“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

“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

“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)

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

Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of My Mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity. Secretary of My mercy, write, tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary 965)

“ Accept all the suffering and incomprehension that comes from Above. In this way you will perfect and sanctify yourself.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"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

“Finally the Easter lesson comes to our own lives. It has been suggested that it is better to go down to defeat in the love of the Cross than to win the passing victory of a world that crucified. And now it is suggested in conclusion that it is better to go down to defeat in the eyes of the world by giving to God that which is wholly and totally ours. If we give God our energy, we give him back His own gift; if we give him our talents, our joys, and our possessions, we return to him that which he placed in our hands not as owners but as mere trustees.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Electronic Christian)

Please pray for me I have been very ill the last few days....I have been in a self quarantine due to the fact that I am in very high risk and if I catch that virus I will probably die

“...inflated with pride, he [Lucifer] wished to be called God.”   St. Augustine 

"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

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. Edith Stein  Love of the Cross

“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

"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

" 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."   - St. Therese of Lisieux

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

"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. FAUSTINA   (Diary 232)

“ 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

“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

“In the Annunciation, the birth of the Son of God in the flesh is made to hinge on the consent of a woman, as the fall of man in the garden of paradise hinged on the consent of a man.  God in His power might have assumed a human nature by force, as the hand of a man lays hold of a rose.  But He willed not to invade His great gift of freedom without a creature’s free response.  Through the angel who salutes Mary in words that have become the first part of the Hail Mary, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” Mary is asked if she will give God a man!  Mary learning that she will conceive without human love, but with the overshadowing of divine Love, consents, and a new humanity begins, with Mary as the new Eve, and Christ the new Adam.  The Annunciation is the Mystery of the joy of freedom.  Our free will is the only thing in the world that is our own.  God can take away anything else, our health, wealth, power, but God will never force us to love Him or to obey Him.  The charm of Yes is in the possibility that one might have said No.  Mary has taught us to say Fiat to God.  ‘Be it done to me according to Thy word.’  But God Himself has taught us that if He would not invade the freedom of a woman, then a man should never do it.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Fifteen Mysteries)

"We must never think from whence crosses come: they come from God. It is always God who gives us this way of proving our love to Him."    - St. John Vianney

A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use.   -  Pope St. John Paul II

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

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

“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 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

"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, 699)

“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

“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

“Mary was chosen by God to be His Mother and was even prepared for that honor by being preserved free from the primal sin that had infected all humanity. If she were so prepared, would she be free to accept or to reject, and would her answer be the full fruit of her free will? The answer is that her redemption was already completed but that she had not yet accepted or ratified it. It was, in a way, something like our dilemma. We are baptized as infants, and our bodies become temples of God, as our souls have been filled with infused virtues. We become not just creatures made by God but partakers in Divine nature. All this is done in Baptism before our freedom blossoms, the Church standing responsible for our spiritual birth as our parents did for our physical birth. Later on, however, we ratify that original endowment by the free acts of our moral lives — by receiving the Sacraments, by prayers, and by sacrifices. So, too, Mary's redemption was completed — as our Baptism was completed — but she had not yet accepted, ratified, or confirmed it before she gave her consent to the Angel. She was planned for a role in the drama of redemption by God, as a child is planned for a musical career by his physical parents, but it was not fulfilled until this moment. The Holy Trinity never possesses a creature without the consent of his will. When, therefore, Mary had heard how this was to take place, she uttered words that are the greatest pledge of liberty and the greatest charter of freedom the world has ever heard: "Be it done unto me according to thy word." As in Eden there took place the first espousals of man and woman, so, in her, there took place the first espousals of God and man, eternity and time, omnipotence and bonds. In answer to the question "Will you give me a man?" the marriage ceremony of love becomes bathed with new depths of freedom: "I will." And the Word was conceived in her.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (World’s First Love)

“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

"Christian wife! Follow in the footsteps of the ideal of all womanhood, the Blessed Mother of God; in joy and in sorrow, she will be your advocate at the throne of her Son."   - St. John Vianney

"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)

"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.)

