“There are many who feel unhappy, just because they have too much of everything. —Christians, if they really behave as God’s children, will suffer discomfort, heat, tiredness, cold… But they will never lack joy, because that — all that! — is ordained or permitted by Him who is the source of true happiness.” ~St. Josemaria Escriva, The Furrow, #82
“The ambiance of solitude, the absence of any disturbing noise and of worldly desires and images, the quiet and calm attention of the mind to God, helped by prayer and leisurely reading, flow into that “quies” or “rest” of the soul in God. A simple and joyful rest, full of God, that leads the monk to feel, in some way, the beauty of eternal life.” ~a Carthusian
“Saints didn’t set out to have everyone follow them. Saints set out to follow Jesus, and others followed them in their pursuit of Him.” ~Mark Hart
“Christ asks for a home in your soul, where he can be at rest with you, where he can talk easily to you, where you and he, alone together, can laugh and be silent and be delighted with one another.” ~Caryll Houselander, This War Is the Passion
The content of a Christian witness is not a theory, an ideology or a complex system of precepts and prohibitions, or even a moralism. But rather a message of salvation, a concrete event, indeed a Person: it is Christ Risen, living and sole Savior of all. He can be witnessed by those who have had a personal experience of Him, in prayer and in the Church, through a path that has its foundation in Baptism, its nourishment in the Eucharist, its seal in Confirmation, its continuing conversion in Penance. Thanks to this path, always guided by the Word of God, every Christian can become a witness of Jesus risen. And his witness is all the more credible the more it is evident by a way of living that is evangelical, joyful, courageous, meek, peaceful, merciful. ~Pope Francis, April 19, 2015
The devil dreads fasting, prayer, humility, and good works: he is not able even to stop my mouth who speak against him. The illusions of the devil soon vanish, especially if a man arms himself with the Sign of the Cross. The devils tremble at the Sign of the Cross of our Lord, by which He triumphed over and disarmed them. ~St Anthony the Hermit
“This exodus towards God and others fills our lives with joy and meaning. I wish to state this clearly to the young, whose youth and openness to the future makes them open-hearted and generous. At times uncertainty, worries about the future and the problems they daily encounter can risk paralyzing their youthful enthusiasm and shattering their dreams, to the point where they can think that it is not worth the effort to get involved, that the God of the Christian faith is somehow a limit on their freedom. Dear young friends, never be afraid to go out from yourselves and begin the journey! The Gospel is the message which brings freedom to our lives; it transforms them and makes them all the more beautiful. How wonderful it is to be surprised by God’s call, to embrace his word, and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, in adoration of the divine mystery and in generous service to our neighbors! Your life will become richer and more joyful each day!” ~Pope Francis, March 29, 2015
“Contemplatives…..are carrying out an important service to mankind. These prophetic men and women are like sentinels. They are witnesses of hope that daylight is coming. They have put God at the center of their lives, and they carry in their hearts and in their prayer the joys and hopes, the difficulties and sufferings of mankind. They thus show that they are at all times in profound communion with mankind. Led by the Holy Spirit, they strive to see people and events as God sees them (cf. José Rodriguez Carbolla in L’Osservatore Romano, November 30, 2013, p. 8). And each day, they offer prayers and sacrifices to beg God to have mercy on the world, to forgive men their offense, and to give them that peace which they cannot give themselves. Those people are therefore mistaken who imagine that contemplatives are a waste or that they are irrelevant to the needs of the world.” ~Francis Cardinal Arinze, Radical Discipleship: Consecrated Life and the Call to Holiness, p. 86