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

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

"Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of our labors."  -St. Therese

“Now could it possibly happen that the sun be smote or sliced, which otherwise encompasses the axe and the tree? So therefore in Christ, his body indeed is the tree, the axe His passion, the sun is His Godhead. Christ suffered [endured His Passion], without His Divinity suffering any diminution on account of his Passion. [Latin: Num fieri potest ut sol feriatur aut caedatur, qui caeteroquin securim et arborem prorsus circumambit? Sic igitur in Christo, corpus quidem est arbor, securis passio, sol est divinitas. Passus est Christus, quin divinitas diminutionem ullam propter passionem perpessa est.]”  Pope St. Sylvester I   (Fragment quoted by Migne, PL.)

"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 (Padre Pio Archives)

“time is a part of eternity; that just as our present moment has a memory behind it and a hope in front of it so, too, time is like one circle that is locked in another circle or, better still, time and eternity are like two hearts carved by lovers on an oak tree as if to give perpetuity to their love. Each new year is actually a testing and proving ground for eternity, a kind of novitiate in which we say "aye" or "nay" to our eternal destiny, a season of plenty from which we shall later on reap either wheat or weeds. A beautiful example of this consciousness of how time is bound up to eternity was revealed when we gave First Communion to a little princess. After the ceremony, when she had received the greetings of friends she said to her mother, "I am ready." Her mother said, "Ready for what?" She said, "Ready for Heaven. I have received Divine Love this morning and why should I go on living? For living is nothing but waiting for Perfect Love." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)

"Lay your head on my shoulder, rest and regain your strength. I am always with you. Tell the friend of My Heart that I use such feeble creatures to carry out My work."  WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary 498)

"There are still many souls who are being led astray, who are being deceived and seduced, who are unhappy and enslaved by the devil. It is a beautiful mission to live, suffer, work, and even die (if God wills it) for these souls. Living in this way we sanctify ourselves. Love for the good God, for the Immaculata, and for each and every soul, reaches God Himself. So let us embrace this mission in the name of the Immaculata and we can be certain we will rejoice together in Paradise."  - St. Maximilian Kolbe

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

“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

Anne Hope, in “The Life of St. Philip Neri” recounts the following conversation with Pope Gregory XIII and St. Philip Neri: “Pope Gregory XIII. having issued an order that confessors should wear their cottas in the confessional, Philip went to an audience of his Holiness with his habit unbuttoned; whereupon the Pope expressing his surprise at his coming to him in such a costume, Philip replied, ‘I cannot even bear my habit buttoned, and your Holiness will have me wear a cotta in addition.’ ‘No, no,’ answered the Pope, ‘the order is intended for others and not for you;’ and thus he gained a special exemption.”

St. Philip Neri had such an intense love for God that it caused his ribcage to expand and his heart to palpitate regularly. A short time before his death he said to Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, “Do not think that it gives me any pain, or has ever given me any; for I have always been as free from pain in connection with it as I am now. Moreover, I can check it whenever I wish; but when I am praying I never do so, because I do not choose to distract myself by thinking about it.” (as recounted in “The Life of St. Philip Neri” by Anne Hope.)

"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 (Letters IV, p. 964)

“If love craves a cross – even God’s true love is sacrificial. That is why courtship is characterized by gift-giving – a surrender of what on has. In marriage this sacrificial love should deepen by a surrender of what one has. Because too many measure their love for one another by the pleasure which the other gives, they are in reality not in love, but in the swamps of selfishness. Our poor, frail human souls at best are like jangled strings, made toneless by self-love; and not until we tighten them with self-discipline can we attune them to those harmonies that come from God, wherein each, having given to the other hostage of its heart, finds himself free in the glorious liberty of the children of God. Peace first came to the world when the Wise Men discovered a family. And the dawn of peace will come again when other wise men return to homes where they see the human family of father, mother, and children, as the reverse order of the Holy Family: a Child, a Mother, and a Father.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Seven Pillars of Peace)

“In the name of God, let us have ever more and more confidence in Him; let Him guide our little bark; if it is useful and pleasing to Him, He will save it from shipwreck and no matter how the importance and variety of the works of others threatens to swamp it, it will sail with all the greater security, amidst so many good ships, so long as it keeps straight on its own course, and does not cross their track by deviating from its own path.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

"What a joy it is to serve God in the desert without manna, water, or any other consolation except that of being under his guidance, and to suffer for him. May the most holy Virgin bring you her blessings.

