“As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.”    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 1732)

“Do you think you will become more capable of drawing near to God by withdrawing from Him than you will by approaching Him?”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“You know that virtue is not practiced without effort, but for one moment of suffering there follows an eternity of reward.”    St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)

“On a dark night,
Kindled in love with yearnings
— oh, happy chance! —
I went forth without being observed,
My house being now at rest.”
-St. John of the Cross; Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul, Stanza 1

“Bearing physical and moral ailments is the worthiest offering you can make to He who saved us through suffering.”    St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song."    - Pope St. John Paul II

"Jesus Christ, after having given us all He could give, that is to say, the merit of His toils, His sufferings, and bitter death; after having given us His adorable body and blood to be the food of our souls, willed also to give us the most precious thing He had left, which was His holy Mother."
- St John Vianney

I thought I would be able to serve God much better if I were in good health. This is our mistake : not abandoning ourselves entirely to what the Lord does, for He knows best what is fitting for us.    St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 6 : 5

“When we serve the poor and the sick we serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.”    -St Rose of Lima

“A giant statue of Atlas, bending and groaning and grunting under the weight of the world, that is modern man!  The world is too much with him, late and soon.  The world is too heavy for him and man is breaking under it, trying like a silly child to carry it alone, without any help or grace or faith from God.  No one will get out of this crisis without carrying some burden.  Atlas will never get out from under that world; the man Who carried the Cross will get out from under it, for it leads to Resurrection and a crown in life eternal.  This is the choice before us: either try to revolutionize the world and break under it, or revolutionize ourselves and remake the world.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

“‘When a woman is in travail, she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world’ (Jn. 16:21). The first part of Christ’s words refer to the “pangs of childbirth” which belong to the heritage of original sin; at the same time these words indicate the link that exists between the woman’s motherhood and the Paschal Mystery. For this mystery also includes the Mother’s sorrow at the foot of the cross – the Mother who through faith shares in her Son’s amazing “self-emptying”: ‘This is perhaps the deepest ‘kenosis’ of faith in human history.”   - Pope St. John Paul II

“You do not need many words when you pray. We believe on faith that the good and gracious God is there in the tabernacle; we open our souls to Him; and feel happy that He allows us to come before Him; this is the best way to pray.” - St John Vianney.

Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes.    -St. John Climacus

“Love is inventive, even to infinity.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

O Mother of Perpetual Help, confidence in thee is a certain pledge of everlasting salvation.    Bl. Pope Pius IX

Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [the Sacrament of Reconciliation] There the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one's misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse the miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary 1448)

“The God of Christians is the God of metamorphosis; you throw your sufferings into his bosom and you draw out peace; you throw in despair and you see hope coming to the surface.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“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

“Even though Christ Himself would not deliver us from the power of the Totalitarian State, as He did not deliver Himself, we must see His purpose in it all.  Maybe his children are being persecuted by the world in order that they might withdraw themselves from the world.  Maybe His most violent enemies may be doing His work negatively, for it could be the mission of totalitarianism to preside over the liquidation of a modern world that became indifferent to God and His moral laws.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Characters of the Passion)

“Lord, deprive me not of Thy heavenly joys. Lord, deliver me from eternal torments. Lord, if I have sinned in mind or thought, in word or deed, forgive me. Lord, deliver me from all ignorance, forgetfulness, cowardice and stony insensibility. Lord, deliver me from every temptation. Lord, enlighten my heart which evil desires have darkened. Lord, I being human have sinned, but Thou being the generous God, have mercy on me, knowing the sickness of my soul. Lord, send Thy grace to my help, that I may glorify Thy holy name. Lord Jesus Christ, write me Thy servant in the Book of Life, and grant me a good end. O Lord my God, even though I have done nothing good in Thy sight, yet grant me by Thy grace to make a good start. Lord, sprinkle into my heart the dew of Thy grace. Lord of heaven and earth remember me, Thy sinful servant, shameful and unclean, in Thy kingdom. Amen.” — St. John Chrysostom

All things were a means for my knowing and loving God more，for seeing what I owed Him，and for regretting what I had been.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 21 : 10

“Live together as having but one heart and one soul so that by this union of spirit you may be a true image of the unity of God.”   - St. Vincent de Paul

“Do not publicize your sufferings, or even your patience in suffering.  It is only the God un-blessed projects that seek newspaper publicity.  There is more wisdom, more power and promise of blessing in the instructions of Our Blessed Lord: ‘Say nothing to anyone.’  The tragedy of any life is not what happens; it is rather how we react to what happens.  Those who do not profit from the things that happen to them generally carry around with them through life open infectious wounds.  But those who know that God is working out a plan in them that one day will be revealed, learn from the incidents of life.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

“In my opinion, you ought not lay so much stress on your little trials, your spiritual darkness and dryness. When we truly and sincerely love God, we regard as little that which we suffer for our divine Lover.”    St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

“For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.”    -St. Maximilian Kolbe

Jesus said to me, "I desire that you make an offering of yourself for sinners and especially for those souls who have lost hope in God's mercy"    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary 308)

“Bearing physical and moral ailments is the worthiest offering you can make to He who saved us through suffering.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina   (Letters III, p. 487)

"What shall you do when tempted by the flesh? Have the Virgin for your advocate. If you are devoted to her, you will feel temptations melting away, like wax before the fire."   - St. John of Avila

“To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and His mother.”    - Pope St. John Paul II

“Once our helplessness is rendered up to the power of God, life changes and we become less and less the victims of our moods.  Instead of letting the world determine our state of mind, we determine the state of soul with which the world is to be faced.  The earth carries its atmosphere with it as it revolves about the sun; so can the soul carry the atmosphere of God with it in disregard of turbulent events in the world outside.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift Up Your Heart)

She is His soul ; It is He who has taken her 

into His charge, and thus He illumines her. 

For she seems that by His assistance,

He is ever guarding her from offending Him 

and favoring her and awakening her to His service.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 21 : 10

"Sometimes, when my mind is in such dryness that it's impossible for me to pull a thought out to unite myself to God, I very slowly recite an our Father and a Hail Mary. Then those prayers delight me; they nourish my soul more than if I had recited them hurridly a hundred times."     -Saint Therese of Lisieux-

“Make good use of prudence; we have to form our judgments on Christian teachings which are always sure.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart,
they will fall into My Just Hands"    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary 1728).

