Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'If thou wouldst glory, let it be in the Lord, by referring everything to Him, and giving to Him all the honor and glory.'

Ven. Louis de Granada

[Shin]

'Let the apostolic man not forget himself: he has not come to handle gold, but mud; he cannot, therefore, watch himself too carefully, that he may not contract the leprosy of which he seeks to cure others.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'Pray persistently about everything, and then you will never do anything without God's help.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Shin]

'Seeing that this divine Shepherd has taken so many steps seeking you, you will return Him thanks for it and, uniting all your steps to His, ask His help to walk henceforth only in the way of His love. Say often to Him: O my kind Shepherd, detach me from all earthly things and from myself, that I may be united to Thee.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'Humble yourself, resign yourself, and abandon yourself to God with entire confidence, always keeping in view your nothingness.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'Let us pray God, if He gives us any virtue or any gift, to keep it hidden even from ourselves, that we may preserve our humility, and not take occasion of pride because of it.'

St. Philip Neri

[Shin]

'A wise man is one who accepts advice, especially that of a spiritual father counseling him in accordance with the will of God.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'Love God all thy life, and call upon him for thy salvation.

Every beast loveth the like to itself: so also every man the nearest to himself. All flesh will match with the like to itself, and every man will associate himself to his like. If the wolf shall at any time communicate with the lamb, so the sinner with the just.'

Ecclesiasticus 13:18-21

[Shin]

'God is merciful; but he is also just. Sinners are desirous that he should be merciful only, without being just; but that is impossible, because were he only to for give and never to chastise, he would be wanting in justice.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'Some may imagine that the long time which devout souls give to prayer, and which they could spend in useful works, is unprofitable and lost time. But such persons know not that in mental prayer souls acquire strength to conquer enemies and to practise virtue. "From this leisure," says St. Bernard, "strength comes forth." Hence the Lord commanded that his spouse should not be disturbed. I adjure you . . . that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved till she please. He says, until she please: for the sleep or repose which the soul takes in mental prayer is perfectly voluntary, but is at the same time necessary for its spiritual life. He who does not sleep, has not strength to work, nor to walk, but goes tottering along the way. The soul that does not repose and require strength in meditation is not able to resist temptations, and totters on the road.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'If they who give a cup of cold water in his name shall not be left without abundant remuneration, how great and incomprehensible must be the reward which a religious who aspires to perfection shall receive for the numberless works of piety which she performs every day; for so many meditations, offices, and spiritual readings; for so many acts of mortification and of divine love which she daily refers to God's honor?

Do you not know that these good works which are performed through obedience, and in compliance with the religious vows, merit a far greater reward than the good works of seculars?'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'No one need be surprised at this which I say and feel, namely, that I can no longer live in myself, that I am with a single motion of my own proper will, intellect, or memory. Wherefore, whether I speak, walk, remain quiet, sleep, eat, or do anything else, as if from my own proper self, I do not feel or know it. All these things are so far removed from me, that is, from the interior of my heart, that the distance is like that between heaven and earth; and if any of these things could by any mode enter into me, and give me such an enjoyment as ordinarily they produce, without doubt, I should be filled with misery, for I should feel it to be a retrogression from that which had formerly been shown me, and that it ought to have been destroyed. In this manner, all my natural inclinations, both of soul and body, are being consumed; and I know it to be necessary that all that is ours should waste away until nothing of it can be found; this is on account of its malignity, which nothing is able to overcome but the infinite goodness of God; and if it be not hidden and consumed, it will never be possible for us to be freed from this goad which is more than infernal, and which, so far as we are concerned, I behold to grow more horrible daily, so that one who was interiorly enlightened, yet had no confidence in God, would be driven to despair by the sight; so dreadful are we when compared to God, who, with great love and solicitude, continually seeks to aid us.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

[Shin]

'Suffering is brief; joy will be eternal.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'Mary was the most perfect among the saints only because she was always perfectly united to the will of God.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'Without remembrance of God, there can be no true knowledge but only that which is false.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Shin]

'You see then that the gift of discretion is no earthly thing and no slight matter, but the greatest prize of divine grace. And unless a monk has pursued it with all zeal, and secured a power of discerning with unerring judgment the spirits that rise up in him, he is sure to go wrong, as if in the darkness of night and dense blackness, and not merely to fall down dangerous pits and precipices, but also to make frequent mistakes in matters that are plain and straightforward.'

St. Moses the Black Hermit