During this state of aridity and desolation of spirit, don't worry if you are unable to serve God as you would like. While you adapt to his wishes, you serve him according to his will, which is better than yours. What does it matter to us whether we belong to God in one way or another? In truth, as we seek nothing but him ... we must be content with both paths."

-St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Hope in God. If you have good hope and faith in Him, you shall be delivered from your enemies" -St. Joan of Arc

“With how great care and pastoral vigilance the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, fulfilling the duty and office committed to them by the Lord Christ Himself in the person of most Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, of feeding the lambs and the sheep, have never ceased sedulously to nourish the Lord's whole flock with words of faith and with salutary doctrine, and to guard it from poisoned pastures, is thoroughly known to all, and especially to you, Venerable Brethren. And truly the same, Our Predecessors, asserters of justice, being especially anxious for the salvation of souls, had nothing ever more at heart than by their most wise Letters and Constitutions to unveil and condemn all those heresies and errors which, being adverse to our Divine Faith, to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, to purity of morals, and to the eternal salvation of men, have frequently excited violent tempests, and have miserably afflicted both Church and State. For which cause the same Our Predecessors, have, with Apostolic fortitude, constantly resisted the nefarious enterprises of wicked men, who, like raging waves of the sea foaming out their own confusion, and promising liberty whereas they are the slaves of corruption, have striven by their deceptive opinions and most pernicious writings to raze the foundations of the Catholic religion and of civil society, to remove from among men all virtue and justice, to deprave persons, and especially inexperienced youth, to lead it into the snares of error, and at length to tear it from the bosom of the Catholic Church.” Pope Pius IX, Quanta Cura, December 8, 1864

St. Andrew Bobola, to his persecutors whom he was Evangelizing: “I am a Catholic priest; I was born in the Catholic faith; in that faith I wish to die. My faith is true; it leads to salvation. Do you rather repent; give place to sorrow for sin, else you will be unable, in your errors, to win salvation. By embracing my faith, you will acknowledge the true God, and will save your souls.” (Litt. decr. Pii Xl "Ex aperto Christi latere": AAS XXX, 1938, p. 359.)

“Hereafter, I want you to tell me, candidly and in secret, what people are saying about me. And if you see anything in me that you regard as a fault, feel free to tell me in private. For from now on, people will talk about me, but not to me. It is dangerous for men in power if no one dares to tell them when they go wrong.” (St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr; to a friend on his way to ordination)

“That seemingly trivial incident which was so commonplace that the innkeeper refused a room to His Blessed Mother was the revolution that upset the world and the solution which gave it peace. Driven even off the face of the earth He came to save, His Mother sought refuge in a shepherd’s cave, and there under the floor of the world was born Him who like Samson shook the pillars of the world to its very foundations, pulled down the already crumbling edifice, and built a new Living Temple in its place, where men might once more sing because they had found their God.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Prodigal World)

The first attribute which the Lord gave me to know is His holiness. The second kind of knowledge which the Lord granted me concerns His justice. The third attribute is love and mercy. And I understood that the greatest attribute is love and mercy. It unites the creature with the Creator. - ST FAUSTINA (Diary 180)

There is no sin, however great and grievous it may be, which cannot be pardoned in this life, if one confesses it. This is an article of faith. - St. Francis de Sales

"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)

"Your sari will become holy because it will be My symbol." -Jesus to St. Teresa of Calcutta

“If we were naturally good and naturally progressive, there would have been no need of Christ coming to earth to make men good. Those who are well have no need of a physician. If all were right with the world, God would have stayed in His Heaven. His Presence in the crib in Bethlehem is a witness not to our progress, but to our misery.”  —Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

"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  (Letters IV, pp. 977 – 978)

“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)

"The Child, laid by Mary in the crib, is the man-God we shall see nailed to the Cross. In the stable at Bethlehem He allowed Himself to be worshiped under the humble outward appearance of a newborn baby by Mary and Joseph and by the Shepherds. This same Redeemer is present in the sacrament of the Eucharist. In the consecrated Host we adore Him sacramentally under the humble appearance of bread and wine which becomes His Body and Blood ... and for us the food of eternal life."
- St. John Paul II

