For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. – Saint John the Apostle

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe


 
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. And there can be no more effective way to pray for this spiritual growth than for the Church, itself Christ's body, to make the offering of his body and blood in the sacramental form of bread and wine. For the cup we drink is a participation in the blood of Christ, and the bread we break is a participation in the body of Christ. Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, since we all share the same bread. And so we pray that, by the same grace which made the Church Christ's body, all its members may remain firm in the unity of that body through the enduring bond of love.

-- Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe from one of his works "The Sacrament of Unity and Love"

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo


O Lord, give me the fire that you sent forth when coming on earth. . . .
Enable me to be aflame with the ardor of charity, to glow with the splendor of obedience, and to grow ardent with love.

Help me to be saved from destruction amid dangers, to escape all perils, and to hasten toward Your goodness.
Grant me to come peacefully into Your presence, to be satiated forever by its manifestation, and to praise You unceasingly for all eternity.

-- Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo

Monday, December 28, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Thomas Beckett



The harvest is good and one reaper or even several would not suffice to gather all of it into the granary of the Lord. Yet 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. Upon his faith and teaching the whole fabric of the Church will continue to be built until we all reach full maturity in Christ and attain to unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God.

-- Saint Thomas Beckett from a letter

Saint Quote: Saint Quodvultdeus


A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come.

Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage. To destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.

You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers and fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong you own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.

The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The Christ child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.

To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.

-- Saint Quodvultdeus from a sermon about the Holy Innocents












Friday, December 25, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Romanos the Melodist

On The Nativity of Christ


Today the Virgin gives birth to him who is above all being,
and the earth offers a cave to him whom no one can approach.
Angels with shepherds give glory,
and magi journey with a star,
for to us there has been born
a little Child, God before the ages.


Bethlehem has opened Eden, come, let us see;
we have found delight in secret, come, let us receive
the joys of Paradise within the cave.
There the unwatered root whose blossom is forgiveness has appeared.
There has been found the undug well
from which David once longed to drink.
There a virgin has borne a babe
and has quenched at once Adam’s and David’s thirst.
For this, let us hasten to this place where there has been born
a little Child, God before the ages.


The mother’s Father has willingly become her Son,
the infants’ saviour is laid as an infant in a manger.
As she who bore him contemplates him, she says,
“Tell me, my Child, how were you sown, or how were you planted in me?
I see you, my flesh and blood, and I am amazed,
because I give suck and yet I am not married.
And though I see you in swaddling clothes,
I know that the flower of my virginity is sealed,
for you preserved it when, in your good pleasure, you were born
a little Child, God before the ages.


“High King, what have you to do with beggars?
Maker of heaven, why have you come to those born of earth?
Did you love a cave or take pleasure in a manger?
See, there is no place for your servant in the inn,
I do not say a place, not even a cave,
for that too belongs to another.
To Sara, when she bore a child,
a vast land was given as her lot. To me, not even a fox hole.
I used the cavern where willingly you made your dwelling,
a little Child, God before the ages.”

--Kontakion of Saint Romanos the Melodist















Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint John the Apostle


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be. What came to be through Him was life, and this life was the Light of the human race; the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

--Saint John the Apostle from the Gospel According to Saint John 1: 1 - 5










Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Poemen


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 heart is hard, but the man who hears the Word of God often opens his heart to the fear of God.

--Saint Poemen












Monday, December 21, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Peter Canisius


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

--Saint Peter Canisius

Monday, December 14, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Ansgar


If I were worthy of such a favor 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














Sunday, December 13, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Clare of Assisi


He Christ is the splendor of eternal glory, "the brightness of eternal light, and the mirror without cloud."

Behold, I say, the birth of this mirror. Behold Christ's poverty even as he was laid in the manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. What wondrous humility, what marvelous poverty! The King of angels, the Lord of heaven and earth resting in a manger! Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate on his humility, or simply on his poverty. Behold the many labors and sufferings he endured to redeem the human race. Then, in the depths of this very mirror, ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on the wood of the cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death. The mirror himself, from his position on the cross, warned passers-by to weigh carefully this act, as he said: "All of you who pass by this way, behold and see if there is any sorrow like mine." Let us answer his cries and lamentations with one voice and one spirit: "I will be mindful and remember, and my soul will be consumed within me."


--Saint Clare of Assisi from a letter












Saint Quote : Saint John of the Cross


In giving us His Son, His only Word, He spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word -- and He has no more to say...because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son.

-- Saint John of the Cross













Saturday, December 12, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Augustine of Hippo


Since we cannot, as yet, understand that He was begotten by the Father before the day-star, let us celebrate His birth of the Virgin in the nocturnal hours. Since we do not comprehend how His name existed before the light of the sun, let us recognize His tabernacle placed in the sun. Since we do not, as yet, gaze upon the Son inseparably united with His Father, let us remember Him as the 'bridegroom coming out of his bride chamber.' Since we are not yet ready for the banquet of our Father, let us grow familiar with the manger of our Lord Jesus Christ.

--Saint Augustine of Hippo











Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint John Chrysostom


It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but He who was crucified for us, Christ Himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their Power and Grace are God's. This is my body, He says. This word transforms the things offered.

--Saint John Chrysostom









Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Hipparchus


Him we adore who hung upon the cross. Him we confess to be God, and the Son of God begotten, not made, co-essential with the Father, by whose deity we believe this whole world is created, preserved, and governed.

--Saint Hipparchus









Saint Quote : Saint Irenaeus of Lyons


Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what Eve bound through her disbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith.

--Saint Irenaeus of Lyons









Sunday, December 6, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Ambrose of Milan


Therefore, let your words be rivers, clean and limpid, so that you may charm the ears of people. And by the grace of your words win them over to follow your leadership. Solomon says: "The weapons of the understanding are the lips of the wise"; and in another place he says: "Let your lips be bound with wisdom." That is, let the meaning of your words shine forth, let understanding blaze out. Let no word escape your lips in vain or be uttered without depth of meaning.

--Saint Ambrose of Milan








Saturday, December 5, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Teresa of Avila


It is more necessary to love much than to think much; always do that which impels you most to love.

--Saint Teresa of Avila









Saint Quote : 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. In this way His will can carry out for us whatever contributes to His glory, and we will be happy to be His subjects and to trust entirely in Him.

--Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque








Thursday, December 3, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint John of Damascus


Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.

--Saint John of Damascus









Saint Quote : Saint Francis Xavier



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













Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Eligius of France


O Christ, let me confess Your Name with my last breath. In Your great mercy receive me and do not disappoint me in my hope. Open the gates of life for me, and let the prince of darkness have no power over me. Protect me by Your kindness, shield me with Your might, and lead me by Your right hand to the place of refreshment, the tabernacle You have prepared for Your servants and for those who revere You. Amen

-- Saint Eligius of France










Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Theodore Guerin


If ever this poor little Community becomes settled, it will be established on the Cross; and that is what gives me confidence and makes me hope, sometimes even against hope.

--Saint Theodore Guerin










Monday, July 6, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Augustine of Hippo



Even though you possess plenty, you are still indigent. You abound in temporal possessions, but you need things eternal. You listen to the needs of a human beggar, yet yourself are a beggar of God. What you do with those who beg from you is what God will do with His beggar. You are filled and you are empty. Fill your empty neighbor with your fullness, so that your emptiness may be filled from God's fullness.

-- Saint Augustine of Hippo









Sunday, July 5, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Francis de Sales


The Prayer of the sick person is his patience and his acceptance of his sickness for the love of Jesus Christ. Make sickness itself a prayer, for there is none more powerful, save martyrdom!

-- Saint Francis de Sales










Saturday, July 4, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria


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


Friday, July 3, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini


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










Saint Quote : 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. 'Come, let us adore and prostrate ourselves and weep before him' (Psalm 95:6). The Word calls us to repentance, crying out: 'Come to me, all you who labor 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










Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Jose Isabel Flores Varela


God knows I am here. This is his will for me.


--Saint Jose Isabel Flores Varela











Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne


You may dazzle the mind with a thousand brilliant discoveries of natural science; you may open new worlds of knowledge which were never dreamed of before; yet, if you have not developed in the soul of the pupil strong habits of virtue which will sustain her in the struggle of life, you have not educated her, but only put in her hand a powerful instrument of self-destruction.

--Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne










Monday, June 29, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Bernadine of Siena



When a fire is lit to clear a field, it burns off all the dry and useless weeds and thorns. When the sun rises and darkness is dispelled, robbers, night-prowlers and burglars hide away. So when Paul's voice was raised to preach the Gospel to the nations, like a great clap of thunder in the sky, his preaching was a blazing fire carrying all before it. It was the sun rising in full glory. Infidelity was consumed by it, false beliefs fled away, and the truth appeared like a great candle lighting the whole world with its brilliant flame.

--Saint Bernadine of Siena

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Peter and Saint Paul


Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their accusations.

--Saint Peter from 1 Peter 3: 15 - 16


* * * * * * *



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.

--Saint Paul in his second letter to Saint Timothy





Saint Quote : Saint Irenaeus of Lyons


Baptism gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God's Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God's Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God's Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit.

