"The palm of victory is reserved only for those who fight up to the end. Therefore let us begin this year our holy battle. God will assist us and crown us with eternal triumph."  St.  Pio of Pietrelcina

“Doing good is not everything; we have to do it well, after the example of Our Lord.”
- St. Vincent de Paul

'We must never pray for a favour for anyone, except conditionally, saying, "If it please God," or the like.' St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

"The beginning of a new year is an opportunity for improvement. It makes little difference what the past has been, for we are not to look back to see if the furrow be crooked. What matters most is the sanctification of the now moment. Time is so precious that God doles it out second by second. If life in the past has been evil, the new year is an opportunity for penance. In such a way is time redeemed. If life, however, has been virtuous, the new year is an opportunity for greater self-perfection.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)

“Even while living in the world, the heart of Mary was so filled with motherly tenderness and compassion for men that no one ever suffered so much for their own pains, as Mary suffered for the pains of her children.”
- Saint Jerome

"It is difficult to become saints. Difficult but not impossible. The road to perfection is long, just as long as a lifetime. Consolation is rest along the way, but as soon as your strength is restored, you must get up diligently and continue the race." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“The good God always does our business when we do His.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"If poor judgment is harmful to everyone, it is particularly so to those who live with great strictness." St. Mark the Ascetic (5th c.)

“There are some flowers that open only in the evening, Simeon, the old man, was one of those flowers. Imagine the ecstasy of this old man when he embraced the Child, and his first words were ‘now I am ready to die.’ He then speaks to the mother and notice how he looks backwards and forwards; he looks backward to the people of God of which he was a priest and says ‘this is the glory of thy people Israel, this Babe.’ Then he looks forward, ‘this is the Light which shall give revelation to the Gentiles.’ In other words, he saw in this Babe, the maker of a new covenant, but he also saw in Him a sign to be contradicted by the very people to whom he came to bring salvation. So that this Christ who was born was not just someone who came by surprise, He’s related to all of the people of God through the centuries.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Bishop Sheen Catechism)

“How wonderful are the ways of God and how incomprehensible they are to us!”
- St. Vincent de Paul

"And yet, once our last hour has come, and our hearts have ceased to beat, everything will be finished for us and the time to merit as well as to demerit. We will present ourselves to Christ the Judge just as death finds us. Our cries of supplication, our tears, our sighs of repentance, which while still on earth would have won God's heart, could have made us with the help of the Sacraments, Saints out of sinners, today is worthless; the time of Mercy is passed, now begins the time of Justice." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"She is more Mother than Queen."  - Saint Therese of Lisieux

"Even though a man may be unable to attain such a height of sanctity, he ought to desire it, so as to do at least in desire what he cannot carry out in effect." St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“Most of us are like the man who lay at the Pool of Bethsatha for thirty-eight years who was not cured. His excuse was that when the waters were stirred, there was no one to put him in. He needed healing but he really did not want it. When our Lord appeared, He told the man to do the very thing he thought was impossible, namely take up his bed. What was wanting was his will. He was moribund because he did not want to be better. Ever since the days of Adam man has been hiding from God and saying God is hard to find. The truth is that in each heart there is a secret garden which God made uniquely for Himself. The garden is like a safety deposit vault inasmuch as it has two keys. God has one key, hence the soul cannot let in anyone else but God. The human heart has the other key, hence not even God can get in without man’s consent. God is always at the Garden Gate with his key. We pretend to look for ours, saying we cannot find it, but all the while it is in our hand, did we but will to see it. The reason we are not happy is because we do not want God.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Modern Soul in Search of God)

"I keep my eyes fixed on the East in the night which surrounds me, to discover that miraculous star which guided our forbears to the grotto of Bethlehem."  - Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

“You should bring to the sick two kinds of food: corporal food and spiritual food; that is to say, some little word from your meditation, were it only five or six words, to help them to acquit themselves of their duty as Christians or to bear their sufferings patiently. God has called you to this.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

"The worldly, engulfed in their affairs, live in obscurity and error, nor do they try to learn about God, or give a thought to their eternal salvation, or try to find out about the coming of that longed-for Messiah who was awaited by men and prophesied and predicted by the prophets." St. Pio  of Pietrelcina

“No matter how sinful one may have been, if he has devotion to Mary, it is impossible that he be lost."
- Saint Hilary of Poitiers

'Oh! happy is he who can say, "I have despised the kingdom of the world, and all the glory of the time, for the love of my Lord Jesus Christ."' St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