"O inconceivable goodness of God, which shields us at every step, may Your mercy be praised without cease. That You became a brother to humans, not to angels, is a miracle of the unfathomable mystery of Your mercy. All our trust is in You, our first-born Brother, Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. My heart flutters with joy to see how good God is to us wretched and ungrateful people. And as a proof of His love, He gives us the incomprehensible gift of Himself in the person of His Son. Throughout all eternity we shall never exhaust that mystery of love. O mankind, why do you think so little about God being truly among us? O Lamb of God, I do not know what to admire in You first: Your gentleness, Your hidden life, the emptying of Yourself for the sake of man, or the constant miracle of Your mercy, which transforms souls and raises them up to eternal life. Although You are hidden in this way, Your omnipotence is more manifest here than in the creation of man. Though the omnipotence of Your mercy is at work in the justification of the sinner, yet Your action is gentle and hidden."
(Saint Faustina's Diary 1584)

“Changing places does not change a man.”  – 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)

“Those who love the Holy Spirit experience every kind of happiness within themselves. The Holy Spirit leads us like a mother leads her little child, or like a person with sight leads a blind man."~St. John Vianney 

"Hail, Holy Lady, Most Notable Queen, Mother of God, and Mary Ever-Virgin! You were chosen by the Heavenly Father, who has been pleased to honor You with the presence of His most holy Son and the Divine Paraclete. You were blessed with the fullness of grace and goodness. Hail, Temple of God, His Dwelling Place, His Masterpiece, His Handmaid!"
- St. Francis of Assisi

"Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in My mercy. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is-trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts."  WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA  (Diary 1578)

“‘Feed my sheep’ (Jn. 21) to whom [St. Peter] He [Christ] also gave over the power of loosing as even binding, saying: ‘whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.’ (Matt. 16) And such granted power is handed over not only to St. Peter, but also to his successors, holding in the Church his succession, from God the power of binding and loosing.”  Pope Benedict VI, Epistola ad Fredericum Salibergensem episcopum

“As you are well acquainted with the advantages and merits of sufferings, you have reason to rejoice, inasmuch as by having lived constantly in tribulation you have walked in the road of crowns and laurels. All manner of corporal distempers have been your portion, often more cruel and harder to be endured than ten thousand deaths; nor have you ever been free from sickness. You have been perpetually overwhelmed with slanders, insults, and injuries. Never have you been free from some new tribulation; torrents of tears have always been familiar to you. Among all these one single affliction is enough to fill your soul with spiritual riches.” St. John Chrysostom to St. Olypmias  (Quoted by Fr. Alban Butler in his "Lives of the Saints", Dec. 26th, St. Olympias)

“Now Christmas day was the restoration of humor, and those who displayed it most were the shepherds and the wise men. They came to this little Babe and “saw through Him” – God Himself. His Flesh was the Sacrament of His Divinity. Christmas then is a romance and a joy only to those who have a sense of humor, whose vision is not opaque when they look at a Babe, but can see through Him all the problems of life answered in the vision of God Who appeared as a Man. They who pass through this life with that sense of humor, which is faith, will one day be rewarded by the one thing that will make heaven Heaven – His Smile.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

"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)

“‘Feed my sheep’ (Jn. 21) to whom [St. Peter] He [Christ] also gave over the power of loosing as even binding, saying: ‘whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.’ (Matt. 16) And such granted power is handed over not only to St. Peter, but also to his successors, holding in the Church his succession, from God the power of binding and loosing.”  Pope Benedict VI, Epistola ad Fredericum Salibergensem episcopum

“As you are well acquainted with the advantages and merits of sufferings, you have reason to rejoice, inasmuch as by having lived constantly in tribulation you have walked in the road of crowns and laurels. All manner of corporal distempers have been your portion, often more cruel and harder to be endured than ten thousand deaths; nor have you ever been free from sickness. You have been perpetually overwhelmed with slanders, insults, and injuries. Never have you been free from some new tribulation; torrents of tears have always been familiar to you. Among all these one single affliction is enough to fill your soul with spiritual riches.” St. John Chrysostom to St. Olypmias (Quoted by Fr. Alban Butler in his "Lives of the Saints", Dec. 26th, St. Olympias)