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

"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

“ 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

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)

“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

“If our lives just ‘end’, our friends will ask: How much did he leave?  But if our life is ‘finished’, our friends will ask: How much did he take with him?  A finished life is not measured by years but by deeds; not by the time spent in the vineyard, but by the work done.  In a short time a man may fulfill many years; even those who come at the eleventh hour may finish their lives; even those who come to God like the thief at the last breath, may finish their lives in the Kingdom of God.  Not for them the sad words of regret: ‘Too late, O ancient Beauty, have I loved Thee.’” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Calvary and the Mass)

"This is the soul's deep satisfaction and happiness, to see that it gives to God more than in itself it is worth."    - St. John of the Cross

“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.”   - St. Augustine

“We believe that the Divine presence is everywhere, and that the eyes of the LORD behold the good and the evil in every place. Especially should we believe this, without any doubt, when we are assisting at the Work of God.”   - St. Benedict

While I contemplate the summits of these mountains, which by now have become familiar to me, my spirit frequently turns to Mary.  God has raised her above all angelic and earthly creatures, and has made her our sustenance in the road to heaven.    -Pope St. John Paul II

"Prayer is the mother and daughter of tears. It is an expiation of sin, a bridge across temptation, a bulwark against affliction. It wipes out conflict, is the work of angels, and is the nourishment of everything spiritual."    -  St. John Climacus, The ladder of Divine Ascent

“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

“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

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.
I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first-by deed, the second-by word, the third-by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy. Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy, and I demand the worship of My mercy through the solemn celebration of the Feast and through the veneration of the image which is painted. By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works. O my Jesus, You yourself must help me in everything, because You see how very little I am, and so I depend solely on Your goodness, O God.    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTTINA  (Diary 742 )

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

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

“The justification for cutting corners, taking bribes and other forms of dishonesty is twofold.  First is everybody’s doing it.  The assumption here is that right and wrong are questions merely of mob judgment, rather than of standards.  It forgets that right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Guide to Contentment)

“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

“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

"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

"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

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

“ 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

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)

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

"To a great extent the world is what we make it. We get back what we give. If we sow hate, we reap hate; if we scatter love and gentleness we harvest love and happiness. Other people are like a mirror which reflects back on us the kind of image we cast. The kind person bears with the infirmities of others, never magnifies trifles, and avoids a spirit of fault finding." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Way to Happiness)

"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

"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)

"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

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

"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.

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

“ The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.”  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Your purpose and that of your companions is to unite yourselves with Me as closely as possible; through love You will reconcile earth with heaven, you will soften the just anger of God, and you will plead for mercy for the world. I place in your care two pearls very precious to My Heart: these are the souls of priests and religious. You will pray particularly for them; their power will come from your diminishment. You will join prayers, fasts, mortifications, labors and all sufferings to My prayer, fasting, mortification, labors and sufferings and then they will have power before My Father."    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary 531)

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

“Judging our fellow human beings is as perplexing as the perceiving of colors on a spinning top. When a person is at rest, or in a fixed state, we think we can very well judge his character.  But when we see him in the whirl and motion of everyday life all his goodness and badness blur into indistinctness.  There is so much goodness at one moment, badness at another, sin in one instance, virtue in another, sobriety at one point, excess in another, that it is well to leave the judgment to God.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Guide to Contentment

"Hell is full of the talented, but Heaven of the energetic." St. Jane Francis de Chantal (1572 - 1641)

"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

“We must go to God straight as an arrow.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

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

"Since the Holy Virgin has attached great importance to the Rosary, there is no problem, whether material, or spiritual, national or international, that cannot be resolved by means of the Rosary and our personal sacrifices. When recited with love and devotion, it will console Mary, wiping away many tears from Her Immaculate Heart."  (Sister Lucia of Fatima)

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   (Diary, 1559)

“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

“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)

.  “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, 1372 A.D 

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

“We should spend as much time thanking God for His favors as we did in asking Him for them.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

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)

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

“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.”   - Saint 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

"Only wounded know how to bind up wounds.  You are not alone! You are on a team!  ‘Why should this happen to me? You ask – forgetful that you helped the team to win.  No suffering is wasted!  As clouds carry rain over mountains so your patience with cancer, your resignation to withered limbs rebounds to some soul in Ceylon, and helps a missionary in Seoul.  The greatest tragedy is not what people suffer but that they have no one whom they love to whom they can offer their cross.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

“Beg God to grant us a genuine spirit of mercy, which is the spiritual characteristic of God.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

May the Strength of God pilot us. May the Power of God preserve us. May the Hand of God protects us.     St. Patrick

"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

“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

“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

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

“The good-hearted man is always strong; he suffers, he sheds tears and he consoles himself sacrificing himself for God and his neighbor.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“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)

"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

“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

"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."   - St. Anthony of Padua

"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

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

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

“ 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

Every soul believing and trusting in My mercy will obtain it”   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary, 420)

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

"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.)

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

“Show the great love you have for Jesus by being eager to talk with him in prayer.”   -St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle

"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

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

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

“Pleasure is of the body; joy is of the mind and heart. Lobster Newberg gives pleasure to certain people, but not even the most avid lobster fans would ever say that it made them joyful.  You can quickly become tired of pleasures, but you can never tire of joys.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (You)

"By receiving Jesus Christ in Holy Communion we receive an abundance of graces; by receiving Jesus Christ we receive the source of every blessing.  Those who receive Jesus Christ feel their faith strengthened, and they are more thoroughly impregnated with the truths of their holy religion; they realize more clearly the enormity and the danger of sin; the thought of judgment frighten them more; the misfortune of the loss of God is more perceptible to them.  In holy communion our courage is fortified; we are strong to combat, our actions are guided by purer motives, our charity increases more and more.  The thought that we carry Jesus in our hearts, the rapture which we experience at that blissful moment, unites and bind us so much with God that our heart thinks of and desire but God alone.  This, dear brethren, is one of the effect which Holy Communion produces in us, if we are so happy as to receive Jesus Christ worthily."  St. John Vianney

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

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

“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

3pm Divine mercy hour.

'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)

“The news had spread that our blessed Lord had been given an honorable burial, by Joseph the rich man.  Like a bolt out of the blue, the Pharisees run to Pilate to protest against the delivery of the body to Joseph.  As they claimed His life, so they would claim His Death.  In the history of the world, there was never a more ridiculous spectacle than that of a hundred soldiers stationed to keep an eye on a corpse.  No other grave on the face of the earth was ever watched, because the dead man said that He would rise in three days.  But here guards are set, lest the dead walk, the silent speak, and the pierced heart quicken to the throb of life.   They say He is dead; they know He is dead; they will tell you that He will not rise again; but still they watch.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

In 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

He who carries God in his heart bears heaven with him wherever he goes.  - St. Ignatius of Loyola

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.)

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

"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."   - St. Gianna Beretta Molla

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

"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

"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 their Merciful Savior."   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary, 1075)

"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

“Do not think that you have to be in personal contact with a sinful world in order to do it good.  The most powerful influences are the invisible ones.  You can save a sinner in India, give courage to a leper in Africa, console the bereaved in Vietnam by offering your cross.  You can be like the clouds that gather up moisture from one body of water, and then transport it over mountain heights, letting it fall as gentle dew on distant parched lands.  When a trail or difficulty, a sorrow or cross comes into your life, remember that you are like a child practicing a new lesson.  As the child in the first grade is on his way to being a great musician, a linguist, a scientist, so you under the guidance of the Divine Teacher are on the way to being a saint, for then you shall be flooded with the joy that no one can take from you.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

“Like thrifty housekeepers, we should turn all things to real profit; let us not seek our consolation in creatures nor in self-gratifications, but let us go straight to God by the path of interior and exterior mortification, traced out for us by his Divine Son.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

“ 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

"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

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

“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

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

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

 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

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)

“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 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

“There is hierarchy of life in the universe and the life of man is higher than any other life, not because he has nutritive powers like a plant, not because he has generative powers like a beast, but because he has thinking and willing powers like God.  There constitute his greatest claim to life and losing these he becomes like to a beast.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life is Worth Living)

“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

"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

"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)

“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

“Peace is never so complete that we may not have something to suffer.”   – St. Vincent de Paul

"Tell me all, My child, hide nothing from Me, because My loving Heart, the Heart of your Best Friend, is listening to you."    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 1486)

“ Our Lord sometimes makes you feel the weight of the cross. This weight seems unbearable but you carry it because, in His love and mercy, the Lord helps you and gives you strength.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

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

“Whatever man is he is not what he ought to be.  He has all of the machinery but the mainspring is broken.  He is like a fish on top of the Empire State Building.  How the devil tempts.  He tempts by a dialogue which is pious and religious.  He does not say, I am an atheistic monster, and I’m going to destroy your innocence and your loyalty.  He did not deny God; he assumed God.  The devil believes in God.  All temptations begin in sugar form.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

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

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

“...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

“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

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

"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  

"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

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

“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

“As human love relieves the physical pains of others, so Divine Love relieves the moral evils of others.  True love is proven not by words but by offering something to the one loved, and the greatest offering one can give is not what one has, but one’s very life.  He rose not with wounds for those would betoken a weakness after battle, but with scars, glorious medals of victory on Hands and Feet and Side.  As a little child may say to a wounded or scarred soldier: ‘how did that happen?’ so Our Lord shows us his scars, that by our childish questioning, He might tell us: ‘I did this all for you!’  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

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

"Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly."    -St. Ignatius of Loyola

 The Lord gathers up the soul, in the way of the clouds gather up the earthly papers and raises it completely 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

“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

What joy fills My Heart when you return to Me. Because you are weak, I take you in My arms and carry you to the home of My Father   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (DIARY, 1486).

“ I shall stand at the gate of Paradise until all my spiritual children have entered.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“The last words of Mary that were spoken in Sacred Scripture were the words of total abandonment to the will of God.  ‘Whatsoever He shall say to you, that do ye.’   Love has no other destiny than to obey Christ.  The human heart is torn between a sense of emptiness and a need of being filled.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

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

“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

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

"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

“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 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

"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

This interior modification 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

"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)

“ 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

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

“Lent is the penitential season, a time when men once put on hair shirts, sacrificing any hope of bodily ease for 40 days. G.K. Chesterton once said that St. Thomas Becket wore a hair shirt under his purple, so that people might have the benefit of his purple and he might have the benefit of penance.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“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

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

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

"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.)

"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

"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.    - Pope St. Leo the Great

It seems to me an perfection, my sisters, to be always 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

“Our Lord sometimes makes you feel the weight of the cross. This weight seems unbearable but you carry it because in His love and mercy, the Lord helps you and gives you strength.”   - St. Pio of Pietrelcina

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)

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

“When our Lord surrendered His Spirit to the Heavenly Father on Good Friday, and was cold like all dead men, friends who had shut themselves up in their houses, and anonymous admirers who hid their light under a bushel, now began to appear.  They were not with Him in His agony, when He needed them, but they were with Him in His death, as weavers of wreaths, as weepers of glittering tears, and as eulogists of the dead.  One of these friends was Joseph of Arimathea, who secretly loving the Saviour, was yet not bold enough to declare it while he was alive.  He would now diminish his remorse by providing a tomb for the executed friend.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

"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.

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

“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

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

“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

"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

"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

“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

"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

Now, then, the first thing we must try 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

"What joy fills My Heart when you return to me. Because you are weak, I take you in My arms and carry you to the home of My Father."   WORDS OS JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 1486)

“ 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. Padre Pio of 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

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

“Jesus is not just your Exemplar as the model to the canvas, He is not like oil on your baptismal water but like a blood transfusion in your veins.  He does not send your pain; He sends it to Himself as the mother tastes the bitter draught before passing it to childish lips.  So long as you think of Christ outside your aches, as the book of consolation that you read, or the healing medicine on the shelf, you will never be a part of the saving Cross.  Those whose pains are like moisture are absorbed into the world’s redemption.  We all weep that Jesus had no inn, but today, does not Jesus weep because so few give Him neither inn nor Cross?”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

“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

“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love. -St. Therese of Lisieux

“When I think of Christian homes, I like to imagine them as being full of the light and joy that was found in the home of the Holy Family.”  - St. Josemaría Escrivá

Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart ... when will it beat for Me?    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 1728)

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

“ Everyone on this earth has a cross; therefore we must be careful not to be like the bad thief, but rather like the good one.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"To give worthy praise to the Lord's mercy, we unite ourselves with Your Immaculate Mother, for then our hymn will be more pleasing to You, because She is chosen from among men and angels. Through Her, as through a pure crystal, Your mercy was passed on to us. Through Her, man became pleasing to God; Through Her, streams of grace flowed down upon us."   - St. Faustina

“At no time in modern history has it been easier to believe in God than now.  It used to be that evil was considered a stumbling block to a belief in the Goodness of God, but today men are coming to a belief in the Goodness of God because of evil.  Calvary is only a momentary scandal.  Goodness in the face of evil, must suffer, for when love meets sin it will be crucified.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter inspirations)

“You must not be surprised or frightened by one bad year or by several. God is infinitely rich. Until now, nothing has been wanting to you, why fear for the future?”   – St. Vincent de Paul

What a joy to remember that Mary is our Mother! Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?” —St. Thérèse of Lisieux

When you awake in the night, transport yourself quickly in spirit before the Tabernacle, saying: ‘Behold, my God, I come to adore You, to praise, thank, and love you, and to keep you company with all the Angels and Saints. ”    - St. John Vianney.

We are Christians, and strangers on earth. Let none of us be frightened; our native land is not in this world - St. Augustine

I have seen it clearly and recall how much the Lord will suffer for only one soul.   St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 40:21

On one occasion, I saw Jesus in a bright garment; this was in the greenhouse. [He said to me,] Write what I say to you. My delight is to be united with you. With great desire, I wait and long for the time when I shall take up My residence sacramentally in your convent. My spirit will rest in that convent and I will bless its neighborhood in a special way. Out of love for you all, I will avert any punishments which are rightly meted out by My Father’s justice. My daughter, I have inclined My heart to your requests. Your assignment and duty here on earth is to beg for mercy for the whole world. No soul will be justified until it turns with confidence to My mercy, and this is why the first Sunday after Easter is to be the Feast of Mercy. On that day, priests are to tell everyone about My great and unfathomable mercy. I am making you the administrator of My mercy. Tell the confessor that the Image is to be on view in the church and not within the enclosure in that convent. By means of this Image I shall be granting many graces to souls; so, let every soul have access to it.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   (Diary, 570)

“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

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

“The world may be in the throes of a new birth, when the Christian message shall pass from the Western to the Eastern world.  Within a short time the Mystical Christ, Who has been crucified, will take His bleeding Hands to the Japanese, who will lay their Lotus flower upon them to change the wounds of hate into the scars of love.  To the Chinese, He will bring His bruised and torn Body and the lame, and blind, the hungry and the famished will bring their healing hands and cover up from sight those imprints of a night forever past.  To the people of India, He will show His open wounded Side, and they who sought their peace in a Nirvana of unconsciousness, will be drowned at last in the Sacred Heart, in a love that is a healing of the soul.  Finally, He Who went into darkness through a crown of thorns, will turn to Africa and the people of the midnight Madonnas, and they shall pluck out His thorns, and crown Him with blossoms and with flowers as white as their souls, as perfumed as their faith.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

