Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'The passions lying hidden in the soul provide the demons with the means of arousing impassioned thoughts in us. Then, fighting the intellect through these thoughts, they force it to give its assent to sin. When it has been overcome, they lead it to sin in the mind; and when this has been done they induce it, captive as it is, to commit the sin in action. Having thus desolated the soul by means of these thoughts, the demons then retreat, taking the thoughts with them, and only the specter or idol of sin remains in the intellect. Referring to this our Lord says, "When you see the abominable idol of desolation standing in the holy place (let him who reads understand) . . . " (Matt. 24:15). For man's intellect is a holy place and a temple of God in which the demons, having desolated the soul by means of impassioned thoughts, set up the idol of sin. That these things have already taken place in history no one, I think, who has read Josephus will doubt; though some say that they will also come to pass in the time of the Antichrist.'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'God wants me to eat and sleep not as a luxury, but as a necessity and for my humiliation, so that I can see how poor I am to still be needing such worldly things, whereas in heaven there will be no need to eat or sleep. And so I say, "Lord, I do these things because it is your will."'

St. Anthony Mary Claret

[Shin]

This last quote seems to me to embody the spirit of Christ.

We were not made for luxury or the superfluous.

[Shin]

'The Scriptures contain four things: commandments, doctrines, threats and promises.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'"Shun evil and do good" (Ps. 34:14), that is to say, fight the enemy in order to diminish the passions, and then be vigilant lest they increase once more. Again, fight to acquire the virtues and then be vigilant in order to keep them. This is the meaning of "cultivating" and 'keeping" (cf. Gen. 2:15).'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'The intellect freed from the passions forms conceptual images that are also passion-free, whether the body is asleep or awake.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'All the discourses of our Lord contain these four elements: commandments, doctrines, threats and promises. With the help of these we patiently accept every kind of hardship, such as fasting, vigils, sleeping on the ground, toil and labor in acts of service, insults, dishonor, torture, death and so on. "Helped by the words of Thy lips," says the psalmist, I have kept to difficult paths (Ps. 17:4. LXX).'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'Keep your heart in peace and let nothing trouble you, not even your faults. You must humble yourself and amend them peacefully, without being discouraged or cast down, for God's dwelling is in peace.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'Those visions, elevations, and lights are seldom genuine. Hence, says a great saint, "it is always best to reject them, to distrust them, particularly in the case of women, whose imagination is most vivid." In acting thus, we act well, because, if they come from God, they will not fail to produce their effect, even though we ignore them; and if they come from the devil, which is more probable, we guard ourselves, in rejecting them, against illusion.'

St. Paul of the Cross

'Of a hundred, and perhaps a thousand, of these articulated locutions, there is hardly one genuine. It is difficult, even for spiritual masters, to discern the true from the false, those of the Spirit of truth from those of the devil, who knows so well how to feign effects like in appearance to those of the Spirit of God. Therefore it is best to enjoin on him who has them to drive them away, to humble himself before God, and to protest that faith, with the Scriptures and the advice of his spiritual father, who speaks in God's name, are sufficient for him. Thus he glorifies God in distrusting himself, in humbling himself, in esteeming himself unworthy of such favors, and is thereby freed from illusion.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'"In the company of the innocent, you will be innocent; in the company of the elect, you will be elect; and in a crooked man's company you will go wrong."

Let us, then, follow the innocent and the upright. They, it is, who are God's elect.'

Pope St. Clement I of Rome

[Shin]

'A person may say I am not much concerned how long I stay in purgatory, provided I may come to eternal life. Let no one reason thus. Purgatory fire will be more dreadful than whatever torments can be seen, imagined, or endured in this world. He who is afraid now to put his finger into the fire, does he not fear lest he be then all buried in torments for a long time?'

St. Caesarius of Arles

[Shin]

'Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'As the breath which comes out of his nostrils, so does a man need humility and the fear of God.'

St. Poemen

[Shin]

'If God has taught you a spiritual knowledge of created beings, you will not doubt the words of Scripture concerning the blessings held in store.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.'

Matthew 18:6

[Shin]

'The devotion to the Eucharist is the most noble, because it has God as its object; it is the most profitable for salvation, because it gives us the Author of Grace; it is the sweetest, because the Lord is Sweetness Itself.'

Pope St. Pius X