"From the time of his birth Jesus points out our mission, which is to despise what the world loves and seeks."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Letters IV, p. 973)

“When you got what you wanted, were you happy? Do you remember when you were a child, how ardently you looked forward to Christmas? How happy you thought you would be, with your fill of cakes, your hands glutted with toys, and your eyes dancing with the lights on the tree! Christmas came, and after you had eaten your fill, blown out the last Christmas candle, and played till your toys no longer amused, you climbed into your bed and said, in your own little heart of hearts, that somehow or other it did not quite come up to your expectations. And have you not lived that experience over a thousand times since? Archbishop Fulton Sheen (You)

“It is not so important for us to live a long time as to continue in the vocation to which God has called us and to abide by what we have promised God.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"Know, My daughter, that between Me and you there is a bottomless abyss, an abyss which separates the Creator from the creature. But this abyss is filled with My mercy. I raise you up to Myself, not that I have need of you, but it is solely out of mercy that I grant you the grace of union with Myself."  WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA  (Diary 1576)

"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.)

"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

Mankind is a great, an immense family... This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas. -Pope St. John XXIII

"If you want to see miracles, have devotion to Mary, help of Christians."   -St. John Bosco

“On all days and at all times, dearly beloved, does the birth of our Lord and Saviour from the Virgin-mother occur to the thoughts of the faithful, who meditate on divine things, that the mind may be aroused to the acknowledgment of its Maker, and whether it be occupied in the groans of supplication, or in the shouting of praise, or in the offering of sacrifice, may employ its spiritual insight on nothing more frequently and more trustingly than on the fact that God the Son of God, begotten of the co-eternal Father, was also born by a human birth. But this Nativity which is to be adored in heaven and on earth is suggested to us by no day more than this when, with the early light still shedding its rays on nature , there is borne in upon our senses the brightness of this wondrous mystery. For the angel Gabriel's converse with the astonished Mary and her conception by the Holy Ghost as wondrously promised as believed, seem to recur not only to the memory but to the very eyes. For today the Maker of the world was born of a Virgin's womb, and He, who made all natures, became Son of her, whom He created. Today the Word of God appeared clothed in flesh, and That which had never been visible to human eyes began to be tangible to our hands as well. Today the shepherds learned from angels' voices that the Saviour was born in the substance of our flesh and soul; and today the form of the Gospel message was pre-arranged by the leaders of the Lord's flocks , so that we too may say with the army of the heavenly host: Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace to men of good will.” Pope St. Leo the Great, Sermon 26

“Christ is born, glorify Him. Christ from heaven, go out to meet Him. Christ on earth; be ye exalted. Sing unto the Lord all the whole earth; and that I may join both in one word, Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, for Him Who is of heaven and then of earth. Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling and with joy; with trembling because of your sins, with joy because of your hope. Christ of a Virgin; O you Matrons live as Virgins, that you may be Mothers of Christ. Who does not worship Him That is from the beginning? Who does not glorify Him That is the Last?”  St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 38

"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 Saviour 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 ( Letters III, p. 470 )

“A Child is born. To some He comes on this Christmas Day, even in the remorse that follows ‘there is no room’; to some He comes when their hearts are saddened by a life that has been taken away, and can be gladdened only by a Life that is given; to some He comes when their hearts like conscious mangers cry out ‘Lord, I am not worthy’; to others He comes as their study of science reminds them that the only star worth studying is the Star that leads to the Maker of the Stars; to others He comes when their hearts are broken, that He might enter in to heal with wings wider than the world; to others He comes in joy amidst the Venite Adoremus of the angels; to others He comes because they are so young they can never remember another Christmas – but to each and everyone He comes as if He had never come before in His own sweet way, He the Child who is born, He, Jesus the Savior, He Emmanuel, He, Christ at Christ’s Mass on Christmas – Merry Christmas!!” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Fullness of Christ)

“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

"Just as the thought of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not actualize the light of spiritual knowledge in the soul."

—From St. Maximos the Confessor (First Century on Love no. 31, The Philokalia Vol. 2

"Stay very close to the crib of this most beautiful child.... Have a great love for this heavenly child, respectful in the familiarity you will gain with him through prayer, and totally delighted in the joy of feeling the holy aspirations and effects of belonging totally to him."

-St. Pio of Pietrelcina

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

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

“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)

Christ is with you: be not afraid! -St. John Paul II

"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 incomparable love for souls ? He comes to die in order to save, and He is so humble, sweet and lovable."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina ( Letters III, p. 469 – 470 )

“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)

“Virtue is not found in extremes, but in prudence.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“May the radiance of your charity be a beaming light, and may there never appear amongst you, either in the community, or with outsiders, or in speaking about them, any rivalry, jealousy or that spirit of the world which inclines us to criticize, blame or contradict what others do, thinking that only to be right and good which we do ourselves as the outcome of our initiative.”
– 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)

"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

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

Suppose that on the next Fourth of July everyone began sending to friends postcards on which were engraved images of Chinese temples, Bali dancers, minarets, Italian wine feasts, and Hindu holy men; one would suspect that our nation had forgotten the great historical event behind the Fourth of July. In like manner, when at Christmas one sees an exchange of cards on which are burning logs, rabbits, reindeer, dinner scenes, snow scenes and sleighs, one wonders if we are not having the feast without the festival and merriment without a reason for being merry. In such case, we would be like one awakened from a sleep who orders a drink to toast a dream which he cannot remember. Christmas is a historical event. Its solemnity has been told in the most pregnant words ever written by the pen of man: "The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us." As I write this column I have a word or a thought in my mind -- but no one knows what it is until I declare it or write it. When I write the word Mary, who was the Mother of the Babe of Christmas, you can say that the word became ink and dwelt upon the page. Now God has a Thought or a Word. We have many thoughts because our knowledge is so imperfect. God has only one Thought or one Word, which reaches to the abyss of all things that are known or can be known. Go back, pile century on century, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God."
Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Bishop Sheen Writes)

"When I was apologizing to the Lord Jesus for a certain action of mine which, a little later, turned out to be imperfect, Jesus put me at ease with these words: My daughter, I reward you for the purity of your intention which you had at the time when you acted. My Heart rejoiced that you had My love under consideration at the time you acted, and that in so distinct a way; and even now you still derive benefit from this; that is, from the humiliation. Yes, My child, I want you to always have such great purity of intention in the very least things you undertake."  (Saint Faustina's Diary 1566)

"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)

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

Mary is the sure path to our meeting with Christ. -St. John Paul II 

“Some also question whether angels are personal beings, and whether matter and spirit differ essentially. Others destroy the gratuity of the supernatural order, since God, they say, cannot create intellectual beings without ordering and calling them to the beatific vision. Nor is this all. Disregarding the Council of Trent, some pervert the very concept of original sin, along with the concept of sin in general as an offense against God, as well as the idea of satisfaction performed for us by Christ. Some even say that the doctrine of transubstantiation, based on an antiquated philosophic notion of substance, should be so modified that the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist be reduced to a kind of symbolism, whereby the consecrated species would be merely efficacious signs of the spiritual presence of Christ and of His intimate union with the faithful members of His Mystical Body.”  Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis, Par. 26: 

“...Original sin is transmitted from the will of our first parent...”—St. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theo., Prima Secundae, Q. 83, Art. 1

"Stay very close to the crib of this most beautiful Child, especially during these days of this birth. If you love riches, here you will find the gold the Kings left Him. If you love the smoke of honours, 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 ( Letters III, p. 889 )

A little boy who had been to Sunday School told his father that he learned that God the Father and Son were equal. The father said: “That is ridiculous. I am your father; you are my son. I existed a long time before you.” “No,” said the boy, “you did not begin to be a father until I began to be a son.”
At Christmas, He Who was eternally generated by the Father is generated in time, in the womb of a virgin Mary. The Son of God then becomes the Son of Man. As the word which I speak to you is not different because I give it breath and sound, so neither is the Word of the Son of God changed because He takes on a human nature like ours in all things except sin, “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen – (Bishop Sheen Writes)

The Lord said to me, My daughter, do not tire of proclaiming My mercy. In this way you will refresh this Heart of Mine, which burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell My priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak. WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1521)

“What a strange demon is vanity of the mind!”  – St. Vincent de Paul

Do now what you wish to have done when your moment comes to die. - St. Angela Merici

"Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession" ~St. Joseph Cupertino, patron of pilots and air travel

"O my God, You have surpassed all my expectations." ~St. Therese of Lisieux

"I am glad to have to manifest all the gratuitous favors which Jesus has bestowed on my soul.

