QUOTATION: Expect Mockery

The more divine a religion is, the more the world will ridicule you, for the spirit of the world is the enemy of Christ.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

QUOTATION: Carrying One's Cross

You must follow Him along the way of the cross, choosing to be crucified in His way, not yours.

--St. Catherine of Siena

QUOTATION: Our Self-Worth

We sometimes value ourselves mistakenly: at first, we think we're the best in the world; later, we switch to despising ourselves, to feeling that we can't succeed at anything.  We swing from one extreme to another.  The Blood of Christ gives us true self-esteem-- we're worth a lot in Jesus' eyes!  Not because we are better or worse than other people, but because we have been and remain very much beloved.

--Pope Francis (Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio), Homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, 2011

QUOTATION: Modernists

Modernists vent all their bitterness and hatred on Catholics who zealously fight the battles of the church. There is no species of insult which they do not heap upon them, but their usual course is to charge them with ignorance or obstinacy. When an adversary rises up against them with an erudition and force that renders them redoubtable, they seek to make a conspiracy of silence around him to nullify the effects of his attack.

--Pope St. Pius X  

QUOTATION: The Christian Glories in the Past

Does not the soldier exult in his commander, and consider his triumph as his own? He is but one, yet he identifies himself with the army, and the cause in which he serves, and dwells upon the thought of victories, and those who win them, more than on casual losses and defeats. Does not a native of a powerful country feel it a joy and boast to be so? Do we not hear men glory in being born Englishmen? And they go to and fro, gazing on the works of their own days, and the monuments of their forefathers, and say to themselves that their race is a noble one. Much more fully, much more reasonably is this the boast of a Christian, and without aught of arrogant or carnal feeling. He knows, from God's word, that he is "citizen of no mean city." He feels that his is no upstart line, but very ancient; Almighty God having purposed to bring many sons unto glory through His Son, and begetting them again, in their separate ages, to do Him service. He is one of a host, and all those blessed Saints he reads of are his brethren in the faith. He finds, in the history of the past, a peculiar kind of consolation, counteracting the influence of the world that is seen. He cannot tell who the Saints are now on earth; those yet unborn are known to God only; but the Saints of former times are sealed for heaven and are in their degree revealed to him. The spirits of the just made perfect encourage him to follow them. This is why it is a Christian's characteristic to look back on former times. The man of this world lives in the present, or speculates about the future; but faith rests upon the past and is content. It makes the past the mirror of the future. It recounts the list of faithful servants of God, (...)  and no longer feels sad as if it were alone. Abraham and the Patriarchs, Moses, Samuel, and the prophets, David and the kings who walked in his steps, these are the Christian's forefathers. 

--Blessed John Henry Newman, "The Visible Church an Encouragement to Faith, " Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. 3

QUOTATION: St. Paul's Conversion

In reality, St. Paul's conversion was not a passage from immorality to morality, from a mistaken faith to a right faith, but it was a being conquered by Christ: the renunciation of his own perfection; it was the humility of one who puts himself without reserve in the service of Christ for the brethren. And only in this renunciation of ourselves, in this conforming to Christ, are we also united among ourselves; we become "one" in Christ. It is communion with the risen Christ that gives us unity.

--Pope Benedict XVI, June 25, 2009

QUOTATION: Martyrdom

How foolish are those who waste time in desiring to be martyred in far countries, but do not apply themselves in their state of life.

--St. Francis de Sales

QUOTATION: Citizenship

"Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” Therefore, according to the Gospel, any citizen can be a good Catholic – that is, side with Jesus Christ and the Pope, and do good to his fellow men – and at the same time side with Caesar, namely, observe the laws of the land, except when the rulers persecute religion or tyrannize the consciences and minds of citizens.

-- St. John Bosco

QUOTATION: The Common Good

The second classic principle of Catholic social doctrine is the principle of the common good, or what might be called the communitarian principle; it complements and completes the personalist principle because men and women grow into the fullness of their humanity through relationships, each of us should exercise our rights in such a way that that exercise contributes to the general welfare of society, and not simply to our individual aggrandizement. Living in service to the common good is essential for the good of society, as well as for the integral development of persons.  Thus, in the classic Catholic view, society is a "natural phenomenon", not a remedial reality (...).

--George Weigel, "The Free and Virtuous Society", in Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace, 2008

QUOTATION: Pro-Life

Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize.

--St. Pope John Paul II

QUOTATION: The Real Enemy

Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies.

-- St. Ambrose

QUOTATION: Trials

If the Good Lord is testing you, it's because he wants you to love him more.

--St. Andre Bessette, as quoted in Frère André disait souvent... Recueil de paroles de Frère André rapportées par ses amis.

QUOTATION: Everyone Benefits from the Divine Mercy

Let me suppose that you have never committed sin; but can you not commit it? Oh! yes, as much as the greatest criminals. If, then, you can commit it, what difference is there between you and him who has really committed it? What has preserved you? Mercy, the same that reclaimed me, a. sinner. We are then, both the one and the other, debtors to this divine mercy.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: The Sign of the Cross

In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.

--Tertullian, De Corona, 30

QUOTATION: Prayer

Our prayers are so dear to God, that he has appointed the angels to present them to him as soon as they come forth from our mouths.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori

QUOTATION: Our True Worth

Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What we really are consists in what God knows us to be.

-- St. John Berchmans

QUOTATION: Christians

If Christians were powerless, the world would not feel the need to turn them into martyrs.

--Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Foreword, How Not to Share Your Faith, by Mark Brumley.

QUOTATION: Christ Goes with the Cross

If we could take Christ off the cross and put him over to one side, and then put the cross without Christ on the other side, we would have the picture of the world. Who picks up Christ without the cross? Our Western, affluent, Christian civilization. No discipline, no mortification, no cross, no self-denial. Who picks up the cross without Christ? Russia, China. The ascetic principle of Christianity has moved to the totalitarian states: discipline, order, law, commitment to a common end. But neither side has the answer. The crossless Christ is weak, effeminate, and can never save, because there is no mention of sin. The Christless cross allows Dachau, Auschwitz, the squeezing of the lives of individuals like so many grapes to make the totalitarian wine of the state. 

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

QUOTATION: The Principle of Personalism

The first classic principle of Catholic social doctrine is the principle of personalism, which can also be called the human rights principle. According to this principle, all right thinking about society-- in its cultural, ecnomic and political aspects-- begins with the inalienable dignity and value of the human person. Right thinking about society does not begin with the state, the party, or the tribe; neither does it begin with ethnicity, race, or gemder. Rather, it begins  with the human person, considered as an individual possessing intelligence and free will, and therefore inherent dignity and value.  Society and it legal expression, the state, must always be understood to be in the service of the integral development of the human person.  The state, in particular, has an obligation to defend the basic human rights of persons, which are "built into" us by reason of our very humanity.  "Rights," in the Catholic understanding of the term, are not benefices distributed by the state as its whim or pleasure; they are goods to be protected and/or advanced by any just state.

--George Weigel, "The Free and Virtuous Society", in Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace, 2008

QUOTATION: Praying Always

It is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling alone, or seated in your shop...while buying or selling...or even while cooking.  -

--St. John Chrysostom

QUOTATION: Evangelization

Jesus when sending his disciples out to announce that kingdom, told them: "Give freely." The Lord wants his kingdom to be spread through acts of gratuitous love.  Thus, men recognized the early Christians as bearers of a message that overflowed from them.  "Freely you have received, freely give." I would like these words of the Gospel to be engraved very deeply on your Lenten heart.  The Church grows by attraction, by witness-- not by proselytism.

--Pope Francis (Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio), Lenten Message, Ash Wednesday, 2012

QUOTATION: Loving Our Enemies

Of course it is absolutely sinful to have any private enmities. Not the bitterest personal assaults upon us should induce us to retaliate. We must do good for evil, "love those who hate, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who despitefully use us." It is only when it is impossible at once to be kind to them, and give glory to God, that we may cease to act kindly towards them.

--Blessed John Henry Newman, "Jewish Zeal, a Pattern for Christians", Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. 3

QUOTATION: Not Feeling Brave

You needn't worry about not feeling brave. Our Lord didn't--see the scene in Gethsemane. How thankful I am that when God became man He did not choose to become a man of iron nerves; that would not have helped weaklings like you and me nearly so much.

--C.S. Lewis, Letters of C.S. Lewis

QUOTATION: Trials

When there are trials, it's a sign of success. There is always a reserve of extraordinary graces waiting a trial that is well endured.

--St. Andre Bessette, as quoted in Frère André disait souvent... Recueil de paroles de Frère André rapportées par ses amis.

QUOTATION: Motherhood

Motherhood is sometimes presented as something backward or as a limitation of a woman’s freedom, thus distorting its true nature and dignity. Children are presented not as what they are — a great gift of God — but rather as something to be defended against.

--Pope St. John Paul II, Cuba, 1998

QUOTATION: Temptation

The devil only tempts those souls that wish to abandon sin and those that are in a state of grace. The others belong to him; he has no need to tempt them.

St. Jean Vianney, the Curé of Ars

QUOTATION: The Confession of Venial Sins

You should know distinctly that the accusation of venial sins is not like that of mortal sins. Mortal sins ought to be declared in confession with number, kind, and the circumstances that change their species or notably aggravate them. With venial sins, It is not so. A pious soul who will in good faith declare only three or four, but with regret that implicitly extends to all the others, and with a firm purpose of amendment, will receive the remission of all, although she has accused herself of only some. This means that mortal, sins are pardoned only individually, consequently they have to be declared formally, but venial sins collectively with general and implicit contrition. It is like a bundle of weeds, of which we see only those on the surface, and which we throw into the fire to be burned altogether, those we do not see, as well as those we do see.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: Contraception

It was the Catholic Church's firm stand against contraception and abortion which finally made me decide to become a Catholic.

Contraception and abortion have made havoc both for the young and for the old.  The terrible things that are going on, the precocious sexual practices of children, the debauchery in universities, making eroticism an end and not a means, are a consequence of violating the natural order of things. As the Romans treated eating as an end in itself, making themselves sick in a vomitorium so as to enable them to return to the table and stuff themselves with more delicacies, so people now up in a sort of sexual vomitorium. The Church's stand is absolutely correct. It is to its eternal honour that it opposed contraception, even if the opposition failed.  I think, historically, people will say it was a very gallant effort to prevent a moral disaster.

--Malcolm Muggeridge, Conversion: A Spiritual Journey

QUOTATION: Holy Thoughts

Every holy thought is the gift of God, the inspiration of God, the grace of God.

--St. Ambrose, Concerning Cain, 1:45.

QUOTATION: Carrying the Cross

In this life Jesus does not ask you to carry the heavy cross with Him, but a small piece of his cross, a piece that consists of human suffering.

--St. Padre Pio