“More people have suffered because of their religion since 1917 than in the first three centuries of the Christian era. Whether we know it or not, we live in the Age of the Great Martyrdom.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen(Thoughts for Daily Living)

"Whoever surrenders unconditionally to the Lord will be chosen by Him as an instrument for building His kingdom."  St Teresa Benedicta of t.he Cross (Edith Stein)

"Jesus calls the poor and simple shepherds by means of angels to manifest Himself to them. He calls the learned men by means of their science. And all of them moved interiorly by grace hasten to adore Him. He calls all of us with divine inspirations and He communicates Himself to us with his grace. How many times has He not lovingly invited us also? And with what promptitude have we replied? My God I blush and am filled with confusion at having to reply to such a question." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“Lord, to glorify you, I want to hear and to do whatever is indicated to me on Your behalf.”
- St. Vincent de Paul

"Take care that your prayer becomes more and more interior, in pure faith; humble yourself, and seek no consolations but the great God Who gives them." St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

"Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that whatever we say in praise of the Mother gives equal praise to the Son."
- Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Father and Doctor of the Church

“Home life is the God-appointed training ground of human character, for from the home life of the child springs the maturity of manhood, either for good or for evil.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)

"From the time of his birth Jesus points out out mission, which is to despise what the world seeks."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Mary has the authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven. As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the apostate angels who fell away through pride. Such is the will of the almighty God who exalts the humble, that the powers of heaven, earth, and hell – willingly or unwillingly – must obey the commands of the humble Virgin Mary. For God has made her queen of heaven and earth, leader of his armies, keeper of his treasure, dispenser of his graces, mediatrix on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful associate in his great works and triumphs."
- Saint Louis Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

'Let every one stay at home, that is, within himself, and sit in judgment on his own actions, without going abroad to investigate and criticise those of others.' St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“Trust our Lord to be your efficiency.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“There was room for the rich; there was room for those who were clothed in soft garments…But when finally the scrolls of history are completed down to the last word of time, the saddest lines of all will be: ‘There was no room in the inn.’ The inn was the gathering place of public opinion, the focal point of the world’s moods, the rendezvous of the worldly, the rallying place of the popular and the successful. But there’s no room in the place where the world gathers. The stable is the place for outcasts, the ignored, and the forgotten. The world might have expected the Son of God to be born in an inn; a stable would certainly be the last place in the world where one would look for Him. The lesson is: divinity is always where you least expect to find it. So the Son of God-Made-Man is invited to enter into His own world through a back door.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Bishop Sheen Catechism)

"Live joyfully and courageously, at least in the upper part of the soul, amidst the trials in which the Lord places you. Live joyfully and courageously, I repeat because the Angel who foretells the birth of our little Savior and Lord, announces singing, and sings announcing that he brings tidings of joy, peace and happiness to men of good-will. So that there is nobody who does not know that in order to receive this Child it is sufficient to be of goodwill." St Pio of Pietrelcina

“Our vocation is to go, not just to one parish, not just to one diocese, but all over the world.”
- St. Vincent de Paul

"The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance, which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart already turned to Him at the Annunciation when she conceived Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the months that followed she began to sense His presence and to picture His features. When at last she gave birth to Him, her eyes were able to gaze tenderly on His face as she ‘wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.’”
- St. John Paul II

“Dear brothers and sisters! Kindness and truth, justice and peace have met; they have become incarnate in the child born of Mary in Bethlehem. That child is the Son of God; he is God appearing in history. His birth is a flowering of new life for all humanity. May every land become a good earth which receives and brings forth kindness and truth, justice, and peace.”
- His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

"We ought to direct all our efforts to reach the end which we pursue, and once having entered on the way of perfection, strive to gain its highest point." St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491.-1556.)

“One night there went out over the stillness of the evening breeze, out over those chalky hills of Bethlehem, the cry of a new born babe. The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. Earth did not hear the cry, for the earth slept; men did not hear the cry, for they did not know that a Child could be greater than a man; kings did not hear the cry, for they did not know that a King could be born in a stable; empires did not hear the cry, for empires did not know that an Infant could hold the reins that steer suns and worlds in their courses. But shepherds and philosophers heard the cry, for only the very simple and the very learned know that the heart of a God can cry out in the cry of a Child. And they came with gifts – and adored, and so great was the majesty seated on the brow of the Child, so great was the dignity of the babe, so powerful was the light of these eyes that shone like celestial suns, that they could not help but cry out: Emmanuel, God is with us.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Life of All Living)

"Don't let your zeal be bitter, fussy, aggravating or a cause of uneasiness, but let it be free from all defects: Let it be sweet, benevolent, gracious, peaceful and uplifting . Ah, who cannot see the dear little Infant of Bethlehem in the event for which we are preparing? Who does not see his comparable love for souls? He comes to die in order to save, and He is so humble and lovable." St  Pio of Pietrelcina

“Let anyone who comes to you go away feeling better and happier. Everyone should see goodness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile. Joy shows from the eyes. It appears when we speak and walk. It cannot be kept closed inside us. It reacts outside. Joy is very infectious.” (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta)

"Mary seeks for those who approach her devoutly and with reverence, for such she loves, nourishes, and adopts as her children."  - Saint Bonaventure

“Provided that we are faithful to Him we will lack nothing; He himself will live in us, guide, defend, and love us.”  - St. Vincent de Paul

“May the Virgin Mary, the All-Holy Mother of God and our Mother, accompany you and protect you always with her tender love.”
- Pope Francis

"The bitterest sorrow is but sweetness in this adorable Heart, where everything is changed into love"' St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)

Jesus Christ is God in the form of man. The eternal appears in time. The Eternal Word, by Whom all things in the world were made, is now rejected by the world He made: “There was no room in the inn.” The Bird Who built the nest of the universe is hatched therein: He Who made His mother, is born of His Mother. All the nations of the earth are made of one blood, and now the Son of God partakes and assumes that blood as the new Head of Humanity.
At Bethlehem, heaven and earth meet: God and Man look each other in the face. A Mother for the first time in the universe, as she holds the babe in her arms, now looks “down” to heaven.
Because nothing greater than this will ever happen in the world, the peace of the world is conditioned upon that great act being repeated, in a reduced measure, in each of us. As God took upon Himself a human nature through the free consent of a woman, so too He asks us, through our free consent to give Him our nature, as Mary gave Him one. Then Christ begins to rule our mind: then we put on the mind of Christ, the love of Christ, the Spirit of Christ. Not many are willing to do this.
“He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” That is why there are Christmas cards with sleighs and fat men. But there will always be some who will see and understand the meaning, and to all who received Him “He gave them the power to become the sons of God.” We cannot have the word Christmas without Christ: so neither can we be Merry on the inside without Him.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen 1962 “Bishop Sheen Writes”

"Let us do all of our actions for God alone and to the best of our ability, with great trust and great love. Who will ever better deserve to be loved?"

— Madame Louise de France, Venerable Mother Thérèse de Saint-Augustin, daughter of Louis XV
† 23 December 1787

"Stay very close to the crib of this most beautiful Child, especially during these days of his birth. If you love riches, here you will find the gold the Kings left Him. If you love the smoke of honors, here you will find that of incense. And if you love the delicacy of the senses, you will smell the perfumed myrrh which perfumes the entire holy stable." St.  Pio of Pietrelcina

"May the Child Jesus be your guiding star in the desert of this present life." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“We must ask God himself to perform our duty; then, if our strength fails, He will bear the burden.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

"Tears are no sign that a man is in the grace of God, neither must we infer that one who weeps when he speaks of holy and devout things necessarily leads a holy life." St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“Christmas is not for sophomores who live under the illusion that they read all of Darwin or for the self-wise who think Marx is wiser than Mark. It is only for the very learned, the great scientists, the profound theologians who are heirs of the wise men who discovered Wisdom. At the other end of the spectrum are the simple people who know nature better than books, who have insights deeper than the impure and a vision which sees in the night. These are the heirs of the shepherds who find their way to the Shepherd of their souls.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Rejoice)

"All the feasts of the Church are beautiful. Easter, yes, is glorification but Christmas has a tenderness, a child-like sweetness that completely captivates my heart." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“All those who love the poor in life will have nothing to fear from death.”  - St. Vincent de Paul

"May the Holy Family never withdraw its loving gaze from you and your family. Model yourselves on it and you will have peace, and spiritual and temporal well-being." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"You are My Mother, the Mother of Mercy, and the consolation of the souls in Purgatory."
- Saint Bridget to our Lady

"Love and sacrifice are closely linked, like the sun and the light. We cannot love without suffering and we cannot suffer without love." St. Gianna Molla (1922 – 1962)