I fully recognize that there is nothing in me capable of attracting the gaze of this most tender Jesus of ours. His goodness alone has filled my soul with many good things.... He follows me everywhere, revives my life poisoned by sin, disperses the dense clouds which had enveloped my soul after I had sinned."  -St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Things were in God’s plan which I had not planned at all. I am coming to the living faith and conviction that – from God’s point of view – there is no chance and that the whole of my life, down to every detail, has been mapped out in God’s divine providence and makes complete and perfect sense in God’s all-seeing eyes."  St. Edith Stein

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

"Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more."  -St. Teresa of Calcutta

"Poverty, humility, degradation, contempt surround the Word made flesh. But from the darkness in which this Word made flesh is enveloped, we understand one thing, we hear a voice, we catch a glimpse of a sublime truth. All this He has done out of love, and He does nothing but invite us to love; He speaks of nothing else but love; He gives nothing but proof of love." St. Pio of Pietrelcina  (Letters IV, pp. 972 – 973)

“If we have a box in which we keep our money, we know the one thing we must always give attention to is the key; we never think that the key is the money, but we know that without the key we cannot get into our money. The Mother of the Babe is like that key; without her we cannot get to Our Lord because He came through her. She is not to be compared to Our Lord, for she is a creature and He is the Creator. But without her we could not understand how the Bridge was built between heaven and earth.
As she formed Jesus in her body, so she forms Jesus in our souls. In this one Woman, virginity and motherhood are united, as if God willed to show that both are necessary for the world. Those things which are separated in other creatures are united in her. The Mother is the protector of the Virgin and the Virgin is also the inspiration of Motherhood." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Christmas Inspirations)

“Do you think this will discredit you? We would have to keep ourselves shut up in a box not to be exposed to some annoyance or other!”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"Christ does not force our will, He only takes what we give Him. But He does not give Himself entirely until He sees that we yield ourselves entirely to Him."  St Teresa of Avila

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

"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

“Things arrange themselves with time. Only God can have everything to His liking.”
– 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  (Letters IV, p. 1000)

"I want people who have a devotion to my Rosary to have my Son's grace and blessing during their lifetime and at their death."  - Our Lady to Blessed Alan De la Roch.

"Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the bosom of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ."  St. Paul of the Cross

"Always keep him present to your mind's eye. Often remember the presence of this angel; thank him, pray to him, always keep him good company. Open up yourself to him and confide your suffering to him. Have a constant fear of offending the purity of his gaze. Know this and keep it well imprinted on your mind. He is so delicate, so sensitive. Turn to him in times of supreme anxiety, and you will experience his beneficial help."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“The good God always does our business when we do His.”  – 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)

“Sunlight is all about the house, but for sunlight to get in we must open the blinds. The physician of souls can cure, but we must know we are sick and must want to be cured. God calls! We can pretend we do not hear, we can accept Him, or we can reject His voice. It is each person’s inalienable right to decide.” Archbishop Fulton sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

"Mary full of grace – mother of Jesus! We love and honor our Jesus when we love and honor her… Our best honor to Mary is the imitation of her virtues – her life is a model for all conditions of life."   - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

The Lord said to me, My daughter, do not tire of proclaiming My mercy. In this way you will refresh this Heart of Mine, which burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell My priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak. WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1521)

"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)

“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

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

"Giving God your inability and nothingness takes some humility. It takes the ability to admit that­ it’s all you have at the moment. Yet whenever I’ve been able to do this, it’s been a consolation."  -St. Teresa of Calcutta.

