Wisdom from the Saints!
“Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus — a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.” St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
“Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggle increases.” St. Rose of Lima
“A humble soul does not trust itself, but places all its confidence in God.” St. Faustina
“Faith is to believe what you do not see. The reward of faith is to see what you believe.” St. Augustine
“I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.” Pope Francis
“Know that the greatest service that man can offer to God is to help convert souls.” St. Rose of Lima
“The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day.” St. Gianna Molla
“Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry.” St. Francis de Sales
And the Lord said to me, “My child, you please Me most by suffering. In your physical as well as your mental sufferings, My daughter, do not seek sympathy from creatures. I want the fragrance of your suffering to be pure and unadulterated. I want you to detach yourself, not only from creatures, but also from yourself…The more you will come to love suffering, My daughter, the purer your love for Me will be.” St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul
“Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again: for forgiveness has risen from the grave!” St. John Chrysostom
“Faith in the resurrection of Jesus says that there is a future for every human being; the cry for unending life which is a part of the person is indeed answered. God exists: that is the real message of Easter. Anyone who even begins to grasp what this means also knows what it means to be redeemed.” Pope Benedict XVI
“Mary, who is the Virgin Most Pure, is also the Refuge of Sinners. She knows what sin is, not by the experience of its fall, not by tasting its bitter regrets, but by seeing what it did to her Divine Son.” Venerable Fulton Sheen
“The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” Pope Benedict XVI
“The Eucharist is the secret of my day. It gives strength and meaning to all my activities of service to the Church and to the world.” Pope Saint John Paul II
“Nothing great is ever achieved without enduring much.” St. Catherine of Siena
“In my deepest wound I saw your glory and it dazzled me.” St. Augustine
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” Saint Mother Teresa
“Genuine love is demanding, but its beauty lies precisely in the demands it makes.” Pope Francis
“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Saint Mother Teresa
“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.” G.K Chesterton
“The saints did not all begin well, but they ended well.” St. John Vianney
“Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to Him. That is all the doing you have to worry about.” St. Jeanne de Chantal
“The devil fears hearts on fire with love of God.” St. Catherine of Siena
“To be tempted is a sign that the soul is very pleasing to the Lord.” St. Padre Pio
“It isn’t good to let our thoughts disturb us or worry us at all.” St. Teresa of Avila
“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” St. Maximilian Kolbe
“Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.” G.K. Chesterton
“If God sends you many sufferings it is a sign that He has great plans for you, and certainly wants to make you a saint.” St. Ignatius of Loyola
“Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in You.” St. Augustine of Hippo
“Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be – and becoming that person.” St. Thérèse of Lisieux
“He who possesses God lacks nothing: God alone suffices.” St. Teresa of Avila
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” Saint Mother Teresa
“Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure.” Saint John Paul II
“Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed; I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you, and uphold you with my right hand of justice.” Isaiah 41:10
“The future starts today, not tomorrow.” Saint John Paul the Great
“The Lord is loving unto man, and swift to pardon, but slow to punish. Let no man therefore despair of his own salvation.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem
“You will never be happy if your happiness depends on getting solely what you want. Change the focus. Get a new center. Will what God wills, and your joy no man shall take from you.” Venerable Fulton Sheen
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire!” St. Catherine of Siena
“A single act of pure love pleases me more than a thousand imperfect prayers.” Jesus (According to St. Faustina)
“Though an army encamp against me, my heart does not fear; Though war be waged against me, even then do I trust.” Psalm 27:3
“True charity consists in doing good to those who do us evil, and in thus winning them over.” St. Alphonsus Liguori
“Faith is like a bright ray of sunlight. It enables us to see God in all things as well as all things in God.” St. Francis de Sales
“The Holy Spirit leads us like a mother. He leads His child by the hand…as a sighted person leads a blind person.” St. John Vianney
“I am not capable of doing big things, but I want to do everything, even the smallest things, for the greater glory of God.” St. Dominic Savio
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” Saint Mother Teresa
“Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me.” St. Augustine
“I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally…My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath.” St. John Vianney
“We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable.” St. Bernard of Clairvaux
“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!” St. Catherine of Siena
