Miscellaneous Quotes
II
If, one day, I should offend God in any way, or grow remiss, though ever so little, in that which concerns His holy service and glory, I solemnly implore Him, rather let me die. - St. Ignatius of Loyola
Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. - St. Thomas More
Blessed is the mind which, during prayer,
is insensible to all things. - St. Nilus of Sinai
We need to find God, and
he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See
how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon
and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch
souls. - --Blessed Mother Teresa
Meditation on Jesus Christ crucified is a
precious balm which sweetens all pains. - St. Paul of the Cross
When an archer desires to shoot his arrows
successfully, he first takes great pains over his posture and aligns himself
accurately with his mark. It should be the same for you who are about to shoot
the head of the wicked devil. Let us be concerned first for the good order of
sensations and then for the good posture of inner thoughts.' - St. John
Chrysostom
Our Lord Jesus has given light to all men,
but those who do not trust in Him bring darkness upon themselves. - St. Thalassios the Libyan
He who speaks rightly should recognize that
he receives the words from God. For the truth belongs not to him who speaks, but
to God who is energizing him. - St. Mark the Ascetic
There is nothing more dangerous in the
spiritual life, than to wish to rule ourselves after our own way of thinking. - St. Philip Neri
Truth always ends by victory; it is not
unassailable, but invincible. - St. Ignatius of Loyola
Patient self-control and long-suffering
love dry up the pleasures of soul and body. - St. Thalassios the Libyan
There is no doubt that, if man could
perceive the many difficulties thrown by self-love in the way of his own good,
he would no longer allow himself to be deceived by it; and its malignity is the
more to be dreaded because it is so powerful that were but one grain of it in
the world would be sufficient to corrupt all mankind. Wherefore I conclude that
self-love is the root of all evils which exist in this world and in the other.
Behold Lucifer, whose present state is the result of following the suggestions
of his self-love; and in ourselves it seems to me even worse. Our father Adam
has so contaminated us that to my eyes the evil appears almost incurable, for
it so penetrates our veins, our nerves, our bones, that we can neither say nor
think nor do anything which is not full of the poison of this love - not even
those thoughts and deeds which are directed toward the purification of the
spirit.' - St. Catherine of Genoa
In everything that we do God searches out
our purpose to see whether we do it for Him or for some other motive. - St. Maximos the Confessor
Behold
the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap nor gather into
barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. (Mt 6.26)
The birds are the saints, who fly to heaven
on the wings of contemplation, who are so removed from the world that they have
no business on earth. They do not labour, but by contemplation alone they
already live in heaven. - St. Anthony of Padua
When you observe some thought suggesting
that you seek human fame, you can be sure it will bring you disgrace.' - St. Mark the Ascetic
I would believe myself damned if I robbed
God of one atom of His glory. I would believe myself more wicked than Lucifer
if I had anything else in view but God. - St. Paul of the Cross
He who wishes for goods will never have
devotion. - St. Philip Neri
When you attain true humility of heart and
self-contempt ask leave of Jesus to enter His divine Heart, and you will at
once obtain it. Place yourself as a victim on that altar, where the fire of
divine love is ever burning. Let this sacred flame burn you to the marrow of
your bones; then, if the breath of the Holy Spirit raise you to the
contemplation of the divine mysteries, leave to your soul the liberty of losing
herself in this holy contemplation. Oh, how pleasing to God is this practice! - St. Paul of the
Cross
The Lord has given me to understand the
value of at once confessing one's sins after their commission. By so doing we
are always in the state of grace. - St. Peter Julian Eymard
He who secretly mingles his own wishes with
spiritual counsel is an adulterer, as the Book of Proverbs indicates (cf. Prov.
6:32-33); and because of his stupidity he suffers pain and dishonor. - St. Mark the Ascetic
He would never come and knock at the door
unless He wished to enter; if He does not enter, it is we who are to blame. - St. Peter Julian Eymard
Those who refuse to work with their hands
under the pretext that one should pray without ceasing, in reality do not pray
either. By the very fact that they think, through idleness, to give the soul
freedom from cares, they entangle it in a labyrinth of thoughts with no way out
and so make it incapable of prayer. A body laboring at some piece of work keeps
the thought close by, since the task of thought, like that of the eyes, is to
watch over what is being done and to help the body act faultlessly; but a body
at rest gives thought freedom to wander, for during rest passions are apt to be
set in motion and every lustful memory entices the thought away and captures it
like a slave. - St. Nilus of Sinai
What is a fruitless repentance, defiled
almost immediately by new faults? - St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Just as sheep and wolves cannot feed
together, so a man cannot receive mercy if he tricks his neighbor. - St. Mark the Ascetic
Blessed the one who, exalted by love, has
become a city founded upon a mountain, from which the enemy, when he saw it,
withdrew in fear, trembling at its security in the Lord. - St. Ephrem of Syria
There is nothing better to display the
truth in an excellent light, than a clear and simple statement of facts. - St. Benedict
Not to know how to deny our soul its own
wishes, is to foment a very hot-bed of vices. - St. Philip Neri
Some thoughts are simple, others are
composite. Thoughts which are not impassioned are simple. Passion-charged
thoughts are composite, consisting as they do of a conceptual image combined
with passion. This being so, when composite thoughts begin to provoke a sinful
idea in the mind, many simple thoughts may be seen to follow them. For
instance, an impassioned thought about gold rises in someone's mind. He has the
urge mentally to steal the gold and commits the sin in his intellect. Then
thoughts of the purse, the chest, the room and so on follow hard on the thought
of the gold. The thought of the gold was composite - for it was combined with
passion - but those of the purse, the chest and so on were simple; for the
intellect had no passion in relation to these things. And the same is true for
every thought - thoughts of self-esteem, women and so on. For not all thoughts
which follow impassioned thought are themselves impassioned, as our example has
shown. From this, then, we may know which conceptual images are impassioned and
which are not. - St. Maximos the Confessor
Do we not admire Joseph, a young man of
seventeen, for enduring his temptation to the end? And God glorified him. Do we
not also see Job, how he suffered to the end, and lived in endurance? Temptations
cannot destroy hope in God. - St. Poemen
Be careful to give no credit to yourself
for anything; if you do, you are stealing from God, to whom alone every good
thing is due. - St. Vincent de Paul
The intellect freed from the passions forms
conceptual images that are also passion-free, whether the body is asleep or
awake. - St. Thalassios the Libyan
As for me, I cannot understand how it is
possible not to be always thinking of God. - St. Paul of the Cross
Now although man is created for the
possession of happiness, yet, having deviated from his true end, his nature has
become deformed and is entirely repugnant to true beatitude. And on this
account we are forced to submit to God this depraved nature of ours which fills
our understanding with so many occupations, and causes us to deviate from the
true path, in order that he may entirely consume it until nothing remains there
but himself; otherwise the soul could never attain stability nor repose, for
she was created for no other end. - St. Catherine of Genoa
Genuine love gives birth to the spiritual
knowledge of the created world. This is succeed by the desire of all desires:
the grace of theology. - St. Thalassios the Libyan
Do you know why God subjects you to so many
miseries? That He may bestow on you the riches of heaven. - St. Paul of the Cross
Blessed the one who loves truth continually
and has not lent his mouth as an instrument of impiety by lying, for he fears
the commandment about idle speech. - St. Ephrem of Syria
Keep your heart in peace and let nothing
trouble you, not even your faults. You must humble yourself and amend them
peacefully, without being discouraged or cast down, for God's dwelling is in
peace. - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
My whole strength lies in
prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far
better than words, I know it by experience. - St. Therese of Lisieux
. . . Now, observe, my daughter, the
contrast between the luxurious dress of many women, and the raiment and
adornments of Jesus. . . Tell me: what relation do their fine shoes bear to the
spikes in Jesus' Feet? The rings on their hands to the nails which perforated
His? The fashionable coiffure to the Crown of Thorns? The painted face to That
covered with bruises? Shoulders exposed by the low-cut gown to His, all striped
with Blood? Ah, but there is a
marked likeness between these worldly women and the Jews who, incited by the
Devil, scourged Our Lord! At the hour of such a woman's death, I think Jesus
will be heard saying: "Cujus
est imago haec et circumscripto. . . of whom is she the
image?" And the reply will be: "Demonii. . . of the Devil!" Then He will say:
"Let her who has followed the Devil's fashions be handed over to him; and
to God, those who have imitated the modesty of Jesus and Mary." - St. Anthony Mary Claret
It is absolutely impossible at the same time to be a man of understanding and not to be ashamed to gratify the body. - St. Clement of Alexandria
In sickness we ought to ask God to give us
patience, because it often happens, that when a man gets well, he not only does
not do the good he proposed to do when he was sick, but he multiplies his sins
and his ingratitude. - St. Philip Neri
A seed will not grow without earth and
water; and a man will not develop without voluntary suffering and divine help. - St. Mark the Ascetic
I work here on borrowed money, a prisoner
for the sake of Jesus Christ. And often my debts are so pressing that I dare
not go out of the house for fear of being seized by my creditors. Whenever I
see so many poor brothers and neighbors of mine suffering beyond their strength
and overwhelmed with so many physical or mental ills which I cannot alleviate,
then I become exceedingly sorrowful; but I trust in Christ, who knows my heart.
And so I say, "Woe to the man who trusts in men rather than in Christ. - St. John of God
He who does not envy the spiritually mature
and is merciful to the wicked has attained an equal love for all. - St. Thalassios the Libyan
A religious ought to dread more being
afraid of poverty than experiencing it. - St. Ignatius of Loyola
The sixth weapon is the memory of the goods
of paradise which are prepared for those who lawfully struggle by abandoning
all the vain pleasures of the present life in accord with the saying of the
most holy doctor Saint Augustine that it is impossible to enjoy present goods
and future ones too. So, dear sisters, be content not to have in this world any
pleasure or any beloved, and do not grow tired of denying your own will,
remembering what our patriarch St. Francis said, that is, that the most
excellent and greatest gift that God's servant can receive from God in this
world is to conquer himself by denying his own will. So he said: "So great
is the good that I behold / that every wound is beloved by me," in order
to show how, through the memory of eternal things, he rejoiced in suffering
evil.' - St. Catherine of Bologna
If, one day, I should offend God in any
way, or grow remiss, though ever so little, in that which concerns His holy
service and glory, I solemnly implore Him, rather let me die. - St. Ignatius of Loyola
In this life there is no purgatory; it is
either hell or paradise; for to him who serves God truly, every trouble and
infirmity turns into consolations, and through all kinds of trouble he has a
paradise within himself even in this world: and he who does not serve God
truly, and gives himself up to sensuality, has one hell in this world, and
another in the next. - St. Philip Neri
St. Augustine and St. Thomas define mortal
sin to be a turning away from God: that is, the turning of one's back upon God,
leaving the Creator for the sake of the creature. What punishment would that
subject deserve who, while his king was giving him a command, contemptuously
turned his back upon him to go and transgress his orders? This is what the
sinner does; and this is punished in hell with the pain of loss, that is, the
loss of God, a punishment richly deserved by him who in this life turns his
back upon his sovereign good. - St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
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