“But how we know and speak regarding the Virgin Mother of God, and about the manner of the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God, necessary not because of increase but for satisfaction, we have taken and possess from above, from the divine Scriptures as well as from the tradition of the holy fathers, and we speak briefly, adding nothing at all to the faith of the holy Fathers, which was set forth at Nicea. For, as we have already said, this suffices for all understanding of piety and for all renunciation of heretical perfidy. But we speak not presuming the unlawful, but by confession of special weakness excluding those who wish to rise up against what we regard as beyond man.”  The Formula of Union, approved by Pope St. Sixtus III

“Intellectual knowledge is not the one thing necessary. Not all the PhD’s are saints, and all the ignorant are not demons. Indeed, a certain type of education may simply turn a man from a stupid egotist into a clever egotist and, of the two, the former has the better chance of salvation.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

“Trials bear the special mark of God’s goodness.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you ... Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my Father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge but as the Merciful Savior ... Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy ... Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.  WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA ( Diary 687, 1541, 1731)

"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

"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)

“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”. 

“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)

“He who has the bride is the groom. The friend of the groom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy at the voice of the groom. ( John 3:29.)
The best man says those things about the groom, the voice about the Word, the light about the sun, John about Christ. Indeed, ‘the groom’ is Christ, and ‘the bride whom he has’ is the church. David says about him, He has set his tabernacle in the sun; he is like a groom coming out of his chamber. (Psalm 18:6) Solomon speaks about the bride, You have wounded my heart, my sister; my woman, you have wounded my heart. (Canticles 4:9) For, we remember that we distinguished four types of betrothal in the tract which we undertook, On the fourfold types of marriage. The first is between a husband and a legal wife, the second is between Christ and a holy church, the third is between God and a righteous soul, the fourth is between the Word and human nature.”  Pope Innocent III, Sermon on John 3:29

 “As daylight waxes, we, gazing into a mirror, see more plainly the soils and stains upon our face; and even so as the interior light of the Holy Spirit enlightens our conscience, we see more distinctly the sins, inclinations and imperfections which hinder our progress towards real devotion. And the selfsame light which shows us these blots and stains, kindles in us the desire to be cleansed and purged therefrom.

You will find then, my child, that besides the mortal sins and their affections from which your soul has already been purged, you are beset by sundry inclinations and tendencies to venial sin; mind, I do not say you will find venial sins, but the inclination and tendency to them. Now, one is quite different from the other. We can never be altogether free from venial sin,--at least not until after a very long persistence in this purity; but we can be without any affection for venial sin. It is altogether one thing to have said something unimportant not strictly true, out of carelessness or liveliness, and quite a different matter to take pleasure in lying, and in the habitual practice thereof. But I tell you that you must purify your soul from all inclination to venial sin;--that is to say, you must not voluntarily retain any deliberate intention of permitting yourself to commit any venial sin whatever.”  St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life

"A woman is capable of more sacrifices than a man. Man is more apt to be a hero, through some great passionate outburst of heroism. But a woman's love makes a thousand small sacrifices, sprinkling them through the days and the months; their very repetition gives them the character of the commonplace. Not only her soul, but her body, has some share in the Calvary of Redemption; furthermore, she comes closer to death than man, whenever she brings forth a child." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life is Worth Living)

“To serve the poor is to serve Jesus Christ. O my daughters, how true this is! You serve Jesus Christ in the person of the poor, and this is as true as that we are here present.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

“Practice the divine virtue of patience and submission to His good pleasure. It is the touchstone by which He tries you and by it He leads you to His own pure love.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"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)

"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 the most suitable."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Letters III, pp. 421- 422)

"I see Mary Everywhere! I see Difficulties Nowhere!"   -St. Maximillian Kolbe

Among the many proofs of the boundless benignity of our Redeemer, there is one that stands out conspicuously, to wit the fact that when the charity of Christian people was growing cold, the Divine Charity itself was set forth to be honored by a special worship, and the riches of its bounty was made widely manifest by that form of devotion wherein worship is given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Coloss. ii, 3). Pope Pius XI, MISERENTISSIMUS REDEMPTOR, May 8, 1928

“God’s compassion for you is greater than the troubles you have.”—St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle (Med 38.1)

“Those who love God do not protest, whatever He may ask of them, nor doubt His kindness when He sends them difficult hours. A sick person takes medicine without asking the physician to justify its bitter taste because the patient trusts the doctor’s knowledge; so the soul that has sufficient faith accepts all the events of life as gifts of God in the serene assurance that God knows best.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (From the Angel’s Blackboard)

