Suffering Quotes

Quotes on Suffering by the Saints

Pain is never permanent. --  Saint Teresa of Avila

If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love.  --St. Gemma Galgani

How can the good God Who loves us so much, be happy when we suffer? Never does our suffering make Him happy; but it is necessary for us, and so He sends it to us while, as it were, turning away His Face. . . I assure you that it costs Him dearly to fill us with bitterness. - St. Therese of Lisieux

He who wishes to love God does not truly love Him if he has not an ardent and constant desire to suffer for His sake.  --St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Trials are sent to some so as to take away past sins, to others so as to eradicate sins now being committed, and to yet others so as to forestall sins which may be committed in the future. These are distinct from the trials that arise in order to test men in the way that Job was tested. -- St. Maximos the Confessor

Always remember to love your neighbor; always prefer the one who tries your patience, who test your virtue, because with her you can always merit: suffering is Love; the Law is Love.  --Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified "The Little Arab"

It is not the finest wood that feeds the fire of Divine love, but the wood of the Cross. -- St. Ignatius of Loyola

When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly.  --St. Sebastian Valfre

You do wrong to complain of your crosses and sufferings. Believe me, you know not what it is to suffer. God preserve you from suffering even one day what has been endured by a certain soul, whose name I must not disclose! -- St. Paul of the Cross

In suffering love and in loving, suffer! --Blessed Maria Lopez of Jesus

The road is narrow. He who wishes to travel it more easily must cast off all things and use the cross as his cane. In other words, he must be truly resolved to suffer willingly for the love of God in all things. --St. John of the Cross

We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials. -- St. Teresa of Avila

It is You Jesus, stretched out on the cross, who gives me strength and are always close to the suffering soul. Creatures will abandon a person in his suffering, but You, O Lord, are faithful...(1508) --St. Faustina

You will be consoled according to the greatness of your sorrow and affliction; the greater the suffering, the greater will be the reward.   --St. Mary Magdalen de'Pazzi

As iron is fashioned by fire and on the anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive that form which our Lord desires them to have.  --St. Madeline Sophie Barat

By suffering we are able to give something to God. The gift of pain, of suffering is a big thing and cannot be accomplished in Paradise.   - St. Padre Pio

Nothing afflicts the heart of Jesus so much as to see all His sufferings of no avail to so many. --Saint John Mary Vianney

The greatness of our love of God must be tested by the desire we have of suffering for His love.  - St. Philip Neri

If God sends you many sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for you and certainly wants to make you a saint. --St. Ignatius Loyola

We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials.  - St. Teresa of Avila

I do not desire to die soon, because in Heaven there is no suffering. I desire to live a long time because I yearn to suffer much for the love of my Spouse.  --St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

Tribulation is a gift from God - one that he especially gives His special friends. - St. Thomas More

I desire to suffer always and not to die. I should add: this is not my will, it is my inclination. It is sweet to think of Jesus; but it is sweeter to do His will.   --Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified "The Little Arab"

The crosses with which our path through life is strewn associate us with Jesus in the mystery of His crucifixion.  -- St. John Eudes

Blessed be He, Who came into the world for no other purpose than to suffer.  --St. Teresa of Avila

All the science of the Saints is included in these two things: To do, and to suffer. And whoever had done these two things best, has made himself most saintly.  --Saint Francis de Sales

We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God. --Saint Vincent de Paul

I see around me a multitude of those who, blindly persevering in error, despise the true God; but I am a Christian nevertheless, and I follow the instruction of the Apostles. If this deserves chastisement, reward it; for I am determined to suffer every torture rather then become the slave of the devil. Others may do as they please since they are [...] reckless of the future life, which is to be obtained only by sufferings. Scripture tells us that "narrow is the way that leads to life" [...] because it is one of affliction and of persecutions suffered for the sake of justice; but it is wide enough for those who walk upon it, because their faith and the hope of an eternal reward make it so for them. [...] On the contrary, the road of vice is in reality narrow, and it leads to an eternal precipice.  --Saint Leo of Patara

We ought to run after crosses as the miser runs after money. . . Nothing but crosses will reassure us at the Day of Judgment When that day shall come, we shall be happy in our misfortunes, proud of our humiliations, and rich in our sacrifices!  -St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

For my heart is always with Him, day and night it thinks unceasingly of its heavenly and divine Friend, to whom it wants to prove its affection. Also within it arises this desire: not to die, but to suffer long, to suffer for God, to give Him its life while praying for poor sinners.  --Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity

If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of great holiness which He desires you to attain. Do you want to become a great saint? Ask God to send you many sufferings. The flame of Divine Love never rises higher than when fed with the wood of the Cross, which the infinite charity of the Savior used to finish His sacrifice. All the pleasures of the world are nothing compared with the sweetness found in the gall and vinegar offered to Jesus Christ. That is, hard and painful things endured for Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ.  --Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.  --St. Teresa of Avila

One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.  --St. Teresa of Avila

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.  --Saint Augustine of Hippo

He longs to give us a magnificent reward. He knows that suffering is the only means of preparing us to know Him as He knows Himself, and to become ourselves divine. - St. Therese of Lisieux

I think He intends to try you like gold in the crucible, so as to number you amongst His most faithful servants. Therefore you must lovingly embrace all occasions of suffering, considering them as precious tokens of His love. To suffer in silence and without complaint is what He asks of you. - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Let us, at any rate, give heed to suffer joyfully the crosses that God sends us, because they all, if we are saved, will become for us eternal joys. When infirmities, pains, or any adversities afflict us, let us lift up our eyes to heaven and say, "One day all these pains will have an end, and after them I hope to enjoy God forever." - St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer. - St. Teresa of Jesus

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