Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'Consider then diligently in thy meditations the benefits which thy Creator hath bestowed upon thee, wherewith without any merits of thine He hath exalted thee; and call to mind the innumerable evil thoughts words and deeds, wherewith thine unrighteousness unworthily recompensed His kindness, and conceiving great sorrow in thyself, cry aloud, What have I done? I have vexed God, I have provoked my Creator to wrath, I have recompensed His innumerable benefits with innumerable sins. What have I done? As thou sayest this, smite upon thy breast, utter thy voice in groaning, pour forth thy tears. For if thou weepest not now, when wilt thou weep?'

St. Anselm of Canterbury

[Shin]

'It seems to me that the Divine and Sovereign Goodness wishes to give you in His kingdom a most plentiful and munificent reward for the service you render Him; since for the good deeds for which others receive at least a little consolation in return, even as regards man, you have known only pain and most extraordinary contradictions.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'Persevere in discipline and holy obedience and, with a good and firm purpose, fulfill what you have promised Him.'

St. Francis of Assisi

[Shin]

'In everything that we do God searches out our purpose to see whether we do it for Him or for some other motive.'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'Prudence shows us what is most pleasing to God, and most useful to the salvation of our soul. We must always choose the most perfect. Two good works present themselves to be done, one in favour of a person we love, the other in favour of a person who has done us some harm; well, we must give preference to the latter.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

[Shin]

'Above all, He wishes you to be humble of heart like Him and always full of charity. You will practice these two virtues according to the light this divine Heart will give you.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'Not only the heavens, but the sight of a blade of grass, or of the most insignificant thing, suffices to inflame with love of God the heart that knows Him.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'There is a breaking of the heart which is gentle and makes it deeply penitent, and there is a breaking which is violent and harmful, shattering it completely.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Shin]

'I assure you I possess naught but my Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore He often says to me: "What wouldst thou do without Me? Thou wouldst be poor indeed!" '

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[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]

'And so, my brothers, let us rejoice and be glad as we repudiate every pleasure. All flesh is grass, and all human glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withered and the flower faded, but the work of virtue endures for ever.'

St. Theodore the Studite

[Shin]

'Virtue and spiritual knowledge lead to immortality, their absence is the mother of death.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'If you are submerged in the waters of infidelity and inconstancy, plunge yourself into the fathomless deep of the Sacred Heart. Its stability and steadfastness will teach you to be faithful to Him -- our true and faithful Friend --and constant in His service, as He has ever been in His love for us.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'The intellect becomes a stranger to the things of this world when its attachment to the senses has been completely sundered.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'If you distract your intellect from its love for God and concentrate it, not on God, but on some sensible object, you thereby show that you value the body more than the soul and the things made by God more than God Himself.'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'For as those who are causes of scandals inherit the Woe, so those who incite to virtue inherit blessing. And never, brethren, let us fall away from the good state and the praiseworthy way of life, nor let us leave off loving God; for it is written, You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul and your whole strength and your whole mind.'

St. Theodore the Studite