Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'A quarter of an hour's meditation does more for a man who has conquered himself, than one of several hours for a man still unsubdued.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'I am attacked on all sides, yet I will not fear, for I keep myself strongly entrenched in my secure fortress -- the Sacred Heart of my divine Master. Like a wise leader He deals out to me just strength sufficient for each occasion.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'But it will be well to note what class of people takes comfort in the thought of God. Surely not that perverse and crooked generation to whom it was said, 'Woe unto you that are rich; for ye have received your consolation' (Luke 6.24). Rather, those who can say with truth, 'My soul refuseth comfort' (Ps. 77.2). For it is meet that those who are not satisfied by the present should be sustained by the thought of the future, and that the contemplation of eternal happiness should solace those who scorn to drink from the river of transitory joys. That is the generation of them that seek the Lord, even of them that seek, not their own, but the face of the God of Jacob. To them that long for the presence of the living God, the thought of Him is sweetest itself: but there is no satiety, rather an ever-increasing appetite, even as the Scripture bears witness, 'they that eat me shall yet be hungry' (Ecclus. 24.21). . . Yea, blessed even now are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they, and they only, shall be filled.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

[Shin]

'Once our motives are pure and up right, and we seek not our interests, but those of our Lord and Master, He has a constant care over us, because He is infinitely good.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'Let us stand fast in what is right, and prepare our souls for trial. Let us wait upon God's strengthening aid and say to him: "O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations."'

St. Boniface

[Shin]

'He bore and sustained all this in order to be fully obedient to his eternal Father. And he showed that his obedience was perfect when not only was he subject to his Father, but also, through obedience to this Father, he submitted to the lordship of the vilest sinners at whose hands he received so cruel a death; and then he completed his obedience.'

St. Catherine of Bologna

[Shin]

'Can You see that as soon as the day breaks I think of You? As evening comes, I am near You. I am near You at every moment. I love You, Jesus!'

St. Gemma Galgani

[Shin]

'Let not confusion for thy fault overwhelm thee with despair, as if there were no longer a remedy.'

St. Catherine of Siena

[Shin]

'Let us charge into the good fight with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies. Though unseen themselves, they can look at the face of our soul, and if they see it altered by fear, they take up arms against us all the more fiercely. For the cunning creatures have observed that we are scared. So let us take up arms against them courageously. No one will fight with a resolute fighter.'

St. John Climacus

[Shin]

'In all your doubts and anxieties, think of Mary, call upon her name.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

[Shin]

'Those whom divine providence is leading towards holiness in this life are tested by the following three tests: by the gift of agreeable things, such as health, beauty, fine children, money, fame and so on; by afflictions causing distress, such as the loss of children, money and fame; and by bodily sufferings, such as disease, torture and so on. To those in the first category the Lord says, "If a person does not forsake all that he has, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:33); and to those in the second and third He says, "You will gain possession of your souls through your patient endurance." (Luke 21:19)'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'The expectation of the blessings held in store links the intellect with what it expects. When it continually meditates on these blessings, it forgets the things of this world.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'There is nothing sweeter and milder, and at the same time stronger and more efficacious than the gentle unction of the burning charity of this lovable Heart, to convert the most hardened souls and to penetrate the most unfeeling hearts.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'In its natural state, the human intelligence is subject to the divine intelligence and itself rules over the non-intelligent element in us. Let this order be maintained in all things, and there will be no evil among creatures nor anything which draws us towards evil.'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'I feel entirely lost in this divine Heart. It is as though I were in a fathomless abyss, in which He discloses to me treasures of love and of grace for those who consecrate and sacrifice themselves to give and procure for Him all the honor, love and glory in their power.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'When St. Aloysius Gonzaga was a student, he never sought to excuse himself when he was reproached with anything; he said what he thought, and troubled himself no further about what others might think; if he was wrong, he was wrong; if he was right, he said to himself, "I have certainly been wrong some other time." My children, the saints were so completely dead to themselves, that they cared very little whether others agreed with them.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars