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“Mother Teresa’s was a face demanding that we look, finally, upon the least among us, who are a bother and a reproach, and whose suffering haunts us, and whose suffering continues not because we lack social programs, or scientific advances, or literary or theological wit, but because very few have the strength to bear the shame of failure, of ineffectiveness.
Mother Teresa’s was the face of a woman whose eyes were difficult to read, fathomless, as if behind them burned an unseen light: not a soft glow but a fierce, blistering, scorching conflagration of a light that had been endured for a lifetime—for two thousand years—in silence. It was the face of a woman who had so loved the poor that, at last, she became one of them.”
—from the book Stumble: Virtue, Vice, and the Space Between by Heather King
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“Christ Himself is our mouth through which we speak to the Father, our eye through which we see the Father, our right hand through which we offer to the Father. Without His intercession neither we nor all the saints have anything with God.”
— St. Ambrose
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“Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like. I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence.”
— St. Faustina Kowalska
“I would like to emphasize the beauty of a simple contemplative prayer, accessible to all, great and small, the educated and those with little education. It is the prayer of the Holy Rosary. In the Rosary we turn to the Virgin Mary so that she may guide us to an ever closer union with her Son Jesus, to bring us into conformity with him, to have his sentiments and to behave like him. Indeed, in the Rosary while we repeat the Hail Mary we meditate on the Mysteries, on the events of Christ’s life, so as to know and love him ever better.
The Rosary is an effective means for opening ourselves to God, for it brings peace to hearts, to the family, to society and to the world.”
—Pope Francis
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“Don’t spend your energies on things that generate worry, anxiety and anguish. Only one thing is necessary: Lift up your spirit, and love God.”
— St. Padre Pio
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“We should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, and do, and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better or for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death.”
— Pope Benedict XVI
“We often think of obedience as compliance with a command. But this would make God some sort of exalted drill sergeant. In my experience, most of the time, God doesn’t command. Rather, God sings, and I sing back.
The singing, I mean, can be as jubilant as the red of God-made tomatoes, as the soaring of a kite or the splashing of children in a pool. The singing is my heart’s joyous response. But God’s singing can also be as heavy as the fragrance of lilies in a funeral home, heavy as the news of a friend’s grief. God’s singing can be as light as harpsichord music or a spring outing, as sad as the howling of a night train or the evening news. It can be cheerful, enchanting, challenging, amusing. In everything we experience we can hear God singing, if we listen attentively.”
—from The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Daily Life by Brother David Steindl-Rast
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“Let all creation help you to praise God. Give yourself the rest you need. When you are walking alone, listen to the sermon preached to you by the flowers, the trees, the shrubs, the sky, the sun and the whole world. Notice how they preach to you a sermon full of love, of praise of God, and how they invite you to proclaim the greatness of the one who has given them being.”
— St. Paul of the Cross
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“True devotion to Our Lady is constant. It confirms the soul in good, and does not let it easily abandon its spiritual exercises. It makes it courageous in opposing the world in its fashions and maxims, the flesh in its weariness and passions, and the devil in his temptations; so that a person truly devout to our Blessed Lady is neither changeable, irritable, scrupulous nor timid. It is not that such a person does not fall, or change sometimes in the sensible feeling of devotion. But when he falls, he rises again by stretching out his hand to his good Mother. When he loses the taste and relish of devotions, he does not become disturbed because of that; for the just and faithful client of Mary lives by the faith (Heb. 10:38) of Jesus and Mary, and not by natural sentiment.”
— St. Louis De Montfort
“An admirer of Mother Teresa once gifted her with her own personal “calling card.” Teresa liked the card so much that she had copies made and regularly handed them out to people for the rest of her life.
Written on the small yellow cards were spiritual lessons Teresa had learned from the Church, her prayer life, and her ministry to the poor. She summed them up in five steps.
The fruit of silence is PRAYER.
The fruit of prayer is FAITH.
The fruit of faith is LOVE.
The fruit of service is PEACE.
The fruit of love is SERVICE.
Mother Teresa carried that prayer around with her—its words emblazoned on her heart.”
—from the book St. Theresa of Calcutta: Missionary, Mother, Mystic by Kerry Walters
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“The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind’s eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection.”
— Pope St. Gregory the Great
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“Just as God’s creature, the sun, is one and the same the world over, so also does the Church’s preaching shine everywhere to enlighten all men who want to come to a knowledge of the truth. Now of those who speak with authority in the churches, no preacher however forceful will utter anything different—for no one is above the Master—nor will a less forceful preacher diminish what has been handed down. Since our faith is everywhere the same, no one who can say more augments it, nor can anyone who says less diminish it.”
— St. Ignatius of Antioch
“Many poets are not poets for the same reason that many religious men are not saints: they never succeed in being themselves. They never get around to being the particular poet or the particular monk they are intended to be by God. They never become the man or the artist who is called for by all the circumstances of their individual lives.
Every vocation is a vocation to sacrifice and to joy. It is a call to the knowledge of God, to the recognition of God as our Father, to joy in the understanding of His mercy.”
—Thomas Merton
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“When you have free moments, go faithfully to prayer. The good God is waiting for you there.”
— St. Julie Billiart
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“Many things happen that God does not will. But he still permits them, in his wisdom, and they remain a stumbling block or scandal to our minds. God asks us to do all we can to eliminate evil. But despite our efforts, there is always a whole set of circumstances which we can do nothing about, which are not necessarily willed by God but nevertheless are permitted by him, and which God invites us to consent to trustingly and peacefully, even if they make us suffer and cause us problems. We are not being asked to consent to evil, but to consent to the mysterious wisdom of God who permits evil. Our consent is not a compromise with evil but the expression of our trust that God is stronger than evil. This is a form of obedience that is painful but very fruitful.”
— Fr. Jacques Philippe
“Many sheep do not recognize the presence of the Good Shepherd in the Church today and insist on wandering off on their own, expecting to enjoy the false freedom of living independently. They allow themselves to be deaf to the voice of the Shepherd. Soon, without realizing it, they grow weak without the nourishing food in the Shepherd’s pasture and grow thirsty as they drift farther away from the springs of living water in the Spirit.
The Good Shepherd wanders day and night throughout the whole world, seeking out the lost, the bruised, and the troubled sheep. In ways we can never comprehend, he touches their lives and comforts and heals and strengthens their troubled and anguished spirits, broken bodies, and minds. The Good Shepherd will never abandon his flock.”
—from the book Stories of Jesus by Joseph F. Girzone
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“The goodness of God is the highest object of prayer, and it reaches down to our lowest need. It quickens our soul and gives it life, and makes it grow in grace and virtue.”
— St. Julian of Norwich
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“The goodness of God is the highest object of prayer, and it reaches down to our lowest need. It quickens our soul and gives it life, and makes it grow in grace and virtue.”
— St. Julian of Norwich
“Rather than viewing the world from the top rung of the ladder of creation, Francis saw himself as part of creation. Instead of using creatures to ascend to God, he found God in all creatures and identified with them as brother and sister because he saw that they had the same primordial goodness as himself. By the end of his life, Francis considered himself as a brother to all creation.
We might say that Francis saw with the eyes of God. He saw that all of creation was good—the sun and moon, the stars and the heavens, the wind and air, water and fire, flowers and fruits. Francis’ heart overflowed with gratitude for all God’s gifts. We can do the same.”
—From the book Live Like Francis: Reflections of Francisan Life in the World
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“Many live like angels in the midst of the world. Why not you?”
— St. Josemaria Escriva
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“Many beginners, delighting in the sweetness and joy of their spiritual occupations, strive after spiritual sweetness rather than after purity and discretion, which is that which God regards and accepts in the whole course of the spiritual way. For this reason, over and above their imperfection in seeking after sweetness in devotion, that spirit of gluttony, which has taken possession of them, forces them to overstep the limits of moderation, within which virtue is acquired and consists. . . Inasmuch then as all extremes are vicious, and as in this course of conduct men follow their own will, the consequences are that they grow in vice and not in virtue; at least they minister to their spiritual gluttony and pride, for they do not walk in the way of obedience.”
— St. John of the Cross
“Pause for a moment and look around you. Simply thank God for all the gifts that you have right now, all the gifts saved from the wreck of life: the lamp that illumines this page, the chair that gives you comfort, the home that provides shelter. That’s a good exercise of stewardship.
Thank God for the sun and stars in the sky, for the support of friends, for the opportunities of a new day, for the ability to laugh and cry. A disciple receives everything with gratitude. It is prayer that helps keep the heart grateful and filled with joy.”
—from Living Prayer: A Simple Guide to Everyday Enlightenment by Robert F. Morneau
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“It’s not the darkness itself that we must understand. It’s the force behind the darkness and within the darkness … the force moving through life that we must know. This is the great passage: to see deep into our own nature by meeting its reflection in everything around us. To swim with something very big. To allow the Universe to love us and to love deeply in return … to allow this story to trace itself through the chapters of our life. To live within the miracle.
–from the book Stars at Night by Paula D’Arcy
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“Is it not a wonderful thing, that he that is the Lord and author of all liberty, would thus be bound with ropes and nailed hand and foot unto the Cross?”
— St. John Fisher
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“We frequently need other people’s help to figure out what God wants of us. It is relatively easy to sort out what is bad from what is good, but it is much more difficult to sort out what is good from what is better and what is bad from what is worse. The Holy Spirit gives us the counsel we need through external and internal signs of grace.”
— Rev. Jude Winkler
“Put up willingly with the faults of others if you wish others to put up with yours.”
— St. John Bosco
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“My dear brothers and sisters, not only is prayer very powerful; even more, it’s of the utmost necessity for overcoming the enemies of our salvation. Look at all the saints: They weren’t content with watching and fighting to overcome the enemies of their salvation and with keeping well away from all that could offer them temptation. They passed their whole lives in prayer, not only the day, but very often the whole night as well. Yes, my dear children, we watch over ourselves and all the motions of our hearts in vain, and in vain we avoid temptation, if we don’t pray. If we don’t continually resort to prayer, all our other ways will be of no use at all to us, and we’ll be overcome. We won’t find any sinner converted without turning to prayer. We won’t find one persevering without depending heavily on prayer. Nor will we ever find a Christian who ends up damned whose downfall didn’t begin with a lack of prayer.”
— St. John Vianney
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