Embracing the cross come what may, is an important thing. This Lord was deprived of every consolation; they let him alone in his trails. Let us not abandon Him for He will give us better support then our own efforts  that we may ascend higher.   St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 22:10

“In your hands, carry the cross of Christ. On your lips, the words of life. In your hearts, the Lord’s saving grace.” — Pope St. John Paul II

Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you.
Through The Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My Will.    WORDS OF JESUS TO ST FAUSTINA   (Diary # 1541 & 1731)

Use the gifts you have received, and pass on the love that was given to you.   -  St Thérèse of Lisieux

“ 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

“They call Christ a deceiver!  That He is!  Only a deceiver like Christ can please us, for we have already been deceived.  The world is our first deceiver!  It promised us peace and gave us war; it promised us enduring love and gave us age and satiety!  Heavenly traitor!  That seemed so dead and yet are Risen Life!  Deceive us with Thy Scars that our weak soul break free, and throw us back to Thee!”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

“What should be our sentiments when assisting at Holy Mass? In the presence of a God made man, Who offers Himself mystically for our salvation, in a manner very real. Faith, hope and love, contrition for our sins, and an ardent desire to communicate with the Victim of Sacrifice, ought to fill our hearts. We find some models of these sentiments in the publican of the Gospel, in the Good Thief and the Centurion. Let us meditate on them.”   - St. John Vianney

It is not enough to long for a person as a good for oneself, one must also, and above all, long for that person's good.   - Pope St. John Paul II

“We do not know God from His essence. We know Him rather from the grandeur of His creation and from His providential care for all creatures. For through these, as though they were mirrors, we may attain insight into His infinite goodness, wisdom and power.”   -St. Maximos the Confessor

These souls now desire to think of Him and love Him always.  This  determination is what he desires   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila    The Book of Her Life chapter 11:15

“When I think of Christian homes, I like to imagine them as being full of the light and joy that was found in the home of the Holy Family.” (St. Josemaría Escrivá)

"Be not afraid of your Savior, 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)

“After the storm comes the calm, and God who puts to death and raises to life, makes joy follow affliction and the effects of His power fulfill hopes based on His goodness.”   — St. Vincent de Paul

”The Divine Heart is an ocean full of all good things, wherein poor souls can cast all their needs… an ocean of love in which to submerge our poverty.”    - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

“I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone.”   - St. Francis of Assisi

“ Everyone on this earth has a cross; therefore we must be careful not to be like the bad thief, but rather like the good one.”  St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"If anyone does not in accord with the Holy Fathers acknowledge the holy and ever virgin and immaculate Mary was really and truly the Mother of God, inasmuch as she, in the fullness of time, and without seed, conceived by the Holy Spirit, God in the Word Himself, who before all time was born of God the Father, and without loss of integrity brought Him forth, and after His birth preserved her virginity inviolate, let him be condemned."   - Pope St. Martin I

“Jesus was never off the Cross!  As the atom reflects the solar system, so Bethlehem was the cameo of Calvary.  Once elderly Simeon spoke of His Death Mary saw the shadow of nails in the Child’s Hands.  An un-suffering Christ would be a professor of ethics.  The three temptations were three short-cuts from the Cross: Feed the Hungry – Be a sociological Christ.  Do breath taking wonders – Be a scientific Christ.  Be a social revolutionist – Be a Communist Christ.  So long as men wear scars the imprints of a night forever past will trumpet: My Pain! My Scars! My Death!”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

