
THE WISDOM OF THE SAINTS

A REFERENCE BOOK

BY

Anthony Vincent Bruno
**Con** **tents**

****INTRODUCTION

PROLOGUE

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

PART SEVEN

PART EIGHT

PART NINE

PART TEN

PART ELEVEN

PART TWELVE

PART THIRTEEN

PART FOURTEEN

PART FIFTEEN

PART SIXTEEN

# INTRODUCTION

**If I am not attending mass, I read the online Gospel at**Universalis **and then peruse the daily saints through the**SQPN **site, attended to by Terry Jones. I am indebted to him for the hard work and daily perseverance it must take to collate and propagate the extraordinary lives of some of the most remarkable people who have ever lived. We live in stressful times; words of wisdom and resilient examples of the lives of the saints can have a soothing effect.**

**With this in mind, I** dedicate **this reference book to Terry and thank him for all that he does. It has taken me ten minutes of my day, each day, for the last year, to put together a selection of snippets of wisdom of various Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God so I can only imagine what it is like for Terry. He is a humble soul and is always in my prayers. Whenever I have seen an interesting saint without any words attributed to them, I simply searched the internet for something. So, I cannot claim any credit for this small offering, but I do hope that readers will find something of comfort or value in this collation. Though there are no specific chapters, I have partitioned this work and included a table of contents to make it easier for readers to return to a particular entrant. This reference book was always intended as a pocketbook and an audio book so with that in mind, I have condensed many of the longer passages into shorter sentences.**

Lastly, a brief explanation of the audio edition. You will see the names of two narrators and hear two voices for one intention alone - to separate the segments of dialogue. Otherwise, music or special effects would have been needed for partition sake.

Copyright protected in the selection presented herein.

Anthony Vincent Bruno © 2019

# PART ONE

No one heals himself by wounding another. **Saint Ambrose of Milan.**

Woe to me if I should prove myself but a half-hearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain. **Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen.**

Sin is loving what God hates, and hating what God loves. **Saint Catherine of Siena.**

A chaste man is completely oblivious to the difference between bodies. The rule and limit of absolute chastity is to have the _same feelings_ regarding animate and inanimate beings, rational and irrational. **Saint John Climacus.**

About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter. **Saint Joan of Arc.**

Speak little, listen much. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The nature of water is soft, and the nature of stone is hard; but if a bottle is hung above the stone, allowing the water to fall down drop by drop, it wears away the stone. So it is with the Word of God: it is soft, and our hearts are hard. **Saint Poemen.**

In the royal galley of divine Love, there is no galley slave: all rowers are volunteers. **Saint Francis de Sales**.

Look then on Jesus, the author and preserver of faith: in complete sinlessness He suffered, and at the hands of those who were His own and was numbered among the wicked. As you drink the cup of the Lord Jesus, give thanks to the Lord, the giver of all blessings. **Saint Raymond of Penyafort.**

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The days are coming when men will go mad; and, when they meet a man who has kept his senses, they will rise up against him, saying - "You are mad, because you are not like us." **Saint Anthony Abbot.**

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. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

God's invitation to become saints is for all, not just a few. Sanctity, therefore, must be accessible to all. In what does it consist? In a lot of activity? No. In doing extraordinary things? No, this could not be for everybody and at all times. Therefore, sanctity consists in doing good, and in doing this good in whatever condition and place God has placed us. Nothing more, nothing outside of this. **Blessed Louis Tezza.**

Let me live by love, let me die of love, and let my last heartbeat be an act of the most perfect love. **Saint Marie Victoire Therese Couderc.**

God always gives more than we ask. **Saint Marie Victoire Therese Couderc.**

Nothing wins hearts like cheerfulness. **Saint Dwynwen.**

When the devil wants to attack and harass a man with peculiar bitterness, he prefers to work at night. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' Saul, who became **Saint Paul The Apostle.**

What boundless trust we should have in God's love! We can never love too much; let us give utterly and not count the cost. God will respond to our faith in Him. **Venerable Edel Quinn.**

We must love our neighbour as being made in the image of God and as an object of His love. **Saint Vincent de Paul.**

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it. **Saint Vincent de Paul.**

Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received. On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor **. Saint Vincent de Paul.**

Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself. **Saint John Vianney**

The heart of the meek is the throne on which the Lord reposes **. Saint John Climacus.**

There is no storm worse than calm, and no foe more dangerous than to have no foes. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

You must receive God well; give Him a loving welcome, for then He has to pay us rent. **Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.**

Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself, 'who could be the Master of these beautiful things?' I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage. Death brings us to God! **Saint Josephine Bakhita.**

If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today. **Saint Josephine Bakhita.**

That I will never do, renounce my faith, because I am a Christian, and I shall die for God, and for him, I would give many thousands of lives if I had them. And so, do with me as you please. **Saint Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila.**

It is dangerous to make everybody go forward by the same road; and worse to measure others by oneself. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, _Archangel Michael_ is sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what God does by his superior power. **Pope Saint Gregory the Great.**

_Raphael_ means God's remedy, for when the Archangel touched Tobit's eyes in order to cure him, he banished the darkness of his blindness. Thus, since he is to heal, he is rightly called God's remedy **. Pope Saint Gregory the Great.**

You should be aware that the word "angel" denotes a function rather than a nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels. And so, it was that not merely an angel, but the archangel _Gabriel_ was sent to the Virgin Mary. **Pope Saint Gregory the Great.**

Christians, each one of you must become an artist of souls, and we must paint the beauty of Jesus not on canvas but in souls. And may the paintbrush of the apostolate never fall from our hands **. Blessed Luigi Monza.**

In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat of the scorching sun so that it frightens even the monks that inhabit it, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome. Alone with this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am not now what I then was **. Saint Jerome.**

What _Saint Jerome_ is ignorant of, no man has ever known **. Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

Humility is the mother of all virtues; purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent. If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed, you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint, you will not put yourself on a pedestal **. Saint Teresa of Calcutta.**

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look, turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. **Saint Therese of Lisieux.**

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them. **Saint Therese of Lisieux.**

It ought to be a cause of confusion to us that, being placed on this earth in order to fit ourselves for heaven, we yet think so little of our home, and speak of it so rarely. **Saint Elzear.**

How great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it. **Saint Jerome.**

Those wants which do not come from reason, but from mere sensuality, are manifest signs of the loss of fervour. When the heart begins to grow tepid and draws away from grace, flesh and blood always seek to satisfy themselves. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

We must fear God out of love, not love Him out of fear. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me save that Thou art, Thou my best thought by day or by night; Waking or sleeping Thy presence my light. **Saint Dallan Forghaill.**

Jesus is happy to come with us, as truth is happy to be spoken, as life to be lived, as light to be lit, as love is to be loved, as joy to be given, as peace to be spread. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

If you are asked for anything you think it would be harmful to give, take care, though you refuse what is asked, to retain the asker's friendship. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Praised be my Lord and God, with all His creatures, and especially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and brings us the light; fair is he, and he shines with great splendour. O Lord, he is a sign to us of you! Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, set clear and lovely in the heaven. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

I wish to die a true Dominican tertiary in the arms of the Queen of the Rosary with the assistance of my holy Father Saint Dominic and of my mother Saint Catherine of Siena. **Blessed Bartholomew Longo.**

I was driven out again of my terrestrial paradise and am now in Cumberland with about 60 students and brothers in the house. The difference is very great but there is no paradise on earth. I should have known that long ago and by a longer experience, more so _._ **Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.**

Oh, how great is the goodness of God, greater than we can understand. There are moments and there are mysteries of the Divine Mercy over which the heavens are astounded. Let our judgment of souls cease, for God's mercy upon them is extraordinary. **Saint Faustina Kowalska.**

Man, not having many souls, but only one, ought to take so much the more care of it. S **aint Francis of Assisi.**

Rejoice, my dearest brothers, because you are blessed and because of the bountiful hand of God's grace upon you. Rejoice, because you have escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world. Rejoice because you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbour. Many wish to come into this port, and many make great efforts to do so, yet do not achieve it. **Saint Bruno.**

# PART TWO

Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood. **Pope Saint John XXIII.**

Nothing delights me so much as the remembrance of the life and Passion of our Lord, which occupies me continually; and were I to live till the end of the world, I should still have need of no other book. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Nothing is more certain than death and nothing more uncertain than the day and hour of our death. The great folly of worldlings consists in putting the thought of death far from them and acting as if they were to live forever. **Saint Anthony of Padua.**

Let us beware of the malice of Satan, who wishes to prevent man from keeping his heart and mind raised to God; but goes about trying to seduce the heart of man by the love of pleasure or of some worldly advantage, and thus seeks to efface from his mind the remembrance of God's Word and Commandments, and to blind his heart with worldly cares and anxieties, so that he himself may dwell there **. Saint Francis of Assisi.**

God, deliver me from sullen saints. **Saint Teresa of Avila.**

Know that even when you are in the kitchen, our Lord moves amidst the pots and pans. **Saint Teresa of Avila.**

Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value. **Saint Teresa of Avila.**

There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world **. Saint Teresa of Avila.**

We need no wings to go in search of Him but have only to look upon Him present within us **. Saint Teresa of Avila.**

Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid. _All things pass away._ God never changes. Patience obtains everything. God alone is enough. **Saint Teresa of Avila.**

Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end. **Saint Teresa of Avila.**

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one **. Saint Teresa of Avila.**

It is a constancy God wants. **Venerable Matt Talbot.**

Never be too hard on the man who can't give up (alcoholic) drink. It's as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for Our Lord. We have only to depend on him. **Venerable Matt Talbot.**

In all undertakings, whether spiritual or temporal, do your own part, let God do His, and keep yourself in peace. **Saint Joseph of Cupertino.**

The Most Blessed Sacrament is Christ made visible. The poor sick person is Christ again made visible. **Saint Gerard Majella.**

I see in my neighbour the Person of Jesus Christ. **Saint Gerard Majella.**

Consider the shortness of time, the length of eternity and reflect how everything here below comes to an end and passes by. Of what use is it to lean upon that which cannot give support? **Saint Gerard Majella**.

Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart? **Saint Gerard Majella.**

Let us try which of us can love most ardently Jesus Christ, the Spouse of our souls, and which of us will show Him today the strongest proofs of love. **Saint Francis Solano.**

What a weakness it is to love Jesus Christ only when He caresses us, and to be cold immediately once He afflicts us. This is not true love. Those who love thus, love themselves too much to love God with all their heart. **Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.**

But above all, preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it, there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the divine heart. **Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.**

Ask for me this only in your prayers, that strength may be given me of the Lord that I may not be called but proved to be a Christian. Then shall I be seen to be faithful when the world no longer sees me. For nothing that appeareth is eternal. For the things which are perceived are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. **Saint Ignatius of Antioch.**

Every Christian is obliged to believe and obey blindly all that the Church teaches, to receive it with all possible respect; and no one must forget the obedience and submission due to the Sovereign Pontiff in all that he commands. **Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds.**

My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing His designs. Our single endeavour should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to Him, and not to spoil His work by our shortcomings. **Saint Isaac Jogues.**

He does much in the sight of God who does his best, be it ever so little. **Saint Peter of Alcantara.**

No tongue can express the greatness of the love which Jesus Christ bears to our souls. He did not wish that between Him and His servants there should be any other pledge than himself, to keep alive the remembrance of Him. **Saint Peter of Alcantara.**

Remember that the time of labour and suffering is short, and that, on the contrary, the reward which awaits us is eternal. **Saint Clare of Assisi.**

It is very good and holy to consider the passion of our Lord and to meditate on it, for by this sacred path we reach union with God. In this most holy school we learn true wisdom, for it was there that all the saints learned it. Therefore, be constant in practicing every virtue, and especially in imitating the patience of our dear Jesus, for this is the summit of pure love. Conceal yourselves in Jesus crucified, and hope for nothing except that all men be thoroughly converted to His will. **Saint Paul of the Cross.**

In order to defeat evil with good, in order to preserve the dignity of man, one must not use violence. It is the person who has failed to win on the strength of his heart and his reason, who tries to win by force. Let us pray that we be free from fear and intimidation, but above all from the lusts for revenge and violence. **Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko.**

Whatsoever is not God, is nothing. **Saint Frideswide.**

Have always before your eyes the road of humility, poverty, and crosses, into which our Divine Lord has led us. If it became His most Holy Majesty so to suffer and enter into His glory, with how much greater reason should we, miserable sinners, tread the path of crosses and suffering. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

I strive always in all things to understand as clearly as possible and follow the will of God, and this in the most perfect way. **Blessed Charles of Austria.**

God is always on the side of the suffering. His omnipotence is manifested precisely in the fact that He freely accepted suffering. He could have chosen not to do so. He could have chosen to demonstrate His omnipotence even at the moment of the crucifixion. **Pope Saint John Paul II.**

Only God saves, and He saves the whole of humanity in Christ. **Pope Saint John Paul II.**

What emanates from the figure of Saint Joseph is faith . . . Joseph of Nazareth is a "just man" because he totally "lives by faith." He is holy because his faith is truly heroic. Sacred Scripture says little of him. It does not record even one word spoken by Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. And yet, even without words, he shows the depth of his faith, his greatness. Saint Joseph is a man of great spirit. He is great in faith, not because he speaks his own words, but above all because he listens to the words of the Living God. He listens in silence. **Pope Saint John Paul II.**

The New Covenant has its roots in the old. The time when the people of the Old Covenant will be able to see themselves as part of the New is a question to be left to the Holy Spirit. We, as human beings, try only not to put obstacles in the way. Forgive us, Lord, when we fail to foster genuine understanding between Christians and Jews. **Pope Saint John Paul II.**

Many people today are disoriented and lost in search of genuine fellowship. Often their lives are either too superficial or shattered by brokenness. Their work often is dehumanizing. They long for an experience of genuine encounter with others, for true fellowship. Well, is this not precisely the vocation of a parish? You are not a Christian all by yourself. To be a Christian means to believe and to live one's faith together with others. For we are all members of the body of Christ. **Pope Saint John Paul II.**

Those who are called to the table of the Lord must glow with the brightness that comes from the good example of a praiseworthy and blameless life. They must completely remove from their lives the filth and uncleanness of vice. Their upright lives must make them like the salt of the earth for themselves and for the rest of mankind. The brightness of their wisdom must make them like the light of the world that brings light to others. **Saint John of Capistrano.**

I recommend to all of my brothers and sisters that they serve God faithfully. Granted, it is sometimes difficult to resist evil and remain virtuous. But with the grace of God that we obtain from prayer we can do anything. All we have to do is to will it. **Blessed Arnold Reche.**

God, it is your word spoken to us in our midst, which binds us to those who have gone before us and to those who are yet to be born. We do not stand alone, but in a history, with men and women like ourselves who have heard your word and said "Yes" to your call. It is You who gives us power to hear when you speak to us, it is You who make it possible for us to speak to You in return. **Blessed Arnold Reche.**

Father, enable our minds to rise to your ineffable dwelling place. Let us find the light and direct the eyes of our soul to You. Dispel the mists and the opaqueness of the earthly mass and shine out with Your splendour. You are the serene and tranquil abode of those who persevere in their goal of seeing You. You are at the same time the beginning, the vehicle, the guide, the way and the goal. Amen. **Saint Severinus Boethius.**

Driven by the fire of the Holy Spirit, the holy apostles travelled throughout the earth. Inflamed with the same fire, apostolic missionaries have reached, are now reaching, and will continue to reach the ends of the earth, from one pole to the other, in order to proclaim the word of God. The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he deserves and works with all this strength to inflame all men with the fire of God's love. Nothing deters him: he rejoices in poverty; he labours strenuously; he welcomes hardships; he laughs off false accusations; he rejoices in anguish. He thinks only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and imitate Him by his prayers, his labours, his sufferings, and by caring always and only for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. S **aint Anthony Mary Claret.**

O my Jesus, draw me entirely to you. Draw me with all the love of my heart. If I knew that one fibre of my heart did not palpitate for you, I would tear it out at any cost. But I know that I could not speak without your help. Draw me, O my Jesus, draw me completely. I know it well; my heart cannot rest until it rests in your heart. **Saint Luigi.**

There is need of living well, but there is even more need of dying well. A good death is everything, especially today where people think only of things and enjoyment here on earth, rejecting eternity. **Saint Luigi.**

We may never make the church into a hallway, or a courtyard or highway, or a public square. **Saint Luigi.**

We pray to you, O Lord, who are the supreme Truth, and all truth is from You. We beseech you, O Lord, who are the highest Wisdom, and all the wise depend on You for their wisdom. You are the supreme Joy, and all who are happy owe it to You. You are the Light of minds, and all receive their understanding from You. We love, we love You above all. We seek You; we follow You, and we are ready to serve You. We desire to dwell under Your power for You are the King of all. **Saint Alfred the Great.**

Let us kindle the love of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the hearts of all people. **Saint Gaetano.**

"Died in the peace of the Catholic faith. My life had been Christ, and death was my gain. I am expecting the mercy of the Lord and undivided, complete, eternal possession of the most Holy Heart of Jesus. Happy in peace and joy. My soul is reaching the goal for which it had been created." __ A testament he wrote just before his death; today it serves as the epitaph on his tomb. **Blessed Ivan Merz.**

Can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die? **Blessed Imelda Lambertini.**

When we show reverence to representations of Jesus Christ, we do not worship paint laid on wood: we worship the invisible God in spirit and in truth. **Saint Germanus of Constantinople.** **  
**

# PART THREE

The more virtue a man possesses the more he will be tempted, and the greater hatred must he have for vice. The more vices you conquer the more virtues you acquire. **Blessed Egidius of Assisi.**

The more a man esteems himself the less he is pleasing in the sight of God, and he is dear to God in proportion to his contempt for himself. **Saint Bernardine of Siena.**

My hope is the Father, my refuge is the Son, my shelter is the Holy Spirit, O Holy Trinity, Glory to You. **Saint Joannicus of Mount Olympus.**

The soul is simple, invisible, incorporeal, not divided into parts like the body, present as a whole in whatever she does. The soul is not in a particular place. As God is everywhere, so the soul is everywhere in the body, more powerfully in heart and brain, as one says that God is in a special way in heaven. **Saint Alphais of Cudot.**

If we wish to make any progress in the service of God, we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honour. **Saint Charles Borromeo.**

I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. If a tiny spark of God's love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men. **Saint Charles Borromeo.**

My sons, why do you stand idle? Do you not know that the Lord Jesus Christ has sent and guided us here for the benefit of this country? For this is a virgin land. Now it is time for you to go away separately and strengthen our brethren to walk in Christ's ways. **Saint John Zedazneli.**

Be patient in tribulation, humble in prosperity, and so you will always triumph. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Christ is in all things. **Saint Guido Maria Conforti.**

Watch above all over the purity of your heart and senses. Indulge in no too intimate friendships but live on good terms with all. **Saint Bonaventure.**

A fall follows an exaltation; a snare attends on praise; while in humility there is great profit for the soul. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Be loyal to the Lord, accept His will. **Saint Peter Ou.**

'Heaven, heaven, my true home! I see my heavenly Mother and my guardian angel coming to take me home.' Dying words. **Saint Peter Ou.**

In the service of God, the higher one mounts the higher grow his aspirations; and the more one learns of the greatness of God the more one despises the things of the world. **Saint Joseph of Cupertino.**

I am going to Light, to Love, to Life! Dying words. **Saint** **Elizabeth of the Trinity.**

Make a little cell in your heart for Jesus of the Agony; take refuge there, when you hear Him outraged by men, try to make reparation. You, at least, love Him and keep your heart quite pure for Him. Oh! If you only knew how the good God loves pure hearts! It is there that He loves to reign. **Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity.**

A true servant of God, while fostering in his heart regret for his faults, should show outwardly great spiritual joy. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

If you desire salvation, seek not for consolation from any creature on earth. Falls arising from these consolations are more serious and more frequent than those which happen through afflictions **. Blessed Egidius of Assisi.**

Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no conflict without an enemy, no victory without strife. **Pope Saint Leo the Great.**

God decreed that all nations should be saved in Christ. Dear friends, now that we have received instruction in this revelation of God's grace, let us celebrate with spiritual joy the day of our first harvesting, of the first calling of the Gentiles. Let us give thanks to the merciful God, "who has made us worthy," in the words of the Apostle, "to share the position of the saints in light; who has rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son." **Pope Saint Leo the Great.**

One cannot separate the most Holy Eucharist from the Passion of Jesus **. Saint Andrew Avellino.**

Better for a spiritual man to suffer cold in his flesh than feel in his soul the least heat of impure passion. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord. **Saint Martin of Tours.**

If we are able to enter the church day and night and implore God to hear our prayers, how careful we should be to hear and grant the petitions of our neighbour in need. **Saint John the Almoner.**

You people of Vitebsk want to put me to death. You make ambushes for me everywhere, in the streets, on the bridges, on the highways, and in the marketplace. I am here among you as a shepherd, and you ought to know that I would be happy to give my life for you. I am ready to die for the holy union, for the supremacy of Saint Peter, and of his successor the Supreme Pontiff. **Saint Josaphat.**

All is too little for the Lord. **Saint Agostina Petrantoni.**

We will lie down for such a long time after death that it is worthwhile to keep standing while we are alive. Let us work now; one day we will rest. **Saint Agostina Petrantoni.**

Bodily ailments are ordained by Divine Providence to strengthen the health of the soul. God sends them to us that we may detach ourselves from the world. Remember we are mortal, and so withdraw from the dissipation of the world to thoughts more useful and holy. **Saint Leonard of Port Maurice.**

The more vice a man feels within himself, so much the more should he speak of virtue. By often conversing on virtue one turns to it more easily, and its practice is greatly facilitated. **Blessed Egidius of Assisi.**

It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. **Saint Albert the Great.**

"Do this in remembrance of me." Two things should be noted here. The first is the command that we should use this sacrament, which is indicated when Jesus says - "Do this." The second is that this sacrament commemorates the Lord's going to death for our sake. This sacrament is profitable because it grants remission of sins; it is most useful because it bestows the fullness of grace on us in this life. **Saint Albert the Great.**

Our Redeemer, ever present in the most Blessed Sacrament, extends His hand to everyone. He opens His heart and says - "Come to Me, all of You." **Saint Raphael Kalinowski.**

We never renounce the world as long as we keep in our hearts the dangerous treasure of self-will. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Your generous care for your daughter has been rich in mercy; indeed, it has been immeasurable, and as far as I am able, I give You thanks. I praise and glorify Your great patience which bore with me even though, from my infancy and childhood, adolescence and early womanhood, until I was nearly 26, I was always so blindly irresponsible. Looking back, I see that but for Your protecting hand I would have been quite without conscience in thought, word or deed. Finally, You drew me to yourself by Your faithful promises of the good things You would give me from the hour of my death. **Saint Gertrude the Great.**

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life, Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary. O my adorable and loving Saviour, consume my heart with the burning fire with which Yours is aflame. May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions. **Saint Gertrude the Great.**

I have sought nothing else but You, O God. **Saint Edmund Rich.**

There is more virtue in bearing an injury without complaining than in great almsgiving or an austere fast. **Blessed Egidius.**

Men ask of God gifts without end or limit, and yet they serve Him in a very limited way. He who would be recompensed endlessly and without limit must love without limit and without end. **Blessed Egidius.**

Let those who know of some fault in a brother not humble him, or even speak of it, but let them rather have compassion on him and hide his sin; for "he that is well needs not a physician, but rather he that is sick." **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

I want to become a saint, cost what it may, living my life in accordance with the two cornerstones of Christianity: prayer and self-discipline. **Blessed Tommaso Reggio.**

Happy he who keeps in chains the enemy God has delivered up to him, viz, his body, and who is wise enough to be on his guard against it; for as long as he acts in this manner no enemy is strong enough to harm him. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

All we Irish dwelling on the edge of the world are disciples of Saints Peter and Paul and of the disciples who, under the Holy Spirit, wrote the Sacred Canon. We accept nothing outside this evangelical and apostolic teaching. **Saint Columbanus.**

Charity unites us to God. There is nothing mean in charity, nothing arrogant. Charity knows no schism, does not rebel, does all things in concord. In charity all the elect of God have been made perfect. **Pope Saint Clement I.**

Let us fix our gaze on the blood of Christ, realizing how precious it is to His Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world. **Pope Saint Clement I.**

We ought to speak, shout out against injustices, with confidence and without fear. We proclaim the principles of the Church, the reign of love, without forgetting that it is also a reign of justice. **Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro.**

There is no man, however coldly disposed towards God, who, invoking the name of Mary with a firm resolution not to sin again, will not be forever delivered from the tyranny of the devil, unless he again entertain the thought of sinning mortally. **Saint Bridget.**

We have promised great things, but greater are promised us. Let us observe the former and sigh after the latter. Pleasure is short, chastisement eternal. We must suffer a little to arrive at infinite glory. Many are called, but few chosen, and all will be rewarded according to their works. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Charity is a fire; but three things can extinguish it: the wind of pride, the water of gluttony and luxury, and the thick smoke of avarice. **Saint Anthony of Padua.**

Watch the little things. He who grows careless in little things, little by little falls. He who does not push himself to make progress, goes backward. **Blessed John of Vercelli.**

As soon as I believed there was a God, I understood I could do nothing else but live for Him, my religious vocation dates from the same moment as my faith: God is so great. There is such a difference between God and everything that is not. **Blessed Charles de Foucauld.**

I wish to be buried in the place where I die and to remain there until the Resurrection. I forbid that my body be transported elsewhere, that I be taken from the spot where the Good Lord has had me finish my pilgrimage. **Blessed Charles de Foucauld.**

As to the treasons which have been laid to my charge, and for which I come here to suffer, I desire you all to bear witness with me that I am thereto altogether innocent. I am a Catholic man and a priest; in that Faith I have lived, and in that Faith do I intend to die. If you esteem my Religion treason, then I am guilty; as for the other treason, I never committed any, God is my judge. **Saint Edmund Campion.**

'In condemning me, you condemn all your own ancestors, all our ancient bishops and kings, all that was once the glory of England — the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter.' Words addressed to the Protestant court of Elizabeth I after his death sentence was announced. **Saint Edmund Campion.**

Consider the shortness of time, the length of eternity, and reflect how everything here below comes to an end and passes by. Of what use is it to lean upon that which cannot give support? **Saint Gerard Majella.**

Where I assert that we are one in God, I must be understood in this sense that we are one in love. **Blessed John van Ruysbroeck.**

It is not the actual physical exertion that counts towards a man's progress, nor the nature of the task, but by the spirit of faith with which it is undertaken. **Saint Francis Xavier.**

The best way to acquire true dignity is to wash one's own clothes and boil one's own pot. **Saint Francis Xavier.**

Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips, and the world in your hearts. **Saint Ignatius of Antioch.  
**

# PART FOUR

Be living Gospels. **Saint Giovanni Calabria.**

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

When tempted, invoke your Angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him; he trembles and flees at the sight of your Guardian Angel. **Saint John Bosco.**

Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you, for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart. The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us . . . that is all He asks. **Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.**

Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies. **Saint Ambrose of Milan.**

But if these beings (angels) guard you, they do so because they have been summoned by your prayers. **Saint Ambrose of Milan.**

The Church of the Lord is built upon the rock of the apostles among so many dangers in the world; it therefore remains unmoved. The Church's foundation is unshakable and firm against assaults of the raging sea. Waves lash at the Church but do not shatter it. Although the elements of this world constantly beat upon the Church with crashing sounds, the Church possesses the safest harbour of salvation for all in distress. **Saint Ambrose of Milan.**

There is a stream which flows down on God's saints like a torrent. There is also a rushing river giving joy to the heart that is at peace and makes for peace. **Saint Ambrose of Milan.**

He who reads much and understands much, receives his fill. He who is full, refreshes others. So, Scripture says: "If the clouds are full, they will pour rain upon the earth." **Saint Ambrose of Milan.**

To avoid dissensions. we should be ever on our guard, more especially with those who drive us to argue with them, with those who vex and irritate us, and who say things likely to excite us to anger. When we find ourselves in company with quarrelsome, eccentric individuals, people who openly and unblushingly say the most shocking things, difficult to put up with, we should take refuge in silence, and the wisest plan is not to reply to people whose behaviour is so preposterous. **Saint Ambrose of Milan.**

The hands should be at work, the heart with God. **Saint Mary Joseph Rosello.**

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. **Pope Saint Leo the Great.**

God gave us life by suffering death, so we cannot keep this life except by dying to ourselves; and since our reward is to be eternal, why fear constant suffering on earth? **Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen.**

The greater is the function of those who guard the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord, who receive It themselves, and communicate It to others, the greater is also the sin of those who speak against them. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

Those whose hearts are pure are temples of the Holy Spirit. **Saint Lucy of Syracuse.**

Be patient in tribulation, watchful in prayer, strenuous in labours, modest in speech, grave in manners, and grateful for benefits, because for all these things God has prepared for you an eternal kingdom. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

At the end of your life, you will be judged by your love. **Saint John of the Cross.**

If you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection. **Saint John of the Cross.**

In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing. Nothing wearies it by elation, and nothing oppresses it by dejection, because it stands in the centre of its own humility. **Saint John of the Cross.**

Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. **Saint John of the Cross.**

Charity loves submission and self-abasement. She seeks the common good and the advantages of many, not her own convenience. **Saint Bernardine of Siena.**

Do your best and pray fervently to obtain the capacities you still lack. **Blessed Marie Poussepin.**

However wise a man may be, he should always seek counsel and direction from the ministers of God. **Saint Anthony of Padua.**

Whoever would draw us from humility, no matter under what pretence, is a ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing, ready to devour in a moment what has cost us so much time and trouble to obtain. **Saint Peter of Alcantara.**

May Jesus Christ, and His holy Mother, whom I serve, drive out those wolves who rage violently in the slaughter of men. **Saint Maurice of Carnoet.**

Jesus strip me of myself, let me be wrapped in You. Jesus, I live for You, and I die for You. **Blessed Giulia Valle.**

Keep a quick pace, without looking behind and concentrate on the one goal: God Alone! To Him the glory, to the others joy, for me to pay the price, never make others suffer. I shall be very strict with myself and full of charity towards the others: love gratuitously offered is the only thing that remains. **Blessed Giulia Valle.**

We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble. **Saint Teresa of Ávila.**

The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself. **Saint Peter of Alcantara.**

Crosses, contempt, sorrows and afflictions are the real treasures of the lovers of Jesus Christ crucified. **Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.**

If you have too much to do, with God's help you will find time to do it all. **Saint Peter Canisius.**

Let us pray the gracious defender of our life, the only sure refuge of those in trouble, that His right hand may keep us safe amidst these dens of wolves, and that He may guard us from harm, so that the footsteps of apostates walking in darkness may not be found, where should be the beautiful feet of those who carry the peaceful light of the gospel, but that the most gracious Father and God may help us to gird up our loins, with bright candles in our hands, and that He may enlighten the hearts of the heathen to gaze at the glorious gospel of Christ. **Saint Boniface.**

How few people realize what God would do for them if they were to give themselves up wholly into His hands! **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

To educate the children well, we must love them, and love them all equally. **Saint Marcellin-Joseph-Benoît Champagnat.**

I can never see a child without wanting to tell him, or her, how much Jesus Christ loves them. **Saint Marcellin-Joseph-Benoît Champagnat.**

To make Jesus Christ known and loved - this is the whole aim of your vocation and the objective of the Institute. **Saint Marcellin-Joseph-Benoît Champagnat.**

My Druid is Christ, the son of God, Christ, Son of Mary, the Great Abbot, The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. **Saint Columba of Iona.**

Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit and raises man to Heaven. **Saint Ephrem of Syria.**

Lord, shed upon our darkened souls the brilliant light of Your wisdom so that we may be enlightened and serve You with renewed purity. Sunrise marks the hour for men to begin their toil, but in our souls, Lord, prepare a dwelling for the day that will never end. **Saint Ephrem of Syria.**

The shortest - almost the only - path to salvation is to turn resolutely away from everything that the world loves and cleaves to. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

O My Divine Eucharist, my dear Hope, all our hope is in You. Ever since I was a baby my hope in the Holy Eucharist has been strong. **Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist.**

Which hymn would we not sing in obedience to this Divine Sacrament? And what is the obedience of Jesus of Nazareth compared with His obedience in this Sacrament for two thousand years? **Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist.**

I ask my Jesus to be a guardian of all the tabernacles of the world, until the end of time. **Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist.**

If You speak to me of obedience and poverty, what a spell of purity You have over me just by Your glance. Lord, if Your home is in pure souls, who is the soul that relating with You does not become such? **Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist.**

I want to be like Mary, to be Mary for Jesus, to take the place of His Mother. When I receive Jesus in Communion, Mary is always present. I want to receive Jesus from her hands, she must make me one with Him. I cannot separate Mary from Jesus. Hail, O Body born of Mary. Hail Mary, dawn of the Eucharist! **Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist.**

'Lord, I am ready, let us go.' Last conscious words spoken. **Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini.**

What are these few orphans we attend to, these few people we bring the good news to, compared to the millions who are lost and abandoned as sheep without a shepherd? I looked for an answer and I found a complete one in the words of Jesus: "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to gather His harvest." I concluded then that I had found the secret key to all good works and to the salvation of all souls. **Saint Hannibal Mary di Francia.**

The entire Church must formally pray for vocations because the purpose of the prayer to gain vocations must concern all the faithful, every Christian who has at heart the good of souls and, in a particular way, the Bishops who are the shepherds of the spiritual flock and to whom souls are entrusted. They are the living Apostles of Jesus Christ today. **Saint Hannibal Mary di Francia.**

You cannot speak of the things of God to any man, even the worst, without his gaining much profit thereby. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

When everything goes favourably, beware lest all is not so well as it might be with the service of God. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

As we have made a bad use of the powers of our body and mind in acting against God's law, so, now that by penance we have been restored to grace, let us use the same powers to amend our lives. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'To Heaven!' Dying words. **Saint Francis Caracciolo.**

You cannot deny that you know that in the city of Rome upon Peter, first the chair of the bishop was conferred, in which sat the head of all the Apostles, Peter, whence also he was called Cephas, in which one chair unity should be preserved by all, lest the other Apostles should each stand up for his own chair, so that now he should be a schismatic and a sinner who should against this one chair set up another. **Saint Optatus of Milevis.**

They who, though they indeed do what their superiors order, yet do it unwillingly and without interior consent, are to be numbered with the vilest slaves. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

# PART FIVE

We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone. **Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.**

The Lord who made the beginning, will take care of the finish. **Saint John of Capistrano.**

Fight all error, but do it with good humour, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause. **Saint John of Kanty.**

Thy threats do not terrify us, for Christ is our life, and death is our gain. Thy rank and possessions are nought to us, for we have long before this sacrificed the like for the sake of Christ and rejoice in what we have done. If thou shouldst acknowledge and love Christ thou wouldst give not only all the treasures of this life, but even the glory of thy crown itself in order through the exercise of compassion to win eternal life. **Saints Crispin and Crispinian.**

Great holiness consists in carrying out the little duties of each moment. **Saint Jose María Escrivá.**

At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping. Close to Jesus to the last. Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing. **Blessed Jacopone da Todi.**

The devotion to the most holy rosary is powerful enough to transmit all graces and, as we are aware from experience, it has proven to be a remedy during times of war, plagues, hunger and other calamities; in addition, those who have been troubled in body and soul, if they had recourse to the rosary, always received consolation. **Saint Anthony Mary Claret.**

My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together. **Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe.**

Ever since the year 1208, during which the glorious _Saint Dominic_ taught people to pray the rosary daily, there has not been a saint nor any person distinguished for learning and virtue, nor an observant religious community, nor a well-ordered seminary, which has not had the devotion to the rosary. **Saint Anthony Mary Claret.**

I am grateful to you for the love you have given me. My dear Jesus, I place this love into Your hands: keep it chaste and bless it so that it may always be rooted in You. And increase in me my love for You. I know that if I love You, I can never get lost. If I want to be Yours with all my heart, you will never let me stray from You. **Blessed Sára Salkaházi.**

I want to follow You wherever You take me, freely, willingly, joyfully. Break my will! Let Your will reign in me! I do not want to make my own plans. Let Your will be done in me and through me. No matter how hard it might be, I want to love Your will! I want to be one with You, my Beloved, my Spouse. **Blessed Sára Salkaházi.**

When people love and recite the rosary, they find it makes them better. **Saint Anthony Mary Claret.**

It is dangerous for men in power if no one dares to tell them when they go wrong. **Saint Thomas Beckett.**

For our sake Christ offered himself to the Father upon the altar of the cross. He now looks down from heaven on our actions and secret thoughts, and one day He will give each of us the reward our deeds deserve. The Roman Church remains the head of all the churches and the source of Catholic teaching. Of this there can be no doubt. Everyone knows that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to Peter. **Saint Thomas Beckett.**

I will be kind to everybody, particularly to those whom I find troublesome. S **aint Anthony Mary Claret.**

Live in abandonment to God and in the hands of Mary Immaculate. **Blessed Eugenia Ravasco.**

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal. **Pope Saint John Paul II.**

The spiritual building up of the body of Christ is achieved through love. As Saint Peter says: "Like living stones you are built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." **Saint Fulgentius Ruspe.**

'See you in God's kingdom.' Final words before Dachau death. **Blessed Marian Konopinski.**

The bread which you use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit. **Saint Basil the Great.**

Let us raise ourselves from our fall and not give up hope as long as we are free from sin. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. The Word calls us to repentance, crying out: "Come to me, all you who labour and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you" (Matthew 11:28). There is, then, a way to salvation if we are willing to follow it. **Saint Basil the Great.**

Envy is a gnawing pain which springs from the success and prosperity of another; and this is the reason why the envious are never exempt from trouble and vexation. If an abundant harvest fills the granaries of a neighbour, if success crowns his efforts, the envious man is chagrined and sad. As the shadow ever accompanies the pedestrian when walking in the sun, so envy throws its shadow on those who are successful in the world. **Saint Basil the Great.**

God accepts our desires as though they were of great value. He longs ardently for us to desire and love Him. He accepts our petitions for benefits as though we were doing Him a favour. His joy in giving is greater than ours in receiving. So, let us not be apathetic in our asking, nor set too narrow bounds to our requests; nor ask for frivolous things unworthy of God's greatness. **Saint Gregory Nazianzen.**

Let us not esteem worldly prosperity or adversity as things real or of any moment, but let us live elsewhere, and raise all our attention to Heaven; esteeming sin as the only true evil, and nothing truly good, but virtue which unites us to God. **Saint Gregory Nazianzen.**

We must pray without ceasing, in every occurrence and employment of our lives - that prayer which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in constant communication with Him. **Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.**

God presents himself in the inmost depths of my soul. **Saint Angela of Foligno.**

What I wish above all is, that you busy yourselves in the pure love of Jesus Christ, in the desire for His glory, and the salvation of souls which He has so dearly purchased. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

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 neighbour as ourselves. **Saint Charles of Sezze.**

I loved freedom of heart very much and worked and am working to achieve it fully. It does the soul so much good that every effort is nothing compared with this free condition of the heart. Even if I must suffer greatly, thanks be to God's mercy, I will not lack courage. **Saint Genoveva Torres Morales.**

Most Holy Virgin Mary; Oh, my Mother! How sweet it is to come to thy feet, imploring thy perpetual help! If earthly mothers cease not to remember their children, how canst thou, the most loving of all mothers, forget me? Grant then, to me, I implore thee, thy perpetual help in all my necessities, in every sorrow, and especially in all my temptations. **Saint Charles of Mount Argos.**

Since every man of whatever race is endowed with the dignity of a person, he has an inalienable right to an education corresponding to his proper destiny and suited to his native talents, his cultural background, and his ancestral heritage. At the same time, this education should pave the way to brotherly association with other peoples, so that genuine unity and peace on earth may be promoted. **Saint John Neumann.**

A man must always be ready, for death comes when and where God wills it. **Saint John Neumann.**

The Holy Eucharist is the perfect expression of the love of Jesus Christ for man, since It is the quintessence of all the mysteries of His Life. **Saint Peter Julian Eymard.**

He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant. **Saint Peter Julian Eymard.**

How kind is our Sacramental Jesus! He welcomes you at any hour of the day or night. His Love never knows rest. He is always most gentle towards you. When you visit Him, He forgets your sins and speaks only of His joy, His tenderness, and His Love. By the reception He gives to you, one would think He has need of you to make Him happy. **Saint Peter Julian Eymard.**

Do everything you do without expecting praise: but let everything you do be such as cannot justly be blamed. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

In particular, do not embark on affairs of public interest, which will be open to the observation and criticism of the many, unless you foresee a way of bringing them to a successful conclusion. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Man is a beggar who needs to ask God for everything. If people would do for God what they do for the world, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven. **Saint John Vianney.**

You either belong wholly to the world or wholly to God. I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the Cross than in serving the world and its pleasures. You cannot please both God and the world at the same time. They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions. **Saint John Vianney.**

'At every step I feel the power of God. Wherever I am, whatever happens to me I am in the hands of Divine Providence which watches over nations and over every individual!' From a letter to his parents from the Auschwitz concentration camp. **Blessed Jozef Kowalski.**

Nothing makes religious people more contemptible in the world's eyes than to see them divided into parties and sects among themselves. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

That which God commands seems difficult and a burden. The way is rough; you draw back; you have no desire to follow it. Yet do so and you will attain glory. **Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria.**

To seek to bring all men to salvation by one road is very dangerous. He who does so fails to understand how many and various the gifts of the Holy Ghost are. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

How greatly mistaken are those who, while thinking themselves to be full of the spirit, are eager for the government of souls! **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Be humble. Trust always and a great deal in divine Providence; never must you let yourselves be discouraged, despite contrary winds. I say it again: trust in God and Mary Immaculate; be faithful and forge ahead! **Saint Paulina do Coração Agonizante de Jesus.**

'I choose You alone as my spouse, I will love only You.' Chastity vow. **Blessed Marija Petkovic.**

The presence of God is so intimate to me that it seems impossible for me to lose it; and such presence gives my soul a joy which I cannot describe. **Saint Paulina do Coração Agonizante de Jesus.**

Love infinitely the most sweet Lord Jesus Christ; do everything for Him alone and spend your life in works of mercy and of love. **Blessed Marija Petkovic.**

'Praised be Jesus Christ; we'll see each other in heaven.' Last words spoken in Dachau concentration camp. **Blessed Fidelis Jerome Chojnacki.**

# PART SIX

Nothing worthy of God can be done without earth being set in uproar and hell's legions roused. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

We therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to the study of divine truths. For this all the saints affected solitude and retreats from the noise and hurry of the world, as much as their circumstances allowed them. **Saint Apollinaris.**

You must strive much harder to tame the inner than the outer man, to break the spirit than the bones. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Let us establish a permanent Spring season in our heart through 'yes' often repeated to all of God's permissions and wills. **Saint Francisca Salesia.**

It is God's habit of His goodness to defend most skilfully what the devil attacks most bitterly. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Charity and kindness unwedded to truth are not charity and kindness, but deceit and vanity. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

One who speaks the word of God to others ought not aim at vaunting his own knowledge but at discerning how he can build up his hearers. And with a motherly compassion for weaker minds he ought, I might say, prattle to them, descending to the use of baby talk. But the limit of my gifts make it necessary that my hearers stoop down to the poverty of my words. **Saint Aelred of Rievaulx.**

Our Lady's love is like a stream that has its source in the Eternal Fountains, quenches the thirst of all, can never be drained, and ever flows back to its Source. **Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys.**

To those who wish to stand in God's grace, neither the guardianship of saints nor the defences of angels are wanting. **Saint Hilary of Poitiers.**

When I look at your heavens, according to my own lights, with these weak eyes of mine, I am certain with reservation that they are your heavens. The stars circle in the heavens, reappear year after year, each with a function and service to fulfil. And though I do not understand them, I know that you, O God, are in them. **Saint Hilary of Poitiers.**

Lord, I pray Thee let not my weakness distract me, but let my speech be of that alone in which the salvation of my soul consists; and let me never break forth to that degree both of folly and wickedness, as to wish to be a judge of Thy omnipotence, and of Thy sacraments; and suffer me not to exalt my weak opinion above either the divine determination of Thy infinity, or that belief of Thy eternity which has been revealed to me. **Saint Hilary of Poitiers.**

Little children follow and obey their father. They love their mother. They know nothing of covetousness, ill-will, bad temper, arrogance and lying. This state of mind opens the road to heaven. To imitate our Lord's own humility, we must return to the simplicity of God's little ones. **Saint Hilary of Poitiers.**

Having left everything is not worth much if holiness is wanting in one's religious life. I abandon myself in everything and everywhere to Divine Providence. Let us adore the will of the Lord. **Blessed Francesco Maria Greco.**

May the will of God be wrought in all of us and let Him do unto us all as seems to Him best, according to His perfect knowledge. **Saint Kentigern.**

We, Catholic workers, strongly and clearly reject National Socialism (Nazism), not only for political and economic reasons, but also, decidedly, because of our religious and cultural position. The majority of great enterprises result from daily fulfilment of one's duty in small, everyday things. What is valuable in the doing is our special love for the poor and the sick. **Blessed Nikolaus Gross.**

Lord be merciful now that my life is approaching its end, and the evening awaits me. There is not enough time for me to cleanse myself of my sins, for they are so many. Heal me while I am still on earth, and I shall be truly healthy. In your mercy, move me to repent so that I shall not be ashamed when I meet you in heaven. **Saint Macarius of Egypt.**

It would indeed be a great miracle if God left destitute of His help those who for the sake of his love have given up the power to help themselves. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The Holy Spirit taught me to adore, praise, bless and give thanks to Jesus in the tabernacle at all times, even at work and in real life. **Blessed Verena Bütler.**

My guide, my star, is the Gospel. **Blessed Verena Bütler.**

In the morning, at the height of my powers, I sowed the seed in Britain, now in the evening when my blood is growing cold, I am still sowing in France, hoping both will grow, by the grace of God, giving up some of the honey of the holy scriptures, making others drunk on the old wine of ancient learning. **Blessed Alcuin.**

He who is zealous soars with wondrous speed in a few moments to a degree of virtue that the slothful cannot reach after many years. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

An obedient religious is a holy religious. **Blessed Andrés de Peschiera Grego.**

I love Him even if it costs much, I love Him because it is worth much, I love Him at all cost. **Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce.**

Life would be unbearable to me if I found lurking in my soul anything human and not wholly divine. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Christ made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him whom the angels serve. **Saint Agnes.**

At times the devil torments a man so that he is, as it were, out of his mind: and hence it is that we sometimes put down to nature or sickness what ought to be ascribed to temptation. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Our work is great; it is magnificent. It is universal because we are the missionaries of Mary. She says to us, "do whatever He tells you." Yes, we are all missionaries. **Blessed William Joseph Chaminade.**

Jesus made Mary the companion of His labours, of His joy, of His preaching, of His death. Mary had a part in all the glorious, joyous, and sorrowful mysteries of Jesus. **Blessed William Joseph Chaminade.**

The deposit of the Faith is entirely in Mary. At the foot of the Cross she held the place of the Church. **Blessed William Joseph Chaminade.**

Everlasting God, to whom all hidden things are revealed, who sent into the world Thine Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, conceived through the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, that He might take on Him the punishment of our sins, and by His resurrection snatch us from the gates of hell, grant to our hearts such steadfastness of faith that confessing Christ, Thy Son, we may not perish but may be joined to Him in the confession of Thy Holy Name. **Saint Vincent of Saragossa.**

When I grow up, I will be a doctor and give free treatment to the sick and the poor. In fidelity and charity. I am happy. I am suffering atrociously, but I love my sufferings and am consoled in knowing that I support them for Christ. **Blessed Ladislao Batthyány-Strattmann.**

Since God is perfect in loving man, man must be perfect in loving his neighbour. **Saint Vincent Pallotti.**

Not the goods of the world, but God. Not riches, but God. Not honours, but God. Not distinction, but God. Not dignities, but God. Not advancement, but God. God always, and in everything. **Saint Vincent Pallotti.**

Remember that the Christian life is one of action; not of speech and daydreams. Let there be few words and many deeds and let them be done well. **Saint Vincent Pallotti.**

You must be holy in the way that God asks you to be holy. God does not ask you to be a Trappist monk or a hermit. He wills that you sanctify the world and your everyday life. **Saint Vincent Pallotti.**

Much more danger lurks in making light of little sins than of great ones. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Life has only one face, love. When we 'hunger and thirst' for God, we 'hunger and thirst' for others. God gives us His spiritual bread through others. I have experienced it. And others nourish themselves with the Living Bread. Let us not be overcome by doubt, never, never. And if this should happen even for a moment, Jesus will look down upon us and lovingly restore us to life, just as He did Lazarus. **Blessed Benedetta Bianchi Porro.**

Nothing makes us so prosperous in this world as to give alms. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

We are not drawn to God by iron chains, but by sweet attractions and holy inspirations. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

Perfection of life is the perfection of love. For love is the life of the soul. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

By giving yourself to God, you not only receive Himself in exchange, but eternal life as well. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

Man is the perfection of the Universe. The spirit is the perfection of man. Love is the perfection of the spirit, and charity that of love. Therefore, the love of God is the end, the perfection of the Universe. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

An action of small value performed with much love of God is far more excellent than one of a higher virtue, done with less love of God. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

Make yourself familiar with the angels and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

The virtue of patience is the one which most assures us of perfection. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

Consider all the past as nothing, and say, like David: Now, I begin to love my God. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

There is nothing which edifies others so much as charity and kindness, by which, as by the oil in our lamp, the flame of good example is kept alive. **Saint Francis de Sales.**

Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family. **Saint Angela Merici.**

If according to times and needs you should be obliged to make fresh rules and change current things, do it with prudence and good advice. **Saint Angela Merici.**

'Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.' Talking about the conversion of her son, _Saint Augustine of Hippo_. **Saint Monica.**

Nothing is anything more to me; everything is nothing to me, but Jesus: neither things nor persons, neither ideas nor emotions, neither honour nor sufferings. Jesus is for me honour, delight, heart and soul. **Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.**

The more I am crucified, the more I rejoice. **Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.**

# PART SEVEN

After the example of Christ, I embrace all of you. I am ready to die for the truth. I wish to be to all of you a real Father, Shepherd, Imitator of Christ. My field of labour is Christ's kingdom the Church, my party is Christ **. Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulewicz.**

Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. **Saint Thomas Aquinas.**

Charity is the form, mover, mother and root of all the virtues. **Saint Thomas Aquinas.**

We are like children, who stand in need of masters to enlighten us and direct us; and God has provided for this, by appointing His angels to be our teachers and guides. **Saint Thomas Aquinas.**

The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in His divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods. **Saint Thomas Aquinas.**

Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace. **Saint Thomas Aquinas.**

Most loving Lord, grant me a steadfast heart which no unworthy desire may drag downwards; an unconquered heart which no hardship may wear out; an upright heart which no worthless purpose may ensnare. Impart to me also, O God, the understanding to know you, the diligence to seek you, a way of life to please you, and a faithfulness that may embrace you, through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen. **Saint Thomas Aquinas.**

Love is the only language everyone understands. **Saint Joseph Freinademetz.**

When everything goes as you want it to, put no trust in the continuance of your good fortune, but fear all the more. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

What greater glory is there than to die saving a soul? **Saint David Galván-Bermúdez.**

In some matters silence is better than speech. When Truth is its own apologist, it needs no help from style. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake. If you keep good companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the blessed in Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul. **Saint John Bosco.**

Do you want our Lord to give You many graces? Visit Him often. Do you want Him to give you few graces? Visit Him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you. **Saint John Bosco.**

When you hear that I cannot celebrate Mass anymore, count me as dead. **Saint Francis Xavier Bianchi.**

I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us. I would like an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of charity. I would like rich treasures of mercy. I would like cheerfulness to preside over all. I would like Jesus to be present. I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts. I would like myself to be a rent payer to the Lord; that I should suffer distress, that He would bestow a good blessing upon me. I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I would like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity. **Saint Brigid of Ireland.**

If God makes you suffer greatly, it is a sign that He wants to make you a great saint. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'A slight sabre-cut will separate my head from my body, like the spring flower which the Master of the garden gathers for His pleasure. We are all flowers planted on this earth, which God plucks in His own good time: some a little sooner, some a little later. Father and son, may we meet in Paradise. I, poor little moth, go first. Adieu!' From a letter to his father just before his 1861 Vietnam martyrdom. **Saint Jean-Théophane Vénard.**

Religious who try to serve God in ways detrimental to their Rule pull down the tree in order to pluck the fruit. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Hold the child in high esteem and instead of frustrating, lend a hand to the work grace accomplishes in these young souls. **Blessed Louis Alexander Alphonse Brisson.**

So, you lay your affairs aside till next month or next year? Why, where do you get your confidence that you will live so long? **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Jesus Christ, Lord of all things! You see my heart; you know my desires. Possess all that I am - you alone. I am your sheep; make me worthy to overcome the devil. **Saint Agatha of Sicily.**

Lord, my creator, you have protected me since I was in the cradle. You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Now receive my spirit. **Saint Agatha of Sicily.**

Dwell not for a single night under the same roof with a man whose soul you know to be burdened with grievous sin. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Either make Jesus Christ known or die! **Blessed Marie Rivier.**

If I were worthy of such a favour (a miracle worker) from my God, I would ask that He grant me this one miracle: that by His grace He would make of me a good man. **Saint Ansgar.**

It is a mistake to spend on prayer the efforts that ought to be directed to getting the affections under control. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The work is God's; I am His worker; God began it. For God I shall continue it. God wanted this work done. He obliged me to do it. God will provide. **Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco.**

'Don't worry, my daughters. I am going to Jesus now and He will worry about us! From heaven I will not forget you. I will pray for you always.' Dying words to the Sisters of Congregation of the Baptistine Sisters of the Nazarene. **Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco.**

To become all to all. **Blessed Mary Teresa Bonzel.**

'Never have I prayed so well as in the streets.' Caring for the poor for 54 years in the Parisian slums. **Blessed Rosalie Rendu.**

If one of our friends was imprisoned in a house of fire, how we should rush to her help. Then think how we should try to deliver the souls in Purgatory. **Blessed Eugenie Smet.**

Remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it. **Saint Paul the Apostle.**

If you want to be of use to others, begin by taking pains with yourself: the fire that is to enkindle others should be lighted at home. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The heart is rich when it is content, and it is always content when its desires are fixed on God. **Saint Miguel Febres Cordero Muñoz.**

The Church is the only one, the Roman Catholic! And if there were left upon earth but one Catholic, he would be the one, universal Church, the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ against which the gates of Hell shall never prevail. If the Church is true, all in her is true; he who admits not the one, believes not the other. **Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.**

If you wish to live among and mix with your fellows securely, you must esteem it a matter of the first importance to be equally affected to all and partial to none. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

I know what my duty is. With the grace of God, I will carry it out to the end without hatred towards anyone, and without fear from anyone. **Blessed Alojzije Stepinac.**

'Mama, do not let me lose the opportunity to gain heaven so easily and so soon.' When initially denied permission to join the Cristeros to defend the oppressed Mexican church when he was just thirteen years old. **Saint José Sánchez del Río.**

'You will be in Heaven before me. Prepare a place for me. Tell Christ the King I shall be with Him soon.' **** To an older Cristero who was hanged in front of him. **Saint José Sánchez del Río.**

'Long live Christ the King! Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe!' The last words before he was shot dead in a cemetery and after refusing an offer of freedom to renounce Christ by the severely tortured fourteen year old Cristero. **Saint José Sánchez del Río.**

A man who finds the path to virtue difficult, yet sets out on it bravely to conquer himself, gains double the reward of those whose mild and slothful nature gives them no trouble. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Mary loves us because we are Christ's legacy to her. Let us give ourselves completely to her to be made all His, to be consumed unceasingly, to be spent for Christ. I could never refuse her anything I thought she wanted. **Venerable Edel Quinn.**

More than anything else I believe in the power of prayer. To suffer for love of Our Lord is my very greatest joy. **Venerable Edel Quinn**.

'What is happening to me? Is Jesus coming?' Dying words of Legion of Mary Irish envoy and 1936 missionary to Africa. **Venerable Edel Quinn.**

If signs are to be asked from God, the keeping of the precepts alone should require more and clearer signs than the keeping of the counsels. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Look down from Heaven, O Lord, behold and visit this vine which Thy right hand hath planted. Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, who laid down Thy life for the sheep, defend the purchase of Thy blood. Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, seek for the lost, convert the wandering, bind up that which is broken. Put forth Thine own hand from Heaven and touch the head of each one here. May they feel the touch of Thy hand, and receive the joy of the Holy Spirit, that they may remain blessed for evermore. **Saint Ethelwold.**

Lord Jesus Christ, hear my prayer and perfect Thy merciful goodness in me, and grant me to be received among the number of Thine elect into the rest of life eternal, making of me a sign of righteousness that men believing in Thee may behold and praise Thy power. **Saint Eulalia of Barcelona.**

'I pray God that my blood may increase the Catholic faith in England.' Words from the gallows before he was hung, drawn and quartered during the persecutions of Queen Elizabeth I of England. **Blessed George Haydock.**

I want to go where no one knows me except God alone. **Blessed Paolo of Barletta.**

Ask God for grace to suffer much. To whom God gives this He gives a great gift: all his other benefits are included in this single one. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Observance of the rule is of more value than all extraordinary states, more than the stigmata and the gift of miracles. **Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified.**

Make no decision about anything when the mind is biased either by affection or by great dejection. Put it off till the anxiety has disappeared, so that you may do what mature reason, not impulse, dictates. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Nothing is far from God. **Saint Monica.**

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is half my life. The other half consists in loving Jesus and winning souls for Him. **Saint Mary Hermina Grivot.**

A man who has control over the motions of his heart gains more by a quarter of an hour's meditation than another does in many hours. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Prayer ought to be short and pure, unless it be prolonged by the inspiration of Divine grace. **Saint Benedict of Nursia.**

A fault that might easily be overcome at its first appearance becomes unconquerable through passing of time and habitual giving way. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

We need Catholics who are alert to the present moment . . . modern Catholics who know how to nourish themselves in the past but whose eyes are fixed on the future. **Blessed Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodriguez Santiago.**

# PART EIGHT

To have prevented one single sin is reward enough for the labours and efforts of a whole lifetime. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

It is not enough that I should serve God by myself: I must help the hearts of all to love Him and the tongues of all to praise him. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

If you want to bring anything to a successful conclusion, you must accommodate yourself to the task, not the task to yourself. He who has God lacks nothing, though he has nought else. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Let us faithfully transmit to posterity the example of virtue which we have received from our forefathers. **Saint Peter Damian.**

He who deserts the chair of Peter, upon whom the Church was founded, does he trust himself to be in the Church? **Saint Cyprian.**

The labourers in the Lord's vineyard should have one foot on the ground, and the other raised to proceed on their journey. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'It has pleased God to reserve me for this present time. It seemed a while ago as if He rejected me as a stone unfit to enter His building, but He has the goodness to take me now to be placed in it; I am ready to suffer all things for His name, that I may have a part in His kingdom with His saints.' At his trial. **Saint Serenus the Gardner.**

'Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic faith is lost, like your false prophet Mahomet.' Addressed in 737 AD Damascus to the Muslims who then martyred him. **Saint Peter Mavimenus.**

'Sir, Major-General, I cannot take an oath to Hitler in the name of God. I cannot do it because my faith and conscience do not allow it.' Refusing to take the Hitler oath when the SS attempted to draft him. He died en route to Dachau because of his anti-Nazi stand. **Blessed Josef Mayr-Nusser.**

In a house that is well ordered the elders should live the life of the young, the younger the life of the mature, so that the former may display the keenness of youth, the latter the judgment of full age. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Lord, do not leave me nor permit a day of my life pass without my saying the Mass, without receiving your embrace in communion. **Saint Toribio Romo González.**

Lord Almighty! Thou hast put an end to my wanderings. Help me to start my work. For, who am I, O Lord, to build a holy church in honour of Thy Name? If I rely only on my strength, will it bring any result? Only on your help, O Lord, is my hope. **Saint Cuthman of Steyning.**

Let us hasten the triumph of Christ over hell and the hostile powers through prayer and sacrifice. **Blessed Marie Deluil-Martiny.**

What deep sorrow seizes one at the sight of the ever-increasing godlessness of our time and the seducing triumphs of anti-Christian societies. Oh, could I but expiate with my blood those insults offered to the Divine Majesty! **Blessed Marie Deluil-Martiny.**

He who wants to do great things in God's service must be beware above all else not to be too clever. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

See God's will in everything, and to do His will with joy, out of love of Him. **Blessed Maria Caridad Brader.**

I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God's Holy Will, not my own. **Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.**

'Ah, sister, thou hast got the start of us, but we will follow thee as quickly as we may.' Speaking at the execution of _Saint Anne Line_ who had just been hanged in 1601 by Protestant authorities. **Blessed Mark Barkworth.**

'I am come here to die, being a Catholic, a priest, and a religious man, belonging to the Order of Saint Benedict; it was by this same order that England was converted.' Words spoken to the crowd gathered to watch his execution in 1601 by Protestant authorities. **Blessed Mark Barkworth.**

If you want to know what God requires of you, you must first of all put aside all affection and preference for one thing rather than another. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Never say or do anything until you have asked yourself whether it will be pleasing to God, good for yourself, and edifying to your neighbour. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The man who forgets himself and his own welfare for God's service will have God to look after him. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Lord, raise me up after Thee! **Saint David of Wales.**

A thing is worth just as much as God makes it worth. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The nothing keeps silent, the nothing does not want to be, the nothing suffers all. The nothing does not impose itself, the nothing does not command with authority, and finally, the nothing in the creature is practical humility. **Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero.**

'Whatever we do, whatever we want, is surely simply the grace that carries us and guides us. God's almighty grace helps us overcome obstacles. Love doubles our strength, makes us inventive, makes us feel content and inwardly free. If people would only realise what God has in store for those who love him! Even behind the hardest sacrifices and worst suffering stands God with His Fatherly love, who is satisfied with the good will of His children and gives them and others happiness.' Taken from letters written to his sister from the Dachau concentration camp where he perished. **Blessed Engelmar Unzeitig.**

Even if I had all the money in the world, I would not give a penny to the man who by his own fault has become unworthy of the religious state. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The patient and humble endurance of the cross whatever nature it may be is the highest work we have to do. Oh, how far I am at 84 years of age from being an image of Jesus in His sacred life on earth! **Saint Katharine Drexel.**

'To you and to your Institute, Jesus Christ has given the precious gift of His Heart, for from no one else can you learn holiness, He being the inexhaustible source of true holiness.' To the first members of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. **Saint Teresa Eustochio Verzeri.**

I carry within me three lives, all very strong: family life with its multiple sorrows of a thousand kinds, that is, the life of a mother; the life of the Works of the Cross with all its sorrows and weight, which at times crushes me until I have no strength left; and the life of the spirit or interior life, which is the heaviest of all, with its highs and lows, its tempests and struggles, its light and darkness. Blessed be God for everything! **Blessed Concepcion Cabrera de Armida.**

The man who has turned aside from the world should be like a statue, which refuses neither to be clothed with a rough garment nor to be despoiled of the rich robe it used to wear. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

At the times when you remember God, increase your prayers, so that when you forget Him, the Lord may remind you. **Saint Mark the Ascetic.**

Every good work which we perform through our own natural power causes us to refrain from the corresponding sin; but without grace it cannot contribute to our sanctification. **Saint Mark the Ascetic.**

If we want to do something but cannot, then before God, who knows our hearts, it is as if we have done it. This is true whether the intended action is good or bad. **Saint Mark the Ascetic.**

Even though knowledge is true, it is still not firmly established if unaccompanied by works. For everything is established by being put into practice. **Saint Mark the Ascetic.**

Some people when praised for their virtue are delighted and attribute his pleasurable feeling of self-esteem to grace. Others when reproved for their sins are pained, and they mistake this beneficial pain for the action of sin. **Saint Mark the Ascetic.**

Oh how insinuating and imperceptible is the passion of pleasing men: it possesses even the wise! For the effects of other passions are easily seen by those who obey them and so bring those they possess to humility and mourning. But the effort to please men clothes itself in the words and appearance of piety, so that men whom it beguiles find it hard to detect its various aspects. **Saint Mark the Ascetic.**

'How do you think that with a bone only three fingers high we should understand the meanings of the designs of God?' Words spoken while he tapped his forehead. **Saint John Joseph of the Cross.**

If ever you find ignorant or malicious people calumniating you, pray God that the things they say may never be true. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by His holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation. **Saint Colette.**

If there be a true way that leads to the Everlasting Kingdom, it is most certainly that of suffering, patiently endured. **Saint Colette.**

If a man wants to reform the world, either by reason of the authority of his position or the duty of his office, he must begin with himself. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

He who seeks to scale the heights must go far down into the depths. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Labour without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time. **Saint John of God.**

If we look forward to receiving God's mercy, we can never fail to do good so long as we have the strength. For if we share with the poor, out of love for God, whatever He has given to us, we shall receive according to His promise a hundredfold in eternal happiness. What a fine profit, what a blessed reward! With outstretched arms He begs us to turn toward Him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbours. Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin. **Saint John of God.**

'Whoever wishes to carry the cross for his sake must take up the proper weapons for the contest, especially those mentioned here. First, diligence; second, distrust of self; third, confidence in God; fourth, remembrance of Passion; fifth, mindfulness of one's own death; sixth, remembrance of God's glory; seventh, the injunctions of Sacred Scripture following the example of Jesus Christ in the desert.' From - On the Seven Spiritual Weapons. **Saint Catherine of Bologna.**

Death, but not sin. **Saint Dominic Savio.**

Nothing seems tiresome or painful when you are working for a Master who pays well; who rewards even a cup of cold water given for love of Him. **Saint Dominic Savio.**

I am not capable of doing big things, but I want to do everything, even the smallest things, for the greater glory of God. **Saint Dominic Savio.**

'What beautiful things I see.' Dying words, at 15 years old. **Saint Dominic Savio.**

"My name is Christian; my surname is Catholic.' **St Pacian of Barcelona.**

He who fears men much will never do anything great for God. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

A rough and unshapen log has no idea that it can be made into a statue that will be considered a masterpiece, but the carver sees what can be done with it. So many seem to know scarcely anything of the Christian life and do not understand that God can mould them into saints, until they put themselves into the hands of that almighty Artisan. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Every priest who preaches the Word of God in times of persecution has no escape; he will die like Jesus on the Cross, with arms tied. **Blessed Elias del Socorro Nieves.**

'I am no more afraid to die than you are to dine.' To his inquisitive and disbelieving Scottish 1616 Protestant jailers and executioners. **Saint John Ogilvie.**

'If there be here any hidden Catholics, let them pray for me but the prayers of heretics I will not have!' To the onlookers as he was about to be hung, drawn and quartered. **Saint John Ogilvie.**

How earth stinks in my nostrils when I look up to heaven! **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Engage always in good works to everyone but never do harm to anybody. **Saint Luigi Orione.**

Without prayer nothing good is done. God's works are done with our hands joined, and on our knees. Even when we run, we must remain spiritually kneeling before Him. **Saint Luigi Orione.**

'My army is the army of God, and I cannot fight for this world.' Son of a Roman legion veteran who refused to join as a conscientious objector. **Saint Maximilian of Thebeste.**

No created thing can give rise to any gladness in the soul that is worthy of comparison with the joy of the Holy Ghost. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.  
**

# PART NINE

Christ shield me this day: Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. **Saint Patrick.**

Charity is the only answer to all social problems. **Blessed Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí y Moreno.**

If the guide God chooses for you to follow were only a little dog, you should not complain, but at God's command follow it willingly and gladly. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Then during the Eucharistic prayer, we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition. **Saint Cyril of Jerusalem**

Our actions have a tongue of their own; they have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words. **Saint Cyril of Jerusalem.**

Since Christ Himself has said, "This is My Body" who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body? **Saint Cyril of Jerusalem.**

I am glad when the good are well and the bad ill: so that the former may use all their strength for God's glory, and the latter may be led to Him as they grow weaker. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

_Saint Joseph_ was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of His greatest treasures, namely, His divine Son and Mary, Joseph's wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying "Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of Your Lord." **Saint Bernardine of Siena.**

_Saint Joseph_ , guardian of Jesus and chaste husband of Mary, you passed your life in loving fulfilment of duty. You supported the holy family of Nazareth with the work of your hands. Kindly protect those who trustingly come to you. You know their aspirations, their hardships, their hopes. They look to you because they know you will understand and protect them. You too knew trial, labour and weariness. But amid the worries of material life, your soul was full of deep peace and sang out in true joy through intimacy with God's Son entrusted to you and with Mary, His tender Mother. Assure those you protect that they do not labour alone. Teach them to find Jesus near them and to watch over Him faithfully as you have done. **Pope Saint John XXIII.**

Let one man's salvation be more to you than all the riches in the world. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Give me only thy love and thy grace, O Lord, and I am rich enough; I ask for nothing more. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

You will be helped more in procuring another man's salvation by meekness and humility than by authority; and you will gain your end sooner by yielding than by fighting. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The mind is purified by spiritual knowledge, the spiritual passions of the soul by charity, and the irregular appetites by abstinence and penance. **Saint Serapion the Scholastic.**

Neither praise, nor fear. **Blessed Clemens August von Galen.**

Nothing is sweeter than loving God in such a way that you endure great things for His love. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Tell the king that I trust in Christ. His Majesty may condemn me to any torments, but I shall never consent to renounce the Catholic Church, in which I have been baptized. Even if there were no life after this, I would never be ungrateful and perfidious to God, who has granted me the happiness of knowing Him, and bestowed on me His most precious graces. **Saint Victorian of Hadrumetum.**

I care but little for the fear of slavery or death that you put before me: the only fear that troubles me is the fear of offending God. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'With the exception of Heaven, this is the only place I wish to be. Here we are all the same: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians. I am the only priest. When I celebrate the Liturgy, they pray for all, each one in his own language. Doesn't God understand all languages?' From a concentration camp letter to his children. **Blessed Emilian Kovch.**

The more desperate things seem, the more must we hope in God. When man's aid fails, God's is close at hand. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'God be thanked, I am not worthy of so good a death as this.' Her words when advised of her sentence of execution by pressing by the 1586 anti-Catholic English authorities. **Saint Margaret Clitherow.**

It is through service to others, lovingly given, that we reach a special fulfilment and union with our Lord. **Blessed Margaretha Flesch.**

There is no better wood for feeding the fire of God's love than the wood of the Cross. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

There is more to be learnt in one hour at Manresa with God for teacher than all the teachers in the world could impart. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Earthly ideals are fading away. I see the ideal of life in sacrifice, and the ideal of sacrifice in the priesthood. **Saint Joseph Sebastian Pelczar.**

Let it be your principle to allow others who are worldly-wise to begin the conversation, but keep the end for yourself, so that whatever be the metal of the speech, you may have a chance of transmuting it into gold. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

All the honey of all the flowers in the world is not so sweet as the gall and vinegar of the Lord Jesus. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'I have lived for Christ; I want to die for Christ.' The last recorded words before her execution by the Nazis. **Blessed Mary Restituta Kafka.**

Born as a son, led forth as a lamb, sacrificed as a sheep, buried as a man, He rose from the dead as a God, for He was by nature God and man. He is all things: He judges, and so He is Law; He teaches, and so He is Wisdom; He saves, and so He is Grace; He begets, and so He is Father; He is begotten, and so He is Son; He suffers, and so He is Sacrifice; He is buried, and so He is man; He rises again, and so He is God. This is Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory for all ages. **Saint Melito of Sardis.**

Take pains to refrain from sharp words. Pardon one another so that later on you will not remember the injury. The recollection of an injury is itself wrong. It adds to our anger, nurtures our sins and hates what is good. It is a rusty arrow and poison for the soul. It puts all virtue to flight. **Saint Francis of Paola.**

Be peace-loving. Peace is a precious treasure to be sought with great zeal. You are well aware that our sins arouse God's anger. You must change your life, therefore, so that God in His mercy will pardon you. What we conceal from men is known to God. Be converted, then, with a sincere heart. Live your life that you may receive the blessing of the Lord. Then the peace of God our Father will be with you always. **Saint Francis of Paola.**

The Cross strengthens the weak, it curbs the powerful. **Blessed Vilmos Apor.**

I confess Christ, the one God, and the same God with the Father. **Saint Appian of Caesarea.**

We should be slow to speak and patient in listening to all men, but especially to inferiors. Our ears should be wide open to our neighbour until he seems to have said all that is in his mind. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The poor and the sick are our owners and they represent the very person of Jesus Christ. **Saint Luigi Scrosoppi of Udine.**

'I am peaceful. I feel God is near me.' Last words. **Blessed Maria Teresa Casini.**

Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ for all the benefits Thou hast given me, for all the pains and insults which Thou has borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, may I know Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, follow Thee more nearly, day by day. **Saint Richard of Chichester.**

'See you in the kingdom of God!' Last spoken words before his Auschwitz camp death. **Blessed Piotr Edward Dankowski.**

There is but one right kind of ambition: to love God, and as the reward of loving Him, to love Him more. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

We have the Apostles of God as authorities, who did not choose what they would believe but faithfully transmitted the teachings of Christ. So, even if an angel from heaven should preach otherwise, he shall be called anathema. **Saint Isidore of Seville.**

If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbour, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask Him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire. **Saint Vincent Ferrer.**

God wants the convent rich in virtue, not in temporal goods. **Saint Maria Crescentia Höss.**

No one should call himself a friend of Christ unless he cherishes those souls that Christ redeemed by the shedding of His Blood. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Make Christ more visible than we ourselves. **Blessed Maria Karlowska.**

Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering, nor by the meagre fruit of your labours. Remember that God rewards not according to results, but effort. **Blessed Zefirino Agostini.**

I ought to die of shame to think I have not already died of gratitude to my good God. **Saint Julie Billiart.**

Our obedience to God's Will must be total, without reserve, and constant. **Blessed Domingo Iturrate Zubero.**

If I saw the gates of Hell open and I stood on the brink of the abyss, I should not despair, I should not lose hope of mercy, because I should trust in You, my God. **Saint Gemma Galgani.**

Do not seek to be regarded as somebody, don't compare yourself to others in anything. Leave the world, mount the cross, discard all earthly things, shake the dust from off your feet. **Saint Barsanuphius of Gaza.**

Why do you feel so alone? Aren't we always really one in our Divine Master? Can you be thinking that your Carmelite sister has no room in her heart to love the One who is part of her very being? **Saint Teresa of the Andes.**

When we're there in His presence, if just gazing at Him is enough to make us love Him, and if we are so captivated by His beauty that we can't say anything but that we love Him, why, little sister, should we be upset? **Saint Teresa of the Andes.**

Suffer nothing dirty or disordered about you. At the same time be careful to avoid that affected carefulness that savours of effeminacy and conceit. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

I was so beside myself and fired with such a longing to do something in imitation of _Saint Charles Borromeo_ , that I would not give my eyes sleep or my days rest until I had given some beginning to this resolution of mine. **Blessed Cesar de Bus.**

He lives the blessed life who, so far as possible, has his mind continually fixed on God and God in his mind. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

We must not keep away from the Bread of Angels because we find no sensible delight therein; that would be like perishing of hunger because we had nothing tasty to eat. Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

# PART TEN

It was God's will that I should leave everything that was near and dear to me. I thank Him for having called me to religious life where I have found such peace and joy as I could never have found in the world. My plan of life is chiefly this: to love and suffer, always meditating upon, adoring and admiring God's unspeakable love for His lowliest creatures. **Saint Conrad of Parzham.**

I resolve to observe silence conscientiously. I resolve to speak briefly and so avoid many pitfalls and be better able to converse with God. **Saint Conrad of Parzham.**

I resolve in the first place to remain continually in the presence of God and to ask myself frequently if I would do this or that if my confessor or superior were watching me and especially if God and my guardian angel were present. **Saint Conrad of Parzham.**

No one will have any other desire in heaven than what God wills; and the desire of one will be the desire of all; and the desire of all and of each one will also be the desire of God. **Saint Anselm of Canterbury.**

O Lord, we bring before you the distress and dangers of peoples and nations, the pleas of the imprisoned and the captive, the sorrows of the grief-stricken, the needs of the refugee, the impotence of the weak, the weariness of the despondent, and the diminishments of the aging. O Lord, stay close to all of them. **Saint Anselm of Canterbury.**

O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire Thee with our whole heart; that, so desiring, we may seek, and, seeking, find Thee; and so finding Thee, may love Thee; and loving Thee, may hate those sins from which Thou hast redeemed. **Saint Anselm of Canterbury.**

O Lord Jesus Christ, grant us a measure of your Spirit. Help us to obey your teaching, soothe anger, cultivate pity, overcome desire, increase love, cast off sorrow, shun vainglory, renounce revenge, and not be afraid of death. Let us ever entrust our spirit to the everlasting God who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and rules forever and ever. **Saint Apollonius the Apologist.**

The man who professes to despise the world for Christ's sake has no country on earth to call his own. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

My life is of no value. I can offer it in peace. **Blessed Maria Gabriella.**

In an instant the love of God was poured over me. I understood that I could respond to that love only through sacrifice and a love prepared to suffer for His glory and for the Church. Without hesitation I offered Him my life, and my will to follow Him on the Way of the Cross. **Saint Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad.**

Dear Lord, I do not ask to see the path. In darkness, in anguish and in fear, I will hang on tightly to Your hand, and I will close my eyes, so that you know how much trust I place in You, Spouse of my soul. **Saint Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad.**

Draw near to our Lord, thoroughly aware of your own nothingness, and you may hope all things from His Goodness and Mercy. Never forget that Jesus Christ is no less generous in the Blessed Sacrament than He was during His mortal life on earth. **Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.**

It is human to fall, but angelic to rise again. **Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.**

The Blessed Sacrament is the first and supreme object of our worship. We must preserve in the depths of our hearts a constant and uninterrupted, profound adoration of this precious pledge of Divine Love. **Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.**

One person is of more value than the whole world. **Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.**

If you always love one another, if you always uphold one another, you will be capable of working wonders! **Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.**

The old stars burn out and die, look to new horizons and even beyond. **Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.**

What a joy it is to be simmering saints, simmering apostles, simmering martyrs. **Saint Mario Borzaga.**

Every instant is a step toward sainthood or a step backwards. **Saint Mario Borzaga.**

Whatever suggestion comes to you from any source other than God or your rule is a temptation: hold it suspect. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

It is the part of a reasonable man not only to curb his passions to prevent them from coming to light either in word or deed, but also to rule them in such a way that everything is done by reason, nothing on impulse. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Your real Superior is Mary; I am but her servant. **Blessed Marie-Louise Trichet.**

If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation; choose - and I demand it - the baby. Save the baby! **Saint Gianna Beretta Molla.**

Bridegroom of my soul, You know my desire for apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls, help me to know where You want the complete consecration of all my being. **Blessed María Felicia Guggiari Echeverría.**

Father, for Your glory accept the total surrender of my being in union with the perfect sacrifice of Your divine Son. In Him, through Him and with Him I live, love, believe, suffer and die. Choose Your heart as a place of my eternal home. **Blessed María Felicia Guggiari Echeverría.**

'Jesus, I love You! What a sweet encounter! Virgin Mary!' Final words. **Blessed María Felicia Guggiari Echeverría.**

I am not a harvester, but I gather up sheaves of grain; I am not an artist in book matters. If I were to speak of myself, ye would have done well not to have come into the church. But I proclaim to you the Word of God, I read to you the account of Christ. I do distribute forth the words of God, finer than gold or other stones, more sweet, than mead or honeycomb, and ye would be deprived of them, not having come to church. But ye, having come, I do praise and bless. **Saint Cyril of Turov.**

Charity is the sweet and holy bond which links the soul with its Creator: it binds God with man and man with God. **Saint Catherine of Siena.**

Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, You could give me no greater gift than the gift of yourself. For You are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, You are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its light, and causes me to know Your truth. And I know that You are beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, You gave yourself to man in the fire of Your love. **Saint Catherine of Siena.**

Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind. **Saint Catherine of Siena.**

When the soul has reached this state, it makes very little difference whether it is buried in business worries or enjoys restful solitude. It is all the same for the soul, for everything that touches it, everything that surrounds it, everything that strikes its senses does not prevent its enjoyment of love's presence. **Saint Marie of the Incarnation Guyart.**

'When I am in Heaven, where everything is possible, I will cling to the mantle of the Mother of God and I will not turn my eyes from you. But do not forget what this poor old man has said to you.' Words from his deathbed. **Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo.**

You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress. **Saint Athanasius of Alexandria.**

Mary, Mother of Grace, it becomes you to be mindful of us, as you stand near Him who granted you all graces, for you are the Mother of God and our Queen. Help us for the sake of the King, the Lord God and Master who was born of you. For this reason, you are called full of grace. Remember us, most holy Virgin, and bestow on us gifts from the riches of your graces, Virgin full of graces. **Saint Athanasius of Alexandria.**

'Until today I have combated for temporal glory in the defence of the poor, widows and orphans. Henceforth I place myself under the protection of the Virgin Mary and I will fight unceasingly for the conquest of souls, the glory of God and my own salvation.' On his retirement as a Knight to enter a religious life. **Saint Ansfrid of Utrecht.**

A man who is subject to motions of anger should not withdraw from the company of others: for such movements are overcome, not by flight, but by resistance. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Do everything for God alone. **Blessed Emilia Bicchieri.**

'And what wilt thou do with my heart, O Christ?' After refusing to sign an oath to Henry VIII, the first English cleric to do so; his dying words as he was being disembowelled. **Saint John Houghton.**

Conquer yourself and the world lies at your feet. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

The honours of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness and peril of falling? **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

What do you possess if you possess not God? **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

Unhappy is the soul enslaved by the love of anything that is mortal. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

The love of worldly possessions is a sort of bird line, which entangles the soul, and prevents it flying to God. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

This very moment I may, if I desire, become the friend of God. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

God bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

I will suggest a means whereby you can praise God all day long, if you wish. Whatever you do, do it well, and you have praised God. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

God in His omnipotence could not give more, in His wisdom He knew not how to give more, in His riches He had not more to give, than the Eucharist. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

God does not command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes you do what you can and to pray for what you cannot and aids you that you may be able. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

Our life and our death are with our neighbour. **Saint Augustine** **of Hippo.**

My Love, what can I do to make the whole world love You? Make use once again of this wretched instrument to renew the faith and conversion of sinners. **Blessed Anna Rosa Gattorno.**

'I call God to witness I die merely for the Catholic Faith, and for being a priest of the true Religion.' Last words, spoken from the scaffold as he was about to be hanged by 1590 Protestant English authorities. **Blessed Anthony Middleton.**

I find myself so bound to the divine will that neither death nor life is important: I want to live as He wishes and I want to serve Him as He likes, and nothing more. **Saint Rose Venerini.**

It is better to go on living without the certainty of blessedness and serve God and seek your neighbour's salvation all the while, than to die at once with the assurance of glory. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Union with God, then, is the spiritual height God calls everyone to achieve - anyone, not only religious but anyone, who chooses, who wills to seek this pearl of great price, who specializes in the traffic of eternal good, who says 'yes' constantly to God. The imitation of Christ in the lives of saints is always possible and compatible with every state of life. The saints did but one thing - the will of God. But they did it with all their might. We have only to do the same thing; and according to the degree of intensity with which we labour shall our sanctification progress. **Blessed Teresa Demjanovich.**

God leads us by a twofold way: one, unknown because hidden, is taught by Himself; the other He allows to be shown us by men. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Turn yourself round like a piece of clay and say to the Lord: I am clay, and you, Lord, the potter. Make of me what You will. **Saint John of Avila.**

Withdraw your heart from the world before God takes your body from it. **Saint John of Avila.**

Your life consists in drawing nearer to God. To do this you must endeavour to detach yourself from visible things and remember that in a short time they will be taken from you. **Saint John of Avila.**

The Blessed Sacrament is indeed the stimulus for us all, for me as it should be for you, to forsake all worldly ambitions. Without the constant presence of our Divine Master upon the altar in my poor chapels, I never could have persevered casting my lot with the lepers of Molokai; the foreseen consequence of which begins now to appear on my skin and is felt throughout the body. Holy Communion being the daily bread of a priest, I feel myself happy, well pleased, and resigned in the rather exceptional circumstances in which it has pleased Divine Providence to put me. **Saint Joseph de Veuster.**

Why do I love the Church and the Holy Father? Because in the Church I see the clear picture of my beloved Saviour and God Jesus in all His perfection, and in the Holy Father I see the human image of my God and my Lord. **Blessed Ivan Merz.**

# PART ELEVEN

It is certain that the lazy will never come to peace of mind or the perfect possession of virtue, since they do not conquer themselves; while the diligent easily obtain both in a few days. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

I beseech you in the grace of Jesus Christ, forget those things that are behind, and as if you had just begun your long journey for the first time, set out eagerly on the way of virtue with unwearied step. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. **Blessed Juliana of Norwich.**

Carmel's Flower, Vine ever blossoming, Heaven's splendour! Virgin who bore a child. No one is like thee. Mother gentle and kind. Yet never touched by man! To Carmelites give thou the privilege. Help us, Star of the Sea. **Saint Simon Stock.**

While I have any life left in me, I will continue to teach the catechism. And then, I assure you, I would be very happy to die teaching the catechism. **Saint Giulia Salzano.**

The Sister catechist must be ready, at every moment, to instruct the little ones and the uneducated. She must not count the sacrifices such a ministry demands, indeed she should desire to die while doing it, if this be God's will. **Saint Giulia Salzano.**

Success and dryness are equally dangerous to those who are given to prayer: the one tends to make the mind swell with pride, the other provokes it to boredom. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Let he who is rich strive to possess his goods, not be possessed by them. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The Holy Spirit taught me to adore, praise, bless and give thanks to Jesus in the tabernacle at all times, even at work and in real life. **Blessed Verena Bütler.**

My guide, my star, is the Gospel. **Blessed Verena Bütler.**

It would indeed be a great miracle if God left destitute of His help those who for the sake of His love have given up the power to help themselves. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Let us love God who deserves it! **Saint Crispin of Viterbo.**

You should not agree to have anything to do with weapons of war. Throw yourself upon Christ's mercy, crying: 'My Love and my Stronghold, my Protector and Liberator, in whom my heart has put its hope.' **Blessed Alcuin of York.**

You should trust in God enough to believe that you could cross the seas on a bare plank if there were no ship. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'Heart of Jesus I ask you for a special blessing for Chile, given that it is God's will that I die here. Gladly I offer you the sacrifice for the peace and tranquillity of this nation.' Last words. **Blessed María Angélica Pérez.**

Spend whatever is necessary on the care of the sick; we who are well can easily manage with dry bread, if there is nothing else. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

I am a priest, a priest of Jesus Christ. That says it all. **Saint Eugene de Mazenod.**

To love the Church is to love Jesus Christ, and vice versa. **Saint Eugene de Mazenod.**

We glorify God in the masterpiece of His power and love . . . it is the Son whom we honour in the person of his Mother. **Saint Eugene de Mazenod.**

Leave nothing un-dared for the Kingdom of God. **Saint Eugene de Mazenod.**

Learn who you are in the eyes of God. **Saint Eugene de Mazenod.**

'Practice amongst yourselves charity, charity, charity . . . and zeal for the salvation of souls.' Dying words. **Saint Eugene de Mazenod.**

Servants! Farmhands! Peasants! Poor! Come and learn who you are in the eyes of God. You poor of Jesus Christ, you afflicted, unfortunate suffering, infirm, diseased: all you who are burdened with misery, listen to me! You are the children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, co-heirs of His eternal kingdom, His cherished inheritance. Lift up your minds: you are the children of God. Look through the tatters that cover you. There is an immortal soul within you made to the image of God, a soul redeemed at the price of the very blood of Jesus, more precious in the eyes of God than all the riches and all the kingdoms of this earth. Know your dignity - you even share the Divine Nature - Children of God, Children of the Most High! **Saint Eugene de Mazenod.**

'Just as the man who thinks only of this world does everything possible to make life here easier and better, so must we, too, who believe in the eternal Kingdom, risk everything in order to receive a great reward there. Just as those who believe in National Socialism tell themselves that their struggle is for survival, so must we, too, convince ourselves that our struggle is for the eternal Kingdom. But with this difference: we need no rifles or pistols for our battle, but instead, spiritual weapons - and the foremost among these is prayer. Through prayer, we continually implore new grace from God, since without God's help and grace it would be impossible for us to preserve the Faith and be true to His commandments. Let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us, pray for those who persecute us. For love will conquer and will endure for all eternity. And happy are they who live and die in God's love.' Writing from prison before the Nazis executed him. **Blessed Franz Jägerstätter.**

'I can say from my own experience how painful life often is when one lives as a halfway Christian; it is more like vegetating than living.' From a letter to a god-child. **Blessed Franz Jägerstätter.**

'Since the death of Christ, almost every century has seen the persecution of Christians; there have always been heroes and martyrs who gave their lives - often in horrible ways - for Christ and their faith. If we hope to reach our goal someday, then we, too, must become heroes of the faith.' From a letter to a god-child. **Blessed Franz Jägerstätter.**

'Everyone tells me, of course, that I should not do what I am doing because of the danger of death. I believe it is better to sacrifice one's life right away than to place oneself in the grave danger of committing sin and then dying.' From a letter describing his moral dilemma over being drafted by the Nazis in Austria. **Blessed Franz Jägerstätter.**

Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. **Saint Vincent of Lérins.**

He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbour. **Saint Bede the Venerable.**

If the devil urges you to sin by an unwonted onslaught of evil thoughts, you must have recourse also to unwonted remedies for the sudden attack as well as to the usual ones. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

"If it so please my Maker, it is time for me to return to Him who created me and formed me out of nothing when I did not exist. I have lived a long time, and the righteous Judge has taken good care of me during my whole life. The time has come for my departure, and I long to die and be with Christ. My soul yearns to see Christ, my King, in all His glory. **Saint Bede the Venerable.**

Now, my dearest brothers, listen carefully to what I tell you. All those throughout the world who are numbered as Christian and who truly acknowledge the Christian faith know and believe that the blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, is the father of all Christians and, after Christ, the first shepherd, and that the holy Roman Church is the mother and teacher of all the churches. **Pope Saint Gregory VII.**

Let your garb, as is fitting, be decent, in accordance with local custom, and suitable to your condition and profession. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Prayer ought to be humble, fervent, resigned, persevering, and accompanied with great reverence. One should consider that he stands in the presence of a God and speaks with a Lord before whom the angels tremble from awe and fear. **Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi.**

Come, Holy Spirit. Spirit of truth, you are the reward of the saints, the comforter of souls, light in the darkness, riches to the poor, treasure to lovers, food for the hungry, comfort to those who are wandering; to sum up, you are the one in whom all treasures are contained. Come! As you descended upon Mary that the Word might become flesh, work in us through grace as you worked in her through nature and grace. Come! Food of every chaste thought, fountain of all mercy, sum of all purity. Come! Consume in us whatever prevents us from being consumed in you. **Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi.**

A little drop of simple obedience is worth a million times more than a whole vase of the choicest contemplation. **Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi.**

Let us attach ourselves to God alone and turn our eyes and our hopes to Him. **Saint Madeline Sophie Barat.**

To suffer myself, and not to make others suffer. **Saint Madeline Sophie Barat.**

Our Lord who saved the world through the Cross will only work for the good of souls _through_ the Cross. **Saint Madeline Sophie Barat.**

Your love for me, O divine Heart, is infinite. **Saint Madeline Sophie Barat.**

God does not ask of us the perfection of tomorrow, nor even of tonight, but only of the present moment. **Saint Madeline Sophie Barat.**

I am innocent and I die innocent. I forgive with all my heart those responsible for my death, and I ask God that the shedding of my blood serves toward the peace of our divided Mexico. **Saint Cristobal Magallanes Jara.**

Let us go forth eagerly, sure that whatever cross we have to bear will not be without Christ, and that His aid, more powerful than all the plots of our enemies, will always be with us. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Therefore, the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits. **Saint Philip Neri.**

I would rather have God's servants remarkable for virtue than for numbers, and manifest rather by the reality of their service than their repute for it. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

It was He who died for our sins to give us eternal life. This same man, Christ, is God and abides for ever and ever. Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life; whoever denies Him will have eternal punishment. **Saint Julius the Veteran.**

You must never ask Jesus to wait. **Saint Ursula Ledochowska.**

It is not enough to pray, "Thy kingdom come," but to work, so that the Kingdom of God will exist among us today. **Saint Ursula Ledochowska.**

'Those who live according to the spirit of the world are fond of pleasures and ease; but those who live according to the Spirit of God, study to purchase the kingdom of heaven by pain and tribulation. As for me, my desire is to forfeit my life here, that I may forever reign with Jesus Christ.' Spoken during trial before he was roasted and racked to death. **Saint Conon The Elder.**

A man who is secretly depraved and lives among those who delight in uprightness will not remain with them for long. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

O Glorious Saint Joseph, after the Blessed Virgin, you were the first to hold in your arms the Redeemer. May you teach us; may you assist us; may you make us worthy members of the Holy Family. **Saint Joseph Marello.**

Against that vice you should lay hold of those arms to which you feel most moved, and not sound the retreat until, by God's guidance, you have conquered it. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

It is a great help to progress to possess a friend who is privileged to point out to you your failings. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'Worship the God of the Christians. We hold Him to be from the beginning the one creator and maker of the whole creation, of things seen and things unseen. We worship also the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I hope that I shall enter God's house if I suffer in that way. For I know that God's favour is stored up until the end of the whole world for all who have lived good lives.' Spoken to the Prefect of Rome at his 165 AD trial when he refused to offer sacrifice to pagan gods and was threatened with scourging and beheading. **Saint Justin Martyr.**

As by the Word of God, Jesus our Saviour was made Flesh and had both Flesh and Blood for our salvation, so also the food which has been blessed by the word of the prayer instituted by Him is both the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Incarnate. **Saint Justin Martyr.**

The Catholic Church is called by its divine apostolate and by its age-old tradition to make its imprint on the great social movement of migration, whose goal is economic recovery and the merging of Christian peoples. **Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini.**

The spirit, the character, the sole ambition of the bishop lies in sacrificing himself in every way to spread the kingdom of Jesus Christ in people's souls, risking, if necessary, his own life for the salvation of his beloved flock, placing himself, so to speak, on his knees before all the people in order to beseech the favour of their permission to do them good. He uses everything - his whole authority, skill, health, strength - for this noblest of purposes. **Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini.  
**

# PART TWELVE

The saints are like the stars. In His providence Christ conceals them in a hidden place that they may not shine before others when they might wish to do so. Yet they are always ready to exchange the quiet of contemplation for the works of mercy as soon as they perceive in their heart the invitation of Christ. **Saint Anthony of Padua.**

Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since He himself cursed the fig tree when He found no fruit but only leaves. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions. But the apostles "spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech." Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself! We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfilment, insofar as He infuses us with his grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner by keeping the commandments. Likewise, we shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith so our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon the triune God. **Saint Anthony of Padua.**

Not without a long procession does the devil wish the sinner to be carried to his grave, and therefore he arranges the file after the usual: Ambition carries the cross, Detraction the incense, Oppression the holy - or rather the cursed – water; Hypocrisy bears the lights. There are two chanters: one is the Fallacious Confidence of living a long time, and he sings, Requiem aeternam - you still have abundant time; the other is Presumption as to the Divine Mercy, and he sings, In Paradisnm le ducant angeli. Pride celebrates the office. Then follow Vain-Glory on the right, Envy on the left, and, walking after, Anger, Impatience, Insolence, Blasphemy, Contumely, Arrogance, Lasciviousness, Gluttony, Idle Talk, Boasting, Injury, Curiosity, and Uneasiness. Lo! What a crowd in the conscience following him who is dead and trespasses in sin. **Saint Anthony of Padua.**

Dear God, please don't let me be too hungry or too thirsty. Help me to please my mother. And help me to please You. **Saint Germaine Cousin.**

Do nothing and write nothing that may be the occasion of any bitterness or harsh words. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

For such a long time we hoped against hope to be able to have the whole family together after my ordination so as to share the joy of being present and receiving Communion together at my first Mass. The good Lord heard our deepest wishes. It now remains to us to thank Him and to enter more and more deeply into the greatness of the priesthood. Let us never dare to equate the Sacrifice of the Mass with earthly things. **Blessed Pierre-Joseph Cassant.**

To hate the shortcomings of others too keenly is productive of estrangement rather than amendment and serves to put people to flight rather than to help them. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

I have heard that it is very difficult to convert Chinese, and so I had never, ever, wanted to go to China. A kind of resentment had slipped into my heart at the very word, China. But the Provincial enlightened me. I understood that it was the will of God that I should go to China. Joy and gratitude then filled my heart. **Saint Rémi Isoré.**

There is no wild beast on earth fiercer, keener, or more persistent in injuring man than the devil, that he may fulfil the desire of his malicious and obstinate mind for our destruction. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

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. **Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.**

He who wishes to love God does not truly love Him if he has not an ardent and constant desire to suffer for His sake. **Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.**

O Holy Mary! My Mother; into thy blessed trust and special custody, and into the bosom of thy mercy, I this day, and every day, and in the hour of my death, commend my soul and body. To thee I commit all my anxieties and sorrows, my life and the end of my life, that by Thy most holy intercession, and by Thy merits, all my actions may be directed and governed by Thy will and that of Thy Son. **Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.**

'God knows I am here. This is His will for me.' From his Mexican prison cell before he was executed. **Saint Jose Isabel Flores Varela.**

'I am commanded by my king to be brief and brief I will be, I die his majesty's good servant, but God's first.' Speaking at his trial before his martyrdom at the hands of King Henry VIII. **Saint Thomas More.**

What does it avail to know that there is a God, which you not only believe by Faith, but also know by reason: what does it avail that you know Him if you think little of Him? **Saint Thomas More.**

What men call fame is, after all, but a very windy thing. A man thinks that many are praising him, and talking of him alone, and yet they spend but a very small part of the day thinking of him, being occupied with things of their own. **Saint Thomas More.**

Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn't frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called "I". Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others. **Saint Thomas More.**

'Had you but tasted one drop of the sweetness which inebriates the souls of those religious from their worship of this Sacrament, you would never have written as you have, nor have apostatized from the faith that you formerly professed.' Taken from a letter written to the bishop of Winchester, England. **Saint John Fisher.**

'I reckon in this realm no one man, in wisdom, learning, and long approved virtue together, meet to be matched and compared with him.' Speaking of _Saint John Fisher_ , his friend, also martyred by Henry VIII. **Saint Thomas More.**

We are born to love, we live to love, and we will die to love still more. **Saint Joseph Cafasso.**

Today families, parishes, the nation, the world, are in need of saints. **Blessed Andrea Giacinto Longhin.**

When storms rage against us through no fault of our own, it is a kind of pledge of success in the near future. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

By nature, each one of us is enclosed in his own personality, but supernaturally, we are all one. We are made one body in Christ, because we are nourished by one flesh. As Christ is indivisible, we are all one in Him. Therefore, He asked His Father "that they may all be One as We also are One." **Saint Cyril of Alexandria.**

We must use the same weapons against the devil for our salvation as he abuses for our destruction. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Lord, what do I want, what can I want, apart from thee? **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. **Saint Irenaeus of Lyons.**

The Word Himself, born of Mary who was still a Virgin, rightly received in birth the recapitulation of Adam, thereby recapitulating Adam Himself. **Saint Irenaeus of Lyons.**

'I assure you, brothers, the gospel I proclaimed to you is no mere human invention. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I schooled in it. It came by revelation from Jesus Christ. You have heard, I know, the story of my former way of life in Judaism. You know that I went to extremes in persecuting the Church of God and tried to destroy it. But the time came when He who had set me apart before I was born and called me by His favour to reveal His Son to me, that I might spread among the Gentiles the good tidings concerning Him.' To the Christians in Galatia. **Saint Paul the Apostle.**

'I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for His sake; but bear your share of the hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.' In his second letter to Saint Timothy. **Saint Paul the Apostle.**

'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' **Saint Peter the Apostle.**

O Merciful Lord Jesus, Our Saviour, hear the prayers and petitions of Your unworthy sinful servants who humbly call upon You and make us all to be one in Your one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Flood our souls with Your unquenchable light. Put an end to religious disagreements and grant that we Your disciples and Your beloved children may all worship You with a single heart and voice. Fulfil quickly, O grace-giving Lord, your promise that there shall be one flock and one Divine Shepherd of Your Church; and may we be made worthy to glorify Your Holy Name now and ever and unto the ages of ages. **Blessed Leonid Feodorov.**

Nothing more desirable or gladsome can happen than to die for Christ's sake and our neighbour's salvation. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

No matter what happens, I do love God with my whole heart. God will save my soul; it doesn't matter that I cannot read. **Saint Huailu Zhang.**

If a man is not moved to forsake all that is his for God, let him nonetheless refer all things to Him; many though they be, they will always be less than that one thing that Christ called needful. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

It is stupid to neglect an immediate opportunity of serving God in the hope of doing something greater in future: for it may well be that you will lose the one without gaining the other. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'My Lord and my God.' **Saint Thomas the Apostle.**

To do many things and to mix with many people, yet not to turn aside from either God or oneself, is a great and rare art. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'Do not worry about me; I am in God's hands. I want to assure you that I feel His help at every step. Despite the present situation, I am happy and completely at peace.' From a letter to his parents from the Auschwitz concentration camp. **Blessed Jozef Kowalski.**

# PART THIRTEEN

Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will make a man go to Heaven. **Saint Camillus de Lellis.**

Mary seeks for those who approach her devoutly and with reverence, for such she loves, nourishes, and adopts as her children. **Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.**

When we pray, the voice of the heart must be heard more than that proceeding from the mouth. **Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.**

The sharper you are at noticing other people's failings, the more apt will you be to overlook your own. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Whether the body be made prone to some fault by softness, or weakened by excessive severity, an account must equally be rendered to God - even though the latter course may seem to have been undertaken for His honour and glory. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'Where there are sheep, there must also be a shepherd. Pastors cannot leave the believers!' Spoken when the Nazis invaded his region of Poland. **Blessed Karol Stepien.**

'But I know it will be said that a priest ordained by authority derived from the See of Rome is, by the Law of the Nation, to die as a traitor, but if that be so what must become of all the clergymen of the Church of England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome, or not at all, as appears by their own writers so that Ordination comes derivatively from those now living.' From the gallows as he was about to be hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1679 Protestant England. **Saint John Plessington.**

Mohamed is neither an apostle nor a prophet. **Saint Michael the Sabaitè.**

For correction to be of any use, either he who corrects must have authority, or he who is corrected proved love. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

God is love, and all His operations proceed from love. Once He wills to manifest that goodness by sharing His love outside Himself, then the Incarnation becomes the supreme manifestation of His goodness and love and glory. So, Christ was intended before all other creatures and for His own sake. For Him all things were created and to Him all things must be subject, and God loves all creatures in and because of Christ. Christ is the first-born of every creature, and the whole of humanity as well as the created world finds its foundation and meaning in Him. Moreover, this would have been the case even if Adam had not sinned. **Saint Lawrence of Brindisi.**

So that our self-love may not lead us astray in dealing with matters that concern ourselves, we should think of them as if they concerned others, that thus our judgment may be guided by truth and not by affection. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

O Lord, make haste and illumine the night. Say to my soul that nothing happens without You permitting it, and that nothing of what You permit is without comfort. O Jesus, Son of God, You Who were silent in the presence of Your accusers, restrain my tongue until I find what I should say and how to say it. Show me the way and make me ready to follow it. It is dangerous to delay, yet perilous to go forward. Answer my petition and show me the way. As the wounded go to the doctor in search of aid, so do I come to You. O Lord, give Your peace to my heart. **Saint Bridget of Sweden.**

There are moments in life of special importance such as when the Lord shows us the way to be followed and then leaves it up to our will to respond. **Blessed Margarita de Maturana.**

I want to make good use of the time God gives me and be ready when He finally calls me to cast myself into His arms forever; in an act of supreme abandonment. What a joy! So be it. **Blessed Margarita de Maturana.**

The man of prayer must not be cast down in aridity, nor elated when he receives consolation. In dryness let him remember the graces he has enjoyed; and when he feels sensible devotion, let him consider it an alms given him gratis by God. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

'Not my will, but Yours be done!' Shouted during torture and medical experiments at Dachau. **Blessed Titus Brandsma.**

I want to be holy, loving Jesus in the Eucharist, suffering with Christ Crucified and seeing Christ in my brothers and sisters. **Blessed Maria of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.**

'Lord God of virtues, Guide of the wayward, Who sits above the Cherubim and searches the foundations of the abyss, Who knew Adam before he was; Who has promised the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven to those who love Thee; Who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush; Who blessed Abraham, our Father; Who brings to Paradise the souls of the just and sinks the souls of the ungodly in perdition; Who humbled the lions before Daniel and mitigated for the three Children the strong fire of the Chaldees; Who nourished Elijah by the ravens which brought him food and restored to life Lazarus on the fourth day, receive my mother's soul in peace, and put her in the place of the holy fathers, for Thine is the power for ever and ever. Amen.' A prayer for his mother. **Saint Simeon Stylites.**

When the devil cannot bring you to commit sin, he will take a delight in annoying you and filching your peace of mind. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Grains of wheat, when ground in the mill, turn in to flour. With this flour we make the wafer of the holy Eucharist. Grapes, when crushed in the wine press, yield their juice. This juice turns into wine. Similarly, suffering so crushes us that we turn into better human beings. **Saint Alphonsa of India.**

The day you learn to surrender yourself totally to God, you will discover a new world, just as I am experiencing. You will enjoy a peace and a calm unknown, surpassing even the happiest days of your life. **Saint Jaime Hilario Barbal.**

A shepherd cannot run away. **Blessed Stanley Francis Rother.**

When the devil instils into your mind mean and petty thoughts, turn your memory to the benefits God has shown you in times past. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

A gentle maiden having lodged a God in her womb, asks as its price, peace for the world, salvation for those who are lost, and life for the dead. **Saint Peter Chrysologus.**

Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ. **Saint Peter Chrysologus.**

We exhort you in every respect, honourable brother, to heed obediently what has been written by the Most Blessed Pope of the City of Rome; for Blessed Peter, who lives and presides in his own see, provides the truth of faith to those who seek it. **Saint Peter Chrysologus.**

The elderly are travellers who we must take care of before their life ends. We must take care of them with all the tenderness possible. **Saint María Natividad Venegas de La Torre.**

Suffering is short. Our joy will be eternal. **Saint María Natividad Venegas de La Torre.**

Those who are merciful with the needy of the world will not lack God's mercy. **Saint María Natividad Venegas de La Torre.**

The weight of the cross is burdensome for those carrying it, but not for those who embrace it. **Saint María Natividad Venegas de La Torre.**

Have faith! Everything will be alright. Faith, Faith! **Saint Leopold Bogdan Mandic.**

'I am like a bird in a cage, but my heart is beyond the seas.' Knowing that his poor health prevented him from becoming a foreign missionary. **Saint Leopold Bogdan Mandic.**

We have in heaven the heart of a mother, The Virgin, our Mother, who at the foot of the Cross suffered as much as possible for a human creature, understands our troubles and consoles us. **Saint Leopold Bogdan Mandic.**

Check impulse with impulse, habit with habit, as one nail is blunted with another. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

I want to do God's will without paying attention to myself, my comfort or my rest. **Blessed Cecilia Schelingová.**

God will answer our prayers. **Blessed Bernard Francis Casey.**

'Oh happy day!' His dying words. **Blessed Everard Hanse.**

It is not fitting that those who are implicated in their own affairs should immediately turn to the things of the soul: that would be like casting a hook without worm or bait. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

We must show charity towards the sick, who are in greater need of help. Let us take them some small gift if they are poor, or, at least, let us go and wait on them and comfort them. **Saint Alphonsus Liguori.**

If we should be saved and become saints, we ought always to stand at the gates of the Divine Mercy to beg and pray for, as alms, all that we need. **Saint Alphonsus Liguori.**

He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things. **Saint Alphonsus Liguori.**

He who communicates most frequently will be freest from sin and will make farthest progress in Divine Love. **Saint Alphonsus Liguori.**

I love You, Jesus my love, I love You more than myself. I repent with my whole heart for having offended You. Never permit me to separate myself from You again. May I love You always, and then do with me as You will. **Saint Alphonsus Liguori.**

Those who have care of souls need nothing so much as courage, lest, while they are looking after others' salvation, they endanger their own. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

If the love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament does not win our hearts, Jesus is vanquished! Our ingratitude is greater than His Goodness, our malice is more powerful than His Charity. **Saint Peter Julian Eymard.**

We must always choose the most perfect. Two good works present themselves to be done, one in favour of a person we love, the other in favour of a person who has done us some harm. Well, we must give preference to the latter. **Saint John Vianney.**

We should consider those moments spent before the Blessed Sacrament as the happiest of our lives. **Saint John Vianney.**

'It's my turn next.' As he was about to be beaten to death by anti-church soldiers during the Argentine Dirty War, 4 August 1976. **Blessed Enrico Angelo Angelelli Carletti.**

A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil. **Saint Dominic de Guzman.**

In your good works and holy exercises, avoid all sloth and tepidness as your worst enemy. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

# PART FOURTEEN

Whatever did not fit in with my plan did lie within the plan of God. I have an ever deeper and firmer belief that nothing is merely an accident when seen in the light of God, that my whole life down to the smallest details has been marked out for me in the plan of Divine Providence and has a completely coherent meaning in God's all-seeing eyes. And so, I am beginning to rejoice in the light of glory wherein this meaning will be unveiled to me. (Formerly Edith Stein, gassed by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1942.) **Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.**

Learn from _Saint Thérèse of Lisieux_ to depend on God alone and serve Him with a wholly pure and detached heart. Then, like her, you will be able to say, "I do not regret that I have given myself up to Love." **Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.**

O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage, and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will open before me, and I shall meet it with peace. **Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.**

'What do you say, Father, shall we go to heaven?' Martyred in the Spanish Civil War. **Blessed Florentín Felipe Naya.**

Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear, for He who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me. **Saint Clare of Assisi.**

At one moment the devil takes away all fear, lest you fall: at another he increases it, that you may yield: and both to your destruction. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

When shall it be that we shall taste the sweetness of the Divine Will in all that happens to us, considering in everything only His good pleasure, by whom it is certain that adversity is sent with as much love as prosperity, and as much for our good? When shall we cast ourselves undeservedly into the arms of our most loving Father in Heaven, leaving to Him the care of ourselves and of our affairs, and reserving only the desire of pleasing Him, and of serving Him well in all that we can? **Saint Jeanne de Chantal.**

Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to Him. That is all the doing you have to worry about. **Saint Jeanne de Chantal.**

We should go to prayer with deep humility and an awareness of our nothingness. We must invoke the help of the Holy Spirit and that of our good angel, and then remain still in God's presence, full of faith that He is more in us than we are in ourselves. **Saint Jeanne de Chantal.**

She was full of faith, and yet all her life long she had been tormented by thoughts against it. Nor did she once relax in the fidelity God asked of her. And so, I regard her as one of the holiest souls I have ever met on this earth. Speaking of _Saint Jeanne de Chantal._ **Saint Vincent de Paul.**

'He who has God lacks nothing.' Before his martyrdom in the Spanish Civil War. **Blessed Manuel Basulto Jiménez.**

If we were to die now, what would happen to us? What account should we give of the many riches, graces, and companions left to perish through our means? **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

God knows that the scope of all of my works is only to do His will. My only interest is God's glory and the good of souls. I am always an obedient son of Holy Mother Church and am ready to shed my blood and give my life for Her. **Blessed Mark of Aviano.**

'Action is more important than theory!' Before he was guillotined by the Nazis, 13th August 1943, Berlin, Germany. **Blessed Jakob Gapp.**

To harbour no envy, no anger, no resentment against an offender is still not to have charity for him. It is possible, without any charity, to avoid rendering evil for evil. But to render, spontaneously, good for evil - such belongs to a perfect spiritual love. **Saint Maximus the Confessor.**

Courage, my sons, don't you see that we are leaving on a mission? They (Nazis) pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she wishes. **Saint Maximilian Kolbe.**

The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers. **Saint Maximilian Kolbe.**

For Jesus Christ, I am prepared to suffer still more. **Saint Maximilian Kolbe.**

No one in the world can change truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves? **Saint Maximilian Kolbe.**

_Saint Kolbe_ is the patron saint of our difficult century. **Pope Saint John Paul II.**

'Long live Jesus in the Eucharist!' Before he was shot on a Spanish roadside, by anti–Catholic militiamen, some of whom he had baptized. **Blessed Vicente Rubiols Castelló.**

I find a heaven in the midst of saucepans and brooms. **Saint Stanislaus Kostka.**

'Viva Cristo Rey! Viva Santa Maria de Guadalupe!' Their dying words at the hands of the 1926 anti-religious Mexican government. Saint David Roldán-Lara, Saint Salvador Lara, Saint Manuel Moralez, and Saint Luis Batiz.

To serve God is to reign. **Blessed Aimo Taparelli.**

Our salvation consists solely in serving God. All else is deceit. **Blessed Aimo Taparelli.**

'I am happy, Lord.' A frequent prayer during his fight with cancer. **Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga.**

"I will" and "I will not" are strangers in this house. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make His spirit, His devotion, His affections, His desires, and His disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do unceasingly. **Saint John Eudes.**

Let us therefore give ourselves to God with a great desire to begin to live thus and beg Him to destroy in us the life of the world of sin, and to establish His life within us. **Saint John Eudes.**

The Christian life is a continuation and completion of the life of Christ in us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing His life and His works, labouring and suffering in a holy and divine manner in the spirit of Jesus. **Saint John Eudes.**

The air that we breathe, the bread that we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is a prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian. **Saint John Eudes.**

A Christian has a union with Jesus Christ more noble, more intimate and more perfect than the members of a human body have with their head. **Saint John Eudes.**

Rare indeed is the man who knows all his weaknesses of all kinds, unless God specially reveals them to him. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favour, you shall reach the goal. **Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.**

Love is sufficient of itself; it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in the practice. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all He desires is to be loved in return. The sole purpose of His love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love Him are made happy by their love of Him. **Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.**

Truly we are passing through disastrous times, when we may well make our own the lamentation of the Prophet: "There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). Yet in the midst of this tide of evil, the Virgin Most Merciful rises before our eyes like a rainbow, as the arbiter of peace between God and man. **Pope Saint Pius X.**

God could have given us the Redeemer of the human race, and the Founder of the Faiths in another way than through the Virgin, but since Divine Providence has been pleased that we should have the Man-God through Mary, who conceived Him by the Holy Spirit and bore Him in her womb, it only remains for us to receive Christ from the hands of Mary. **Pope Saint Pius X.**

My hope is in Christ, who strengthens the weakest by His Divine help. I can do all in Him who strengthens me. His Power is infinite, and if I lean on him, it will be mine. His Wisdom is infinite, and if I look to Him for counsel, I shall not be deceived. His Goodness is infinite, and if my trust is stayed in Him, I shall not be abandoned. **Pope Saint Pius X.**

Let the storm rage and the sky darken - not for that shall we be dismayed. If we trust as we should in Mary, we shall recognize in her, the Virgin Most Powerful "who with virginal foot did crush the head of the serpent." **Pope Saint Pius X.**

Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven. **Pope Saint Pius X.**

Serving the world half-heartedly matters little; but serving God half-heartedly is not to be borne. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart. **Saint Rose of Lima.**

Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven. **Saint Rose of Lima.**

Our Lord and Saviour lifted up His voice and said with incomparable majesty: "Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven." **Saint Rose of Lima.**

Since God does so much for me, what could I not do for him? **Saint Emily de Vialar.**

In order to avoid discord, never contradict anyone except in case of sin or some danger to a neighbour; and when necessary to contradict others, do it with tact and not with temper. **Saint Louis IX.**

In prosperity, give thanks to God with humility and fear lest by pride you abuse God's benefits and so offend Him. **Saint Louis IX.**

'I should feel the greatest sorrow if Our Lord, on account of my sins, should withdraw me from the path of mercy and grace now open before me. I am always a prey to the fear lest the Lord should desire to punish me and deprive me of the supreme blessing, of which His divine goodness no longer considers me deserving. Nothing in this life appears to me more desirable, more delightful, and more consoling than to give my life for so merciful a Saviour.' Commenting on his sentence to martyrdom by being roasted alive in 1624, Nagasaki, Japan. **Blessed Miguel Carvalho.**

Everything passes here on earth. What are we? Nothing but dust, nothingness, and God is so great, so beautiful, so lovable and He is not loved. **Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified.**

Holy Spirit, inspire me. Love of God consume me. Along the true road, lead me. Mary, my good mother, look down upon me. With Jesus, bless me. From all evil, all illusion, all danger, preserve me. **Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified.**

Always remember to love your neighbour; always prefer the one who tries your patience, who test your virtue, because with her you can always merit: suffering is Love; the Law is Love. **Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified.**

I desire to suffer always and not to die. I should add this is not my will, it is my inclination. It is sweet to think of Jesus; but it is sweeter to do His will. Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified.

# PART FIFTEEN

The beginning of evil is the lack of vigilance. Silence is not a virtue when charity calls for speech. A living faith consists of thinking little of self and showing consideration for others. Teach your heart to guard that which your tongue teaches. **Saint Poemen.**

When your brother attacks you, whatever the insults are, if you get angry at him, you are getting angry without cause. Even if he were to pull out your right eye, and to cut off your right hand, if you get angry at him, you are getting angry without cause. Yet if he were to try to take you away from God, then get angry! **Saint Poemen.**

Do not lay open your conscience to anyone whom you do not trust in your heart. To instruct your neighbour is the same thing as reproving him. If you take little account of yourself, you will have peace, wherever you live. To throw yourself before God, not to measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will; these are the instruments for the work of the soul. **Saint Poemen.**

Let go of a small part of your righteousness and in a few days, you will be at peace. To throw yourself before God, to not measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will - these are the instruments for the work of the soul. **Saint Poemen.**

Give not your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart. If you are silent, you will possess peace wherever you live. **Saint Poemen.**

How much a man loses, not only of liberty but of authority, who accepts gifts! **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

God has no need of your money, but the poor have. You give it to the poor, and God receives it. **Saint Augustine of Hippo.**

All our sanctity and perfection consists in conforming ourselves to the will of God, which is the sole and supreme rule of perfection and of holiness. **Blessed Alfons Maria Mazurek.**

Little Sisters, take good care for the aged, for in them you are caring for Christ Himself. **Saint Jeanne Jugan.**

If you begin by winning your own approval, you will easily command that of others. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

You want something to remember me by? All I can leave you is an invitation to holiness. **Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster.**

When, as is but human, errors are committed by others, you should see in them, as in a mirror, some deformity that needs removing in yourself. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother. God is one and Christ is one, and His Church is one; one is the faith, and one is the people cemented together by harmony into the strong unity of a body. If we are the heirs of Christ, let us abide in the peace of Christ; if we are the sons of God, let us be lovers of peace. **Saint Cyprian of Carthage.**

Whatever a man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself. **Saint Cyprian of Carthage.**

In my heart I hear a music that has no words, a harmony that has no sound: yet so gladsome is what I hear that nothing in the world can be compared thereto. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Nothing is hard to a man whose will is set on it, especially if it be a thing to be done out of love. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

As for us, we hold to what we believed ten and twenty years ago; to what our forefathers believed one hundred years ago, and one thousand years ago, and to that which the whole Catholic world has always believed. **Saint Solomon Le Clerq.**

Conquer yourself; for if you do this you will gain a brighter crown in heaven than others who are meeker by nature. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist. **Pope Saint Gregory the Great.**

My task throughout eternity, and until the end of the world, is and will be to radiate, through the most Holy Virgin, the Heart of Jesus on all souls. **Blessed Maria Dina Bélanger.**

Jesus is my only hope! **Blessed Catherine of Racconigi.**

Seek to be held a fool by all men, that God may account you wise. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Do not be familiar with or at the beck and call of everyone but consult the Spirit as to whom He most urges you. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen. And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart, and God listens. And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be. **Saint Teresa of Calcutta.**

A clean heart is a free heart. A free heart can love Christ with an undivided love in chastity, convinced that nothing and nobody will separate it from His love. Purity, chastity, and virginity created a special beauty in Mary that attracted God's attention. He showed His great love for the world by giving Jesus to her. **Saint Teresa of Calcutta.**

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. **Saint Teresa of Calcutta.**

Desire to be openly known to everyone, both inwardly and outwardly. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Let my future be as God wants it. I leave it in the hands of Him who cannot operate but for the good of all. And this is enough to make me happy. **Blessed Giovanni Battista Mazzucconi.**

As Jesus has chosen bread, which is very common, so must my life be, common, approachable by all and, at the same time, humble and hidden, like bread. **Blessed Eugenia Picco.**

Suffer, be silent, love. **Blessed Eugenia Picco.**

Men of great virtue, though their learning for their neighbours' help be small, preach more eloquently and persuade their people to goodness more powerfully by their appearance than they could by rhetorical skill, however highly instructed they were. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

To love God as He ought to be loved, we must be detached from all temporal love. We must love nothing but Him, or if we love anything else, we must love it only for His sake. **Saint Peter Claver.**

To do the will of God, man must despise his own; the more he dies to himself, the more he will live to God. **Saint Peter Claver.**

To the extent that it is possible for me to do everything well, I do it. Our Lord does the rest. With His help, everything becomes easy and beautiful because we have a Good Lord. **Blessed Francisco Gárate Aranguren.**

Know this, brethren: do not creep out of the church before the dismissal prayer, for he who exits from the divine chant or converses or whispers has been seduced by demons, as the Divine Scriptures bear witness. **Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk.**

The heavens are not pure in the sight of Him Whom I serve; how then shall I, a sinful man, stand before Him? **Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.**

'Father, how sweet and delightful is it to suffer for Jesus Christ! I have learned this better by experience than I am able to express, especially since we are in these dungeons where we fast continually. The strength of my body fails me, but my joy increases as I see death draw nearer. O what a happiness for me, if next Easter I shall sing the heavenly Alleluia in the company of the blessed!' Nagasaki martyr, 1622. **Blessed Charles Spinola.**

The proud person is like a grain of wheat thrown into water: it swells, it gets big. Expose that grain to the fire: it dries up, it burns. The humble soul is like a grain of wheat thrown into the earth: it descends, it hides itself, it disappears, it dies; but to revive in heaven. **Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified.  
**

# PART SIXTEEN

God asks little, but He gives much. **Saint John Chrysostom**

How blind men are to make so little account of time, having one day to render account of how uselessly they employed it - this time which, however short, may merit an eternity, but which, once passed, can never be regained. **Saint Catherine of Bologna.**

Man ought to take great care to keep the grace which comes from God, and to work faithfully with it because we too often sacrifice the fruit for the leaves, the grain for the straw. **Blessed Egidius of Assisi.**

"Now, Master, you may let Your servant go in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for Your people Israel." The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about Him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother - "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted, and you yourself a sword will pierce, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." **Saint Simeon.**

Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life; He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me; still He knows what He is about. **Blessed John Henry Newman.**

We are so much the wiser by how much better we observe what we know because it is by the fruit, we recognise the tree. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

The missionaries will have to understand that they are stones hid under the earth, which will perhaps never come to light, but which will become part of the foundations of a vast, new building. **Saint Daniel Comboni.**

Help all without discrimination, friend and foe alike. Everyone is our neighbour. **Blessed Angela Truszkowska.**

Happy he who receives reproaches with gentleness and listens respectfully to all that is said to him, confesses his fault humbly and hastens to make satisfaction for it. **Saint Francis of Assisi.**

When you perceive that God is chastening you, fly not to his enemies . . . but to his friends, the martyrs, the saints, those who were pleasing to Him, and who have great power in God. **Saint John Chrysostom.**

Let us relieve the poverty of those that beg of us and let us not be over-exact about it. **Saint John Chrysostom.**

It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life. **Saint John Chrysostom.**

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

When you are before the altar where Christ reposes, you ought no longer to think that you are amongst men; but believe that there are troops of angels and archangels standing by you and trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and veneration. **Saint John Chrysostom.**

If the Lord should give you power to raise the dead, He would give much less than He does when He bestows suffering. By miracles you would make yourself debtor to Him, while by suffering He may become debtor to you. And even if sufferings had no other reward than being able to bear something for that God who loves you, is not this a great reward and a sufficient remuneration? Whoever loves, understands what I say. **Saint John Chrysostom.**

Sisters, it's a great crime not to have trust in God. He is omnipotent! **Blessed María López de Rivas Martínez.**

If you have to go on living, it is because you have to live for others. As for taking rest, eternity awaits you. **Blessed María López de Rivas Martínez.**

In suffering love and in loving, suffer! **Blessed María López de Rivas Martínez.**

God's supreme goodness, mighty love, and fatherly care are more ready freely to bestow perfection on us than we are to seek it out. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

To distribute money belongs to the imperial dignity, but I offer up for the imperial dignity itself personal service to the Giver. **Saint Aelia Flaccilla.**

So that our handling of great affairs may go as we wish, the smallest concerns are to be sent before them, that so we may ask for the great ones the help of Him who gives grace to the humble. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

All the Church for all the World! **Blessed Paolo Manna.**

If it were given to a man to see virtue's reward in the next world, he would occupy his intellect, memory and will in nothing but good works, careless of danger or fatigue. **Saint Catherine of Genoa.**

God would readily give us much greater graces if our perverse wills did not stand in the way of his bounty. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved. **Saint Robert Bellarmine.**

I am convinced that by keeping my heart uncontaminated, living in faith and in fraternal love towards my neighbour, I will not go off the path. These are my only treasures and are without price. **Saint Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski.**

Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession. **Saint Joseph of Cupertino.**

To one who possesses God nothing troublesome can happen; for God cannot be lost, unless we will to lose him; and all sadness arises from our losing, or fearing to lose, some good thing. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

I was sixteen years of age when I learned to know Our Lord. This experience overwhelmed me, and I wanted God and only God. **Saint Emily de Rodat.**

To be able to dry tears, to heal the wounds of souls from the heights of Heaven, this is my ardent wish. **Blessed Marie Therese of Saint Joseph.**

Let us rest in the Divine Heart like little children in the arms of their father. The greater our confidence, the more will God's goodness be seen in us. **Blessed Marie Therese of Saint Joseph.**

Through cross to throne! That is the way, the royal way of the cross that leads to heaven, in union with God. **Blessed Marie Therese of Saint Joseph.**

Though all men and all reasons persuade us thereto, we should begin no business till we have first consulted God in prayer. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Do not put off the mortification of your body or your passions till old age, which is uncertain and cannot endure hardness. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You. Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and without You I am without fervour. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and without You I am in darkness. Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You. Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much and always be in Your company. Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You. Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love. Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close and life passes, death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile! Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love. Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. **Saint Padre Pio.**

Humility, simplicity, charity, but above all charity. **Blessed Émilie Tavernier Gamelin.**

To give, eternally to give. **Blessed Bernardina Maria Jablonska.**

If you find you have fallen, do not despair; even falls are an aid to well-being. **Saint Ignatius of Loyola.**

When I was born, my mother laid me on a bed of straw, and I desire no better pallet when I die, asking only to be in the state of grace and worthy of salvation. **Blessed Anton Martin Slomsek.**

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. Hail my life, my sweetness, and my hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To you do we send up our sighs; mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward me, and after this, our exile, show to us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus Christ! Clement, loving, sweet Virgin Mary! Amen. **Blessed Herman the Cripple.**

And finally, a discussion between the Risen Christ and one of the two disciples on the Way to Emmaus . . .

Jesus asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?"

They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to Him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?" **Saint Cleopas**.

And Jesus replied to them. "What sort of things?"

They said to Him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed Him over to a sentence of death and crucified Him. But we were hoping that He would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find His body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that He was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but Him they did not see."

And Jesus said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the scriptures.

As they approached the village to which they were going, He gave the impression that He was going on farther. But they urged Him, "stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So, Jesus went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while He was with them at table, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, but He vanished from their sight.

Blessed be God in His Blessed Mother, The Virgin Mary and Blessed be God in all His Angels and Saints.

Anthony Vincent Bruno © 2019
