“The Glorious Virgin did not have a stain in her birth because she was sanctified in her mother's womb and safeguarded there by angels."  - Saint Anthony of Padua

"Prayer is the effusion of our heart into God's. when it is well done, it moves the Divine Heart and makes Him always more inclined to grant our requests. Let us pour out our whole soul to God in prayer. He is captivated by our prayers and comes to our aid."  St.  Pio of  Pietrelcina

"Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause."   -St. John of Kanty

"I have found heaven on earth, since heaven is God and God is in my soul.” Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity

"Obedience will enable you to advance untiringly, and to gain more readily the road to Heaven; inasmuch as you will be journeying, in a manner, under the guidance of another, and not by your own will and judgment."  St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491.-1556.)

“Try to live content among your reasons for discontent and always honor the inactivity and unknown condition of the Son of God.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“There is a vast difference between the individual who gets drunk because he loves liquor and the one who does it because he hates or fears something else so much that he has to run away from it. The first becomes the drunkard, the second the alcoholic. The drunkard pursues the exhilaration of liquor; the alcoholic pursues the obliteration of memory.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

"The Rosary is my favorite prayer." ~St. Pope John Paul II

"If you ever feel distressed during your day — call upon our Lady — just say this simple prayer: 'Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.' I must admit — this prayer has never failed me."
--Blessed Teresa  of Calcutta

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

“With reason did the Most Holy Virgin predict that all generations would call her blessed, for all the Elect obtain eternal salvation through the means of Mary."
- Saint Ildephonsus

“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

I must not let the first month of the year pass without sending you my greetings and the assurance of my constant prayers for you, wishing you always every blessing and spiritual happiness. But I warmly recommend that poor heart of yours, to you. Take care to render it daily, more and more pleasing to our most sweet Savior, and see to it that the present year is more fertile in good works than the last, as, with the same speed with which the years pass by and eternity becomes closer, we must redouble our courage and raise our spirit to God, serving Him with greater diligence in everything that our vocation and Christian profession require of us. St. Padre Pio (Letters III, p. 491)

"You should realize that God wants you to be glad and that, if you do all you can, you will be happy, very, very happy, although you will never for a moment be without the Cross."

- Saint Josemaria Escriva

"Detachment grows from an experience and taste of the knowledge of God and from a meditation on the account to be rendered at death."   St. John Climacus (525 – 606)

“It should be some consolation for those who are so unjustly attacked to remember that it is a physical impossibility for any man to get ahead of us who stays behind to kick us.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Seven Capital Sins)

“How liable we are to err in our judgments respecting others unless we thoroughly know the motives of their actions.”
– St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

“Humility… may this be our password.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“After the love which we owe Jesus Christ, we must give the chief place in our heart to the love of His Mother Mary.”  - Saint Alphonsus Liguori

"To love God is something greater than to know Him.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)

“Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvelous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.”   (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church)

"We don't reach salvation without crossing the stormy sea continually threatened with disaster. Calvary is the hill of the saints, but from there we pass on to another mountain which is called Tabor."   St  Pio of Pietrelcina  (Letters I. pp. 923-924)

"He loves, He hopes, He waits. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep us waiting an instant"  - St. Maria Goretti

"Men of great virtue, though of meager knowledge, incite men more effectively to virtuous lives by their words and example, than the greatest masters of eloquence."   St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491.-1556.)

“The human never long remains the Humanist, for either beast or angel he becomes, but not just man! If you came from the beast, you cannot leave the beast behind. But if you came from God then you can leave humanity behind and be a child of God! This is true Humanism, where man finds his center in his Source.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Seven Words to the Cross)

“The virtue of gratitude will prepare our hearts to receive the graces we need to serve the sick and poor with meekness and compassion.”  – St. Louise de Marillac

“O Savior, teach us to seek our pleasure in you, to love what You loved and to be pleased with what pleases You.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"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

"Leave to every one the care of what belongs to him, and disturb not thyself with what is said or done in the world."   St. Thomas Aquinas (1225.–1274.)

“A Bore has been described as a man who deprives one of solitude without ever giving company.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Thinking Life Through)

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

“Charity is not charity if unaccompanied by justice or if it suffers us to do more than we can reasonably perform.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"Remember that a mother teaches her child how to walk by supporting him, but later he has to walk by himself. You therefore, must think things out for yourself."  St.  Pio of Pietrelcina

"Blessed the one who has become long-suffering and compassionate and not become the slave of the barbarian, I mean anger and evil wrath, for such a one will be exalted by the Lord."   St. Ephrem of Syria (306 – 373)

"Humanists of our day had their prototypes on Calvary on Good Friday. They were those whom Sacred Scripture calls the passersby; a significant term indeed for it suggests those who never remain long enough with religion to know anything about it, those who think themselves wise because they have had a passing acquaintance with Christ.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Seven Words to the Cross)

"If the hurricanes of temptation rise against you, or you are running upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star - call on Mary!"   - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“Kindness is the key to hearts.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“Look at the mothers who truly love their children—how many sacrifices they make for them. They are ready for everything, even to give their own blood so that their babies grow up good, healthy and strong.” (St. Gianna Molla, 1922 – 1962)

"One must go forward and never back in the spiritual life. When a boat stops, instead of going forward the wind blows it back."  St.  Pio  of  Pietrelcina

" I am not capable of doing big things but I want to do everything, even the smallest things, for the greater glory of God"  - Saint Dominic Savio

"Alas! we easily enter on the road to perdition when we neglect prayer. The prayer which humbles the soul, which inflames her with love and excites her to the practice of virtue, is never subject to illusion."   St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

"There are some jurists in our land who contend that the principle of the sacredness of human rights is merely an expression of 18th century philosophy, or a false totem, or an assumption of the Aufklarung movement. They quite forget that though the Declaration of Independence gave an 18th century expression to these ideas, the truths themselves were nevertheless eternal. As long as man has been a creature endowed with an intelligence and will and made to the image and likeness of God, he has been the possessor of rights and freedom. Once God is denied as the Source of rights, the State sets itself up as an absolute.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Whence Come Wars)

“The greatest saints, those richest in grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.”  - Saint Louis Marie de Montfort

“How admirable and adorable are the ways by which God leads his own.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

Oh, how I like those little mortifications that are seen by nobody, such as rising a quarter of an hour sooner, rising for a little while in the night to pray! but some people think of nothing but sleeping.” (St. Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney, Cure d’Ars)

"Learn to better recognize and adore the divine will in all the events of life."   St.  Pio of Pietrelcina (Letters, III, p. 57)

"Turn yourself round like a piece of clay and say to the Lord: I am clay, and you, Lord, the potter. Make of me what you will."  -- Saint John of Avila

"The man who speaks for God's sake does well; but he who is silent for God's sake also does well."   St. Poemen (c. 340–450)

“’I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.’ Saul is persecuting the Church of Damascus and Christians of Damascus, and Christ says to Saul: ‘Why persecutest thou Me?’ Christ and the Church, are they the same thing? Precisely, the Church is Christ and Christ is the Church – such is the Divine Equation.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“Jesus is the mediator of justice; Mary obtains for us grace; for, as St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Germanus, St. Antoninus, and others say, it is the will of God to dispense through the hands of Mary whatever graces he is pleased to bestow upon us. With God, the prayers of the saints are the prayers of His friends, but the prayers of Mary are the prayers of His mother.”
- Saint Alphonsus Liguori

“God is love and wants us to go to Him through love.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"The cross is a precious treasure to be kept secret, lest we be robbed of it."  St. Margaret Mary Alacoque   (1647-1690)

I believe that the Humanae Vitae is one of the great tests of the Church in our times. We live in days of moral laxity, where there is a shrinking from responsibility for rearing children and a love of carnal experience divorced from love of person. In that world where love and life are made discontinuous, Paul VI affirms the deep relatedness of one to the other. It was not an infallible decision; that would have too clearly separated sheep from goats; it was only a moral decision of the Chief Shepherd that the Vatican Council said the faithful should obey.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Seven Words to the Cross)

“Through Mary, we come to her Son more easily.”   - Saint John Paul II

"Abandon yourself into the hands of Mary. She will take care of you !"
St.  Pio. of Pietrelcina

