Quote for the Day

[Shin]

'You will note that the Lord establishes as the prime good contemplation, that is the gaze turned in the direction of the things of God. Hence we say that the other virtues, however useful and good we may say they are, must nevertheless be put on a secondary level, since they are all practiced for the sake of this one. "You are full of worry and are upset over many things when actually it should be over a few or even one." In saying this the Lord locates the primary good not in activity, however praiseworthy, however abundantly fruitful, but in the truly simple and unified contemplation of Himself.'

St. John Cassian

[Shin]

'In order to combat desolation and put temptation to flight, one ought to persevere in prayer a little beyond the prescribed time. Thus he will accustom himself not only to resist the enemy, but to overthrow him.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'God endures, to be bound in swaddling-clothes, because he had come to pay the debts of the whole world.'

St. Zeno

[Shin]

'St. Bernard says that poverty was not to be found in heaven, it existed only on earth; but that man, not knowing its value, did not seek after it. Therefore the Son of God came down from heaven to this earth, and chose it for his companion throughout his whole life, that by his example he might also render it precious and desirable to us: "Poverty was not found in heaven, but she was well known on earth, and men knew not her excellence. So the Son of God loved her, and came down from heaven to take her to himself, that we might learn to value her when we see how he regards her."'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'Here is the difference between the joys of the world and the cross of Jesus Christ: after having tasted the first, one is disgusted with them; and on the contrary, the more one partakes of the cross, the greater the thirst for it.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'When the intellect was deadened by the breaking of the commandment, the death of the body was a necessary consequence.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[Shin]

'We put pride into everything like salt. We like to see that our good works are known. If our virtues are seen, we are pleased; if our faults are perceived, we are sad. I remark that in a great many people; if one says anything to them, it disturbs them, it annoys them. The saints were not like that -- they were vexed if their virtues were known, and pleased that their imperfections should be seen.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

[Shin]

'And when he is come, he findeth it empty (Matt. xii. 43). Empty, since he finds there no charity, nor true faith, nor humility, nor patience, nor justice, nor mercy, nor any of the other things with which the souls of the saints are furnished. How does he find it? Swept and garnished: he finds it as he desires to find it. He finds it swept clean by evil brushes, and garnished with evil furnishings; evil brushes that sweep out the virtues, and leave the vices; evil brushes that scatter dust upon the floor, and do not sweep it out. It is lust, fornication, pleasure, pride, avarice, discord, and all uncleanness, which are the furnishings of the devil. With these adornments he finds it garnished.

Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there.'

St. Bruno

[Shin]

'The devil has always attempted by means of heretics to deprive the world of the Mass, making them precursors of the antichrist, who before anything else will try to abolish and will actually abolish the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a punishment for the sins of men, according to the prediction of Daniel, "And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice." (Daniel 8:12)'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori