Quote for the Day

[Shin]

'The greatest pain which the holy souls suffer in Purgatory proceeds from their desire to possess God. This suffering especially afflicts those who in life had but a feeble desire of heaven.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'It is a great favour which God grants to that soul that is in a state of grace to take it from this world, where, at any time, it may become changed, and may lose the friendship of God!'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding.'

Wisdom 4:11

[Shin]

'Father Edmond Auger, an apostolic preacher, who was called "the Gospel Trumpet" for his conversion of 40,000 heretics in France, was so deeply committed to teaching catechism that at his death it pleased God to allow him to be seen ascending into heaven accompanied by a host of angels and children. To Isaiah's question, "Where is the teacher of the little ones?" one might well answer, "Here he is."'

St. Anthony Mary Claret

[Shin]

'Cultivate a tender devotion to the dolors of Mary, to her Immaculate Conception, to your guardian angel, to your patron saints, and the holy apostles.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'We read in the holy Canticles, that at the Assumption of the Virgin, the angels three times asked her name: "Who is she that goeth up by the desert as a pillar of smoke?" "Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising?" And in another: "Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights?" Richard of St. Laurence inquires why the angels so often asked the name of this queen, and answers: The sound of the name of Mary was so sweet to the angels, and they repeated the question that they might hear it repeated also.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'Those who intend to fulfill the Christian way of life to the best of their ability must first devote all their attention to the rational, discriminative and directing aspect of the soul. Perfecting in this way their discrimination between good and evil, and defending the purity of their nature against the attacks of the passions that are contrary to nature, they go forward without stumbling, guided by the eye of discrimination and not embroiled with the impulses of evil. For the soul's will is able to preserve the body free from the vitiation of the senses, to keep the soul away from worldly distraction, and to guard the heart from scattering its thoughts into the world, completely walling them in and holding them back from base concerns and pleasures. Whenever the Lord sees someone acting in this manner, perfecting and guarding himself, disposed to serve Him with fear and trembling, He extends to him the assistance of His grace. But what will God do for the person who willingly gives himself up to the world and pursues its pleasures?'

St. Symeon Metaphrastis

[Shin]

'In this accusation, i.e. in Confession, you should make known to your confessor, as to God, all your defects, unraveling all in order, integrally, truly and simply without any veiling excuses, concealment or palliation : and, firstly, your omissions in all things pertaining to God, especially concerning the double exercise of prayer, mental and vocal ; then, defects of righteousness in your dealings with your neighbour, and, lastly, sins of commission due to the slothful custody of the senses and want of watchfulness over your affections and thoughts.'

St. Bonaventure

[Shin]

'Consider from this how much a good will united with God is capable of, when by means of its pressing towards God the soul is effectively separated the body in spirit and looks on its outward man as it were from a distance, and as not belonging to it. In this way it despises everything that is inflicted on itself or on its flesh as if they were happening to someone else, or not to a human being at all. For He that is united with the Lord is one Spirit, (1 Corinthians 6.17) that is with him. So you should never dare to think or imagine anything before the Lord your God that you would blush to be heard or seen in before men, since your respect for God should be even greater than for them.

It is a matter of justice in fact that all your thoughts and thinking should be raised to God alone, and the highest point of your mind should only be directed to him as if nothing existed but him, and holding to him may enjoy the perfect beginning of the life to come.'

St. Albert the Great

[Shin]

'Accustom yourself to repeat as your first words upon awakening, and your last words before sleep, the names of Jesus and Mary, so that God will give you grace to die with these holy Names on your lips and in your heart.'

St. Jean Eudes

[Shin]

'You will also know one day that there is a law of the eternal king, proclaiming that every one shall perish, who offers sacrifice to devils: which do you counsel me to obey, and which do you think, should be my option; to die by your sword, or to be condemned to everlasting misery, by the sentence of the great king, the true God?'

St. Peter Balsam

[Shin]

'Wealth, unless it be devoted to good works, will become to its possessor only a source of endless torment in hell.'

St. Paul of the Cross

[Shin]

'Although in the world theater is considered a refined form of amusement, the fact is that it is a shame and an embarrassment to Christianity. In fact, are not those who abandon themselves to this kind of work and make it their profession considered publicly infamous? Can you love a profession that covers with embarrassment those who practice it? Is that art not something infamous and shameful in which the skill of the actors consists in exciting in themselves and in others various shameful passions for which a wellborn person can feel nothing but repulsion?

If there is singing going on, the only airs one hears are those that strengthen these same passions. Is there anything conformable to refinement or to decorum in the costuming, the nudity, and the license taken by actors and actresses? Is there anything in their gestures, their words, and their postures that is not unbecoming for a Christian not only to do but even to see? It is, then, entirely against propriety to take pleasure in this form of amusement.'

St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle

[Shin]

'If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also have kept my Father's commandments, and do abide in his love.'

John 15:10

[Shin]

'But although we, or an Angel from heaven, evangelize to you beside that which we have evangelized to you, be he anathema.

As we have said before, so now I say again, If any evangelize to you beside that which we have evangelized to you, be he anathema.

For do I now use persuasion to men, or to God: Or do I seek to please men? If I yet did please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

For I do you to understand, brethren, the Gospel that was evangelized of me, that it is not according to man. For neither did I receive it of man, nor learn it: but by the revelation of JESUS Christ.'

Galatians 1:8-12

[Shin]

'Priests who fall into sin lose light, and lose also the fear of God. Behold, the Lord himself assures us of this. If I be a master, where is My fear, saith the Lord of Hosts, to you, O Priests, that despise My name? St. Bernard says that priests falling from on high remain so immersed in their malice, that they forget God, and disregard the divine threats to such a degree that the danger of their damnation has no longer any terror for them. . .

What chastisement does not the priest deserve who, instead of carrying with him to the altar flames of divine charity, brings the fetid fire of unchaste love! Speaking of the punishment inflicted on the sons of Aaron for having offered strange fire, St. Peter Damian says: "Let us take care not to mingle unholy fire, that is, the flames of lust with the salutary sacrifices."! Whosoever, adds the saint, shall dare to carry the flame of lust to the altar, shall certainly be consumed by the fire of God's vengeance. . .

Oh! what an impious treason. Behold how Jesus Christ complains, by the mouth of David, of the sacrilegious priest: For if My enemy had reviled Me would verily have borne with it, . . . but thou, a man of one mind, and My familiar, who didst take sweetmeats together with Me? Behold an exact description of a priest who offers Mass in the state of sin. If my enemy, said the Lord, had insulted me, I would have borne the offence with less pain; but you whom I have made my familiar, my minister, a prince among my people, to whom I have so often given my flesh for food you have sold me to the devil for the indulgence of passion, for a beastly gratification, for a little earth. Of this sacrilegious treason the Lord complained to St. Bridget: "Such priests," he said, "are not my priests, but real traitors; for, like Judas, they sell and betray me." St. Bernardine of Sienna teaches that such priests are even worse than Judas; because Judas betrayed the Saviour to the Jews, but they deliver him up to devils by receiving him into their sacrilegious breasts, which are ruled by devils.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Shin]

'The sign that a sin is forgiven is that the sin does not generate any activity in your heart and that you have forgotten it to such a degree that, in conversation about a similar sin, you do not feel any inclination toward that sin, but rather consider it something totally foreign to you. That is the sign that you are completely pardoned.'

St. Isaiah the Solitary