Quote for the Day

[Shin]

'Just as we drive out one nail by another, let us oppose effort to effort, habit to habit.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

[Shin]

'Let us begin in earnest to work out our salvation, for no one will do it for us, since even He Himself, Who made us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[Shin]

'The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him.'

Habacuc 2:20

[Poche]

Bl. Pino Puglisi was known to speak out against some bishops who turned a blind eye to organized crime in Sicily. When asked by someone about the legitimacy of criticizing the Church, he answered that it is sometimes necessary to do so to improve things, and jokingly added:

"But we should always criticize it like a mother, never a mother-in-law!”

[Shin]

'"The voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." So long as men received for their service of God only the temporal and earthly reward of a "land flowing with milk and honey," they were very far from considering themselves as exiles on earth, very far from mourning like turtles, yearning for their heavenly country. Rather they mistook for their fatherland the place of their banishment, and gave themselves up to eating what was fat and drinking what was pleasant. During all this time, therefore, the voice of the turtledove had not yet been heard in our land. But when the promise of the kingdom of heaven was made to them, then men understood that they "have not here a lasting city"; then they began with all eagerness to "seek one that is to come"; and then, for the first time, the voice of the turtle was distinctly heard in our land. For whilst each holy soul was now longing for the presence of Christ, and looking impatiently for the coming of His kingdom, and with sighs and tears saluting from afar her much-desired home in heaven, does it not seem to you, my brethren, that every such soul then on earth was acting the part of a most chaste and mournful turtledove? From that time onward the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

[Therese]

Some make perfection consist in an austere life; others in prayer; others in frequenting the Sacraments; others in alms-deeds; but they deceive themselves:  Perfection consists in loving God!
 
--St. Francis de Sales

Of course, all these practices are good and can lead one to love God more and can even reflect our love of God.  But they should not be an end in themselves.  Our perfection is not found in them, but in loving God.

[Shin]

This reminds me of when St. John Cassian and his companion questioned Abba Moses.

[Shin]

'He is unworthy of divine contemplation who has not fought and conquered some great temptation.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Paul]

"Do not suppose, ye Greeks, that my separation from your customs is unreasonable and unthinking; for I found in them nothing that is holy or acceptable to God. For the very compositions of your poets are monuments of madness and intemperance."

St. Justin Martyr

He summed up how I have come to feel about modern culture since my conversion!

[Shin]

Yes you've said it exactly right Paul!

How perfectly it fits!

[Shin]

'Blessed the one who has not been worsted by the passion of despondency like a coward, but has found perfect endurance, by which all the Saints received their crowns.'

St. Ephrem of Syria

[Shin]

'Truly it is a blessed thing to love on earth as we hope to love in Heaven, and to begin that friendship here which is to endure for ever there. I am not now speaking of simple charity, a love due to all mankind, but of that spiritual friendship which binds souls together, leading them to share devotions and spiritual interests, so as to have but one mind between them. . . There are two sayings in Holy Scripture on which all Christian friendship should be built: - that of the Wise Man, "Whoso feareth the Lord shall direct his friendship aright;" and that of St. James, "The friendship of the world is enmity with God."'

St. Francis de Sales

[Shin]

'He that sees another in error and endeavors not to correct it, testifies himself to be in error.'

Pope St. Leo the Great

[Shin]

'Alas, you poor, foolish people, what will you do now? Who will take care of you in your trouble? Who will help you?'

St. Lawrence O'Toole, upon his death

[odhiambo]

'No one heals himself by wounding another'.
 Saint Ambrose

[Shin]

'May God console you! . . . What saddens you . . . is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises - but you have the Apostolic Faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the Faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the Faith? The true Faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in the struggle - the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the Faith?'

St. Athanasius