Quote for the Night

[Shin]

'A lady wishing to have a widow live with her to take care of, asked St. Athanasius to find her one among his poor. Afterwards meeting the Bishop, she reproached him that he had treated her ill, because this person was too good, and gave her nothing to do by which she could gain heaven; and she begged him to give her another. The saint chose the worst he could find; of a cross, grumbling temper, never satisfied with what was done for her. This is the way we must act, for there is no great merit in doing good to one who values it, who thanks us and is grateful.

There are some persons who think they are never treated well enough; they seem as if they had a right to every thing. They are never pleased with what is done for them; they repay everybody with ingratitude. . . Well! those are the people to whom we should do good by preference.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

[Shin]

'Jesus is happy to come with us, as truth is happy to be spoken, as life to be lived, as light to be lit, as love is to be loved, as joy to be given, as peace to be spread.'

St. Francis of Assisi

[Shin]

'But, for one who desires to approach God, it is necessary to become the enemy of His enemies; and, as I find nothing that is worse than myself, nor that is more inimical to Him, I am compelled to hold myself in more aversion than anything else whatever, and will even despise myself and count it to be worthless. And, on the other hand, I will detach my spirit from all the goods of both this world and the other, which I will henceforth regard as if they had no existence. I have implored God neither to suffer me to rejoice interiorly nor to grieve over any created thing, so that I may never be seen to shed a single tear. And I have begged Him to take away from me the freedom of my will, so that I may no longer do what pleases me, but only what is according to His pleasure: all these things I have obtained from his clemency.'

St. Catherine of Genoa