Saints' Discussion Forums

'What is done in accordance with God's will is the best of all things even if it seems to be bad. What is done contrary to God's will and decree is the worst and most unlawful of all things-even if men judge that it is very good. Suppose someone slays another in accordance with God's will. This slaying is better than any loving-kindness. Let someone spare another and show him great love and kindness against God's decree. To spare the other's life would be more unholy than any slaying. For it is God's will and not the nature of things that makes the same actions good or bad.'

St. John Chrysostom

That is very true. In the OT, God commanded the Israelites not to spare the ungodly people whose land He had earmarked for His Chosen people and not to intermarry. They disobeyed. The rest , as they say, is history.
In modern times it is difficult to imagine a situation where God would ask for the slaying of another.
There has been cases, where I hear murders have been done allegedly in obedience to God's command, but that is completely something else. I have to rush to Church now. Will check later and complete my thoughts.

These things are something that provokes thought aren't they!

"Nothing in our lives is due to chance
but whatever happens contrary to our wills,
 be assured that it is in accordance with the will of God,
 with His Providence,
with the order He has instituted,
with the consent He has given
 and the laws He has established"

St. Augustine

"The goal of all our undertakings should be not so much a task perfectly completed as the accomplishment of the will of God"

St Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God's Holy Will, not my own!"
Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother

"The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will."

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

'More determination is required to subdue the interior man than to mortify the body; and to break one's will than to break one's bones.'
St. Ignatius of Loyola

That's the truth.. One's own will.. what an enemy to wrestle with!

”Every creature, whether it will or not, is subject to the one God and Lord; but a warning is given to us, to serve the Lord with our whole will, because the just man serves Him willingly, but the unjust serves Him as a slave.”
Saint Augustine

I wonder what Saint Augustine meant by saying "the unjust serves Him as a slave.”?
The unjust man would not be inclined to do the Will of God.

A soul who is really resigned to God's will does not become attached to any created thing because he sees clearly that all things are nothing except God.
Blessed Henry Susone

"You well know that I preferred his company to all the delights of the world. But since it has pleased You to take him from me, I accept Your will completely."
St. Elizabeth (On the death of her husband)

This must be St. Elizabeth of Hungary who , on hearing the bad news, is quoted to have  cried out: "The world with all its joys is now dead to me."

'Shall the clay say to him that fashioncth it: What art thou making? If clay should dare to say to the potter, Why hast thou formed me thus? the potter ought to answer: Be silent: it is not your business to inquire what I do, but to obey and to receive whatever form I please to give you.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

"Here the will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills"
Saint Gerard Majella

"The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will"
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

I don't have a quote, but am using this to mark this thread for myself as these words of encouragement from the saints are what I dearly need right now.

I am your merciful Mother. All those who sincerely ask for my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother's heart. Here I will see their tears. I will console them and they will be at peace.
Our Lady of Guadalupe 1531

So happy to hear you're benefiting from the quotes JoyfulMother!

'What we know of the virtues of the saints is the least part of them.'

St. Philip Neri

'Let him who finds himself desolate remember how strong he is by grace, which is sufficient to enable him to overcome all his enemies, and that he should take courage in his Lord and Creator.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Lord what wilt Thou have me do?
 Behold the true sign of a totally perfect soul:
when one has reached the point of giving up his will so completely that he no longer seeks , expects or desires to do ought but that which God wills.
St. Bernard

”Every creature, whether it will or not, is subject to the one God and Lord; but a warning is given to us, to serve the Lord with our whole will, because the just man serves Him willingly, but the unjust serves Him as a slave.”
Saint Augustine

Deo gratias et Mariae semper Virgini!

'The remembrance of God is suffering of heart endured in a spirit of devotion. But he who forgets God becomes self-indulgent and insensitive.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

"God wills only our good; God loves us more than anybody else can or does love us. His will is that no one should lose his soul, that everyone should save and sanctify his soul:
 “Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance” . “This is the will of God, your sanctification”
God has made the attainment of our happiness, his glory. Even chastisements come to us, not to crush us, but to make us mend our ways and save our souls."

St. Alphonsus de Ligouri

'As work according to God is called virtue, so unexpected affliction is called a test.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong fear not!
Here is your God, he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense he comes to save you.
Isaiah 35: 3-4

'We do not always rejoice in consolations; but all is for our good, whether God gives or denies it.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

'He is ungrateful beyond all expression, and in heart altogether wrong, who, in the face of God's benefits which cost Him so much does not offer himself, and does not see the obligation he is under to devote himself entirely to the honor and glory of our Lord and Saviour.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

During our sojourn in this world, we should learn from the saints now in heaven, how to love God. The pure and perfect love of God they enjoy there, consists in uniting themselves perfectly to his will. It would be the greatest delight of the seraphs to pile up sand on the seashore or to pull weeds in a garden for all eternity, if they found out such was God’s will. Our Lord himself teaches us to ask to do the will of God on earth as the saints do it in heaven:
 “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

St. Alphonsus de Ligouri

No one heals himself by wounding another.
Saint Ambrose