Saints' Discussion Forums

'The love of God is our proper love, for we are created for that alone; the love, on the contrary, for everything beside, ought in truth to be termed hatred, since it deprives us of our proper love, which is God. Love then God, who loves thee, and leave him who does not love thee, namely, everything beneath God; for all things are enemies to that true love. Oh! that I could make this truth be felt as I myself feel it: I am certain that there is no creature who would not love Him; so that if the sea were the food of love, there are no men or women, who would not drown themselves in it, and those who were at a distance from it would always be drawing nearer to it, that they might plunge into it; for every pleasure, when compared to it, is pain, and such riches does it confer on a man, that all beside should seem to him but misery.

It makes him so light that he does not feel the earth beneath his feet; his affections are so fixed on things above that he loses all sense of suffering here below, and he is so free, that there is nothing to keep him from the presence of God. If you asked me: "What dost thou feel?" I should answer thee: "What eye could not see, nor ear hear;" but I am ashamed to speak of it in my poor language, for I am certain that all I can say of God, is not of God, but only fragments that fall from his table.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

What a beautiful reading for the morning. What better way to start the day and every day with that fresh in the mind.  :)

'If you believe that you suffer much, it is an evidence that you have very little love for your Saviour.'

St. Paul of the Cross

That quote Shin helps one to contemplate the Love of God. Her words below are touching, giving us some ideas as to how ardent she is about the Love of God and in loving God.

It is very true that no outside force can make one love God. The love comes from within each one of us. She describes this love in a very thought provoking manner.
A beautiful quote. :)

"Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you."

Isaiah 54:10

'St Francis of Assisi, on seeing a lamb, would begin to weep, saying, "My Lord like a lamb was led to death for me."'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

One must see God in everyone.
St. Catherine Laboure

I say, after that last quote that truly makes for some moving thoughts..

 :+:

The quote of Saint Francis of Assisi weeping on seeing a lamb because it reminded him acutely of the Passion of Our Lord, and St. Catherine Laboure that one must see God in everyone, it follows that we should see God not just in everyone but also in everything.

The things that we love tell us what we are.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Pure love ... knows that only one thing is needed to please God:
to do even the smallest things out of great love - love, and always love.
Divine Mercy in My Soul, St. Faustina

'What joy to belong entirely to God, to make one's dwelling in Him, and to lay in Him the basis of one's perfection! In Him the soul enjoys a reign of imperturbable peace, where it beholds the vicissitudes and events of life without being perturbed or disturbed by them, for they vanish like a dream; nevertheless, in proportion as we despise them, the more profitable they will all be.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

"Pure love ... knows that only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest things out of great love - love, and always love."
Divine Mercy in My Soul, St. Faustina

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

'In the name of Jesus Christ, I bless you soul and body. I bless your body and all its senses. I bless your eyes, in order that they may always be modest by never looking at any object that may lead you into temptation; I therefore specially bless your eyes. (Here the blessing is given with the crucifix.) I bless your ears, that you may never misuse them by listening to things that offend God. I bless your mouth, that you may never employ it in uttering blasphemies, imprecations, immodest words, and wicked songs. (Here a second blessing is given.) I bless your feet, that when you can you may come to church to make mental prayer, as also visits to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin. I bless your hands. Young people, raise your hands: I wish to bless them. (Again the blessing is given towards the men.) I bless all your children; devote yourselves to their sanctification, in order that one day you may find them all together in paradise.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

                At the Catholic grade school I attended, one Sister frequently declared:     
                "Do it for the love of God and not for the fear of punishment."

"Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it; and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them."

Pope St. Felix III

True saying!   O:)