Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'Those who, because of the rigor of their own ascetic practice, despise the less zealous, think that they are made righteous by physical works. But we are even more foolish if we rely on theoretical knowledge and disparage the ignorant.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Shin]

'Be faithful to the practice of virtue, never willfully neglecting any occasion thereof.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'For can anyone be excused who, by ceasing to pray, has shown that he did not wish to overcome his enemy.'

St. John Chrysostom

[Shin]

'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

[Shin]

'You may fast regularly, give alms, and pray without ceasing, but as long as you hate your brother, you will not be numbered among the children of God.'

St. Louis de Blois

[Shin]

'The only means for detaching ourselves from creatures is to acquire a great love for God. If the love of God does not go so far as to obtain the mastery over our own will, we shall never attain to being saints. The means for acquiring this ruling love is devout prayer. Let us constantly pray to God to give us his love, that we may thus find ourselves detached from every created thing. Divine love is a thief, which, in a holy way, robs us of all earthly affections, and causes us to say, "What other thing do I desire but Thee alone, O God of my heart?"'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'The keeping of God's commandments generates dispassion; the soul's dispassion preserves spiritual knowledge.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'Gratitude for graces received is a most efficacious means of obtaining new ones.'

St. Vincent de Paul

[Shin]

'Do not stop praying as long as, by God's grace, the fire and the water [i.e. fervor and tears] have not been exhausted, for it may happen that never again in your whole life will you have such a chance to ask for the forgiveness for your sins.'

St. John Climacus

[Shin]

'In doing penance it is necessary to deprive oneself of as many lawful pleasures as we had the misfortune to indulge in unlawful ones.'

Pope St. Gregory the Great

[Shin]

'He was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!'

Luke 15:32

[Shin]

'The demons are weakened when the passions in us decrease through our keeping the commandments; and they are defeated totally when they are routed by dispassion, for then they no longer find anything through which they can enter the soul and fight against it. This is what is meant by "they will be weakened and defeated before Thy face" (Ps. 9:3).'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'Those who are called to the table of the Lord must glow with the brightness that comes from the good example of a praiseworthy and blameless life. They must completely remove from their lives the filth and uncleanness of vice. Their upright lives must make them like the salt of the earth for themselves and for the rest of mankind. The brightness of their wisdom must make them like the light of the world that brings light to others. They must learn from their eminent teacher, Jesus Christ, what he declared not only to his apostles and disciples, but also to all the priests and clerics who were to succeed them, when he said, "You are the salt of the earth. But what is salt goes flat? How can you restore its flavor? Then it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."'

St. John of Capistrano

[Shin]

'Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'St. John Chrysostom said: Silentium, quod lutem prabet figulo, idem ipse prabe conditori tuo. Oh, what a sentence! He would say, "As the clay is silent in the hands of the potter, so do you be silent in the hands of your Creator." The clay remains silent whether the potter forms it into a vessel of honor or of ignominy, whether he breaks it or flings it among the rubbish; it is content to be cast aside or to be placed in an art gallery. Impress this lesson on your memory.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'If you consider the sacrament of penance, there are so many distorted confessions, so many studied excuses, so many deceitful repentances, so many false promises, so many ineffective resolutions, so many invalid absolutions! Would you regard as valid the confession of someone who accuses himself of sins of impurity and still holds to the occasion of them? Or someone who accuses himself of obvious injustices with no intention of making any reparation whatsoever for them? Or someone who falls again into the same iniquities right after going to confession? Oh, horrible abuses of such a great sacrament! One confesses to avoid excommunication, another to make a reputation as a penitent. One rids himself of his sins to calm his remorse, another conceals them out of shame. One accuses them imperfectly out of malice, another discloses them out of habit. One does not have the true end of the sacrament in mind, another is lacking the necessary sorrow, and still another firm purpose. Poor confessors, what efforts you make to bring the greater number of penitents to these resolutions and acts, without which confession is a sacrilege, absolution a condemnation and penance an illusion?'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice