You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2018.
“Our elders are men and women, fathers and mothers, who came before us on our own road, in our own house, in our daily battle for a worthy life. They are men and women from whom we have received so much. The elder is not an alien. We are that elder: in the near or far future, but inevitably, even if we don’t think it. And if we don’t learn how to treat the elder better, that is how we will be treated.”
—from The Blessing of Family: Inspiring Words from Pope Francis
**
“Where there is no love, put love — and you will find love.” — St. John of the Cross
**
“What words, can, alas, express the deep grief of the Blessed Virgin? Her eyes closed, a death-like tint overspread her countenance; unable to stand, she fell to the ground, but was soon lifted up, and supported by John, Magdalen, and the others. She looked once more upon her beloved Son—that Son whom she had conceived by the Holy Ghost, the flesh of her flesh, the bone of her bone, the heart of her heart—hanging on a cross between two thieves; crucified, dishonored, condemned by those whom He came on earth to save; and well might she at this moment be termed ‘the Queen of Martyrs.'”
— Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
“Mary believes in you. She believes in you, and she loves you more than you can imagine. You are special to her, and for that reason, she is always by your side whether you are aware of it or not. She knows the joy of being a child of God and she wants you to experience that same joy. Mary wants you to feel as though you are a child of God, loved and cherished by him.”
—from Forgiving Mother: A Marian Novena of Healing and Peace
**
“We are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has worked, we too have but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do his work, we must rejoice in ours also.”
— St. John Neumann
**
“When he was younger, St. Martin of Tours dedicated himself to military service. When he heard the call of Christ, he realized that his call was to fight a spiritual battle. His armor and weapons were vitrue and a life guided by the Spirit of God. Do I consider my spiritual life to be a type of battle against the forces of evil?”
— Rev. Jude Winkler, OFM
“The future is in your hands, if you have wings and roots. Have the courage to put on wings, to dream of good things, to dream of a better world, to protest wars. On the other hand, respect the wisdom that you have received from those who are older than you: your parents, your grandparents, the elderly of your country. The future is in your hands. Take the opportunity to make it better.”
—from The Blessing of Family: Inspiring Words from Pope Francis
**
“The blessed lady, Mother of our Savior, may well be called a morning, since before her there was none without sin. After her, the most clear sun Christ Jesus showed his light to the world.”
— St. John Fisher
**
“I call upon you, my God, my mercy, who made me, and did not forget me, although I forgot you. I call you into my soul, which you prepare to accept you by the longing that you breathe into it. Do not desert me now when I call upon you, for before I called upon you, you went ahead and helped me, and repeatedly you urged me on by many different words, so that from afar I would hear you, and be converted, and call upon you as you called to me.”
— St. Augustine
“Mary knew Jesus better than anyone else. Like other mothers, she was the first to encounter and know her child through the intimacy of conception and gestation in her womb. She—more than his closest friends, more than his twelve chosen apostles—understood his thoughts, his expressions, his gestures, and his tendencies.
Her ability to follow him, to learn from him, to orient her life around his teachings and his truth, was augmented by her blessed maternity. It was in part this very motherhood that made Mary such an excellent “daughter” of God.”
—from The Church Is Our Mother: Seven Ways She Inspires Us to Love
**
“Helping a person in need is good in itself. But the degree of goodness is hugely affected by the attitude with which it is done. If you show resentment because you are helping the person out of a reluctant sense of duty, then the person may receive your help but may feel awkward and embarrassed. This is because he will feel beholden to you. If, on the other hand, you help the person in a spirit of joy, then the help will be received joyfully. The person will feel neither demeaned nor humiliated by your help, but rather will feel glad to have caused you pleasure by receiving your help. And joy is the appropriate attitude with which to help others because acts of generosity are a source of blessing to the giver as well as the receiver.”
— St. John Chrysostom
**
“Teresa [of Avila] is as insistent as [St. John of the Cross] that there is no prayer development unless it be accompanied by purification from faults. Given what a love communion with utter Purity demands, one could not conceive the matter to be otherwise: only the pure can commune deeply with the all-pure One. Obvious as this is to the saint, the lesser of us have difficulty in understanding that we have many defects that need to be rooted out. … In working actively at rooting out what is amiss, we are to be guided by the principles of revelation, not by a naturalistic common sense. There are people, says Teresa, who desire penance that they may serve God the better, but they are overly careful about not injuring their health. ‘You need never fear that they will kill themselves . . . their love is not yet ardent enough to overwhelm their reason.’ Going on ‘at a snail’s pace . . . we shall never get to the end of the road . . . So for the love of the Lord, let us make a real effort.'”
— Fr. Thomas Dubay
“Humanity is in such need of the Gospel, the source of joy, hope and peace. The mission to evangelize takes priority, for missionary activity is still today the Church’s greatest challenge….
May the Virgin Mary, star of evangelization, obtain for us always a passion for the kingdom of God, so that the joy of the Gospel may reach the ends of the earth, and no periphery be deprived of its light.”
—from Mother Mary: Inspiring Words from Pope Francis
“I began to reflect upon the infant Jesus, cradled in his Mother’s lap as a little baby boy—so much like the one who was now drawing nourishment and comfort from my body. Think of it—how amazing it is that Mary nourished and comforted her Savior? How remarkable that our Creator should be so humble. God chose to submit to a woman. God decided to have a mother. Our reflections on motherhood and the Church wouldn’t be complete without turning to the woman whom God chose for this incredible task.”
—from The Church Is Our Mother: Seven Ways She Inspires Us to Love
**
“It is in the company of Jesus that you work for the glory of God.”
— St. John Baptist de la Salle
**
“Whenever that sacrifice of Christ is memorialized in the Church, there is an application to a new moment in time and a new presence in space of the unique sacrifice of Christ Who is now in glory. In obeying His mandate, His followers would be representing in an unbloody manner that which He presented to His Father in the bloody sacrifice of Calvary. After changing the bread into His Body and the wine into His Blood: He gave it to them (Mark 14:22). By that communion they were made one with Christ, to be offered with Him, in Him, and by Him. All love craves unity. As the highest peak of love in the human order is the unity of husband and wife in the flesh, so the highest unity in the Divine order is the unity of the soul and Christ in communion.”
— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
“Jesus will bring you back to life, not only because his mother has asked for this on your behalf, but also because he loves you. He wants you to be unafraid and to have faith in him. He also wants you to allow Mary to be your mother. He knows that becoming a child of his mother is the surest way to heal from the wounds on your spirit. It will take time and patience, but it will happen if you open your heart to her right now.”
—from Forgiving Mother: A Marian Novena of Healing and Peace
**
“I place trust in God, my creator, in all things; I love Him with all my heart.”
— St. Joan of Arc
**
“In times of spiritual coldness and laziness, imagine in your heart those times in the past when you were full of zeal and solicitude in all things, even the smallest. Remember your past efforts and the energy with which you opposed those who wanted to obstruct your progress. These recollections will reawaken your soul from its deep sleep, will invest it once more with the fire of zeal, will raise it, as it were, from the dead, and will make it engage in an ardent struggle against the Devil and sin, thus being restored to its former height.”
— St. Isaak of Syria
“Our all-loving God does not desire that we seek suffering to become holy, but he does desire that we surrender to him in our suffering so that in our brokenness, his mercy can make us whole again. In being broken open by suffering, we are offered the opportunity to let those open spaces be filled with the mercy and compassion of our God, and in the depth of that mercy to be moved to love him more deeply. Surrendering to suffering is the path we walk backwards through the pain of the fall toward the life of Eden.”
—from When We Were Eve: Uncovering the Woman God Created You to Be
**
“Reading the Holy Scriptures confers two benefits. It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man’s attention from the follies of the world and leads him to the love of God.”
— St. Isidore of Seville
**
“Man was created for a certain end. This end is to praise, to reverence and to serve the Lord his God and by this means to arrive at eternal salvation. All other beings and objects that surround us on the earth were created for the benefit of man and to be useful to him, as means to his final end; hence his obligation to use, or to abstain from the use of, these creatures, according as they bring him nearer to that end, or tend to separate him from it.”
— St. Ignatius of Loyola
“When we welcome the Holy Spirit into our hearts and allow him to act, Christ makes himself present in us and takes shape in our lives. Through us, it will be Christ himself who prays, forgives, gives hope and consolation, serves the brethren, draws close to the needy and to the least, creates community, and sows peace. Think how important this is: by means of the Holy Spirit, Christ himself comes to do all this among us and for us.”
—from The Blessing of Family: Inspiring Words from Pope Francis
**
“Go forth and set the world on fire.”
— St. Ignatius of Loyola
**
“[Joseph] loved her so exceedingly, with a love like what the heavenly spirits feel for each other, and would have readily given his heart’s blood for her: and as yet he knew not her incomparable dignity! Yes, he loved her exceedingly, and we may hold for certain that Joseph, as he was the first, so was he the most devoted servant of Mary—the most loving, the most faithful, the most assiduous, the most constant. … no less was the love and reverence which the Virgin had for him. She rejoiced to serve him as her lord, respect him as her tutor and guardian, and tenderly love him as her spouse, treating him with all the honour with which Scripture records that Sara treated Abraham, telling us that she called him ‘lord’, implying thereby much more than the mere words express.”
— Edward Healy Thompson
“Jesus and his mother, Mary, await generous souls who are willing to make reparation for all those who are in danger of losing their souls to hell. Will you be a generous soul? Let us pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for all of the graces that we need to be a brilliant light and a holy comfort to others each and every day in this darkened and sometimes frightening world.”
—from Our Lady of Fatima: 100 Years of Stories, Prayers, and Devotions
**
“See, my children, we must reflect that we have a soul to save, and an eternity that awaits us. The world, its riches, pleasures, and honors will pass away; heaven and hell will never pass away. Let us take care, then. The saints did not all begin well; but they all ended well. We have begun badly; let us end well, and we shall go one day and meet them in heaven.”
— St. John Vianney
**
“The greatest suffering of the souls in purgatory, it seems to me, is the awareness that something in them displeases God, that they have deliberately gone against His great goodness. I can also see that the divine essence is so pure and light-filled—much more than we can imagine—that the soul that has but the slightest imperfection would rather throw itself into a thousand hells than appear thus before the divine presence.”
— St. Catherine of Genoa
Windows Toward the World 
Recent Comments