“Go back to that night when Divine Light, in order to illumine the darkness of men, tabernacled Himself in the world He had made… The angels and a star caught up in the reflection of that Light, as a torch lighted by a torch, and passed it on to the watchers of sheep and the searchers of skies. And lo! As the shepherds watched their flocks about the hills of Bethlehem, they were shaken by the light of the angels And lo! As wise men from beyond the land of Media and Persia searched the heavens, the brilliance of a star, like a tabernacle lamp in the sanctuary of God’s creation, beckoned them on to the stable where the star seemed to lose its light in the unearthly brilliance of the Light of the Word.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Eternal Galilean)

“Isn’t it a great mercy of God to welcome us back into his grace after we had rebelled against Him?”  - St. Vincent de Paul

"You should not be discouraged, because if there is in the soul a continual effort to improve, the Lord will finally reward you by suddenly making all the virtues blossom in you as in a garden full of flowers." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“To desire grace without recourse to the Virgin Mother is to desire to fly without wings.”
- Pope Pius XII

'Our Faith will never be true unless it is united to that of St. Peter and the Pontiff, his successors.' St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

"Along with silence, there must go a sense of the Presence of God. This means begging the Divine Light to illumine our hearts to see them not as we think we are, or as others think we are, but as we really are in the sight of God." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Simple Truths)

"Do not be ashamed to enter again into the Church. Be ashamed when you sin. Do not be ashamed when you repent. Pay attention to what the devil did to you. These are two things: sin and repentance. Sin is a wound; repentance is a medicine. Just as there are for the body wounds and medicines, so for the soul are sins and repentance. However, sin has the shame and repentance possesses the courage."

~ St. John Chrysostom

"I keep my eyes fixed on the East in the night which surrounds me, to discover that miraculous star which guided our forbears to the grotto of Bethlehem."

- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

“The Greek origin of the word patience suggests two ideas: one continuance, the other submission. Combined, they mean submissive waiting; a frame of mind which is willing to wait because it knows it thus serves God and his holy purposes. A person who believes in nothing beyond this world is very impatient, because he has only a limited time in which to satisfy his wants. Patience is not something one is born with; it is something that is achieved. Sight is a gift of nature, but seeing has to be won. So it is with self-possession and patience; such a virtue is developed by resistance and control. There are many who excuse themselves, saying that if they were in other circumstances they would be much more patient. It makes little difference where we are; it all depends on what we are thinking about. What happens to us in not so important, but rather how we react to what happens. Tribulation tries the soul, and in the strong it develops patience, and patience, in its turn, hope.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Way to Inner Peace)

"It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey." Saint Ignatius (1491.-1556.)

“We must consult God to learn his language and ask that He himself speak in us and through us.”
- St. Vincent de Paul

“All our happiness consists in fulfilling the will of God, and it is real wisdom to desire nothing but that.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

'We must watch over ourselves. We must have the most filial confidence in Our Saviour, in our blessed Mother, in the angels and saints; but as for men, we must avoid them: this is the advice of the angel to St. Arsenius. Have courage; be assured that God will never abandon you, but will always assist you and give you what is needful.' St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

“I have great doubts about the salvation of those who do not have special devotion to Mary.”
- Saint Francis Borgia

“The Russian peasantry for centuries has propagated a curious tradition. It is about an old woman, the Baboushka, who was at work in her house when the wise men came from the East and passed on their way to Bethlehem to find the Child. Come with us, they said. We have seen his star in the East, and we go to worship Him. I will come but not now, I have much housework to do and when that is finished, I will follow and find him. But her work was never done. And the Three Kings had passed on their way across the desert, and the star shone no more in the darkened heavens. Baboushka never saw the Christ Child, but she is still living and searching for Him. And though she did not find Him, out of love for Him, she takes care of all His children. The tradition has it that she believes that in each poor child whom she warms and feeds, she may find the Christ Child whom she neglected long ago. But she is not doomed to disappointment, for the Divine Child said ‘he who receives one of these little ones in my name, receives me.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Rejoice)

"Outward mortifications are a great help towards the acquisition of interior mortification and the other virtues."  St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“What a joy to remember that Mary is our Mother! Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?”   - Saint Therese of Lisieux

"Nor should you become confused, trying to understand whether you consented or not. Do everything with an upright intention; this uprightness which must always be present in your actions, and whenever you are valiantly and generously fight the evil tricks of the evil spirit." St. Pio  of Pietrelcina (Letters III, p. 626)

“We must not make the sentimental mistake of thinking Our Lord was just a poor man. He was a rich person who became a poor man. Rich he was in his divine nature because he was God, and Lord of heaven and earth. And yet despite that richness he became poor, principally because he became man. That is poverty of the worst kind, because it is limitation. He who was born poor in a stable could have been born rich in a palace by the Tiber. Roman legions might have guarded him at his birth, instead of an ox and an ass. No one would have expected that he who made the warmth of the sun would be warmed by the breath of oxen; nor that he who owned the earth would be homeless on the earth. It is no wonder then that the first to come to his crib were the rich and the poor Shepherds. Two things happened to them – the rich lost their avarice, for they gave their wealth to the poor; the poor lost their envy, for they learned that there is another wealth than that which the rich give away.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Liberty, Equality and Fraternity)

“The creature most filled with the love of God Himself was the Immaculata. We know she never contracted the slightest stain of sin; she never departed in the least from God's will. United to the Holy Spirit as his spouse, she is one with God in an incomparably more perfect way than any other creature. In fact, we can say that the Holy Spirit does not act except through the Immaculata, his spouse. That is why she is the Mediatrix of all graces of the Holy Spirit. And why we can be holy by staying close to her throughout our life."
- St. Maximilian Kolbe (on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception)

"Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home."
— G.K. Chesterton

'No one was ever lost because his sin was too great, but because his trust was too small' (Bl.Francis Xavier Seelos)

“Because [Christ] is born in a cave, all who wish to see him must bend, must stoop, and the stoop is the mark of humility. The proud refuse to stoop. Therefore they miss divinity. Those, however, who are willing to risk bending their egos to go into that cave, find that they are not in a cave at all; but there are in a universe where sits a babe on his mother’s lap, the babe who made the world.”
— Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, from the book “Through the Year with Fulton Sheen”.

"I have my weaknesses also, but I rejoice in them... It's so good to feel that one is weak and little." St. Therese of Lisieux (1873.-1897)

"Mary's Creator is born of Mary. David's son is David's Lord (see Matt 22:41-45). The seed of Abraham is the One who is before Abraham (see John 8:58). The Maker of the earth is made on earth. The Creator of heaven is created under heaven. He Himself is "the day the Lord has made" (Ps 118:24), and the Lord Himself is the "day" of our hearts (see 2 Pet 1:19). Let us walk in His light (see Isa 60:3). Let us be glad and rejoice in Him (see Ps 118:24)."  St. Augustine (Sermon 187.4)

"As regards your reading there is very little to be admired and hardly anything by which to be edified. It is absolutely necessary for you to add to such reading that of the holy books (Sacred Scripture) so highly recommended by all the holy Fathers of the Church. I cannot dispense you from such spiritual reading, for I have your perfection too much at heart. If you want to gain the quite unhoped-for-fruit from such reading, it would be well to rid yourself of the prejudice you have with regard to the style and form in which these holy books are set forth. Got to work then. Make an effort in this respect and don't neglect to ask the divine assistance with all humility."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"At the present time, the hatred of the Muslem countries against the West is becoming a hatred against Christianity itself. Although the statesmen have not yet taken it into account, there is still grave danger that the temporal power of Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world power." Archbishop Fulton Sheen

"Do not doubt, do not hesitate, never despair of the mercy of God. Hope and have confidence in confession." - Saint Isidore of Seville  ‪#‎YearOfMercy

“The swaddling clothes of an infant hid the Son of God in Bethlehem, and the appearance of bread and wine hides the Reality of Christ dying again on Calvary, in the Mass. This concealment of Himself that God effects with us is operative in His use of the Now to hide His will beneath the aspect of very simple, everyday things. We live our lives in dependence on such casual, common benefits as air and water; so Our Lord is pleased to receive from us in return the thousands of unimportant actions and the trifling details that make up our lives – provided that we see, even in our sorrows, ‘the shade of his hand outstretched caressingly.’ Here is the whole secret of sanctity; the method is available to everyone and deserves particular notice from those who ask: ‘What can I do?’ For many good souls are hungry to do great things for God. They complain that they have no opportunities for heroic virtue, no chance at the apostolate. They would be martyrs; but when a meal is late, or a bus is crowded, when the theater is filled, or the dance postponed, or the bacon overdone, they are upset for a whole day. They miss their opportunities for loving God in the little things He asks of them.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

"He who remembers having invoked the name of Mary in an impure temptation, may be sure that he did not yield to it."  St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

“The conflict with Hell cannot be maintained by men, even the most clever. The Immaculata alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan.”  - Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe

"You must cultivate this well-formed heart, carefully, and spare nothing which could be useful to its happiness. Even though in every season-that is, at every age-you can and must do this, your present age is most suitable." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"If you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection." ~St. John of the Cross