"Be ashamed when you sin, not when you repent" -St. John Chrysostom

“While I warn you of your faults, my own come before my eyes!”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“Every civil right rests on the recognition of the first and fundamental right, that of life, which is not subordinate to any condition, be it quantitative, economic or, least of all, ideological.” (Pope Francis, April 11, 2014

"Let us never oppose the designs of divine providence, which, alternating joys with tears in the life of the individual and of nations, leads, leads them to the achievement of our last end. Let us look beyond the appearances of the hand of man to discover the hidden hand of God." St.  Pio of PIetrelcina

"It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes."  - Saint Thomas Aquinas

"In all the things that have been created by so great and wise a God there must be many secrets by which we can profit, and those who understand them do profit by them, although i believe that in every little thing created by God, there is more than we realize, even in so small a thing as a tiny ant"   -- St Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

"By the anxieties and worries of this life Satan tries to dull man's heart and make a dwelling for himself there."   St. Francis of Assisi (1181.–1226.)

“In virtue of man’s dual nature, he is part of a whole, a citizen in the State, and yet possessed of rights independent of the State; a soldier in an army and yet a captain of himself; bound to the State and yet the State is bound to him; immanent in the social order, and yet transcendent to it. He is in the State but not of it – an entity belonging to two worlds; a political animal, and a theological creature.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Freedom Under God)

“When she was asked to become the mother of the Messiah, Mary's faith enabled her to give a humble and generous response... Mary's faith was frequently tested during the public life of Jesus, especially when she witnessed the rejection of her son. At the foot of the cross, her pilgrimage of faith had its moment of most severe testing. Mary continued to believe that, because Jesus was the Son of God. His sacrifice would bring salvation to humanity.” 
- Saint John Paul II

"In the spiritual life, the faster we run, the less tired we feel; actually peace, the prelude to eternal happiness, will come to us and will make us happy and strong, in proportion to how we allow Jesus to live in us, mortifying ourselves."   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“Envy begins to appear here regarding the employment you expected. Charity, humility and patience will dispel this cloud, I hope.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

“Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.” (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta; National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C, February 5, 1994)

"It is better to live uncertain of salvation, and meanwhile devote one's self to the service of God and the salvation of souls, than to die at once, with the certainty of entering into everlasting glory."   St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491.-1556.)

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn child that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion. (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s Daily Prayer to Spiritually Adopt an Unborn Child)

“From Mary we learn to surrender to God's Will in all things. From Mary we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. From Mary we learn to love Christ her Son and the Son of God!”
- Saint John Paul II

“Sooner or later, good works speak a far more advantageous language than whatever is done for ostentation and display.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“After the love which we owe Jesus Christ, we must give the chief place in our heart to the love of His Mother Mary.” » St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

"Detach yourself from the world. Listen to me. One person drowns on the high seas, another chokes on a glass of water. What difference is there between these two: are they not both dead?"   St.  Pio of Pietrelcina

"An intelligent use of conceptual images and their corresponding physical objects produces self-restraint, love and spiritual knowledge; an unintelligent use produces licentiousness, hatred and ignorance."   St. Maximos the Confessor (580. – 662.)

“The first direct, human limitation of infant life in the history of Christianity took place in the village of Bethlehem through an infant-controller whose name was Harod. The prevention of infant life was simultaneously an attack upon Divinity in the person of God made man, Jesus Christ our Lord. No one strikes at birth who does not simultaneously strike at God, for birth is earth’s reflection of the Son’s eternal generation.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Three to Get Married)

"Let, then, the life of Mary be as it were virginity itself, set forth in a likeness, from which, as from a mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form of virtue is reflected. From this you may take your pattern of life, showing, as an example, the clear rules of virtue: what you have to correct, to effect, and to hold fast. The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God?"
- Saint Ambrose

"The family remains the basic unit of society and the first school in which children learn the human, spiritual and moral values which enable them to be a beacon of goodness, integrity and justice in our communities.” (Pope Francis, August 16, 2014)

"Only a general knows how and when to use one of his soldiers. Wait, your turn will come." St. Pio  of Pietrelcina

