Quote for the Day

[odhiambo]

Striving For Spiritual Excellence

"We must be patient and little by little root out our bad inclinations, overcome our aversions and control our emotions. This life is truly a continual warfare, and there is no one who can say, "I am never tempted." Peace is reserved for Heaven, where the palm of victory awaits us; on earth there is a continual struggle between hope and fear. However, our hope must be strong, relying on the omnipotence of God, Who is always ready to help us. So never tire of fighting for your growth and perfection."

St. Francis de Sales
 

[Shin]

The fighting makes for acts of virtue that are beautiful before God in Heaven and on earth!

[Shin]

'When the evil conduct of one person begins to affect others, you should not show long-suffering; and instead of your own advantage you should seek that of the others, so that they may be saved. For virtue involving many people is more valuable than virtue involving only one.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

[odhiambo]

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness,
nothing so gentle as real strength"
Saint Francis de Sales

[Shin]

'I am the Queen of Heaven. Love my Son, because he is most worthy; when you have him, you have everything that is of worth. And he is most desirable; when you have him, you have all that is desirable. Love him, too, because he is most virtuous; when you have him, you have all the virtues. Let me tell you how beautiful his love for my body and soul was and how much honor he gave to my name. He, my own Son, loved me before I loved him, since he is my Creator.

He joined my father and mother in so chaste a marriage that there was no more chaste couple then to be found. They never desired to come together except in accordance with the Law, solely for the sake of procreation. When an angel announced to them that they would give birth to the Virgin from whom the salvation of the world would come, they would rather have died than come together in carnal love; lust had died in them. But, I assure you, out of divine charity and on account of the angel's message they did come together in the flesh, not out of concupiscence but against their will and out of love for God. In this way my flesh was put together from their seed through divine love. When my body had been formed, God sent the created soul into it from his divinity; the soul was immediately sanctified along with the body, and the angels watched over and ministered to it day and night. It is impossible to tell you what a great joy came over my mother when my soul had been sanctified and joined to its body.

Afterward, when the course of my life was done, he first raised up my soul, as being mistress of the body, to a place more eminent than others next to the glory of his divinity, and then my body, so that no other creature's body is so close to God as my own.'

Revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden

[Patricia]

We are so blessed to have Mary as our Mother!

[Patricia]

'Diseases of the soul come posting in on horseback, but leave slowly and on foot.'

St. Francis de Sales

[Shin]

Something one can learn from sad experience!

[Shin]

'The sensible firmament symbolizes the firmament of faith in which all the saints shine like stars.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

[odhiambo]

"If the Jewish High priest carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on his shoulders and on his breast, how much more Christ, our High Priest, carries our names written on His Heart"

 St John of Avila.

[Shin]

Those Old Testament exterior examples of virtue certainly have a special spiritual meaning too.

[odhiambo]

Yes, the more one studies the Bible, the more one realises how Saint Augustine was right when he said:
 “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.”

[odhiambo]

Yes, the more one studies the Bible, the more one realises how Saint Augustine was right when he said:
 “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.”

I do not know why I thought this was a quote from Saint Jerome. 

[Shin]

Well he is the one who translated the whole Bible!

[Shin]

'O my child, bethink you that just as the bee, having gathered heaven's dew and earth's sweetest juices from amid the flowers, carries it to her hive; so the Priest, having taken the Saviour, God's Own Son, Who came down from Heaven, the Son of Mary, Who sprang up as earth's choicest flower, from the Altar, feeds you with that Bread of Sweetness and of all delight.'

St. Francis de Sales

[odhiambo]

"If the faith is in imminent peril, prelates ought to be accused by their subjects, even in public."

St. Thomas Aquinas