"There are two births of Christ, one unto the world in Bethlehem; the other in the soul. We think of the former much more than the later, and celebrate it every year; but the personal relationship of the individual heart to Christ is equally momentous." Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“There are several ways to avoid loving God: Deny that you are a sinner. Pretend that religion is for the ignorant and the superstitious, but not for the learned such as yourself. Insist that the sole purpose of religion is social service. Judge religion by whether or not it is accepted by the important people of the world. Avoid all contemplation, self-examination, and inquiry into the moral state of your soul.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (God Love You)

"It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.“ St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

"All true children of God have God for their father and Mary for his mother; anyone who does not have Mary for his mother, does not have God for his father."
- Saint Louis Marie de Montfort

"To fear losing yourself in the arms of divine Goodness, is stranger than the fear of an infant held tightly in its mother's arms."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Letters III, p. 642)

"The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. " Blessed Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997

“No person can love anything unless he can get his arms around it. But once God became a babe and was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, men could say, ‘this is Emmanuel, this is God with us.’ By his reaching down to frail human nature and lifting it up to the incomparable prerogative of union with himself, human nature became dignified. So real was this union that all of his acts and words, all of his agonies and tears, all of his thoughts and reasonings, resolves and emotions, while being properly human, were at the same time the acts and words, agonies and tears, thoughts and reasons, resolves and emotions, of the Eternal Son of God.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life of Christ)

“Nobody is a Christian for oneself alone. The gift of faith is given to us so that by word and example we may become witnesses before others.” St. John Paul II (1920-2005)

”We may seek graces, but shall never find them without the intercession of Mary.”
- Saint Cajetan

“The mark of man is initiative, but the mark of woman is cooperation. Man talks about freedom; woman about sympathy, love, sacrifice. Man cooperates with nature; woman cooperates with God. Man was called to till the earth, to rule over the earth; woman to be the bearer of a life that comes from God.” (Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, The World’s First Love)

"He who attaches himself to the earth remains attached to it. It is better to detach oneself little by little instead of all at once. Let us always think of Heaven."  St. Pio  of Pietrelcina

“It is impossible to save one's soul without devotion to Mary and without her protection.”
- Saint Anselm

"To doubt is the greatest insult to Divinity."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"It is by means of trials that God binds to Him the souls He loves."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“All the sins of your life seem to be rising up against you. Don’t give up hope! On the contrary, call your holy mother Mary, with the faith and abandonment of a child. She will bring peace to your soul.” » Saint Josemaria Escriva

“Every babe ever born for this life, except One, was born to live. The only exception was the Babe who gave Christmas its name. The name given to Him at His birth was Jesus because, as the angels said, He shall save His people from their sins. He took not the name of Teacher, for then He would have been only an ethical reformer; nor did He take the name of Judge for that would be to announce judgment before announcing mercy and forgiveness. Later on, when He begins His public life, John salutes Him as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Thoughts for Daily Living)

"Mary is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God's mercy. She knows its price; she knows how great it is. In this sense, we call her the Mother of Mercy." - Saint John Paul II

“Mary is not only mother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but she is also our mother, and this is not by a title of courtesy, not by legal fiction, not by a mere figure of speech, but by the right of bringing us forth in sorrow at the foot of the cross…Mary, by sacrifice and obedience, regained for us the title, Mother of the living. What a destiny to have the Mother of God as my Mother and Jesus as my brother.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

"What we know about the virtue of the saints "is the least part of them" St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“Missioners are those who have God alone in view, their own salvation and that of their neighbor; those who have no other attachment than the one that unites them more closely to God.”
- St. Vincent de Paul

"Know for certain, least of my sons, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near and far, the Master of heaven and earth. It is my earnest wish that a temple be built here to my honor. Here I will demonstrate, I will exhibit, I will give all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your merciful mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who seek me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their sorrow, and will remedy and alleviate all their multiple sufferings, necessities and misfortunes."  Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego

”There is no one, O Most Holy Mary, who can know God except through thee; no one who can be saved or redeemed, but through thee, O Mother of God; no one who can be delivered from dangers, but through thee, O Virgin Mother; no one who obtains mercy, but through thee, O Filled-With-All-Grace!”
- Saint Germanus of Constantinople

“Let not your heart be disturbed… Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.” (Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego)

