Miscellaneous Quotes II

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

One must wage war against his predominant passion and not retreat until, with God's help, he has been victorious. - St. Ignatius of Loyola

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

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