If people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration, abortion would be ended.   St. Teresa of Calcutta

“Life is a Calvary; but we must climb it cheerfully. Crosses are the jewels of the Bridegroom and I am jealous of them. My sufferings are pleasing. I suffer only when I have nothing to suffer.”     St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Have only a few private devotions, but be constant in them. - St. Josemaria Escriva

"The eternal Father takes pleasure in looking upon the heart of the most holy Virgin Mary as a masterpiece of His hands. The Son takes pleasure in it as the heart of His mother, the source from which He drew the blood that ransomed us. The Holy Spirit dwells in Mary as in His temple."   - St. John Vianney

“If the Lord some day open my eyes to the dangers from which He delivered me, and the graces which He bestowed on me, you will find me dead of sorrow and love at the foot of the altar.”   St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

The soul knows very well that they would bring about more good in one day than they would in ten years if for the love of God they thought a lot less of the prestige of their office.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 21 : 9

"When loaves are more valued than Divine Power which multiplied them: when streams are more admired than the fountains that produced them, mankind will accept any kind of a king that promises bread and plenty. Nor let it be forgotten that He Who promised the spiritual did not deny bread to the poor. Our hopes and our liberties are sold too cheap when they are bartered away to him who feeds the body and leaves the soul naked. This is the problem: The whole world is dying of hunger -- the Eastern World is dying of hunger of body: the Western World is dying of hunger of soul. The first will be fed, but not by those who hate liberty when they give them flour; the Western World will be saved by feeding the East while recognizing their own hunger of the Spirit and seeking again the true King of Hearts Who gives ‘The Bread of Life’."   Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“Turn your eyes incessantly to the Blessed Virgin; she, who is the Mother of Sorrows and also the Mother of Consolation, can understand you completely and help you. Looking to her, praying to her, you will obtain that your tedium will become serenity, your anguish change into hope, and your grief into love. I accompany you with my blessing, which I willingly extend to all those who assist you.”  Pope St. John Paul II

“I am not a man but a poor worm crawling along the earth, not knowing where I am going, but seeking only to hide myself in you, O God.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone – for the good, and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good.”    -St. Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney

"I am mercy itself for the contrite soul. A soul's greatest wretchedness does not enkindle Me with wrath; but rather, My Heart is moved towards it with great mercy."   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 1739)

“In the first place, let our prayers be directed towards disarming Divine wrath with regard to our own country. This land also has many accounts to settle with God. May she learn at least from the misfortunes of others, especially from those of her sister country, France, how harmful it is for the nation to draw away from God, and let her intone in due course the Miserere.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“All gifts, virtues, and graces of the Holy Ghost are administered by the hands of Mary to whomever she desires, when she desires, and in the manner she desires, and to whatever degree she desires.”   - St. Bernardine of Siena

“Now I shall show them, that as the mother-of-pearl fish lives in the sea without taking in a drop of salt-water, and as there are near the Chelidonian islands springs of fresh water in the midst of the sea, and as the fire-flies fly in the flames without singeing their wings, so a strong and steadfast soul can live in the world without imbibing any worldly humour — can find springs of sweet piety in the middle of the salt-waters of the age— and fly amidst the flames of earthly lusts without burning the wings of the holy desires of the devout life.”—St. Francis de Sales

The more that love and humility grow, the greater the fragrance these flowers of virtues give off, both for oneself and for others.  St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 21 : 8

"NO ONE does more harm in the Church than he who has the rank of holiness and acts perversely. This is because no layperson presumes to refute the delinquent. Moreover, because such a sinner is honored by the dignity of his rank, his offenses spread considerably by way of example. And yet everyone who is unworthy would flee from such a great burden of guilt if, with the attentive ear of the heart, he pondered the saying of the Truth: "He that scandalized one of these little ones who believes in me, it would be better for him that a millstone was hung around his neck and that he was cast into the depths of the sea" (Mt 18:16). Indeed, the "millstone" symbolizes the circuitousness and labor of the secular life, and the "depths of the sea" suggests final damnation. Whoever, therefore, gives off the appearance of sanctity but destroys another by his words or example, it would be better that for him that his earthly acts, demonstrated by worldly habits, would bind him to death than for his sacred office to be a source for the imitation of vice in another. Indeed, his punishment in hell would be less terrible if he fell alone."

~St. Gregory the Great: "The Book of Pastoral Rule," I, 2.

(I think pastors and spiritual advisors would do well to study this work, and, of course, take it to heart. --Ben)

“God Walk’s into your soul with silent step.  God comes to you more than you go to Him.  Never will His coming be what you expect, and yet never will it disappoint.  The more you respond to His gentle pressure, the greater will be your freedom.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Simple Truths)

"Priest with Chalice Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world tremble, and let the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest!"    -Saint Francis of Assisi

“Know, O Christian, that the Mass is the holiest act of religion. You cannot do anything to glorify God more nor profit your soul more than devoutly assisting at It, and assisting as often as possible.” — St. Peter Julian Eymard

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

Just as in heaven so in the soul His Majesty must have a room where He dwells alone. Let us call it another heaven.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Interior Castle - chapter 7 : 1 : 3

“God does not inspire us to do what cannot be done.”   – St. Thérèse of Lisieux

"The soul that is stripped of self and clothed in Jesus Christ has nothing to fear from the exterior world. Therefore I renounce myself each day so that Christ may increase in me."  - St. Elizabeth of the Trinity.

“What toil we must endure, what fatigue, while we are attempting to climb hills and the summits of mountains! What, that we may ascend to heaven! If you consider the promised reward, what you endure is less. Immortality is given to the one who perseveres; everlasting life is offered; the Lord promises His Kingdom.”   -St. Cyprian of Carthage

"Do not look  to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually: 'The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in Him and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me and I in Him."   -Saint Francis de Sales

“God takes wonderful pleasure in seeing the suffering of a soul who endures it patiently for love of Him.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me. What do you ask, then, and seek, my soul? Yours is all of this, and all is for you. Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father's table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart    St. John of the Cross

"My child, make the resolution never to rely on people. Entrust yourself completely to My will saying, "Not as I want, but according to Your will, O God, let it be done unto me." These words, spoken from the depths of one's heart, can raise a soul to the summit of sanctity in a short time. In such a soul I delight. Such a soul gives Me glory. Such a soul fills heaven with the fragrance of her virtue. But understand that the strength by which you bear sufferings comes from frequent Communions. So approach this fountain of mercy often, to draw with the vessel of trust whatever you need."  WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary, 1487)

“Always love suffering, which, besides being the work of Divine Wisdom, reveals the work of his love to us even more.”    St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“When the Light shines on the souls of humans and reveals their sins, they hate it just as the bank robber hates the searchlight the police have turned on him. The truth which Jesus brought, humans recognized as a claim on their allegiance, because they were made for it; but since they had perverted their natures by evil behavior, His truth stirred their consciences and they despised it. All their habits of life, their dishonesties, and baser passions roused them in violent opposition to that Light.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life of Christ)

" Joy isn't found in the material objects surrounding us, but in the inner recesses of the soul. One can possess joy in a prison cell as well as in a palace."    -Saint Therese of Lisieux-

“The lot of chosen souls is to suffer. God, the author of all grace and of every gift leading to salvation, has decreed that glory will be ours on condition that we endure suffering in a Christian spirit.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

The soul sees clearly that everything other than pleasing God is nothing.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Book of Her Life - chapter 21 : 5

"When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to
preach to you a little sermon, and then listen to the words of eternal life that it speaks to your heart; listen to the pleading of the thorns, the nails, the precious Blood. Oh, what an eloquent
sermon!"   - St Paul of the Cross

“We never give more honor to Jesus than when we honor his Mother, and we honor her simply and solely to honor him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek - Jesus, her Son."   - St. Louis Marie de Montfort

"But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." St. Jude Thaddeus

“I ask Our Lord to redouble your strength, to sustain you with the essence of His Spirit, to gladden you with the hope of His glory and the success of your work, and to fill the family with peace and confidence in His divine guidance.”   - St. Vincent de Paul

The sight of the world in which we live, the need and misery, and an abyss of human malice, again and again dampens jubilation over the victory of light. The world is still deluged by mire, and still but a small flock has escaped from it to the highest mountain peaks. The battle between Christ and the Antichrist is not yet over. The followers of Christ have their place in this battle, and their chief weapon is the cross.   St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)    Love of the Cross

"Before confession, I heard these words in my soul, My daughter, tell him everything and reveal your soul to him as you do before Me. Do not fear anything. It is to keep you in peace that I place this priest between your soul and Myself. The words he will speak to you are My words. Reveal to him your soul's greatest secrets. I will give him light to know your soul."   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTIAN  (Diary, 232)

“Be not cast down because the persecutors of religion, having laid the Church, like its Founder, in the tomb, utter the boast: ‘Behold the place where we laid it.’  The law of progress of the Church is the reverse of the law of progress of the world.  We are most progressive when we are most hated.  It is only because the fires of its Truth are blinding evil eyes and convicting them of sin and judgement, that the world vainly tried to put them out.  And though the world is tearing up all the photographs and blueprints of a society and a family based on the moral law of God, be not disheartened.  The Church has kept the negatives.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

A kingdom without an end, which, when the soul tastes only one drop of its water, makes everything here below seem repulsive.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 21 : 1

“We must always do things with the greatest possible simplicity.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

Pope St. John I, Epistle to Archbishop Zachary, “De non accusandis episcopis”, 523 A.D: “Wherefore also in the Gospel it is written: ‘if I have wronged any man of any thing, I restore him fourfold.’ (Lk. 19)... And it is read in Divine Law: ‘Cursed is everyone who moves over his neighbour’s landmarks: and all the people shall say: Amen.’ (Dt. 27)
　Such things therefore may not be presumed without vengeance, nor exercised without one’s own damnation.”

“True servants of God have always preferred adversity as being more in conformity with the way taken by our Head, who worked out our salvation by means of the cross and humiliations.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity".   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary No. 699)

“At the end of your life, you will be judged by your love.”    -St. John of the Cross

“No man is delivered or preserved from the worldwide snares of Satan save through Mary; and God grants His graces to no one except through her alone.”    - St. Germanus

“Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven?…What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven.” — St. John Chrysostom

"A spirit of license makes a man refuse to commit himself to any standards. The right time is the way he sets his watch. The yardstick has the number of inches that he wills it to have. Liberty becomes license, and unbounded license leads to unbounded tyranny. When society reaches this stage, and there is no standard of right and wrong outside of the individual himself, then the individual is defenseless against the onslaught of cruder and more violent men who proclaim their own subjective sense of values. Once my idea of morality is just as good as your idea of morality, then the morality that is going to prevail is the morality that is stronger." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)

“Clothe yourselves with the dispositions which animated your Master. When he approached a sick person, it was always in the name of the Father, and by the virtue of the Holy Spirit: thus, you should always bring with you the goodness and tenderness, the love and mercy of the Father and in your speech and actions remain dependent on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. "   -St. Jude Thaddeus

Blessed is the soul the Lord brings to the understanding of truth !   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 21 : 1

Joy isn’t found in the material objects surrounding us but in the inner recesses of the soul    -St.Therese of Lisieux

"Take advantage of little sufferings even more than of great ones. God considers not so much what we suffer as how we suffer. . . Turn everything to profit as the grocer does in his shop." St. Louis De Monfort (1673.-1716.)

“The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors.”   - Pope St. Pius X

Oh, how painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves to Me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward Me. I love them tenderly and sincerely, and they distrust Me. I want to lavish My graces on them, and they do not want to accept them. They treat Me as a dead object, whereas My Heart is full of love and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of My pain, imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her children, while those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No one is in a position to console her. This is but a feeble image and likeness of My love.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA     (Diary, 1447)

“Yes, I love the Cross, the Cross alone; I love it because I see it always behind Jesus.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for "God is Charity" (1John 4:8)" St. Albertus Magnus (1206 - 1280)

“A weak man can never be meek, because he is never self-possessed; meekness is that virtue which controls the combative, violent and pugnacious powers of our nature, and is therefore the best and noblest road to self-realization.  The meek man is not a man who refuses to fight, nor is he a man who will never become angry.  A meek man is a man who will never do one thing: he will never fight when his conceit is attacked, but only when a principle is at stake.  And there is the keynote to the difference of the anger of the Communist and the anger of the meek man. “ Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Cross and the Beatitudes)

“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

Whether it wants to or not, it sees with its own eyes that the Lord makes it close them to all the things of the world so that it may keep them open for the understanding of truths.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 29

“Let us not spare ourselves on our ascent to Calvary for love of He who sacrificed Himself for love of us and let us be patient, certain of our flight for Tabor.”     St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy. There the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one's misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no hope of restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God's mercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late".   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary,1448)

“The love of God inspires the love of our neighbor, and the love of our neighbor serves to keep alive the love of God.”   -St. Gregory the Great

“The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds.” — St. Maximus the Confessor

“Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.” (St. Augustine; Homily 7 on 1 John ¶ 8: PL 35)

“We must redouble our efforts and our ordinary duties on certain occasions when the service of God requires it; then, God will not fail to increase also our strength and our courage.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“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)

"When you say your Rosary, the angels rejoice, the Blessed Trinity delights in it, my Son finds joy in it too, and I myself am happier than you can possibly guess. After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there is nothing in the Church that I love as much as the Rosary."   - Our Lady to Blessed Alan de la Roche

"My beloved, may every fall, even if it is serious and habitual sin, always become for us a small step toward a higher degree of perfection. In fact, the only reason why the Immaculate permits us to fall is to cure us from our self-conceit, from our pride, to make us humble and thus make us docile to the divine graces."   -St Maximilian Kolbe

“The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary.”   - St. Francis de Sales

“Together with Mary, let us seek to be sharers in this death which brought forth fruits of “new life” in the Resurrection: a death like this on the cross was infamous, and it was the death of her Son! But precisely there, at the foot of the cross, “where she stood, not without a divine plan,” did not Mary realize in a new way everything that she had already heard on the day of Annunciation?”   Pope St. John Paul II

Today, the Lord said to me, My daughter, look into My Merciful Heart and reflect its compassion in your own heart and in your deeds, so that you, who proclaim My mercy to the world, may yourself be aflame with it.    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary,1688)

“If you suffer with resignation in doing His will, you do not offend Him but love Him. And your heart will find great comfort in remembering that in your hour of pain Jesus Himself suffers in you and for you. He did not abandon you when you fled from Him; why should He abandon you now that you are proving your love for Him by the martyrdom of your soul?”    St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“If you are silent for a day, some light in the world will fail, some soul must spend the night in darkness.  Be not alone in your happiness, or it shall be taken away.  You believe in God!  The time is coming now when these poor frustrated souls will realize there is no one else in whom they can believe.  The alternative to God is not man; it is the devil!  This is becoming clearer every day to every man.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Rock Plunged into Eternity)

In this stage true humility is gained so that the soul doesn't care at all about saying good things of itself, nor that others say them.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 29

“Let us depend entirely on God, full of confidence that no matter what men may do or say, all will turn to our good. Yes, should the whole world unite for our destruction, nothing can happen to us but by the permission of God, in whom we have placed our whole trust.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"Our body is not made of iron. Our strength is not that of stone. Live and hope in the Lord, and let your service be according to reason."   -St. Clare of Assissi

"There were two saints in the desert who had sewed thorns into all their clothes; and we seek for nothing but comfort! Yet we wish to go to Heaven, but with all our luxuries, without having any annoyance; that is not the way the saints acted. They sought every way of mortifying themselves, and in the midst of all their privations they tasted infinite sweetness. How happy are those who love the good God! They do not lose a single opportunity of doing good; misers employ all the means in their power to increase their treasure; they do the same for the riches of Heaven – they are always heaping up. We shall be surprised at the Day of Judgment to see souls so rich!' - St John Vianney.

“Condescension in evil or dangerous matters is not a virtue; it is a weakness and a disorder.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"Take advantage of little sufferings even more than of great ones. God considers not so much what we suffer as how we suffer. . . Turn everything to profit as the grocer does in his shop."   -Saint Louis De Monfort

When the soul behold this divine Sun, the brightness dazzles it; when it looks at itself, the mud covers its eyes; blind is this little dove. So, very frequently, it is left totally blind, absorbed and frightened.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 29

“Do not fear adversities because they place the soul at the foot of the cross and the cross places it at the gates of Heaven where it will find He who triumphed over death and will introduce it to eternal life.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Today the Lord said to me,"Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls"   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA  (Diary,1602)

"Why should we defend ourselves when we are misunderstood and misjudged? Let us leave that aside. Let us not say anything. It is so sweet to let others judge us in any way they like. O blessed silence, which gives so much peace to the soul!" St. Therese of Lisieux (1873.-1897)

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

“the type of marriage which took place between Mary and Joseph; it was such as the stars have, whose light unites in the atmosphere, though the stars themselves do not; a marriage like the flowers in the garden in springtime, who give forth perfume, though they themselves do not touch; a marriage like an orchestration where a great melody is produced, but where one instrument is without contact with the other.  In such a marriage the use of the right to another is surrendered for a higher purpose.  Mary wanted to know how she could be a virgin and a mother, and Joseph wanted to know how he could be a virgin and a father.  It took an angel to reassure both that God had found a way.  Only those who listen to angels’ voices can pierce that mystery.  How much more beautiful Mary and Joseph become when we see in their lives what might be called the first Divine Romance.  God loves bellowing waterfalls, but I believe He loves them better not when they overflow and drown His flowers, but when they are harnessed and bridled to light a city and to slake the thirst of a child.  Not then in Joseph and Mary do we find one pure controlled waterfall and one dried-up lake, but rather two youths who before they knew the beauty of the one, and the handsome strength of the other, willed to surrender it for the ‘passionless passion’ and ‘wild tranquility’ of Jesus.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

"What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and He might weep when they are gone!”    -St Catherine of Siena

"Hell is full of the talented, but Heaven of the energetic." St. Jane Francis de Chantal

"Our communal worship at Mass must go together with our personal worship of Jesus in Eucharistic adoration in order that our love may be complete,"     - Pope St. John Paul II

Before being in this ecstasy the soul thinks it is careful about not offending God and that it is doing what it can in conformity with its strength.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 28

“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 Ligouri

"God is everywhere, in the very air I breathe, yes everywhere,  but in His Sacrament of the Altar He is as present actually and really as my soul within my body;  in His Sacrifice daily offered as really as once offered on the Cross."   -St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

"It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for "God is Charity" (1John 4:8)"    -Saint Albertus Magnus

 At that moment I saw Jesus, and from His Heart there issued those same two rays, which enveloped me, whole and entire. At the same moment, all my torments vanished. My daughter, the Lord said, know that of yourself you are just what you have gone through, and it is only by My grace that you are a participant of eternal life and all the gifts I lavish on you. And with these words of the Lord, there came to me a true knowledge of myself. Jesus is giving me a lesson in deep humility and, at the same time, one of total trust in Him. My heart is reduced to dust and ashes, and even if all people were to trample me under their feet, I would still consider that a favor.
I feel and am, in fact, very deeply permeated with the knowledge that I am nothing, so that real humiliations will be a refreshment for me.  WORDS OF JESUS TO ST . FAUSTINA INCLUDED    (Diary, 1559)

“Do not fear adversities because they place the soul at the foot of the cross and the cross places it at the gates of Heaven, where it will find He who triumphed over death and will introduce it to eternal life.”    St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“How pleased Our Lord is with your concern for the relief of His suffering members.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“Though you have recourse to many saints as your intercessors, go especially to St. Joseph, for he has great power with God.”    -St Teresa of Avila

“But when one searches for the reasons why Christian art should have pictured Joseph as aged, we discover that it was in order to better safeguard the virginity of Mary. Somehow, the assumption had crept in that senility was a better protector of virginity than adolescence. Art thus unconsciously made Joseph a spouse chaste and pure by age rather than virtue...To make Joseph appear pure only because his flesh had aged is like glorifying a mountain stream that has dried. The Church will not ordain a man to the priesthood who has not his vital powers. She wants men who have something to tame, rather than those who are tame because they have no energy to be wild. It should be no different with God.
...Joseph was probably a young man, strong, virile, athletic, handsome, chaste, and disciplined; the kind of man one sees sometimes shepherding sheep, or piloting a plane, or working at a carpenter's bench. Instead of being a man incapable of love, he must have been on fire with love....Instead, then, of being dried fruit to be served on the table of the king, he was rather a blossom filled with promise and power. He was not in the evening of life, but in its morning, bubbling over with energy, strength, and controlled passion.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (World’s First Love)

The soul is like water in a glass : the water looks very clear if the sun doesn't shine on it; but when the sun shines on it, it seems to be full of dust particles.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 28

The steeper the road, the faster it rises towards even wider horizons. -Pope St. John Paul II

“we can effect no work of grace in ourselves, nor for our neighbour, without charity; charity is that sweet and holy bond which binds the soul with her Creator; it bound God in man and man in God. This inestimable charity kept God and Man fastened and nailed upon the wood of the most holy Cross.” St. Catherine of Siena, Letters, Letter 1

“He who begins to love, must be ready to suffer.”   St. Pio of  Pietrelcina

Look into my heart and see there the love and mercy which i have for humankind and especially for sinners. Look, and enter into my passion.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 1663)

"Remember this, Sister, for your whole life, as waters flow from the mountains down into the valleys, so, too, do God's graces flow only into humble souls." St. Maria Faustina H. Kovalska (1905 – 1938)

“Mary is the sure path to our meeting with Christ. Devotion to the Mother of the Lord, when it is genuine, is always an impetus to a life guided by the spirit and values of the Gospel.”   - Pope St. John Paul II

“the type of marriage which took place between Mary and Joseph; it was such as the stars have, whose light unites in the atmosphere, though the stars themselves do not; a marriage like the flowers in the garden in springtime, who give forth perfume, though they themselves do not touch; a marriage like an orchestration where a great melody is produced, but where one instrument is without contact with the other.  In such a marriage the use of the right to another is surrendered for a higher purpose.  Mary wanted to know how she could be a virgin and a mother, and Joseph wanted to know how he could be a virgin and a father.  It took an angel to reassure both that God had found a way.  Only those who listen to angels’ voices can pierce that mystery.  How much more beautiful Mary and Joseph become when we see in their lives what might be called the first Divine Romance.  God loves bellowing waterfalls, but I believe He loves them better not when they overflow and drown His flowers, but when they are harnessed and bridled to light a city and to slake the thirst of a child.  Not then in Joseph and Mary do we find one pure controlled waterfall and one dried-up lake, but rather two youths who before they knew the beauty of the one, and the handsome strength of the other, willed to surrender it for the ‘passionless passion’ and ‘wild tranquility’ of Jesus.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

"St. Joseph was chosen among all men, to be the protector and guardian of the Virgin Mother of God; the defender and foster-father of the Infant-God, and the only co-operator upon earth, the one confidant of the secret of God in the work of the redemption of mankind."    St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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

“Keep your eyes on the crucifix, for Jesus without the cross is a man without a mission, and the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever.” — Archbishop Fulton John Sheen

“Every ward of a hospital is a chapel wherein Jesus resides.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“June 23, [1937]. As I was praying before the Most Blessed Sacrament, my physical sufferings ceased suddenly, and I heard this voice in my soul: ‘You see, I can give you everything in one moment. I am not constrained by any law.’   “June 24. After Holy Communion, I heard these words. ‘Know My daughter, that in one moment I can give you everything that is needed for the fulfillment of this task.’ After these words, an extraordinary light remained in my soul, and all God’s demands seemed to me to be so simple that even a little child could carry them out.”    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary, 1153)

“Christ is the savior of both soul and body, and the person who follows in His footsteps is freed from evil.”    St. Thalassios the Libyan

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
—from St. Patrick's Breastplate

“Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do Your will.” — St. Ignatius of Loyola

"Don't allow any sadness to dwell in your soul for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely"   -Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

"A reciprocal love is thus actually formed between God and the soul, like the marriage union in surrender in which the goods of both are possessed by both together."   - St. John of the Cross

"In the mystery of redemption, grace - the gift of God himself - is interwoven with a ‘price’ paid by the human heart. In this mystery we are enriched by a gift from on high and at the same time ‘bought’ by the ransom paid by the Son of God. And Mary, who more than anyone was enriched by gifts, pays all the more. With her heart. Inseparable from this mystery is the extraordinary promise spoken of by Simeon during the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple: ‘so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.’” (Lk 2:35)   - Pope St. John Paul II

No matter how much a soul labors to become perfect, if this Sun truly takes hold of it, everything is seen as very turbid.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila.  The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 28

“Irish fight because they love.  The more a man loves the more he fights for what he loves.  Because the Irish love their country and their God they have more to fight for”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“This Feast emerged from the very depths of My mercy, and it is confirmed in the vast depths of My tender mercies. Every soul believing and trusting in My mercy will obtain it”    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary  420).

What friendship there would be among all if there were no self-interest about honor and money ! I think this absence of self-interest would solve all problems.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 27

"Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you - for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart...don't listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love..."    -St. Therese the Little Flower

“Mary is the lily in God's garden.”   -St.  Bridget of Sweden

"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like." St. Augustine of Hippo (354.-430.)

“The Spirit of God is a spirit of peace. Even in the most serious faults He makes us feel a sorrow that is tranquil, humble, and confident. This is precisely because of His mercy. The spirit of the devil, instead, excites, exasperates, and makes us feel, in that very sorrow, anger against ourselves. We should, on the contrary, be charitable with ourselves first and foremost. Therefore if any thought agitates you, this agitation never comes from God, who gives you peace, being the Spirit of Peace, but from the devil.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“You envy, the opportunity of the woman who touched the vestments of Jesus, of the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears, of the women of Galilee who had the happiness of following Him in His pilgrimages, of the Apostles and disciples who conversed with Him familiarly, of the people of the time who listened to the words of grace and salvation which came forth from His lips. You call happy those who saw Him ... But, come to the altar and you will see Him, you will touch Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears, you will carry Him within you like Mary Most Holy.” — St. John Chrysostom

“God sanctifies souls by crosses, just as He has redeemed them by His own cross.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"We should have frequent recourse to prayer, and persevere a long time in it. God wishes to be solicited. He is not weary of hearing us. The treasure of His graces is infinite. We can do nothing more pleasing to him than to beg incessantly that He bestow them upon us."   -St. John Baptist de la Salle

“As a scientist can reveal to me truths which are beyond my reason, so God can reveal to me truths beyond the power of my intelligence.  Since I know Him to be One Who neither deceives nor can be deceived, I accept His revelation in faith.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Guide to Contentment)

”A man is no true Christian if he has no devotion to the Mother of Jesus Christ.”   -St John Eudes

"Man by prayer merits to receive that which God had from all eternity determined to give him." St. Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)

“Let the storm rage and the sky darken - not for that shall we be dismayed. If we trust as we should in Mary, we shall recognize in her, the Virgin Most Powerful ‘who with virginal foot did crush the head of the serpent.’”   - Pope Saint Pius X

'As soon as you hear the clock strike the third hour immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and glorifying it, invoke it's omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners, for at that moment mercy was opened wide for every soul. In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world - mercy triumphed over justice.   Try your best to make the Stations of the Cross in this hour, provided that your duties permit it; and if you are not able to make the Stations of the Cross, then at least step into the chapel for a moment and adore, in the Most Blessed Sacrament. My Heart, which is full of mercy: and should you be unable to step into chapel. immerse yourself in prayer there where you happen to be, if only for a very brief instant. WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary 1572).

“Love Jesus, love Him a lot, but to do this, be ready to love sacrifice more.”    St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Why should we defend ourselves when we are misunderstood and misjudged? Let us leave that aside. Let us not say anything. It is so sweet to let others judge us in any way they like. O blessed silence, which gives so much peace to the soul!"   -St. Therese of Lisieux

It understands that authentic honor stands not with falsehood but with truth, judging what is something to be something, and what is nothing to be nothing since everything that comes to an end is nothing and less than nothing and is not pleasing to God.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila.  The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 26

“Do not be afraid to go out in the streets and into marketplaces like the first apostles!” (Pope St. John Paul II)

“Show the great love you have for Jesus by being eager to talk with him in prayer.”
-St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle (Med 144.3—on St. Mary Magdalen)

“God wishes you to attend to your patients’ spiritual necessities as well as their physical needs.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“Only He Who made your wound can heal it.  The Love that tightened your bow-strings did so, not in hurt, but in love of music.  Do not all lovers ask in doubt; Do you love me?  Ask that of the Tremendous Lover and each scar will seem a kiss!  God is not way up there.  He is taking another body – your own to carry on the world’s redemption.  Too few offer Him a human nature like Mary at the angel’s call.  So He conscripts you, drafts you, inducts you into His army.  Complain that your shoulders ache beneath your pack but see His own smarting under a cross beam.  Complaint to God is dialogue, and dialogue is prayer.  Not the ready-made packaged, memorized lip-service of the book and candle, but the encounter and the union that only lovers know!”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

"You heard me, only Friend whom I love. To ravish my heart, you became man. You shed your blood, what a supreme mystery!... And you still live for me on the Altar. If I cannot see the brilliance of your Face Or hear your sweet voice, O my God, I can live by your grace, I can rest on your Sacred Heart!"   -St Therese of Lisieux

The Blessed Virgin loves us, watches over us, protects us, and intercedes for us.     - St. John XXIII

"Love your children. In them you can see Baby Jesus. Pray for them a lot and every day put them under Holy Mary's protection."   - Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

"The Immaculate alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan. She seeks souls that will consecrate themselves entirely to her, that will become in her hands forceful instruments for the defeat of Satan and the spread of God's kingdom."   - St. Maximilian Kolbe

Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield through their entire life as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a judge for them, but ther Merciful Savior." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary, 1075)

“Some interior consolations are for infant souls. They are not signs of perfection. It is not consolations that are needed, but suffering. Aridity, listlessness, helplessness, these are the signs of real love. Suffering is pleasant. Exile is beautiful because by suffering we have something to give to God. The gift of our pain, of our sufferings is a great thing, which we cannot do in Paradise.”   St. Pio of  Pietrelcina

In this pain the soul is purified and fashioned or purged gold in the crucible.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 16

“The better you serve God, the more likely His Goodness will try you.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“Contentment is not an innate virtue.  It is acquired through great resolution and diligence in conquering unruly desires; hence it is an art which few study.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Way to Happiness)

'Jesus helps us to face every tribulation. Holy resignation to His sovereign dispositions is the central, pivotal point which balances the weight of the Cross.'   --St. Gaspar del Bufalo

Lent:
"Relying, therefore, dearly-beloved, on these arms, let us enter actively and fearlessly on the contest set before us: so that in this fasting struggle we may not rest satisfied with only this end, that we should think abstinence from food alone desirable. For it is not enough that the substance of our flesh should be reduced, if the strength of the soul be not also developed. When the outer man is somewhat subdued, let the inner man be somewhat refreshed; and when bodily excess is denied to our flesh, let our mind be invigorated by spiritual delights. Let every Christian scrutinise himself, and search severely into his inmost heart:  let him see that no discord cling there, no wrong desire be harboured. Let chasteness drive incontinence far away; let the light of truth dispel the shades of deception; let the swellings of pride subside; let wrath yield to reason; let the darts of ill-treatment be shattered, and the chidings of the tongue be bridled; let thoughts of revenge fall through, and injuries be given over to oblivion."    -Pope St. Leo the Great: "Sermons," 39. (5th cent.)

“When you say the Our Father, God’s ear is next to your lips.”   - St Andre Bessette

“Always, the hand of God is outstretched for those who wish to clasp it.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

The experience seems safer because it follows the way of the cross.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 15

"Conquering the tongue is better than fasting on bread and water"    -St. John of the Cross

"I will be kind to everybody, particularly to those whom I find troublesome." St. Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870)

“O my dearest Lord! If I had been the stones and the earth where Thy Cross was planted, what grace and consolation I should have felt in receiving the Blood which flowed from Thy Wounds!”—St. Catherine of Siena

"My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms;" -St. Therese of Lisieux

"These persons will know only their own misery and keep it so much in sight that they will have no opportunity to watch anyone else's conduct."   -St. John of the Cross

Today, I received some oranges. When the sister had left, I thought to myself, "Should I eat the oranges instead of doing penance and mortifying myself during Holy Lent? After all, I am feeling a bit better." Then I heard a voice in my soul, "My daughter, you please Me more by eating the oranges out of obedience and love of Me than by fasting and mortifying yourself of your own will. A soul that loves Me very much must, ought to live by My will. I know your heart, and I know that it will not be satisfied by anything but My love alone".    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary,1023)

"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.’”
- Pope St. John Paul II

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

www.MiraculousMedal.org

“He who has long been under the rod of God becomes God’s possession.  The consolation Our Lord gives is not always to cool our fevered brow or heal our broken limb, but to give us a vision of His purposes, so that we hasten to use every pain to save souls, to repair our own sins and those of others.  Oh!  That we could die in pairs: husband and wife, lover and beloved, widow and only son, friend and friend.  But we die singly that at death we might, by our free choice, be paired with Christ, as the thief on the right: ‘This day, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.’”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

'Be ruled by God and rule over your senses; and, being on a higher level, do not give authority to what is inferior to you.'   St. Thalassios the Libyan

“Do all in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall. But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times because of the withdrawal of God's grace, rise up again each time, and keep on doing so until the day of your death. For it is written, 'If a righteous man fall seven times' — that is, repeatedly throughout his life — 'seven times shall he rise again' (Proverbs 24:16).” — St. John of Karpathos

“Only the Spirit of God, dwelling in your sacred person, could unite justice with charity.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

I am oblivious of everything in that anxious longing to see God ; desert and solitude seem to the soul better than all the companionship of the world. If anything could give the soul consolation, it would be to speak to someone who had suffered this torment.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 20 : 13

"I will try to find a new way to Heaven, quite short and direct. We live in an age of inventions. We need no longer climb laboriously up flights of stairs; in well-to-do houses there are lifts. And I was determined to find a lift to carry me to Jesus, for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection. So I sought in Holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words, "Whoever is a little one, let him come to me." It is your arms, O Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to Heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up. I must stay little and become less and less."    - St. Therese of Lisieux

“The abyss of God’s immensity encounters the abyss of the creature’s nothingness,” and “God embraces this nothingness”   -St Elizabeth of the Trinity

"When we have to reply to some one who speaks harshly to us, we must always do it with gentleness. If we are angry, it is better to keep silence." St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

“Some interior consolations are for infant souls. They are not signs of perfection. It is not consolations that are needed, but suffering. Aridity, listlessness, helplessness, these are the signs of real love. Suffering is pleasant. Exile is beautiful because by suffering we have something to give to God. The gift of our pain, of our sufferings is a great thing, which we cannot do in Paradise.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“The husband and wife should be similar to the hand and the eye. When the hand hurts, the eyes should be crying. And when the eyes cry, the hand should wipe away the tears.” — St. John Chrysostom

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

“There are two kinds of unbelief: Those who say something is not true, because they wish it were not true; and those who say something is not true, because they wish that it was.  This latter kind is curable.  After eight days of gloom that comes from doubt, the Savior appears to the doubter Thomas.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

Today after Holy Communion, Jesus again gave me a few directives: First, do not fight against a temptation by yourself, but disclose it to the confessor at once, and then the temptation will lose all its force. Second, during these ordeals do not lose your peace; live in My presence; ask My Mother and the Saints for help. Third, have the certitude that I am looking at you and supporting you. Fourth, do not fear either struggles of the soul or any temptations, because I am supporting you; if only you are willing to fight, know that the victory is always on your side. Fifth, know that by fighting bravely you give Me great glory and amass merits for yourself. Temptation gives you a chance to show Me your fidelity.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 1560)

"Remember this, Sister, for your whole life, as waters flow from the mountains down into the valleys, so, too, do God's graces flow only into humble souls."   -St. Maria Faustina H. Kovalska

He is pleased that we see He desires to grant us the favor.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Book of Her Life - chapter 20:6

“We must strive to soften our hearts and make them sensitive to the suffering and worries of the neighbor.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"True friendship consists in mutually perfecting one another and drawing closer to God." St. Teresita of the Andes (1900-1920)

“The Son of God came for sinners and we are obliged to promote their conversion, to exhort them, and to sigh and pray for them.”   —St. John of God

“...it was whispered unto his spirit that spiritual merchandise has its beginning in the contempt of the world, and that the warfare of Christ is to be begun by victory over self.”    ―St. Bonaventure

“One cannot desire freedom from the Cross when one is especially chosen for the Cross.” (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross—Edith Stein)

“I know you are suffering a great deal, but isn't this, perhaps, the jewels of the Spouse.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina    (Letters III, p. 449)

"I want you to be open and simple as a child with My representative just as you are with Me; otherwise I will leave you and will not commune with you." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary 494)

“Let us ask Our Lady to be with us. Let us ask her to give us her heart so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate – her heart so full of love and humility that we may be able to receive Jesus as the bread of life, that we may love Him as she loved Him and serve Him in the distressing disguise of the poor."   - St. Teresa of Calcutta

"It is by endurance that you will secure possession of your souls (Luke 21:18). The possession of a soul means the undisturbed mastery of oneself, which is the secret of inner peace, as distinguished from a thousand agitations which make it fearful, unhappy, and disappointed. Only when a soul is possessed can anything else be enjoyed. Our Lord here meant patience in adversity, trial, and persecution. At the end of three hours on the Cross, He would so possess His soul that He would render it back to the Heavenly Father." Archbishop Fulton Sheen

The Lord gathers up the soul, in the way the clouds gather up the earthly vapors and raises it complete out of itself. The cloud ascends to heaven and brings the soul along , and begins to show it the things of the kingdom that He prepared for it.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila.  The Book of Her Life - chapter 20: 2

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

“Oh, what great reason people of good will have to be cheerful.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“I understand very well, that your Calvary is becoming more and more painful. But remember that it was on Calvary that Jesus redeemed us, and the salvation of redeemed souls must be accomplished there.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Time is but a mirage, a dream.  Already God sees us in glory, and rejoices in our everlasting bliss. How much good I derive from this thought!    St Therese of Lisieux

Be not afraid of your Saviour, O sinful soul. I make the first move to come to you, for I know that by yourself you are unable to lift yourself to Me. Child, do not run away from your Father; be willing to talk openly with your God of mercy who wants to speak words of pardon and lavish His graces on you. How dear your soul is to Me! I have inscribed your name upon My hand; you are engraved as a deep wound in My Heart   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary,1485).

"Remember that men change easily, and that you can not place your trust in them; therefore attach yourself to God alone." St. Teresa of Avila (1515.-1582.)

We must not be afraid to seek out our non-Catholic brothers and sisters and bring them home to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.   -St. Thomas Aquinas

“If you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you are tempted, she will come at once to your help, and Satan will leave you.”   - St. John Vianney

"A vocation is so very sacred that one does not like to speak of it…Always associated with that sense of the gift of a treasure was the frailty of the earthenware pot which was to house it. I would often drive it out of my mind, only to have it come back again. For the most part, the religious vocation is rather a silent but insistent whisper, yet one that demands a response; no violent shaking of bedposts or loud noises in the night. Just "you are called to be a priest."  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Treasure in Clay)

“Only after the Last Judgment will Mary get any rest; from now until then, she is much too busy with her children.”   -St. John Vianney

God leaves us to fall into arrogance and other passions so that we might acknowledge our infirmity and acknowledge where we are. In His goodness He leaves us, for our benefit, so that we might lay our trust and hope in Him, and not in ourselves. But beware of thinking that we fall into arrogance and other passions by God's will (for God's will is not in these); rather, God allows this to happen to us because of our negligence, and out of His love of mankind. He brings us from our evil deeds to humility, for our own salvation.     Sts. Barsanuphius and John the Prophet

