort comes afterward.

--Georges Bernanos

QUOTATION: The First Step to Virtue

Your first determination must be a deep and unshaken resolution never to commit mortal sin, for it can only rob us of the grace and friendship of God. Such a resolution is the basis of a virtuous life. As long as the soul perseveres in it she possesses Divine charity, which makes her a child of God, a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost, and gives her a right to the blessings of the Church here and the kingdom of Heaven hereafter.

--Louis de Granada, The Sinner's Guide

QUOTATION: Defend Life

Defend the unborn against abortion even if they persecute you, calumniate you, set traps for you, take you to court or kill you.

--Pope Francis

QUOTATION: Love in Hell

Alas! it is love that lights and feeds the fire of the damned, and their most cutting regret is for not having loved.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: Saints Are Former Sinners

Ponder this truth well, my brethren, and let it be your comfort. Among the Preachers, among the Priests of the Gospel, there have been Apostles, there have been Martyrs, there have been Doctors;—Saints in plenty among them; yet out of them all, high as has been their sanctity, varied their graces, awful their gifts, there has not been one who did not begin with the old Adam; not one of them who was not hewn out of the same rock as the most obdurate of reprobates; not one of them who was not fashioned unto honour out of the same clay which has been the material of the most polluted and vile of sinners; not one who was not by nature brother of those poor souls who have now commenced an eternal fellowship with the devil, and are lost in hell. Grace has vanquished nature; that is the whole history of the Saints. Salutary thought for those who are tempted to pride themselves in what they do, and what they are; wonderful news for those who sorrowfully recognise in their hearts the vast difference that exists between them and the Saints; and joyful news, when men hate sin, and wish to escape from its miserable yoke, yet are tempted to think it impossible!

--Blessed John Henry Newman

QUOTATION: Ambition

In order, then, to be pleasing in the sight of God, we must avoid all ambition of appearing and of making a parade in the eyes of men. And we must shun with still greater caution the ambition of governing others.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist

QUOTATION: Tranquility of the Soul

You know that on a serene night, when the lake is calm, its waters unrippled by a breath of wind, the sky is so well shadowed in it, with all the stars, that looking down, we see the beauty of the heavens there as well as if we raised our eyes on high. In like manner, when our soul is tranquil, unagitated by the winds of superfluous care, unevenness of disposition, or inconstancy of mind, it is well-suited to bear an image of Our Lord.

--St. Francis de Sales, Consoling Thoughts

QUOTATION: Insults

They who load us with insults and ignominies give us the means of acquiring treasures more precious than any that man can gain in this life.

--St. Ignatius Loyola, Letter 4

QUOTATION: The Gift of Crosses

So rejoice and be glad when God favours you with one of his choicest crosses; for without realising it, you are blessed with the greatest gift of heaven, the greatest gift of God. If you really appreciated it, you would have Masses offered, you would make novenas at the shrines of the saints, you would undertake long pilgrimages, as did the saints, to obtain from heaven this divine gift. The world calls this madness, degradation, stupidity, a lack of judgement and of common sense. They are blind: let them say what they like. This blindness, which makes them view the cross in a human and distorted way, is a source of glory to us. Every time they cause us to suffer by their ridicule and insults, they are presenting us with jewels, setting us on a throne, and crowning us with laurels.

--St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross