God does not command us to live in hair shirts and chains, or to chastise our flesh with scourges, but to love Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.

-- St Charles of Sezze

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When we hear heretical voices about us..., when we see that the sanctity of marriage and the priesthood are attacked without fear of rebuke, have confidence, for the Holy Church is incorruptible.

-- St Augustine

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And I spoke of thy testimonies before kings: and I was not ashamed. I meditated also on thy commandments, which I loved.

-- Psalm cxviii. 46,47

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A pure soul is like a fine pearl. As long as it is hidden in the shell at the bottom of the sea, no one thinks of admiring it. But if you bring it into the sunshine, this pearl will shine and attract all eyes. Thus, the pure soul which is hidden from the eyes of the world, will one day shine before the angels in the sunshine of eternity.

-- St. John Vianney

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But since all your satisfactions and penances are too small and deficient to atone for so many sins, unite them to those of your Savior Jesus lifted upon the Cross. Receive his Divine Blood as it flows from His wounds, and offer It up to appease Divine justice. Unite your reparation to that of the most Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross and from the love of Jesus for His Mother, you will obtain everything.

-- St Peter Julian Eymard

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For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.

-- St. Athanasius, De incarnatione

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Do not grieve over the temptations you suffer. When the Lord intends to bestow a particular virtue on us, He often permits us first to be tempted by the opposite vice. Therefore, look upon every temptation as an invitation to grow in a particular virtue and a promise by God that you will be successful, if only you stand fast.

-- St. Philip Neri

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He who would climb to a lofty height must go by steps, not leaps.

-- Pope St. Gregory the Great

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There is no more evident sign that anyone is a saint and of the number of the elect, than to see him leading a good life and at the same time a prey to desolation, suffering, and trials.

-- St Aloysius Gonzaga

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What prayer could be more true before God the Father than that which the Son, who is Truth, uttered with His own lips?

-- St. John Chrysostom

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Hold firmly that our faith is identical with the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

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If God had drawn the world from pre-existent matter, what would be so extraordinary in that? A human artisan makes from a given material whatever he wants, while God shows his power by starting from nothing to make all he wants.

-- St. Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Autolycum

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Christ conquers, He reigns, He commands. May He defend His people from all evil.

-- Pope Sixtus V

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Every moment comes to us pregnant with a command from God, only to pass on and plunge into eternity, there to remain forever what we have made of it.

-- St. Francis de Sales

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Prayer should be accomplished by grace and not by artifice.

-- St Jane Frances de Chantal

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It is better to say one Our Father fervently and devoutly than a thousand with no devotion and full of distraction.

-- St Edmund

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How do you love yourself? Is your love a purely worldly one? If so you will desire always to abide here. But if your love for here is a heavenly love, you will desire, or at least be ready and glad, to depart hence when- soever it shall please the Lord.

-- St. Francis de Sales

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Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: ... And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.

-- Ps. xliv. 11, 12

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It cannot be doubted that the poor can more easily attain the blessing of humility than those who are rich. In the case of the poor, the lack of worldly goods is often accompanied by a quiet gentleness, whereas the rich are more prone to arrogance. Nevertheless, many wealthy people are disposed to use their abundance not to swell their own pride but to perform works of benevolence. They consider their greatest gain what they spend to alleviate the distress of others. This virtue is open to all men, no matter what their class or condition, because all can be equal in their willingness to give, however unequal they may be in earthly fortune.

-- Pope St. Leo the Great

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Charity is the sweet and holy bond which links the soul with its Creator: it binds God with man and man with God.

-- St. Catherine of Sienna

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Have you begun to stop trying to defend your sins? Then you have made a beginning of righteousness!

-- St. Augustine

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Can you expect to go to heaven for nothing? Did not our Savior track the whole way to it with His tears and blood? And yet you start at every little pain.

-- St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

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God, the Creator of all things, is so full of mercy and compassion that whatever may be the grace for which we stretch out our hands, we shall not fail to receive it.

-- St Bernard

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My last desire, children, is that the love of Our Lord dwell in you so that it will change you into so many apostles, zealous for His glory. You will be the treasure of your families, whom you will make happy by your good conduct.

-- Pope St. Pius X

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What fine edification a soul gives who, when greeted with scorn, answers gently to conciliate the offensive individual; or perhaps makes no reply at all, nor complains to others, but maintains a placid expression and shows no bitterness. We are asserting that because we love God, we will not allow anyone to make us respond to an offense in a non-Christian way.

-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

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He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.

-- St Alphonsus Liguori

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Just as if someone were to twist two pieces of wax together and melt them with a fire, so that the two were made one, so too through particiation in the Body of Christ and in His precious Blood, He is united to us and we to Him. In no other way can our corruptible nature be made alive except by being united bodily to the Body of Him who is, by His very nature, Life: that is the Only-Begotten.

-- St. Cyril of Alexandria

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