--Saint Irenaeus of Lyons










Saturday, June 27, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Cyril of Alexandria


That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God fills with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord's disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers.

The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made flesh, that is to say, he was united to a human body endowed with a rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves.

It is held, therefore, that there is in Emmanuel two entities, divinity and humanity. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ is nonetheless one, the one true Son, both God and man; not a defied man on the same footing as those who share the divine nature by grace, but true God who for our sake appeared in human form. We are assured of this by Saint Paul's declaration: "When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.

--from a letter by Saint Cyril of Alexandria










Thursday, June 25, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer


A piece of advice I have insisted on repeatedly: be cheerful, always cheerful. —Sadness is for those who do not consider themselves to be children of God.

--Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer









Saint Quote : Pope Saint Gregory the Great


As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

--Pope Saint Gregory the Great










Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Saint Quote : 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



Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Zachary


Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty savior born of the house of his servant David. Through his holy prophets he promised of old that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life. You my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

--Saint Zachary from the Gospel of Luke 1: 68-79


Monday, June 22, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Eligius of France


O Christ, let me confess Your Name with my last breath. In Your great mercy receive me and do not disappoint me in my hope. Open the gates of life for me, and let the prince of darkness have no power over me. Protect me by Your kindness, shield me with Your might, and lead me by Your right hand to the place of refreshment, the tabernacle You have prepared for Your servants and for those who revere You. Amen

--Saint Eligius of France











Saint Quote: Saint Thomas More


I shall remember how Saint Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did:call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning.

--Saint Thomas More












Saturday, June 20, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Aloysius Gonzaga


May the comfort and grace of the Holy Spirit be yours for ever, most honored lady. Your letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead, but now I must rouse myself to make my way on to heaven at last, and to praise God for ever in the land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there would have been over. If charity, as Saint Paul says, means "to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who are glad," then, dearest mother, you shall rejoice exceedingly that God in his grace and his love for you is showing me the path to true happiness, and assuring me that I shall never lose him.

Take care above all things, most honored lady, not to insult God's boundless loving kindness; you would certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with God, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than they ever could on earth. And our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again in heaven; we shall be united with our Savior; there we shall praise him with heart and soul, sing of his mercies for ever, and enjoy eternal happiness.

-- Saint Aloysius Gonzaga from a letter to his mother











Friday, June 19, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Athanasius the Great


In former times the blood of goats and the ashes of a calf were sprinkled on those who were unclean, but they were able to purify only the body. Now through the grace of God's Word everyone is made abundantly clean. If we follow Christ closely we shall be allowed, even on this earth, to stand as it were on the threshold of the heavenly Jerusalem, and enjoy the contemplation of that everlasting feast, like the blessed apostles, who in following the Savior as their leader, showed, and still show, the way to obtain the same gift from God.

--Saint Athanasius the Great










Thursday, June 18, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque


The sacred heart of Christ is an inexhaustible fountain and its sole desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to his good pleasure.

From this divine heart three streams flow endlessly. The first is the stream of mercy for sinners; it pours into their hearts sentiments of contrition and repentance. The second is the stream of charity which helps all in need and especially aids those seeking perfection in order to find the means of surmounting their difficulties. From the third stream flow love and light for the benefit of his friends who have attained perfection; these he wishes to unit to himself so that they may share his knowledge and commandments and, in their individual ways, devote themselves wholly to advancing his glory.


This divine heart is an abyss filled with all blessings, and into the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need.


Are you making no progress in prayer? Then you need only offer God the prayers which the Savior has poured out for us in the sacrament of the altar. Offer God his fervent love in reparation for your sluggishness. In the course of every activity pray as follows: "My God, I do this or I endure that in the heart of your Son and according to his holy counsels. I offer it to you in reparation for anything blameworthy or imperfect in my actions." Continue to do this in every circumstance of life.


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. In this way his will can carry out for us whatever contributes to his glory, and we will be happy to be his subjects and to trust entirely in him
.

--Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque from a letter










Saint Quote : Saint John Vianney


My little children, your hearts, are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun.

--Saint John Vianney










Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Saint Quote : 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 neighbors. Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.

--Saint John of God










Monday, June 15, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi


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









Sunday, June 14, 2009

Saint Quote : 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








Saturday, June 13, 2009

Saint Quote: Saint Hilary of Poitiers


To those who wish to stand in God's grace, neither the guardianship of saints nor the defenses of angels are wanting.

--Saint Hilary of Poitiers










Friday, June 12, 2009

Saint Quote : Saint Anthony of Padua


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

Saint Quote : Saint John Vianney



Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.


--Saint John Vianney