Service:
“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” – St. Augustine
"Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand." -St. Thomas Aquinas
"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." -St. Augustine
"Many of the people who look forward to a long life put off doing good works, since they think that they will have plenty of time before they die. As for me, I prefer to be among those who consider that they have no time to lose if they wish to give God all the glory that they can before they die." - St. Margaret of Hungary
Epiphany:
“Today the Magi gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body. As they look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die.”- St Peter Chrysologus
Mary:
“The greatest saints, those richest in grace and virtue, will be the most diligent in praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.” --Saint Louis Marie de Montfort
Christmas:
“The world might have expected the Son of God to be born—if He was to be born at all—in an inn. A stable would be the last place in the world where one would have looked for Him. Divinity is always where one least expects to find it.” Venerable Fulton Sheen
Peace:
“Opting for peace does not mean a passive acquiescence to evil or compromise of principle. It demands an active struggle against hatred, oppression and disunity, but not by using methods of violence. Building peace requires creative and courageous action.” - Pope Saint John Paul II
Joy:
“Joy is prayer–Joy is strength–Joy is love–Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls…. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the Christ risen.” - St. Teresa of Calcutta
Light:
“All the darkness of the world can not distinguish the light of a single candle. - St. Francis of Assisi
“Darkness can only be scattered by light, hatred can only be conquered by love.”- St. John Paul II
“God walks into your soul with a silent step. God comes to you more than you go to Him. Never will his coming be what you expect, and yet never will it disappoint. The more you respond to his gentle pressure, the greater will be your freedom.” – Ven. Fulton Sheen
“Christ, has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped but His, by essence and by nature.” St Cyril of Alexandria
“Lay all your cares about the future trustingly in God’s hands, and let yourself be guided by the Lord just like a little child.” Saint Edith Stein
“We have a great deal of worth in the eyes of God. I never tire of saying over and over again that God loves us. It is a wonderful thing that God Himself loves me tenderly. That is why we should have courage, joy, and the conviction that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” ― Mother Teresa, No Greater Love
Mercy:
"Mercy to sinners is the style with which God acts and to this mercy he is absolutely faithful: nothing and no one can distract him from his saving will. God does not share our current throw-away culture; it doesn’t count to God. God throws no one away; God loves everyone, looks for everyone: one by one! He doesn’t know what “throwing people away” means, because he is entirely love, entirely mercy."- Pope Francis. Saint Peter’s Square, Wednesday, 4 May 2016
“Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention.” - St. Teresa of Avila
“Remember the past with gratitude. Live the present with enthusiasm. Look forward to the future with confidence.”- St. John Paul II
“O Divine Master, grant that I may not seek to be consoled, as to console. To be understood, as to understand. To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”― St. Francis of Assisi
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours, Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ's compassion to the world Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.” St. Teresa of Avila
“You cannot be half a saint. You must be a whole saint or no saint at all. —ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX
“Let our judgment of souls cease, for God's mercy upon them is extraordinary. (1684)- St Faustina
“He loves, he hopes, he waits. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep us waiting an instant.” Maria Goretti
“Humility is the mother of many virtues because from it obedience, fear, reverence, patience, modesty, meekness and peace are born. He who is humble easily obeys everyone, fears to offend anyone, is at peace with everyone, is kind with all. -St Thomas of Villanova
“True friendship with Jesus is expressed in how one lives, in the goodness of one’s heart, in one’s humility, kindness and mercy, in one’s love for justice and truth, in one’s sincere commitment to peace and reconciliation. This, we might say, is the ‘identity card’ that qualifies us as true ‘friends,’ it is the ‘passport’ that will let us enter eternal life.” - Pope Benedict XVI
“If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of great holiness which He desires you to attain. Do you want to become a great saint? Ask God to send you many sufferings. The flame of Divine Love never rises higher than when fed with the wood of the Cross, which the infinite charity of the Savior used to finish His sacrifice. All the pleasures of the world are nothing compared with the sweetness found in the gall and vinegar offered to Jesus Christ. That is, hard and painful things endured for Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ. - Saint Ignatius of Loyola
'“Christians must lean on the Cross of Christ just as travelers lean on a staff when they begin a long journey. They must have the Passion of Christ deeply embedded in their minds and hearts, because only from it can they derive peace, grace, and truth.” - St. Anthony of Padua
“Man has a beautiful occupation, that of praying and loving. You pray, you love -- that is the happiness of man upon the earth. Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When our heart is pure and united to God, we feel within ourselves a joy, a sweetness that inebriates, a light that dazzles us. In this intimate union God and the soul are like two pieces of wax melted together; they cannot be separated. This union of God with His little creature is a most beautiful thing. It is a happiness that we cannot understand. . . God, in His goodness, has permitted us to speak to Him. Our prayer is an incense which He receives with extreme pleasure.''- St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars
“I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.” -Mother Teresa
“But the contemplative life is: to retain indeed with all one’s mind the love of God and neighbor, but to rest from all exterior action, and cleave only to the desire of the Maker, that the mind may now take no pleasure in doing anything, but having spurned all cares, may be aglow to see the face of its Creator." ~Pope St. Gregory the Great
“We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion, which is truly the Spirit of God." ~St. Vincent de Paul
“As long as we are sheep, we overcome and, though surrounded by countless wolves, we emerge victorious; but if we turn into wolves, we are overcome, for we love the shepherd’s help. He, after all, feeds the sheep not wolves, and will abandon you if you do not let him show his power in you." ~St. John Chrysostom
“A person is free when he belongs to himself; a slave, on the contrary, belongs to his master. In the same way, he acts freely who acts spontaneously, while he who receives his impulse from another does not act freely. Therefore, he who avoids evil not because it is evil but because of a commandment of God is not free. But he who avoids evil because it is evil is free." ~St. Thomas Aquinas
“The word Eucharist is but a verbal symbol, we might say a vague verbal mask, for something so tremendous that the assertion and the denial of it have alike seemed a blasphemy; a blasphemy that has shaken the world with the earthquake of two thousand years.” ~G.K. Chesterton
"We must conclude from all we have said that in the Godhead there is something threefold which is not opposed to the unity and simplicity of the divine essence. We must acknowledge that God is, as existing in His nature, and that He is known and loved by Himself." ~St. Thomas Aquinas
"In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke describes the extraordinary manifestation of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as a communication of the very vitality of God who gives himself to men. This divine gift is also light and power: light, to proclaim the Gospel, the Truth revealed by God; power, to infuse the courage of witnessing to the faith, which the Apostles begin at that very moment." ~Pope St. John Paul II
"And so that which till then was visible of our Redeemer was changed into a sacramental presence, and that faith might be more excellent and stronger, sight gave way to doctrine, the authority of which was to be accepted by believing hearts enlightened with rays from above." ~St. Leo the Great
"Always remain close to the Catholic Church, because it alone can give you true peace, since it alone possesses Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the true Prince of Peace." ~Padre Pio
"Today’s Gospel instructs us in the way of loving others with God’s love. The whole of the Christian life is on display here: God is love. In other words, God is a self-emptying gift on behalf of the other. But this means, paradoxically, that to have God is to be what God is—and that means giving one’s life away." ~Bishop Robert Barron
“Be a shepherd to me, O Lord and together with me, be the shepherd of Your sheep, that my heart may not cause me to swerve either to right or to left. Let Your good Spirit lead me in the right way, that my actions may be carried out, according to Your will – even to the end. Amen." ~St. John Damascene
"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." ~C.S. Lewis (not a saint)
Divine Mercy:
“All grace flows from mercy, and the last hour abounds with mercy for us. Let no one doubt concerning the goodness of God; even if a person’s sins were as dark as night, God’s mercy is stronger than our misery. One thing alone is necessary; that the sinner set ajar the door of his heart, be it ever so little, to let in a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest.” ~St. Faustina's Diary (1507)
Easter
“The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we live while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at present signifies that happiness that’ll be ours in the future. What we commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life. What we celebrate after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the first season with fasting and prayer but now the fast is over! And we devote the present season to Praise! Such is the meaning of the Alleluia we sing!" ~St. Augustine
“Eden and Gethsemane were the two gardens around which revolved the fate of humanity. In Eden, Adam sinned; in Gethsemane, Christ took humanity’s sin upon Himself. In Eden, Adam hid himself from God; in Gethsemane, Christ interceded with His Father; in Eden, God sought out Adam in his sin of rebellion; in Gethsemane, the New Adam sought out the Father and His submission and resignation." ~Archbishop Fulton Sheen
“You get double the grace, double the mercy, double everything during Lent because it’s preparation for the holy days, Holy Week. And the reason the Church gives those special graces is because we have the privilege of thinking and meditating on the Passion.” ~Mother Angelica
"When you think about death, do not be afraid, in spite of your sins. God already knows that you love Him...if you seek Him, He will welcome you as the father welcomed the prodigal son; if you seek Him!" ~St. Josemaria Escriva
Lent:
"[Lent] 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
“By His loving foresight, He allowed them to taste for a short time, the contemplation of eternal joy, so that they might bear persecution bravely.” ~St. Bede the Venerable
"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." ~St. John Bosco
“Hypocrisy is the attempt to remedy a mistake without admitting it. St. Peter denied the Lord; but at least he never denied that he had denied Him.” ~G.K. Chesterton
"The end for which we are created invites us to walk a road that is surely sown with a lot of thorns, but it is not sad; through even the sorrow it is illuminated by joy." ~Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
"Follow me! Jesus says these words to every Christian. So follow me and put down the burdens you are bearing. For, laden as you are, you cannot follow Me who am running ahead. And where is He running? To the cross. You too, run after Him. As He bore His cross for you, take up your own for your good. So 'follow me' for I know the right way and will guide you." ~St. Anthony of Padua
"As for our doctor, He did not fear being killed by sick people afflicted with madness; He turned His own death into their remedy. Indeed, He died and rose again.” ~St. Augustine
"The moment has arrived, the privileged time, the kairos; something that human beings have been longing for and striving after and hoping to see has happened. In Jesus of Nazareth, the divine and human have come together in a salvific way, and this reconciliation is the long-awaited kingdom of God." ~Bishop Robert Barron
“He loves, he hopes, he waits. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep us waiting an instant.” Maria Goretti
""He will come from heaven like lightning, with power and great glory to judge the universe. And as Peter, James and John were with him on the holy mountain, so the elect will be with him in the kingdom of heaven, enjoying his ineffable manifestation as God and inexpressible joy." -St. Theodore
"Why stoop to drink from the puddles of worldly consolation if you can satisfy your thirst with waters that spring from Eternal Life?" - St. Josemaria Escriva
"Bear the cross and do not make the cross bear you." - St Philip Neri
"The world being unworthy to receive the son of God directly from the hands of the Father, he gave his son to Mary for the world to receive him from her." - Saint Augustine
"The washing of the feet and the sacrament of the Eucharist: two expressions of one and the same mystery of love entrusted to the disciples, so that, Jesus says, “as I have done… so also must you do” (Jn 13: 15) St. John Paul II
“We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” Pope John Paul II
"Infinite and inexhaustible is the Father’s readiness to receive the prodigal children who return to His home. Infinite are the readiness and power of forgiveness which flow continually from the marvelous value of the sacrifice of the Son. No human sin can prevail over this power or even limit it." St. John Paul II
"The grace contained in the Sacraments of Easter (Baptism and Communion) is an enormous potential for the renewal of our personal existence, of family life, of social relations. However everything passes through the human heart: if I let myself be touched by the grace of the Risen Christ, if I let him change me in that aspect of mine which is not good, which can hurt me and others, I allow the victory of Christ to be affirmed in my life, to broaden its beneficial action.” Pope Francis
"I am like the sick sheep that strays from the rest of the flock. Unless the Good Shepherd takes me on His shoulders and carries me back to His fold, my steps will falter, and in the very effort of rising, my feet will give way." - St. Jerome
“Prayer is powerful beyond limits when we turn to the Immaculata who is queen even of God’s heart.” -St Maximilian Kolbe
“The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.” St. Thérèse of Lisieux
"While in heaven. He is also with us and we, while on earth, are with Him. He is here with us by His Divinity, His power and His love. We cannot be in Heaven, as He is on earth, by divinity but in Him, we can be there by love." St. Augustine
“The Holy Spirit is like a gardener, cultivating our souls.” -St. John Vianney
“For to have the fruition of God the Trinity, after whose image we are made, is indeed the fullness of our joy, than which there is no greater.” St. Augustine
“The Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth. It is a glorious ray of the heavenly Jerusalem which pierces the clouds of our history and lights up our journey.” – St. John Paul II
"It is no use walking somewhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching." Saint Francis of Assisi
"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle." -St. Francis
“Since happiness is nothing else than the enjoyment of the supreme good, and the supreme good is above us, no one can enjoy happiness unless he rises above himself.” St. Bonaventure
"Any other burden oppresses and crushes you, but Christ’s actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs you down, but Christ’s gives you wings." -St. Augustine
"Those who are weeds today, may be wheat tomorrow." -St. Augustine
“I have a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it.” Pope Benedict XVI
"Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious transfiguration." -St Anastasius
“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” -St. Augustine of Hippo
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” -St. Thomas Aquinas
“The cross is the school of love.” – St. Maximilian Kolbe
“Practicing forgiveness not only saves families from divisiveness, but makes them capable of helping society to be less heartless and less cruel. Yes, each act of forgiveness fixes the cracks in the house and strengthens its walls.” -Pope Francis
“Be on your guard, therefore and bear in mind, this example of severe loss, sustained through arrogance. … Never place yourself above anyone, not even great sinners. Humility often saves a sinner, who has committed many terrible transgressions!”- St. Basil the Great
““He loves, he hopes, he waits. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep us waiting an instant.” Maria Goretti
“Work is a good thing for man – a good thing for his humanity – because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes “more a human being.”- Pope John Paul II
“Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will make a man go to Heaven.” – St. Camillus de Lellis
“It is Jesus you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise. -Saint John Paul II
“ To the servant of God, every place is the right place, and every time is the right time.” - St. Catherine of Siena.
“The oil is not works but the grace of the Holy Spirit of God which is received through these works, and which converts things perishable into things imperishable, transforms spiritual death into spiritual life, darkness into light.” ~St. Seraphim of Sarov
“God has given different gifts to different people. There is no basis for feeling inferior to another who has a different gift. Once it is realized that we shall be judged by the gifts we have received, rather than the gifts we have not, one is completely delivered from a false sense of inferiority.” - Fulton Sheen
“Christ, has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped but is His, by essence and by nature.” -St Cyril of Alexandria
”Remember that the Lord seeks not only flowers, but fruits; that is not only good desires and resolutions, but also holy works." St. Bernard
“God always answers: maybe today, tomorrow, but he always answers, in one way or another. Father listens and wishes to give us the Holy Spirit, which inspires every prayer and transforms everything. In prayer there is always a question of patience, Now we are in the time of Advent, a time that is typically of expectation; of expectation of Christmas. We are in waiting..” Pope Francis
“It is characteristic of God and his angels to bring to the soul, when they occupy it, true happiness and spiritual joy; and to drive from it the sadness and trials which the enemy incites in it.” -St. Ignatius of Loyola