“O Holy Mary! My Mother; into thy blessed trust and special custody, and into the bosom of thy mercy, I this day, and every day, and in the hour of my death, commend my soul and body. To thee I commit all my anxieties and sorrows, my life and the end of my life, that by thy most holy intercession, and by thy merits, all my actions may be directed and governed by thy will and that of thy Son.”  - St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Today the Lord said to me, My daughter, My pleasure and delight, nothing will stop Me from granting you graces. Your misery does not hinder My mercy. My daughter, write that the greater the misery of a soul, the greater its right to My mercy; [urge] all souls to trust in the unfathomable abyss of My mercy, because I want to save them all. On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls-no one have I excluded!
.WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA  (Diary 1182 )

Pope [St.] Celestine I, in an epistle to John of Antioch, which is contained in Volume One of the Council of Ephesus, ch. 19, says: “If anyone who was either excommunicated or exiled by Bishop Nestorius, or any that followed him, from such a time as he began to preach such things, whether they be from the dignity of a bishop or clergy, it is manifest that he has endured and endures in our communion, nor do we judge him outside, because he could not remove anyone by a sentence, who himself had already shown that he must be removed.” And in a letter to the clergy of Constantinople: “The Authority of our See has sanctioned, that the bishop, cleric or Christian by simple profession who had been deposed or excommunicated by Nestorius or his followers, after the latter began to preach heresy, shall not be considered deposed or excommunicated. For he who had defected from the faith with such preaching, cannot depose or remove anyone whatsoever.” (As quoted by St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice: On the Roman Pontiff, trans. by Ryan Grant [Mediatrix Press, 2015], p. 308)

“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

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

"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)

"Hope in God. If you have good hope and faith in Him, you shall be delivered from your enemies" -St. Joan of Arc

“At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.” (St. John of the Cross, Dichos 64)

"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 )

“Faith lights up all the faculties of a person, as light inside reveals the pattern of a stained glass window. For faith is far more than the passive acquiescence to a proof; it is a dynamic thing accompanied by an intense desire for the possession of God as the author and finisher of our life.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

“Believe me, there is no more powerful means to obtain God’s grace than to employ the intercessions of the Holy Virgin.”   - St. Philip Neri

In his bull Non est equidem (May 25, 1754), Pope Benedict XIV named the Virgin of Guadalupe patroness and exclaimed, Non fecit taliter omni nationi (“She hath not done this for any other nation”)!

“The person who wants to cure bodily ills and restore health must administer the remedies gradually.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. " St. Teresa of Calcutta  (1910 – 1997)

Pope St. Nicholas I, describing a penitent named Eriartus, who was guilty of murder: "He should have done penance during all his lifetime, but we have taken into consideration his faith, and the protection of the Holy Apostles, which he came to seek." (Fleury, H. E., l. li. n. 8.)

“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)

"It is by means of trials that God binds to Him the souls He loves." St. Pio of Pietrelcina  (A. Serritelli – Notizie su Padre Pio, 44)

“Nothing in human experience is as efficacious in curing the memory and imagination as confession; it cleanses us of guilt, and if we follow the admonitions of our Lord, we shall put completely out of mind our confessed sins: ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:62). Confession also heals the imagination, eliminating its anxiety for the future.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

Your name, O Mary, is a precious ointment, which breathes forth the odor of divine grace. Let this ointment of salvation enter the inmost recesses of our souls."
- St. Ambrose

"Then I heard the words: As you are united with Me in life, so will you be united at the moment of death. After these words, such great trust in God's great mercy was awakened in my soul that, even if I had had the sins of the whole world, as well as the sins of all the condemned souls weighing on my conscience, I would not have doubted God's goodness but, without hesitation, would have thrown myself into the abyss of the divine mercy, which is always open to us; and, with a heart crushed to dust, I would have cast myself at His feet, abandoning myself totally to His holy will, which is mercy itself."
(Saint Faustina's Diary 1552)

“Man should tremble, the world should vibrate, all heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest.” — St. Francis of Assisi

"To doubt is the greatest insult to Divinity."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina ( Consigli- Esortazioni di Padre Pio, 35 )