"Fear is an evil worse than evil itself." St. Pio  of Pietrelcina

"When we were little, we kept close to our mother in a dark alley or if dogs barked at us. Now, when we feel temptations of the flesh, we should run to the side of our Mother in Heaven, by realizing how she is to us, and by means of aspirations. She will defend us and lead us to the light."
--St. Josemaria Escriva

"Have courage and do not fear the assaults of the Devil. Remember this forever; it is a healthy sign if the devil shouts and roars around your conscience, since this shows that he is not inside your will."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“We must not judge the designs of God according to human reason, although our puny minds incline us to do so.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

“No one will ever be the servant of the Son without serving the Mother.”  - Saint Ildephonsus

"Let your understanding strengthen your patience. In serenity look forward to the joy that follows sadness." St. Peter Damian (1007 – 1072)

"God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy." - Pope Francis ‪

When God revealed Himself to this poor world of ours, men cried in astonishment: ‘Why, it is a child?’ And so it is that the closer we get to God the more we become children, and the closer God gets to us the more He becomes a child. No one in the world ever suspected that the Ancient of Days Who presided at creation would take His throne in that creation as a babe in a crib, just as no one ever thought He would tell the old men of forty, like Nicodemus, that they must be born again. Christmas, then, is the coronation of childhood, the glorification of the young whose hearts are simple, the proclamation to aging hearts that the world need not despair and die, because the Fountain of Youth has come into it to turn time backward, make old things young again.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (In the Fullness of Time)

"Thank God and gently kiss his hand which strikes you; it is always the hand of a Father who strikes because He loves you." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“Gentleness causes us to master our passions.”  - St. Vincent de Paul

"In short, don't philosophize on your defects; don't reply but carry on firmly. No, God could not lose you when, in order to avoid losing Him you persist in your resolutions. Let the world turn upside down, let everything be darkness, in smoke, in confusion, but God is with us, what can we fear therefore? If God lives in darkness and on Mt. Sinai amidst the thunder and lightning, shouldn't we be happy, know we are close to Him."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“The ark is verily the holy Virgin, gilded within and without, who received the treasure of universal sanctification. Arise, O Lord, from the Father’s bosom, to raise up again the ruined race of our first parent” (Orat. in Deip. Annunciat. Int. Opp. S. Greg. Thaumaturg) (Blessed Virgin, p. 89). St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213-c. 270)

"Let us bind ourselves tightly to the Sorrowful Heart of our Heavenly Mother and reflect on its boundless grief and how precious is our soul." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Devotion to you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation which God gives to those whom he wishes to save."  - Saint John Damascene

“The Christmas message is not that peace will come automatically, because Christ is born in Bethlehem; that birth in Bethlehem was the prelude to His birth in our hearts by grace and faith and love. Peace belongs only to those who will to have it. If there is no peace in the world today, it is not because Christ did not come; it is because we did not let Him in.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Simple Truths)

“Naturally everyone wants the best for himself, whereas Our Lord wishes us to prefer the worst.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often." Blessed John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890)

"God is served only when He is served as He wishes to be."  St.  Pio of Pietrelcina

"To serve the Queen of Heaven is already to reign there, and to live under her commands is more than to govern."   - St. John Vianney

"Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence." - Saint Francis de Sales

“Let us give ourselves to God to go throughout the world to carry His holy gospel.”
- St. Vincent de Paul

“Because Mary is what God wanted us all to be, she speaks of herself as the eternal blueprint in the mind of God, the one whom God loved before she was a creature. She is even pictured as being with Him not only at creation, but before creation. She existed in the Divine Mind as an Eternal Thought before there were any mothers. She is the Mother of mothers. The closer one is to God, the greater the purity. But since no one was ever closer to God than the woman whose human portals he threw open to walk this earth, then no one could have been more pure than she. This special purity of hers we call the Immaculate Conception. The word ‘immaculate’ is taken from two Latin words meaning ‘not stained.’ Conception means that at the first moment of her conception, the Blessed Mother in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, and in virtue of the anticipated merits of the Redemption of her Son was preserved free from the stains of original sin.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The World’s First Love)

"If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart, it still would not equal the love of the Heart of Mary for her children" St. Louis De Montfort (1673.-1716.)

"All the sins of your life seem to be rising up against you. Don't give up hope! On the contrary, call your holy mother Mary, with the faith and abandonment of a child. She will bring peace to your soul."
- St. Josemaria Escriva

"Give yourself up into the arms of your Heavenly Mother. She will take good care of your soul." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“Foresight is a good thing as long as it is subjected to God and His plans – but it becomes excessive when we put ourselves out to avoid something we apprehend. We expect more from our own endeavors than from God’s Providence, and we imagine we are doing much when we anticipate His orders by our disorders, showing that we rely more upon human prudence than upon His word.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"Oh my daughter, how beautiful is His face, how sweet His eyes and what a good thing it is to stay close to Him on the mount of His glory. We must place all our desires and affections there." St. Pio  of Pietrelcina

“Once I surrender the tinsel to have the jewel, then I enter into the mystery of love. I see that I do not love anyone unless he has some goodness in him, or is lovable in some way. But, I see also that God did not love me because I am lovable. I became lovable because God poured some of His goodness and love into me. I then began to apply this charity to my neighbor. If I do not find him lovable, I have to put love into him as God puts love into me, and thereby I provoke the response of love. Now, my personality is restored and I make the great discovery that no one is happy until he loves both God and neighbor.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Simple Truths)

“Without love nothing is pleasing to God.“ St. Clement I (†101.)

"O sinner, be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all your necessities. Call her to your assistance, for such is the divine Will that she should help in every kind of necessity."
- Saint Basil the Great

"Lovingly humble yourself before God and man, because God speaks to the humble. Love silence, because much talk is never without sin. Withdraw into yourself as much as you can, because in this way, the Lord speaks freely to the soul, and the soul is more able to listen to his voice. Cut down on your visits to people, and bear those visits made to you in a Christian manner." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“If Christmas were just the birthday of a great teacher, like Socrates or Buddha, it would never have split time into two, so that all history before the advent of Christ is called B.C. and all history after, A.D.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)

"We are not called upon to do all the good possible, but only that which we can do." St. Theodora Guerin (1798-1856)

“May we see things as they are, as works of God which God has entrusted to us.”
- St. Vincent de Paul

"When you are unable to take big steps on the path that leads to God, be content with little steps, patiently waiting until you have the legs to to run; or better still, wings to fly. Be content with being, for now, a little bee in a hive, which will soon become a big bee, capable of producing honey." St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Letters III, pp. 435-436)

"If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient, but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future."--St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church

“What a joy to remember that she is our Mother! Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?”  - Saint Therese of Lisieux

“Insensibility prevents us from being touched at the sight of the corporal and spiritual wretchedness of our neighbor; it leaves us without charity, without zeal, unmoved at the offenses committed against God.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"Your Kingdom is not far away, allow us to participate in Your triumph on earth to then participate in Your Kingdom in Heaven. Grant that, being unable to contain the communication of Your charity, we preach Your divine Regality by our example and good works. Take possession of our hearts in time to possess them in eternity. Keep us under Your sceptre so that neither life nor death can separate us from You. Let our lives be drawn from You in large draughts of love which will then extend over humanity and let us die at every moment to live only for You and keep You in our hearts." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Anyone who wants to be an example to others, must first examine himself." St. Ephrem the Syrian (306 – 373)

“There is a close relation between physical littleness, which is childhood, and mental littleness, which is humility. We cannot always be children, which is another way of saying we can be humble. And so in the spiritual order the law remains ever the same: if human beings are ever to discover anything big, they must always be making themselves little; if they magnify their ego to the infinite, they will discover nothing, for there is nothing bigger than the infinite; but if they reduce their ego to zero, then they will discover everything big for there is nothing smaller than the self. How, then, shall we find the reason behind the joy? Just as it is only by being little that we discover anything big, so it is only by being humble that we will find an Infinite God in the form of a little child.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Eternal Galilean)

“Let us aspire to take Jesus as a model in the way He acted and what He did.”  - St. Vincent de Paul

“You might say that it was very unjust of God to deprive us of friendship with Him, and of these other gifts, simply because Adam sinned. There would have been injustice if God deprived you of your due, but you are no more entitled to be a child of God than a razor has a right to bloom, or a rose has the right to bark, or a dog has the right to quote Dante. What Adam lost was gifts, not a heritage. On Christmas Day, when you distribute gifts to your friends, would I have a right to say to you: Why do you not give me a gift? You would answer: I am not doing you an injustice, because I owe you nothing. I am not obliged to give these gifts to my friends. If I had not given them gifts, I would not have deprived them of anything I owed them, So, neither did God owe us anything beyond our nature as a creature of his handiwork.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Preface to Religion)

"We cannot get to Heaven on a featherbed." St. Thomas More (1478-1535)

“The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together” (St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

"May the Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, obtain for us from her Son the grace to live a life according to the heart of God, a life that is entirely interior and hidden in Him." St. Pio of Pietrelcina