“ We do not want to accept the fact that suffering is necessary for our souls; that the cross must be our daily bread.
Just as the body needs nourishment, so does the soul need the cross, day after day, to purify it and detach it from creatures.
We do not want to understand that God neither wants nor is able to save or sanctify us without the cross and the more He draws a soul to Himself, the more He purifies it by means of the cross.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“ That we may be altogether of the same mind and in conformity with the Church herself, if she shall have defined anything to be black which to our eyes appears to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it to be black. For we must undoubtedly believe, that the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of the Orthodox Church His Spouse, by which Spirit we are governed and directed to salvation, is the same;...” — St. Ignatius of Loyola

My daughter, tell the whole world about My Inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.* [our emphasis] On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. 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 I contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA    (Diary 699)

There are many who begin, yet they never reached the end. I believe this is due to mainly to a failure to embrace the cross from the beginning..  St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter11:15

"I look to God, my creator, in all. I love Him with all my Heart."   -St. Joan of Arc

“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

“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)

"It is most unfortunate for ourselves if we do not know that we are tempted in almost all our actions, at one time by pride, by vanity, by the good opinion which we think people should have of us, at another by jealousy, by hatred and by revenge. At other times, the Devil comes to us with the foulest and most impure images. You see that even in our prayers he distracts us and turns our minds this way and that. It seems indeed that we are in a state .... since we are in the holy presence of God [sentence incomplete - Trans.]. And even more, since the time of Adam, you will not find a saint who has not been tempted -- some in one way, some in another -- and the greatest saints are those who have been tempted the most. If Our Lord was tempted, it was in order to show us that we must be also. It follows, therefore, that we must expect temptation. If you ask me what is the cause of our temptations, I shall tell you that it is the beauty and the great worth and importance of our souls which the Devil values and which he loves so much that he would consent to suffer two Hells, if necessary, if by so doing he could drag our souls into Hell." - St John Vianney.

For all who follow Christ, if they don’t want to get lost, must walk along this path that He trod. And blessed be the trials that even here in this life are so super abundantly repaid   St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter7:12

“God is our All and leads us to Himself by Himself.”   - St. Vincent de Paul

“To withdraw from creatures and repose with Jesus in the tabernacle is my delight; there I can hide myself and seek rest. There I find a life which I cannot describe, a joy which I cannot make others comprehend, a peace such as is found only under the hospitable roof of our best friend.”   - St. Ignatius of Loyola

"Every member of the Church must be vigilant in seeing that the sacrament of love shall be at the center of the life of the people of God so that through all the manifestations of worship due him shall be given back ‘love for love’ and truly become the life of our souls." ( Pope John Paul II   (Redeemer of Man). - On Eucharistic Adoration

“ As regards what you tell me you feel when meditating, you can be sure that the deceit is diabolic. Therefore, be careful and vigilant. Never fail to meditate as a result of this, otherwise you can be sure that you will be beaten later on in everything.”   St. Pio of Pietrelcina

''....by saying the chaplet you are bringing humankind closer to Me. ''   WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA   Diary 929)

"Jesus told his disciple, 'Behold your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, brought Mary into his home, into his life. Spiritual writers have seen in these words of the Gospel an invitation to all Christians to bring Mary into their lives. Mary certainly wants us to invoke her, to approach her confidently, to appeal to her as our mother.”   - St. Josemaría Escrivá

“Light is not in the eye, but the eyes see because of it; food is not in the stomach, but it is thanks to food that the body lives; sound is not in the ear, but it is thanks to harmony that the ear hears.  In the spiritual order it is the same: what air is to the lungs, prayer is to the soul.  As Our Lord said, ‘Without Me, you can do nothing.’  He did not mean that we could do nothing in the natural order without Him, But He meant that we could do nothing in the spiritual order without His grace.”  Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

The prayer is genuine when it comes from a soul that loves to offer the sickness up and accept what is happening and be conformed to it.   St Teresa of Jesus of Avila   The Book of Her Life - chapter 7: 12