QUOTATION: Christ and the Church

About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter.

--St. Joan of Arc

QUOTATION: Bigotry

Calling other people “bigots” is only a proof of our own bigotry, for most generally we ascribe to others our own hidden faults.

--Fulton J. Sheen, Preface to Religion

QUOTATION: Power

Those who begin worshipping power soon worship evil.

--C.S. Lewis

QUOTATION: Open-Mindedness

It must be said once and for all: it is self-contradictory to be open-minded to error. It is like praising a susceptibility for disease as a particular sign of health. No, only the truth makes us free and lets us participate in real universality. It is a special sign of this freedom and universality, and of open-mindedness, to be immune to error, especially to philosophical and metaphysical error, and pre-eminently to heresy, to any teaching incompatible with the divine Revelation of Christ.

--Dietrich von Hildebrand

QUOTATION: Relativism

The modern world will not distinguish between matters of opinion and matters of principle; and it ends by treating them all as matters of taste.

--G. K. Chesterton

QUOTATION: Faith

If you are walking with God, He never shows you the end. It’s always a walk of faith.

--Mother Angelica

QUOTATION: Jesus' Self-Denial

Jesus, splendour of the substance of the Father, is born on the spiky straw of the manger, is stiff with cold, is exposed to all weathers. Even from his first hour he submits to all kinds of suffering for the salvation of men. What self-denial was his! And I who for my many sins should be given the hardest penance, shall I not feel ashamed to complain about every little inconvenience, or take any notice of a draught of air, an annoying fly or a change in the weather?

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

QUOTATION: Our God

" See," says St. Bernard "see power is ruled, wisdom instructed, virtue sustained. God taking milk and weeping, but comforting the afflicted! " A God Almighty so tightly wrapped in swathing-bands that he cannot stir! A God who knows all things, made mute and speechless! A God who rules heaven and earth needing to be carried in the arms! A God who feeds all men and animals, himself having need of a little milk to support him! A God who consoles the afflicted, and is the joy of paradise, himself weeps and moans and has to be comforted by another!

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

QUOTATION: The Incarnation

Behold, then, the Immensity become an infant, whom the heavens cannot contain: see him imprisoned in poor rags, and laid in a narrow vile manger on a bundle of straw, which was at once his only bed and pillow.

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

QUOTATION: There Are Only 3 Reasons One is Pro-Choice

There are only three reasons for being pro-choice:

scientific ignorance—appalling ignorance of a scientific fact so basic that nearly everyone in the world knows it;

moral ignorance—appalling ignorance of the most basic of all moral rules;

or legal ignorance—appalling ignorance of one of the most basic of all the functions of law.

--Peter Kreeft

QUOTATION: Heaven

Heaven is filled with converted sinners of all kinds, and there is room for more.

--St. John Cafasso

QUOTATION: Class Struggle

We have no right to judge the rich. For our part, what we desire is not a class struggle but a class encounter, in which the rich save the poor and the poor save the rich.

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love.

QUOTATION: Starchy Christians

We cannot become starched Christians, those over-educated Christians who speak of theological matters as they calmly sip their tea. No! We must become courageous Christians and go in search of the people who are the very flesh of Christ.

--Pope Francis, Address to the Lay Movements on Pentecost Vigil, May 18, 2013

QUOTATION: God's Forgiveness

The good God is as prompt to grant us pardon when we ask it of Him, as a mother is to snatch her children out of the fire.

--St. Jean Vianney

QUOTATION: Evil

Only one principle will give you courage, that is the principle that no evil lasts for ever, nor indeed for very long.

--St. Epicuris

QUOTATION: Hate

You cannot cure small hates with big hates.

--Fulton J. Sheen, Preface to Religion

QUOTATION: The Pope

The Pope is not an absolute monarch who thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.

--Pope Benedict XVI, Holy Mass of the Possession of the Chair of the Bishop of Rome, May 7, 2005.

QUOTATION: Living for the Next World

If you live for the next world, you get this one in the deal; but if you live only for this world, you lose them both.

--C.S. Lewis

QUOTATION: The Slavery of People-Pleasing

A strange and unhappy slavery is that of a man who seeks to please other men. I vow never to do anything nor to leave anything undone because of what people think. This will set up in me a great interior peace.

--St. Claude de la Colombiere

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: Resignation to the Holy Will

The masters of the spiritual life teach that, though the desire which certain souls have of suffering to give him pleasure is acceptable to him, he is yet more pleased with the conformity of those who wish for neither joy nor pain, but, in perfect resignation to his holy will, have no other desire than to fulfill whatever that will may be.

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

QUOTATION: The Harm of Sin

Every sin is more harmful to the sinner than to the one sinned against.

--St. Augustine of Hippo

QUOTATION: Correction

It is human to fall but angelic to rise again. There is much more virtue in repairing a fault committed than in never needing correction.

--St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, Conferences and Instructions

QUOTATION: Self-Chosen Poverty

Rigorous poverty is our safeguard. We do not want, as has been the case with other religious orders throughout history, to begin serving the poor and then gradually move towards serving the rich. In order for us to understand and to be able to help those who lack everything, we have to live as they live. The difference lies only in the fact that those we aid are poor by force, whereas we are poor by choice.

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love.

QUOTATION: Charity is Not Enough

It is not enough to offer someone a sandwich unless it is accompanied by the possibility of learning how to stand on one’s own two feet.

--Pope Francis, Address at the Astalli Centre, September 10, 2013

QUOTATION: Fear Not

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.

--Blessed John Henry Newman

QUOTATION: Truth

Truth has nothing to do with the number of people it convinces.

--Paul Claudel

QUOTATION: What are the Instruments of Good Works?

1. In the first place, to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength.
2. Then, one’s neighbour as oneself.
3. Then, not to murder.
4. Not commit adultery.
5. Not to steal.
6. Not to covet.
7. Not to bear false witness.
8. To respect all men.
9. And not to do to another what one would not have done to oneself.
10. To deny oneself in order to follow Christ.
11. To chastise the body.
12. Not to become attached to pleasures.
13. To love fasting.
14. To relieve the poor.
15. To clothe the naked.
16. To visit the sick.
17. To bury the dead.
18. To help in trouble.
19. To console the sorrowing.
20. To become a stranger to the world’s ways.
21. To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
22. Not give way to anger.
23. Not to nurse a grudge.
24. Not to entertain deceit in one’s heart.
25. Not to give a false peace.
26. Not to forsake charity.
27. Not to swear for fear of perjuring oneself.
28. To utter truth from heart and mouth.
29. Not to return evil for evil.
30. To do no wrong to anyone, and to patiently bear wrongs done to oneself.
31. To love one’s enemies.
32. Not to curse those who curse us, but rather to bless them.
33. To bear persecution for justice’s sake.
34. Not to be proud.
35. Not addicted to wine.
36. Not a great eater.
37. Not drowsy.
38. Not lazy.
39. Not a grumbler.
40. Not a detractor.
41. To put one’s hope in God.
42. To attribute to God, and not to self, whatever good one sees in oneself.
43. But to recognize always that the evil is one’s own doing, and to impute it to oneself.
44. To fear the Day of Judgement.
45. To be in dread of hell.
46. To desire eternal life with all the passion of the spirit.
47. To keep death daily before one’s eyes.
48. To keep constant guard over the actions of one’s life.
49. To know for certain that God sees one everywhere.
50. When evil thoughts come into one’s heart, to dash them against Christ immediately.
51. And to manifest them to one’s spiritual father.
52. To guard one’s tongue against evil and depraved speech.
53. Not to love much talking.
54. Not to speak useless words or words that move to laughter.
55. Not to love much or boisterous laughter.
56. To listen willingly to holy reading.
57. To devote oneself frequently to prayer.
58. Daily in one’s prayers, with tears and sighs, to confess one’s past sins to God, and to amend them for the future.
59. Not to fulfill the desires of the flesh; to hate one’s own will.
60. To obey in all things the commands of the abbot, even though he himself (which God forbid) should act otherwise, mindful of the Lord’s precept, “Do what they say, but not what they do.”
61. Not to wish to be called holy before one is holy; but first to be holy, that one may be truly so-called.
62. To fulfill God’s commandments daily in one’s deeds.
63. To love chastity.
64. To hate no one.
65. Not to be jealous, not to harbour envy.
66. Not to love contention.
67. To beware of haughtiness.
68. And to respect the seniors.
69. To love the juniors.
70. To pray for one’s enemies in the love of Christ.
71. To make peace with one’s adversary before the sun sets.
72. And never to despair of God’s mercy.

--St. Benedict of Nursia, Rule, Chapter 4.

QUOTATION: The Tridentine Creed

I, N, with a firm faith believe and profess each and everything which is contained in the Creed which the Holy Roman Church maketh use of. To wit:

I believe in one God, The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages. God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God. Begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father. By whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. And became incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary: and was made man. He was also crucified for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, and who spoke through the prophets. And one holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

I also admit the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy mother the Church hath held, and doth hold, to whom it belongeth to judge of the true sense and interpretations of the Scriptures. Neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

I also profess that there are truly and properly Seven Sacraments of the New Law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every one; to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony; and that they confer grace; and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders cannot be reiterated without sacrilege.

I also receive and admit the received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of the aforesaid sacraments.

I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent concerning original sin and justification.

I profess, likewise, that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially, the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation. I also confess that under either kind alone Christ is received whole and entire, and a true sacrament.

I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be honoured and invoked, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.

I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the Mother of God, ever virgin, and also of other Saints, ought to be had and retained, and that due honour and veneration is to be given them.

I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.

I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church as the mother and mistress of all churches; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop of Rome, successor to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ.

I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred Canons, and general Councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent, and by the ecumenical Council of the Vatican, particularly concerning the primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his infallible teaching. I condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies which the Church hath condemned, rejected, and anathematized.

This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved, which I now freely profess and to which I truly adhere, inviolate and with firm constancy until the last breath of life, I do so profess and swear to maintain with the help of God. And I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same faith shall be held, taught, and professed by all those over whom I have charge. I N. do so pledge, promise, and swear, so help me God and these Holy Gospels.

--Creed of Pope Pius IV, aka the Tridentine Creed (modified after the first Vatican Council)

QUOTATION: Faith and Reason

Faith is not the resignation of reason in view of the limits of our knowledge; it is not a retreat into the irrational in view of the dangers of merely instrumental reason. Faith is not the expression of weariness and flight but is courage to exist and an awakening to the greatness and breadth of what is real. Faith is an act of affirmation; it is based on the power of a new Yes, which becomes possible for man when he is touched by God.

--Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), A Turning Point for Europe?

QUOTATION: The Humble Person

We can never tell how patient or humble a person is when everything is going well with him. But when those who should co-operate with him do the exact opposite, then we can tell. A man has as much patience and humility as he has then, and no more.

--St. Francis of Assisi

QUOTATION: Separation of Church and State

Many wish the State to be separated from the Church wholly and entirely, so that with regard to every right of human society, in institutions, customs, and laws, the offices of State, and the education of youth, they would pay no more regard to the Church than if she did not exist; and, at most, would allow the citizens individually to attend to their religion in private if so minded. Against such as these, all the arguments by which We disprove the principle of separation of Church and State are conclusive; with this super-added, that it is absurd the citizen should respect the Church, while the State may hold her in contempt.

--Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos

QUOTATION: Two Kinds of Crosses

Crosses are of two kinds: pure ones, which come from the outside, such as pain, persecution, and ridicule; and inner, or impure crosses, which come as the result of our sins, such as sadness, despair, and unhappiness. These latter crosses can be avoided. They are made by contradicting the will of God.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, The Fifteen Mysteries

QUOTATION: The Church

If the Church limits itself to the work in its parish and lives shut up in its community, then the same thing will happen to it that happens to a person who shuts himself in: it will atrophy, physically and mentally.

--Pope Francis, Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words

QUOTATION: The Poor

Today is it very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is very unfashionable to talk with them.

--Mother Teresa

QUOTATION: Evil

If God is the Creator of all things and evil is a thing, then God is the Creator of evil and He is to be blamed for its existence. No, evil is not a thing but a wrong choice, or the damage done by a wrong choice. Evil is no more a positive thing than blindness is, but it is just as real.

--Peter Kreeft

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: Self-Importance

There exists a great deal of infirmity and foolishness even in the better sort of men. This is not to be wondered at, considering the original corrupt state of their nature, however it is to be deplored, repented of, and corrected. Good men are, like Elijah, "jealous for the Lord God of hosts," and rightly solicitous to see His tokens around them, the pledges of His unchangeable just government; but then they mix with such good feelings undue notions of self-importance, of which they are not aware. 

--Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, "Contracted Views in Religion", Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. 3

QUOTATION: Prayer

We do not have to talk very much in order to pray well.  We know that God is there in his holy tabernacle; let us open our hearts to him; let us rejoice in his presence: this is the best prayer.

--St. Jean Vianney, the Curé of Ars

QUOTATION: The Pope's Will

The Pope's will: God's will.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, Reaction to the Papal Brief suppressing the Society of Jesuits, 1773.

QUOTATION: Sin

The conclusion of all this is that you be ready to die rather than commit a mortal sin, and ready to die, also, rather than commit a venial sin with deliberation. Rather endure all things, rather death itself than offend God! It would be better to let the whole world go to ruin rather than try to save it by the smallest venial sin.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: Holiness

The holiness of saints does not depend on anything sensational but on little things which seem but trifles in the eyes of the world.

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

QUOTATION: Small Sins

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

--St. Mark the Ascetic

QUOTATION: Church and State

A Church dependent (or even heavily reliant) on the sword (or purse) of the state has misplaced the trust it ought to place in God alone.

--George Weigel, "The Sovereignty of Christ and the Public Church", in Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace, 2008

QUOTATION: Tolerance

The type of tolerance which permits God as a private opinion but refuses to allow him in the public arena, is, in the reality of the world and our life, not tolerance but hypocrisy.

--Pope Benedict XVI

QUOTATION: Love

We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God´s compassionate love for others.

--St. Clare of Assisi

QUOTATION: Cohabitation

We commend, venerable brothers, to your fidelity and piety those unhappy persons who, carried away by the heat of passion, and being utterly indifferent to their salvation, live wickedly together without the bond of lawful marriage. Let your utmost care be exercised in bringing such persons back to their duty; and, both by your own efforts and by those of good men who will consent to help you, strive by every means that they may see how wrongly they have acted; that they may do penance; and that they may be induced to enter into a lawful marriage according to the Catholic rite.

--Pope Leo XIII, Arcanum

QUOTATION: Sadness

Excessive sadness seldom springs from any other source than pride.

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: Mercy

It is mercy, not justice or courage or even heroism, that alone can defeat evil.

--Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind the Lord of the Rings

QUOTATION: Faith and Reason

It is philosophically impossible for divine faith to profess what the reason must regard as false; not even divine omnipotence can make this otherwise.

--St. Thomas Aquinas, On the Unity of the Intellect

QUOTATION: Crosses

Any cross would be easy to bear if we could only tailor it to fit ourselves. Our Lord’s cross was not made by Him, but for Him. Crosses and burdens are thrust upon us.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, The Fifteen Mysteries