Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'Not to know how to deny our soul its own wishes, is to foment a very hot-bed of vices.'

St. Philip Neri

[Shin]

'Our body is a vessel of corruption; it is meant for death and for the worms, nothing more! And yet we devote ourselves to satisfying it, rather than to enriching our soul, which is so great that we can conceive nothing greater -- no, nothing, nothing! For we see that God, urged by the ardor of His love, would not create us like the animals; He has created us in His own image and likeness, do you see? Oh, how great is man!

Man, being created by love, cannot live without love: either he loves God, for he loves himself and he loves the world. See, my children, it is faith that we want. . . . When we have not faith, we are blind. He who does not see, does not know; he who does not know does not love; he who does not love God loves himself, and at the same time loves his pleasures. He fixes his heart on things which pass away like smoke. He cannot know the truth, nor any good thing; he can know nothing but falsehood, because he has no light; he is in a mist. If he had light, he would see plainly that all that he loves can give him nothing but eternal death; it is a foretaste of Hell.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

[Shin]

'Humility, which Christ recommended to us both by word and example, ought to include three conditions. First, we are to consider ourselves, in all sincerity, worthy of the contempt of men; secondly, to be glad that others should see what is imperfect in us and what might cause them to despise us; thirdly, when the Lord works any good in us or by our means, to conceal it, if possible, at the sight of our baseness, and if this cannot be done, to ascribe it to the Divine Mercy, and to the merits of others. Whoever shall attain to this humility, happy is he! And to him who shall not attain it, griefs will never be wanting.'

St. Vincent de Paul

[Shin]

'Impel your intellect continually to prayer and you will destroy the evil thoughts that beset your heart.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'The best perfection is to do ordinary things in a perfect manner. Constant fidelity in little things is a great and heroic virtue.'

St. Bonaventure

[Shin]

'That our Redeemer was the first who taught, by his example, modesty of the eyes, may, as a learned author remarks, be inferred from the holy evangelists, who say that on some occasion he raised his eyes. And he, lifting up his eyes on his disciples. When Jesus therefore had lifted up his eyes. From these passages we may conclude that the Redeemer ordinarily kept his eyes cast down. Hence the Apostle, praising the modesty of the Saviour, says: I beseech you, by the mildness and modesty of Christ.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'When, on the contrary, you do not feel this interior peace, or this recollection, the soul can no longer meditate. Make no effort to do so; you ought, however, always to keep up a loving attention to God in the superior part of the soul. In this case, remain before God, detached from all consolation, like a statue in its niche.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'Inveterate wickedness requires long practice of the virtues; for an engrained habit is not easily uprooted.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'Happy the man to whom God has given the science of the saints. [c.f. Sap. x. 10.] Oh, how sublime the science which teaches us to know how to love God and to save our souls!

Happy, says St. Augustine, is the man "who knows God, although he is ignorant of other things." They who know God, the love which he merits, and how to love him, stand not in need of any other knowledge. They are wiser than those who are masters of many sciences, but know not how to love God.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'St. Catherine of Bologna, when she wished to obtain any grace, had recourse to the souls in Purgatory, and her prayers were heard immediately. She declared that, by praying to those holy souls she obtained many favors which she had sought through the intercession of the saints without obtaining them. The graces which devout persons are said to have received through the holy souls are innumerable.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'When the devil suggests discouraging thoughts, we must seek help in the remembrance of the blessings, without number, that we have received from God.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'Do not wish what concerns you to be as seems (best) to you, but as God wishes; and you will be free from cares and thankful in your prayer.'

St. Nilus of Sinai

[Benedict]

"As you go through life, equip yourself with prayer. When you arrive at your destination, stretch out your hands. Scourge your enemies with the name of Jesus, for there is no weapon more powerful in heaven or on earth. When you are free from the pestilence of fear, glorify Him who has saved you. If you persist in being grateful, He will forever guard you."
Saint John of the Ladder from the Ladder of Divine Ascent Step 21

[Shin]

'Reflect that Job lost his possessions and his sons and his health: his wife remained to him for a perpetual scourge; and then, when God had tested his patience, He restored everything to him double, and at the end eternal life.'

St. Catherine of Siena

[Shin]

'What hast thou to boast of, O dust and ashes, since of thyself thou art nought but nothingness and misery; thou shouldst never lose sight thereof and shouldst ever remain buried in this abyss of thy nothingness. Lest the greatness of My gifts lead thee to forget what thou art, behold I will set before thee this portrait of thyself.'

The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'There was once a solitary who had built himself a royal palace in the trunk of an oak-tree; he had placed thorns inside of it, and he had fastened three stones over his head, so that when he raised himself or turned over he might feel the stones or the thorns. And we, we think of nothing but finding good beds, that we may sleep at our ease.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars