Maxims II

Maxims II by the Saints

If you distract your intellect from its love for God and concentrate it, not on God, but on some sensible object, you thereby show that you value the body more than the soul and the things made by God more than God Himself.  -- St. Maximos the Confessor

Who could count all those who have had wealth, power, honor? But their glory, their riches were only lent to them, and they wore themselves out in preserving and increasing that which they were forced to abandon one day.  -- St. Ignatius of Loyola

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.  -- Saint Teresa of Avila

A vain question deserves nothing but silence. So learn to be silent for a time; you will edify your brethren and silence will teach you to speak when the hour is come. - St. Vincent Ferrer

Examine from time to time what are the dominant passions of your soul, and having ascertained this, mold your life, so that in thought, word and deed you may as far as possible counteract them.  -- St. Francis de Sales

Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.  -- Francis of Assisi

When sensual thoughts come into the mind, we ought immediately to make use of our minds, and fix them instantaneously upon something or other, no matter what. - St. Philip Neri

To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty.  --St. Justin Martyr

Do not misuse your conceptual images of things, lest you are forced to make a wrong use of the things themselves. For if a man does not first sin in his mind, he will never sin in action.  -- St. Maximos the Confessor

Control your appetites before they control you. - St. John Climacus

I carry in my heart a great fear of spoiling things wherever I shall be, and this because of the words I think I heard in the depths of my soul: You are destined to please Me, not so much by success as by bearing failure.  -- St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

Blessed the one who always keeps the memory of God in himself, he will be wholly like an Angel from heaven upon earth, ministering to the Lord with fear and love.  - St. Ephrem of Syria

'If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor.'  -- St. Charles Borromeo

One may understand by the nourishment of the swine the false philosophy of the world, the vain eloquence of oratory. Their cadence and harmony, in flattering the ear, possess the mind, and enchant the heart; but after one has read works of this kind with great attention, nothing is left but vacancy and confusion. Let us not delude ourselves by saying we do not put any faith in the fable, with which these authors have filled their writings. This reason does not justify us, since we scandalize others who think we approve of what they see us read.  -- St. Jerome, to Pope Damasus

By wishing to do too much, we often spoil everything, constraining our Lord to leave us to act alone and withdraw from us in sorrow.  -- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

One does not speak of the works of God, even with the least of mortals, without drawing great profit from it.  -- St. Ignatius of Loyola

If we wish to keep peace with our neighbor, we should never remind anyone of his natural defects. -- St. Philip Neri 

Occupy your minds with good thoughts, or the enemy will fill them with bad ones. Unoccupied, they cannot be.  -- St Thomas More

Never read books you aren't sure about . . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?  - St. John Bosco

In vain will our sacred discourses strike the external ear, unless God by a spiritual gift opens the hearing of the interior man. - St. Fulgentius of Ruspe

This saying which is written in the Gospel: "Let him who has no sword, sell his mantle and buy one," (Luke 22:36) means this: let him who is at ease give it up and take the narrow way. - St. Poemen

When we give ourselves up entirely to His guidance and allow Him to do as He pleases with us, He enables us to make great progress in a short time, almost without our knowing it, except for the struggles in which His grace continually engages our immortified nature. - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Eating and drinking don't make friendships - such friendship even robbers and murderers have. But if we are friends, if we truly care for one another, let us help one another spiritually. . . Let us hinder those things that lead our friends away to hell. - St. John Chrysostom

It is most unbecoming for Christians to sit down at table to eat before the food has been blessed by someone in the group. As the Gospel tells us, Jesus Christ, who is our model in all things, was in the habit of blessing what had been prepared for him and for those who accompanied him. To act otherwise would be to act like animals. (Mt 14:19; 15:36; Mk 6:41) - St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle

Every day you provide your bodies with good to keep them from failing. In the same way your good works should be the daily nourishment of your hearts. Your bodies are fed with food and your spirits with good works. You aren't to deny your soul, which is going to live forever, what you grant to your body, which is going to die. - Pope St. Gregory the Great

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