The Words of Christ

“This bread is bread before the words of the Sacrament. But when the words of Christ come to it, it is the body of Christ … Before the words of Christ it is a cup full of wine and water. When the words of Christ become operative, the blood which has redeemed the people is caused to be there.” ~St. Ambrose

The Tabernacle

“For me the tabernacle has always been a Bethany, a quiet and pleasant place where Christ resides. A place where we can tell him about our worries, our sufferings, our desires, our joys, with the same sort of simplicity and naturalness as Martha, Mary and Lazarus. That is why I rejoice when I stumble upon a church in town or in the country; it’s another tabernacle, another opportunity for the soul to escape and join in intention our Lord in the Sacrament.” ~St. Josemaria Escriva, Christ is Passing By, #154

To Live for Him

“As soon as I believed that there was a God, I understood that I could do nothing other than to live for him.” ~Bl. Charles de Foucauld, excerpt from a letter to Henry de Castries, 14 August 1901

The Best Counterbalance to Evil

“Along this journey, the cultivation of all that is good, progress in the spiritual life and growth in love are the best counterbalance to evil.  Those who choose to remain neutral, who are satisfied with little, who renounce the idea of giving themselves generously to the Lord, will never hold out.  Even less if they fall into defeatism, for ‘if we start without confidence, we have already lost half the battle and we bury our talents. Christian triumph is always a cross, yet a cross which is at the same time a victorious banner, borne with aggressive tenderness against the assaults of evil.'” ~Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, #163q

Hitting the Target

“There is only one way to hit the target – you must shoot the arrow straight – but there are many ways and manners of missing…To hit the target of blessedness, take the narrow, direct road traveled by Christ our Redeemer. If you wish to err and end up in hell, go wherever you wish and error will surely follow, but if you want to succeed, let your body go with Jesus and your soul with His divinity.” ~Francisco de Osuna, excerpt from The Third Spiritual Alphabet

The Path Towards Holiness

“[O]ur path towards holiness is a constant battle. Those who do not realize this will be prey to failure or mediocrity. For this spiritual combat, we can count on the powerful weapons that the Lord has give us: faith filled prayer, meditation on the word of God, the celebration of Mass, Eucharistic adoration, sacramental reconciliation, works of charity, community life, missionary outreach. If we become careless, the false promises of evil will easily seduce us.” ~Pope Francis, Gaudete et exsultate, #162

St. Anthony Mary Claret

“I will be kind to everybody, particularly to those whom I find troublesome.” ~St. Anthony Mary Claret

O God, who for the evangelization of peoples strengthened the Bishop Saint Anthony Mary Claret with admirable charity and long-suffering, grant, through his intercession, that, seeking the things that are yours, we may earnestly devote ourselves to winning our brothers and sisters for Christ. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Saint John of Capistrano

O God, who raised up Saint John of Capistrano to comfort your faithful people in tribulation, place us, we pray, under your safe protection and keep your Church in everlasting peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Saint John Paul II

“Dear friends, if you learn to discover Jesus in the Eucharist, you will also know how to discover Him in your brothers and sisters, particularly the very poor.” ~St. John Paul II
 
O God, who are rich in mercy and who willed that Saint John Paul the Second should preside as Pope over your universal Church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching, we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole Redeemer of mankind. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Pray Without Ceasing

“Why [our Lord] should ask us to pray, when he knows what we need before we ask him, may perplex us if we do not realize that our Lord and God does not want to know what we want (for he cannot fail to know it), but wants us rather to exercise our desire through our prayers, so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us. His gift is very great indeed, but our capacity is too small and limited to receive it. That is why we are told: Enlarge your desires, do not bear the yoke with unbelievers.
 
“The deeper our faith, the stronger our hope, the greater our desire, the larger will be our capacity to receive that gift, which is very great indeed. No eye has seen it; it has no color. No ear has heard it; it has no sound. It has not entered man’s heart; man’s heart must enter into it.
 
“In this faith, hope and love we pray always with unwearied desire. However, at set times and seasons we also pray to God in words, so that by these signs we may instruct ourselves and mark the progress we have made in our desire, and spur ourselves on to deepen it. The more fervent the desire, the more worthy will be its fruit. When the Apostle tells us: Pray without ceasing, he means this: Desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him who alone is able to give it.” ~Saint Augustine of Hippo