"Union, intimate union with Jesus, heart to heart with Jesus like Saint John, in purity and in love."   St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844 - 1879)

“In ancient Rome, there was a potestas patria or the right of the father to dispose of a child. In our modern day, there is a potesta matria or the right of the mother to dispose of a child. In between pagan Rome and pagan today there was, and still is, a group of God-loving people who will protect those who are incapable of independent existence because they sense in their own frailty the mercy of God and, therefore, resolve to extend it to others.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Bishop Sheen Writes)

“I pray that His Divine Goodness may accompany you, be your consolation along the way, your shade against the heat of the sun, your shelter in rain and cold, your soft bed in your weariness, your strength in your toil and finally, that He may bring you back in perfect health and filled with good works.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

“After the love which we owe Jesus Christ, we must give the chief place in our heart to the love of His Mother Mary.”   St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

"It is necessary to put oneself entirely into God's hands without any human assurances. All the deeper and more beautiful the sense of being safe in Him."  -St. Teresa de Benedicta

"Let us try to serve the Lord with all our heart and will. He will always give us more than we deserve."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“God is more pleased by one work, however small, done secretly, without desire that it be known, than a thousand done with desire that men know of them.” (St. John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church)

"Give praise to God alone; honor the Creator and not the creature. During your life, learn to endure bitterness, in order to participate in the sufferings of Christ." St.  Pio. of Pietrelcina

"We must never trust ourselves, for it is the devil's way first to get us to feel secure, and then to make us fall." St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“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)

“Honor God’s holy Providence in your conduct by not hurrying or bustling about.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

“If devotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for all men simply to work out their salvation, it is even more necessary for those who are called to a special perfection. I do not believe that anyone can acquire intimate union with our Lord and perfect fidelity to the Holy Spirit without a very close union with the most Blessed Virgin and an absolute dependence on her support.”  - Saint Louis Marie de Montfort

"Terrible is the justice of God. But let us not forget also that his mercy is infinite."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

'We must accept the adversities which God sends us without reasoning too much upon them, and we must take for granted that it is the best thing which could happen to us.' St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“Bitterness never serves any purpose than to embitter.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“The gravest danger to American democracy is not from the outside; it is from the inside – the hearts of citizens in whom the light of faith has gone out. Keep God as the origin of authority and you keep the ethical character of authority; reject Him and the authority becomes power subject to no law except its own.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Whence Come Wars)

“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

"When the souls grieves and is afraid of offending God, it does not offend Him and is very far from committing sin."  St. Pio  of Pietrelcina  (Letters II, p. 67)

“I have always shunned performing good deeds in one place to gain credit in another.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

"Temptation is a sure sign that a souls is very pleasing to the Lord." St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“In that first ‘fusion’ with Jesus (holy communion), it was my Heavenly Mother again who accompanied me to the altar for it was she herself who placed her Jesus into my soul.”
- Saint Therese of Lisieux

“Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science, or eloquence.” (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta; No Greater Love)

"Never fall back on yourself alone, but place all your trust in God." St. Pio of Pietrelcina  (Letters II, p. 70)

"Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end."   St. Teresa of Jesus (1515.-1582.)

“Today’s atheism is not passive, like the old-fashioned atheism, which allowed believers to exist alongside of it; it is now militant, active, political, proselytizing, and communistic.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

"What can shut us out from the love of Him, who will ever dwell within us through love?" - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

“Always stay close to this Heavenly Mother, because she is the sea to be crossed to reach the shores of Eternal Splendour.”  --Saint Pio of Pietrelcina 1887-1968 AD

"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." - Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

"The more obedient you are, the more tranquil and indifferent will you be as to employments that may be assigned to you."   St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

“Christianity challenged the belief that the worship men owed to Caesar was total and complete; it affirmed that man had a soul and hence was not obligated to the political in the totality of his being. But the emperors, in claiming divinity, sentenced hundreds of thousands of Christians to death, for there was only one lord to them, which was Caesar.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)

“Remember, roses cannot be gathered except amid thorns.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

"The greater my unworthiness, the more abundant His mercy." - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

“Raise your soul to God and listen to what He will tell you on the subject.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are.” (St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, Interior Castle, First Mansion, Chapter 1)

“Darkness can only be scattered by light. Hatred can only be conquered by love.” (Pope St. John Paul II, Address to Diplomatic Corps, 10 January 2002)

"When the souls grieves and is afraid of offending God, it does not offend Him and is very far from committing sin."    St.  Pio of Pietrelcina  (Letters II, p. 67)

"Those who wish to enter upon the religious life, should first of all mortify themselves for a long time, and particularly mortify their will in things to which they have the greatest repugnance."   St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“Such is the will of God that we should have everything through Mary.”  - Saint Alphonsus Liguori

“I must jog along the allotted path through all its windings and weariness until it brings me home where all tears shall be wiped away, and sorrow and sighing be heard no more. In the meanwhile, Courage!”
– St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

“Let us try to act rightly that we shall have reason to trust in the infinite goodness of the Auditor of our Life, our Sovereign Judge.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

"Don't let the many snares of this infernal beast frighten you. Jesus, who is always with you, and who will fight with and for you, will never permit you to be tricked and overcome."   St.  Pio  of Pietrelcina (Letters III, p. 51)

“The honor of Mary is so intimately connected with the honor and glory of Jesus that to deny the one is at the same time a denial of the other.”  - Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

"Do not halt in seeking the truth, in discovering God. Be docile to the influence of grace, following its inspiration and attraction. Do not be ashamed of Christ and His doctrine."  St.  Pio of Pietrelcina (Epist. IV, p. 713)

"Learning without humility has always been pernicious to the Church; and as pride precipitated the rebellious angels from heaven, it frequently causes the loss of learned men."   St. Vincent de Paul (1581.-1660.)

“It used to be that the most popular biographies were the lives of good men for the sake of imitation, rather than scandals for the sake of making ourselves believe we are more virtuous.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Way to Inner Peace)

“We should strive to model our actions on those of the Blessed Virgin, for the greatest honor we can offer her is to imitate her virtues.”
– St. Louise de Marillac

“What is done out of charity is done for God.”  – St. Vincent de Paul

“Therefore the Eucharistic Celebration is much more than simple banquet: it is exactly the memorial of Jesus’ Pascal Sacrifice, the mystery at the centre of salvation. Memorial does not simply mean a remembrance, a mere memory; it means that every time we celebrate this Sacrament we participate in the mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.” (Pope Francis, General Audience – February 5, 2014)

"My Mission is to save souls."  St. Pio. of Pietrelcina

"The good works which we do of our own will, are not so meritorious as those that are done under obedience."   St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“It is not to be thought that life is a snare or an illusion because the bubbles cease in a champagne glass. No true unhappiness comes to human beings unless they place their hearts in a false infinite. Those who see that all human life is nothing but Divine Love on pilgrimage will use it as a kind of Jacob’s ladder to climb back again through virtue to the source of all love which is God himself. Such spiritual fires never cool, because they are not fed by glands, but glow with the coals lighted at the furnace of heaven. To be enthusiastic in that case is to live out the meaning of the word, for enthusiasm comes from two Greek words meaning ‘to be in God.’” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life is Worth Living)

“The soul cannot live without having recourse to Mary and recommending itself to her. He falls and is lost who does not have recourse to Mary.”
- Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori

"All beings endowed with intelligence and intellect are either angelic or human. All angelic beings may be subdivided further into two general moral categories or classes, the holy and the accursed - that is, the holy powers and the impure demons. All human beings may also be divided into two moral categories only, the godly and the ungodly."

St. Maximos the Confessor

“We are made for the gladness and cheerfulness of Our Lord, and we shall not be able to fulfill our destiny until we know how to be joyful. Joy in the soul is nothing but the rising of the temperature on the thermometer of Divine Love.”

~ Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, Bishop Sheen Writes, 1977 [Guide to Contentment; Cheerfulness].

"God's mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, it can restore life to dry bones." - Pope Francis ‪#‎YearOfMercy‬

“Everyone loves simple, candid people who do not use subtleties or tricks, who are straightforward and speak sincerely, with the result that whatever they say comes from their heart.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

“The Son of God became man for our salvation but only in Mary and through Mary.”
- Saint Louis Marie de Montfort

"If the servant of God would fain walk with more security through so many snares scattered in every place, he should have our Blessed Lady as his mediatrix with her Son."   St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“The cheerful person always sees in any present evil some prospective good; in pain he sees a Cross from which will issue a Resurrection; in trial, he finds correction and discipline and an opportunity to grow in wisdom; in sorrow, he gathers patience and resignation to the Will of God. Helping others is not only the cause of cheerfulness, but also the fuel which keeps it burning. As Helen Keller, seeing through blindness wrote “Join the great company of those who make the barren places of life fruitful with kindness.”" Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Guide to Contentment)

"You know how unwilling we are to deny ourselves, how unwilling to be reproved and contradicted, how a trifling thing will make us sad, how we delight to be commended while, with a sort of natural cruelty we see blame and faults in others, which we are scarcely willing to excuse." 
- St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

"In all that you do always be humble, guarding jealously the purity of your heart and the purity of your body; these are the two wings which will raise us to God and make us almost divine."   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"He who wishes to find Jesus should seek Him, not in the delights and pleasures of the world, but in mortification of the senses."   St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

“The joy born of love of God enables us to see the world from an entirely different point of view. Before, when shackled to the ego, we were cooped up within the narrow walls of space and time. But once the chains are broken, one falls heir to immensities beyond all telling. Then we find our greatest joys not in the things we cling to, but in what we surrender; not in the asking for anything, but in the giving of something; not in what others can do for us, but in what we can do for others. Joy comes from using well the talents the Lord gave us, from a sense of being redeemed by Our Lord.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Guide to Contentment)

“We should overcome our sensitiveness, paying little attention as to whether we are addressed or not, or to the degree of affability with which we are treated, but let us try to gain all hearts by cordiality and support.”  – St. Louise de Marillac

“Let us then cast ourselves at the feet of this good Mother, and embracing them let us not depart until she blesses us, and accepts us for her children.” » Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

"If families give our Lady fifteen minutes a day by reciting a Rosary, I assure them that their homes will become, by God's grace, peaceful places."  - Fr. Patrick Peyton

"Jesus' Cross shows the full force of evil. but also the full power of God's mercy". - Pope Francis

"When rage or greed or fleshly desires are battering the skiff of your soul, gaze up at Mary. When the immensity of your sins weighs you down and you are bewildered by the offensiveness of your conscience, when the terrifying thought of judgement appals you and you begin to founder in the gulf of sadness and despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in hardships, in every doubt, think of Mary, call out to Mary.

Following her, you will never go astray. Asking for her help, you will never wander away. With your hand in hers, you will never stumble. With her protecting you, you will not be afraid. With her leading you, you will never tire. Her kindness will see you through to the end." - St. Bernard of Clairvaux 

"We must always strictly observe the two virtues; kindness with our neighbors and holy humility with God." St.  Pio of Pietrelcina  (Letters III, P. 952)

"How I wept when I heard those hymns and chants, thrilled by the sweet sound of thy Church. The music sounded in my ears, and thy truth then spoke to my heart; religion burned in me, my tears flowed, and yet I was glad in them." St. Augustine (354.-430.)

"Prayer is powerful beyond limits when we turn to the Immaculata who is queen even of God's heart."
- Saint Maximilian Kolbe

My daughter, write that involuntary offences of souls do not hinder My love for them or prevent Me from uniting Myself with them. But voluntary offences, even the smallest, obstruct My graces, and I cannot lavish My gifts on such souls" 
(Saint Faustina's Diary 1641)

“Whoever spreads the Rosary is saved!” ~ Blessed Bartolo Longo

“The day of the Nativity of the Mother of God is a day of universal joy, because through the Mother of God, the entire human race was renewed, and the sorrow of the first mother, Eve, was transformed into joy.”   Saint John Damascene

“The reason Our Lord was baptized was because it was part of the whole process of emptying, of humiliation, of the Incarnation. How could He be poor with us, if He did not in some way conform to our poverty? How could He come among sinful men to redeem them, if He did not also reveal the necessity of being purged from sin? There was no need of Our Blessed Mother to submit to the rite of purification, as there was no need of Our Lord to submit to the rite of Baptism by John. He had no need personally of having sins remitted, but He assumed a nature which was related to sinful humanity. Though He was without sin, He appeared to all men as a sinner, as He did on the cross. That was why He walked into the Jordan with all the rest of the sinners to demand the baptism of penance “in remission of sins”.”

~ Venerable Fulton J. Sheen: These are the Sacraments, 1944. 

“God makes use of the humblest instruments, for the extraordinary operation of His grace.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

"Love does not tolerate delay and immediately upon arrival, they (the Magi) did everything within their power to make Him known; He who had conquered their hearts through the influence of grace, wounding them with the kind of charity which must overflow, because it cannot be contained in the small structure of the heart and must therefore be communicated."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"What a misfortune that there are so few souls who know the hidden treasure contained in prayer and union with God!"   St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

“As we gather about the crib of Bethlehem, we feel that we are in the presence of a new Paradise of Beauty and Love, and the name of that Paradise is Mary. And if we could have been there in the stable on that first Christmas night, we might have seen the Paradise of the Incarnation, but we should not be able to recollect whether her face was beautiful or not for what would have impressed us, and made us forget all else, would have been the lovely, sinless soul that shone through her eyes like two celestial suns. If we could have stood at the gates to that Paradise, we would have less peered at it as into it, for what would have impressed us would not have been any external qualities, though these would have been ravishing, but rather the qualities of her soul – her simplicity, innocence, humility, and above all, her purity. Christmas takes on a new meaning when the Mother is seen with the Babe. In fact, the heavens and the earth seem almost to exchange places. Years ago, we used to think of the heavens as ‘way up there.’ Then one day the God of the heavens came to this earth, and that hour when she held the Babe in her arms, it became true to say that with her we now ‘look down’ to heaven.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Manifestations of Christ)

"Seek refuge in Mary because she is the city of refuge. We know that Moses set up three cities of refuge for anyone who inadvertently killed his neighbor. Now the Lord has established a refuge of mercy, Mary, even for those who deliberately commit evil. Mary provides shelter and strength for the sinner."  - Saint Anthony of Padua

 "A sheep on its own is nearly always a lost sheep." St. Josemaria Escriva  (Furrow 616)

"Oh how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it, because, on the day of judgment, all will have to render a strict account of it to the supreme Judge. Oh, if only all could understand how precious time is, undoubtedly everyone would do his best to spend it in a praiseworthy manner! "  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“'Let us begin today, my brothers, to do good, because up to now, we have done nothing.' These words, which the Seraphic Father, St. Francis, in his humility applied to himself, should be made ours, at the beginning of this new year. We truly have done nothing to date, or perhaps, very little; the years have followed one another and from beginning to end, we have never asked ourselves how we have spent them, whether there was something to be rectified, to be added or obliterated from our conduct. We have lived thoughtlessly, as if the Eternal Judge were not going to call us to Himself one day and ask us to account for our deeds and for the way we have spent our time. And yet, we must give an exact account of every moment, of every grace, of every holy inspiration, of every opportunity to do good. The slightest transgression of God’s holy laws, will be taken into consideration!" St. Pio of Pietrelcina (TN, Epist. IV, p. 963).

“Happiness does not come to those who want to know all, or to possess all, or to enjoy all; rather it comes to those who set limitations upon the satisfaction of self. A man, for example cannot get the whole world into his hands, but he can wash himself of the world. Our powers of dispossession are greater than our powers of possession; there is a limit to what we can gain, but there is no limit to what we can renounce. In the end, the man who wants nothing is the man who has everything, for there is nothing that he desires. To deny self is to refuse indulgence to lower desires, to put a restraint upon ourselves, to act differently from the way the sensual in our nature would lead us. Self-denial is the test of love, whether it be human or divine. There may be pain in self-denial for a moment, but pain in the pursuit of the highest is certainly more joyful than ease in the neglect of duty. The agony in self-denial is momentary, but the joy that flows from it is lasting.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Power of Love)