“To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them.” St. Thomas Aquinas
“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.” Saint Mother Teresa
“Do not lay too much store on the favorable judgments of men, for I love thee with a perfect love. I spent My earthly existence in humiliations and scorn and in a hidden life. It was thus that I glorified My Father, laid the foundations of My Church, and remedied the evils of pride. This is the path that thou must follow.” Our Lord to Venerable Maria Celeste Crostarosa
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Quotes on Suffering:
“I want to suffer and even rejoice for love, for this is my way of scattering flowers. Never a flower shall I find but its petals shall be scattered for you; and all the while I will sing; yes, always sing, even when gathering roses in the midst of thorns; and the longer and sharper the thorns may be, the sweeter shall be my song!” St. Therese of Lisieux
“One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much, more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.” St. Teresa of Avila
“When I shrink from suffering, Jesus reproves me and tells me that He did not refuse to suffer. Then I say ‘Jesus, Your will and not mine’. At last I am convinced that only God can make me happy, and in Him I have placed all my hope…” St. Gemma Galgani
“Those who pray and suffer, leaving action for others, will not shine here on earth; but what a radiant crown they will wear in the kingdom of life! Blessed be the ‘apostolate of suffering’!” St. Josemaria Escriva
I do not know what will happen to me; I only know one thing for certain, that the Lord will never fall short of His promises. “Do not fear, I will make you suffer, but I will also give you the strength to suffer,” Jesus tells me continually. “I want your soul to be purified and tried by a daily hidden martyrdom”. . .”How many times,” Jesus said to me a little while ago, “would you have abandoned me, my son, if I had not crucified you.” St. Padre Pio
“A cross carried simply, and without those returns of self-love which exaggerate troubles, is no longer a cross. Peaceable suffering is no longer suffering. We complain of suffering! We should have much more reason to complain of not suffering, since nothing makes us more like Our Lord than carrying His Cross. Oh, what a beautiful union of the soul with Our Lord Jesus Christ by the love and the virtue of His Cross!” St. John Marie Vianney
“Trials and tribulations offer us a chance to make reparation for our past faults and sins. On such occasions the Lord comes to us like a physician to heal the wounds left by our sins. Tribulation is the divine medicine.” St. Augustine of Hippo
“To the prospect of the Kingdom of God is linked hope in that glory which has its beginning in the Cross of Christ. The Resurrection revealed this glory — eschatological glory. … Those who share in the sufferings of Christ are also called, through their own sufferings, to share in glory” St. John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris
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Quotes for Lent:
“As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus’ thirst…’Repent and believe’ Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor — He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you.” Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta
“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 St. Gregory the Great
“Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life…” Pope Benedict XVI
“Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God’s sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God.” Thomas a Kempis
“Renounce yourself in order to follow Christ; discipline your body; do not pamper yourself, but love fasting.” Saint Benedict
“Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps.” Luke 9:23
“One should never initiate anything that he cannot saturate with prayer.” Unknown
“Lent is like a long ‘retreat’ during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual ‘combat’ which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism.” Pope Benedict XVI
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Quotes on Fasting:
“Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.” St. Augustine
“Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you.” Didache
“When a man begins to fast, he straightway yearns in his mind to enter into converse with God.” St. Isaac the Syrian
“Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.” St. Peter Chrysologus
“When the stomach is full it is easy to talk of fasting.” St. Jerome
“Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies.” St. John Chrysostom
“We must fast with our whole heart, that is to say, willing, wholeheartedly, universally and entirely.” St. Francis de Sales
“God hides the prize of eternal glory in our mortifications and in the victory of ourselves, which we always strive for with great gentleness.” St. Jane Frances Chantal
“The Scripture is full of places that prove fasting to be not the invention of man but the institution of God, and to have many more profits than one. And that the fasting of one man may do good unto another, our Saviour showeth himself where he saith that some kind of devils cannot be cast out of one man by another “without prayer and fasting.” And therefore I marvel that they take this way against fasting and other bodily penance.” St. Thomas More
“Fasting is most intimately connected with prayer. For the mind of one who is filled with food and drink is so borne down as not to be able to raise itself to the contemplation of God, or even to understand what prayer means.” Catechism of the Council of Trent
“The ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us to make a complete gift of self to God.” Pope Benedict XVI