“What you see is simply bread and a cup — this is the information your eyes report. But your faith demands far subtler insight: the bread is Christ’s body, the cup is Christ’s blood. ... My friends, these realities are called sacraments because in them one thing is seen, while another is grasped.” — St. Augustine of Hippo

"God gives us what we can bear, and no more… If you believe that God wants only our good, you will stay perfectly happy. Be comforted in Christ crucified, and don’t be afraid.    -St. Catherine of Siena

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

"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like."   -St. Augustine of Hippo

“Therefore, don't fear at all, but consider yourself extremely fortunate to have been worthy of participating in the sufferings of the God-Man. So there is no abandonment, but love, and great love which God is showing you. Your state is not one of punishment, but one of exquisite love. Therefore bless the Lord for this, and resign yourself to drinking the chalice of Gethsemane.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“On a hillside near the lake of Galilee, Jesus’s disciples listened to his gentle and urgent voice; as gentle as the landscape of Galilee itself, as urgent as a call to choose between life and death, between truth and falsehood. The Lord spoke words of life that would echo for ever in the hearts of his followers. ” (Pope St. John Paul II, World Youth Day 2002, Closing Homily)

“Oh, dying souls are in such great need of prayer!    -St. Faustina

“Your patience will be crowned and your pains changed into eternal delights.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

This interior mortification is required, as I have said, by proceeding gradually, not giving in to our own will and appetites, even in little things, until the body is completely surrendered to the Spirit.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Way of Perfection - chapter 12 : 1

“At least three times a day, deny yourself some legitimate pleasure…for the love of God.  These little ‘deaths’ are so many rehearsals for the final death. Dying is a masterpiece, and to do it well, we must die daily: ‘If any man would come after me, let him…take up his cross daily’ (Luke 9:23)”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Wartime Prayer Book)

"No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.   - St. Leo the Great

"If you want to belong entirely to God you must be prepared to be despised and rejected by the world.  Blessed is he, my friends, who belongs to these, and who follows in the footsteps of the Lord with courage and carries his cross with patience.  It is only by doing so that we may obtain the happiness of reaching heaven.  Amen."   St. John Vianney

“If We put all Our Confidence in Jesus & Give Ourselves Entirely to Him,He will Reward Us with Great Peace & Interior Consolation all the more so if We seek Ourselves Less & More purely desire the Divine glory of Our LORD Jesus Christ.”   -St. Ignatius of Loyola

“Let us labor together at God’s work with great meekness and humility; these are solid virtues.”

– St. Louise de Marillac

"We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable" St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090.-1153.)

“There is, actually, only one person in all humanity of whom God has one picture and in whom there is a perfect conformity between what He wanted her to be and what she is, and that is His Own Mother.” (Venerable Fulton J. Sheen)

It seems to me an imperfection, my Sisters, to be alway complaining about light illnesses. If you can tolerate them, don't complain about them.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Way of Perfection - chapter 11 : 1

"I will be kind to everybody, particularly to those whom I find troublesome. "   - - St. Anthony Mary Claret

“In this life Jesus does not ask you to carry the heavy cross with Him, but a small piece of his cross, a piece that consists of human suffering.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“God is with the simple and humble; He assists them, blesses their work, and blesses their undertakings.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

 My daughter, if I demand through you that people revere My mercy, you should be the first to distinguish yourself by this confidence in My mercy. I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 742)

“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)

“Is it not better to edify those persons by your modesty than by hiding under a piece of fabric for want of humility.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others." -Pope St. John Paul II

“The Lord cannot give me a Cyrenean. I must do only his will, and if I am pleasing to Him the rest does not matter.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.” — St. Peter Chrysologus

"The Holy Rosary: the joys, the sorrows, and the glories of the life of Our Lady weave a crown of praises, repeated ceaselessly by the Angels and the Saints in Heaven–and by those who love our Mother here on earth. Practice this holy devotion every day, and spread it."   — St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge, 621

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

“The green tree was Christ himself; the dry tree the world. He was the green tree of life transplanted from Eden; the dry tree was Jerusalem first, and then the unconverted world. If the Romans so treated him who was innocent, how would they treat the truth that is in his Church; in an uneasy conscience perhaps he beckoned you to his confessional; in a passing prayer he called you to greater prayerfulness… You accepted the truth, you confessed your sins, you perfected your spiritual life, and lo! In those moments when you thought you were going into your grave, you were walking in the newness of life…..The antiphon of the Empty Tomb was striking on the chords of your heart. It was not you who died; it was sin. It was not Christ who died; it was death.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Eternal Galilean)

"Fear not, therefore, that a true child of Mary can be deceived by the evil one, or fall into any formal heresy. There where the guidance of Mary is, neither the evil spirit with its illusions, nor the heretics with their subtleties, can ever come.'--St. Louis de Montfort~

“Lent is the autumn of the spiritual life during which we gather fruit to keep us going for the rest of the year.”   —St Francis de Sales

If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!    —St. Catherine of Sienna

Now, then, the first thing we must strive for is to rid ourselves of our love for our bodies, for some of us are by nature such lovers of comfort that there is no small amount of work in this area.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Way of Perfection - chapter 10 : 5

'Blessed the one who manages his possessions in accordance with God's will and has not been condemned by God the Saviour as a lover of money without compassion for his neighbour.'   St. Ephrem of Syria

"We cannot say, as did Pilate, "What is truth?" Truth we possess, since the beloved Jesus dwells in our hearts."    —St. Therese of Lisieux

"The cross is the ladder to Heaven. . . . How consoling it is to suffer under the eyes of God, and to be able to say in the evening, at our examination of conscience: "Come, my soul! thou hast had today two or three hours of resemblance to Jesus Christ. Thou hast been scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified with Him!" Oh what a treasure for the hour of death! How sweet it is to die, when we have lived on the cross! We ought to run after crosses as the miser runs after money. . . . Nothing but crosses will reassure us at the Day of Judgment. When that day shall come, we shall be happy in our misfortunes, proud of our humiliations, and rich in our sacrifices!" - St John Vianney.

Remember how many sick people there are who are poor and have no one to complain to ; now it is nonsense to think one can be poor and live in comfort.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Way of Perfection - chapter 11 : 3

“Since the invisible One became visible by taking on flesh, you can fashion the image of Him whom you saw. Since He who has neither body, nor form, nor quantity, nor quality, who goes beyond all grandeur by the excellence of His nature, He, being of divine nature, took on the condition of a slave and reduced Himself to quantity and to quality by clothing Himself in human features. Therefore, paint on wood and present for contemplation Him who desired to become visible.” — St. John of Damascus, “On the Divine Images”

“Duplicity is not pleasing to God and to be truly simple we should propose to ourselves no other end but to please God alone.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

As the love of God contains in itself the perfection of all other virtues, so it is the very best remedy against every vice and against the evil spirit.    - St. Francis de Sales

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).