“Let us live an ordinary life, but, beloved, let us live it with a passionate love for God. Become a mystery. Stretch one hand out to God, the other to your neighbor. Be cruciform. … Christ’s cross will be our revolution and it will be a revolution of love!” ~Catherine de Hueck Doherty
“If these are the creatures, what must the Creator be like!?” ~St. Francis of Assisi
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” ~G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
“If we are called by God to holiness of life, and if holiness is beyond our natural powers to achieve (which it certainly is) then it follows that God himself must give us the light, the strength, and the courage to fulfill the task he requires of us. He will certainly give us the grace we need. If we do not become saints it is because we do not avail ourselves of his gift.” ~Thomas Merton, Life and Holiness
Oh ever immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comfortess of the Afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings. Look upon me with mercy. When you appeared in the grotto of Lourdes, you made it a privileged sanctuary where you dispense your favors, and where many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal. I come, therefore, with unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. My loving Mother, obtain my request. I will try to imitate your virtues so that I may one day share your company and bless you in eternity. Amen.
“Let it be said to one who experiences shame: Why are you ashamed to speak of your sin, when you were not ashamed to commit it? Why do you blush to confess it to God from whose eyes it cannot be hidden? If, perhaps, you are ashamed to reveal your sin to another human being who is also a sinner, what are you going to do on Judgement Day when your conscience will be laid bare in the sight of all?” ~St Bernard of Clairvaux
“The only thing people take notice of is living witness … and what makes us living witnesses is the Beatitudes. … When we live the Beatitudes, we make Jesus present…” ~Fr. Sergius Wroblewski, OFM
If you rely on God’s love, you will find yourself, so to speak, on a mountain. The higher up you go, the greater will be the horizon of your love. As you go up the mountain of the Lord, you will be astonished – the higher you go, the further your love will reach. Continue going up until you can love all people, as God loves the world. ~Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt; The Gospel of God’s Reign
“Isn’t it strange how many Christians, who take their time and have leisure enough in their social life (they are in no hurry), in following the sleepy rhythm of their professional affairs, in eating and recreation (no hurry here either), find themselves rushed and want to rush the Priest, in their anxiety to shorten the time devoted to the most holy Sacrifice of the Altar?” ~St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, #530