Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'How is it, my dear brethren, that so few Christians behave with one end only in view -- to please God? Here is the reason, pure and simple. It is just that the vast majority of Christians are enveloped in the most shocking ignorance.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

[Shin]

'O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal: because it is known both with God and with men.'

Wisdom 4:1

[Shin]

'When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to preach you a little sermon, and then listen to the words of eternal life that it speaks to your heart; listen to the pleading of the thorns, the nails, the precious Blood. Oh, what an eloquent sermon!'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'Look not to the qualities thou mayest possess, which are wanting to others; but look to those which others possess and which are wanting to thee, that thou mayest acquire them.'

Ven. Louis de Granada

[Shin]

'If a man disregards the commandment about prayer, he then commits worse acts of disobedience, each one handing him over to the next like a prisoner.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Shin]

'It was necessary for man's salvation that there should be a knowledge revealed by God besides philosophical science built up by human reason. Firstly, indeed, because man is directed to God, as to an end that surpasses the grasp of his reason: "The eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for Thee" (Isaiah 64:4). But the end must first be known by men who are to direct their thoughts and actions to the end. Hence it was necessary for the salvation of man that certain truths which exceed human reason should be made known to him by divine revelation. Even as regards those truths about God which human reason could have discovered, it was necessary that man should be taught by a divine revelation; because the truth about God such as reason could discover, would only be known by a few, and that after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors. Whereas man's whole salvation, which is in God, depends upon the knowledge of this truth. Therefore, in order that the salvation of men might be brought about more fitly and more surely, it was necessary that they should be taught divine truths by divine revelation.'

St. Thomas Aquinas

[Shin]

'And likewise when I speak of being, I say: all things which have being, have it from the essence of God by his participation: but pure love cannot stop to contemplate this general participation coming from God, nor to consider whether in itself, considered as a creature, it receives it in the same way as do the other creatures which more or less participate with God. Pure love cannot endure such comparison; on the contrary, it exclaims with a great impetus of love; my being is God, not by participation only but by a true transformation and annihilation of my proper being.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

[Shin]

'O my God, Thou mayest indeed destroy and annihilate me, but I will never leave Thee till thou hast granted me the conversion of these hearts.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'You who judge others, at some time be also a judge of yourself, look into the recesses of your own conscience; rather, because there is no shame, indeed, in doing wrong, and sin is so committed as if pleasure came rather through sins themselves, do you who are seen clearly and nakedly by all yourself also look upon yourself.'

St. Cyprian of Carthage

[Shin]

'Forgetting offences is a sign of sincere repentance. If you keep the memory of them, you may believe you have repented but you are like someone running in his sleep. Let no one consider it a minor defect, this darkness that often clouds the eyes even of spiritual people.'

St. John Climacus

[Shin]

'When you can do good, defer it not, because "alms delivers from death."' [ Tobit 4:10, Tobit 12:9]

St. Polycarp of Smyrna

[Shin]

'The priest should give such a penance as he thinks the penitent will perform. If a man, after accusing himself of grave sin, declares that he cannot do a severe penance, the confessor must reason with him, pointing out the gravity of his offenses and the severe punishments he has deserved, and after that give him some penance such as he can be persuaded to undertake; and if the priest does not obtain perfect success, he may rejoice, at least, that he has rescued a soul from hell if not from purgatory; hence, on no account, should he send a penitent away in despair or discouragement. It is better to give him a Pater Noster or some other slight penance and make the good works which he does or his sufferings supply for the rest. A man who shows real sorrow and is ready to do all that he ought, but declares that a heavy penance is beyond him should never, no matter how he may have sinned, be sent away without absolution lest he fall into despair.'

St. Antoninus

[Shin]

'Did you sow and reap this bread? I tell you, that if you will not do good to the poor, God will not do good to you; in the hour of your death it shall be measured out to you with the same measure with which you have measured out to such as these.'

St. Camillus de Lellis

[Shin]

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

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Shin]

'Do not be double-tongued, saying one thing when your conscience says another. For Scripture places such people under a curse (cf. Ecclus. 28:13).'

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Shin]

'St. Jerome wrote to his friend Nepotianus that in preaching he should endeavor to elicit tears rather than applause from his audience. St. Francis de Sales expresses the same idea in a more emphatic manner in a letter to an ecclesiastic. . .'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori