Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'A man should force himself to be obedient, even in little things which appear of no moment; because he will thus render the practice of obedience in great matters easy to himself.'

St. Philip Neri

[Shin]

'Look at the reality: psalmody succeeds psalmody; reading, reading; study, study; prayer, prayer, like a wheel drawing us and joining us to God. How truly excellent is this way of life, how supremely excellent! How blessed this life and thrice-blessed!'

St. Theodore the Studite

[Shin]

'What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not?'

1 Corinthians 4:7

[Shin]

'I want to follow you and be like you, O my Jesus; I would rather be crucified with you than enjoy all the pleasures of this world without you.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

[Shin]

'Armed with prayer, the saints sustained a glorious warfare and vanquished all their enemies. By prayer, also, they appeased the wrath of God, and obtained from Him all they desired.'

Ven. Louis de Granada

[Shin]

'Let us imagine our confusion when we appear before God and understand the reasons why He sent us the crosses we accept so unwillingly. The death of a child will then be seen as its rescue from some great evil had it lived, separation from the woman you love the means of saving you from an unhappy marriage, a severe illness the reason for many years of life afterwards, loss of money the means of saving your soul from eternal loss. So what are we worried about? God is looking after us and yet we are full of anxiety! We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he knows his business. He orders an operation which involves cutting away part of our body and we accept it. We are grateful to him and pay him a large fee because we judge he would not act as he does unless the remedy were necessary, and we must rely on his skill. Yet we are unwilling to treat God in the same way! It looks as if we do not trust His wisdom and are afraid He cannot do His job properly. We allow ourselves to be operated on by a man who may easily make a mistake -- a mistake which may cost us our life -- and protest when God sets to work on us.'

Bl. Claude de la Colombiere

[Shin]

'Let us read the lives of the saints; let us consider the penances which they performed, and blush to be so effeminate and so fearful of mortifying our flesh.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'I will relate what happened at that time in a certain monastery, but I do not wish to give the name of the monk, who is still alive, for fear that when this account comes to him he may become vainglorious and lose merit. A young man came to the monastery and presented himself to the abbot with the proposal to pass his life in God's service. The abbot made many objections, explaining that the service there was hard, and he could never accomplish what was required of him. But he promised that he would call on the Lord's name and accomplish it all. And so he was admitted by the abbot. After a few days during which he proved to all that he was humble and holy, it happened that the monks threw out of the granary about three chori of grain and left it to dry in the sun and appointed this monk to guard it. And while the others were taking refreshment and he was left to guard the grain, the sky suddenly became overcast, and a heavy rain with roaring wind came swiftly in the direction of the heap of grain. Upon seeing it the monk knew not how to act or what to do. He thought however that even if he called the rest considering the great quantity of grain they would not be able to store it in the granary before the rain, and so giving up everything else he devoted himself to prayer, beseeching the Lord not to allow a drop of the rain to fall on the wheat. And when he threw himself on the ground and prayed the cloud was divided, and although there was a heavy downpour all around, if it is right to say so, it did not dampen a single grain of the wheat. And when the other monks and the abbot became aware of the coming storm they came quickly to take the grain within, and saw this miracle, and looking for the man in charge of the grain they found him close by stretched out on the sand praying. The abbot on seeing this prostrated himself close to him, and when the rain had passed and the prayer was finished he called to him to arise, and gave orders to seize him and punish him with stripes, saying: "My son, you must grow in the fear and service of God with humility, and not be puffed up with prodigies and miracles." He ordered him to remain shut up in his cell seven days, and to fast as if he were at fault, in order to keep vainglory from forming an obstacle before him. At the present time, as we learn from men of the faith, the same monk is so abstemious that he eats no bread in the forty days of Lent and drinks only a cup of barley-water every third day. And may the Lord with your prayers deign to keep him as is pleasing to himself until his life is ended.'

St. Gregory of Tours

[Shin]

'Ah! the Blood of Jesus Christ, so much insulted, cries more powerfully for vengeance against the sacrilegious priest than the blood of Abel did against Cain. This Jesus Himself declared to St. Bridget. Oh! what horror must God and His Angels feel at the sight of a sacrilegious Mass!'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for "God is Charity."'

St. Albert the Great

[Shin]

'There could not be a surer sign of God's love for you than this pain which He has sent you. Adore the divine will.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'Without prayer it is impossible to resist temptations and to keep the commandments.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'Grieve not, Juliatus! I shall shortly return, and we shall see the true faith of Christ flourish again in this kingdom, with full liberty to profess it; but divulge not this secret to any.'

St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, a prophecy of

[Shin]

'The Holy Spirit is light and strength. He teaches us to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and between good and evil. Like glasses that magnify objects, the Holy Spirit shows us good and evil on a large scale. With the Holy Spirit we see everything in its true proportions; we see the greatness of the least actions done for God, and the greatness of the least faults. As a watchmaker with his glasses distinguishes the most minute wheels of a watch, so we, with the light of the Holy Spirit, distinguish all the details of our poor life. Then the smallest imperfections appear very great, the least sins inspire us with horror. That is the reason why the most Holy Virgin never sinned. The Holy Spirit made her understand the hideousness of sin; she shuddered with terror at the least fault.

Those who have the Holy Spirit cannot endure themselves, so well do they know their poor misery. The proud are those who have not the Holy Spirit.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

[Shin]

'When the intellect is established in God, it at first ardently longs to discover the principles of His essence. But God's inmost nature does not admit of such investigation, which is indeed beyond the capacity of everything created. The qualities that appertain to His nature, however, are accessible to the intellect's longing: I mean the qualities of eternity, infinity, indeterminateness, goodness, wisdom, and the power of creating, preserving and judging creatures. Yet of these, only infinity may be grasped fully; and the very fact of knowing nothing is knowledge surpassing the intellect, as the theologians Gregory of Nazianzos and Dionysios have said.'

St. Maximos the Confessor

[Shin]

'If only a child profits by my teachings, my trouble and my time will seem to me well spent.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola