'Leave sadness to those in the world. We who work for God should be lighthearted.'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

When you find your intellect occupied pleasurably withmaterial things and becoming fondly attached to its conceptual imagesof them, you may be sure that you love these things more than God. 'Forwhere your treasure is, there will your heart be also' (Matt. 6:21).'

St. Maximos the Confessor

'Everything is the Father's will: homeland, fortune, happiness, work, food, life, Jesus' death. Let His will be mine.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck (written after she found out she was dying from cancer). I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day. I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage. I would have talked less and listened more.I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace. I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband. I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed. I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle. When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, 'Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.' There would have been more 'I love you's' More 'I'm sorry's. 'But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute. Look at it and really see it. Live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!! Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what. Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.

'We should express ourselves in few words ; the truth
is all its simplicity suffices. We should guard against enlarging on
the consequences; truth in itself always carries conviction; too many
ornaments but weaken and over-weight it in its struggle with error.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

'There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.'

Saint Therese of Lisieux

Even Your Protection is Beyond Our Grasp

Who else, beside your Son, is concerned like you about the fate of the human race? Who defends us, time and time again, in our tribulations? Who delivers us promptly from the temptations that assail us? Who takes so much pain to plead in favor of sinners? Who takes their defense to excuse them in desperate circumstances? By virtue of the frankness and the power with your Son that your motherhood brought you, although our crimes condemn us and we dare not look again toward the heavens, you save us from the eternal punishments by your supplications and intercessions. This is why the afflicted seek solace with you. Those who have suffered injustice run to you. The severely ill invoke your assistance. All that is yours is wonderful, Mother of God. Everything about you is bigger than life, way beyond our understanding and our power. Even your protection is beyond our grasp.


Saint Germanus of Constantinople

'I will go peaceably and firmly to the Catholic Church: for if Faith is so important to our salvation, I will seek it where true Faith first began, seek it among those who received it from God Himself.'

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

The Miracle Prayer
(Say this prayer and when you come to the point where you sincerely mean every word of it, something spiritual will occur to you.)

Lord Jesus, I come before you,just as I am. I am sorry for my sins. I repent of my sins. Please forgive me. In Your Name, I forgive all others for what they have done against me. I renounce Satan, the evil spirits and all their works. Igive you my entire self. Lord Jesus, now and forever, I invite you into my life. I accept you as my Lord, God and Savior. Heal me, change me, strengthen me in body, soul and spirit. Come, Lord Jesus, cover me with your Precious Blood, and fill me with your Holy Spirit. I love you Lord Jesus. I praise you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I shall follow you everyday of my life. Amen. Blessed Virgin Mary, help me. Amen. In union withthe Angels that surround the Tabernacle, I adore You, O Blood of Jesus.

'The reason why sometimes you have asked and not
received, is because you have asked amiss, either inconsistently, or
lightly, or because you have asked for what was not good for you, or
because you have ceased asking.'

St. Basil the Great

'The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.'

G.K. Chesterton

'A man is only as good as what he loves.'

Saul Bellow, "Seize the Day"

'In order to bear our afflictions with patience, it isvery useful to read the lives and legends of the saints who endured great torments for Jesus Christ.'

St. Teresa of Jesus

'To a certain extent Christianity is always going to be counter-cultural. It cannot become a religious apology for what contemporary culture happens to believe at any moment in time. But at the same time we have to translate the realities of the Gospel in ways that can be understood by modern culture, and restructure the Christian narrative in ways that are more accessible to people today, without diluting the Christian message. In other words, we need new evangelization.'

Fr. Allan White, O.P., assistant to the master of the Order of Preachers in Rome.

Sundial: Make the most out of my lightTaken by Barcelona Photoblog

'If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.'

Mark Twain

'My argument is not that we create, because that is in our nature. My argument is that unlike God, we're not willing to die for our handiwork.'

The travel diaries of Father Heidler from Mask of the Ferret

'God is our origin and our destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey twists and turns -- just a it did for our saints -- through the joys and trials of ordinary, everyday life.'

Pope Benedict XVI

'The current state of moral degeneration, social disintegration, and cultural rot is precisely the result of too much - and above all erroneous and misconceived - tolerance.'

Hans Hermann-Hoppe

'Be comforted with this divine thought that your spiritual and physical pains are the test of the Divine Will.'

St. Padre Pio

'Whether we will or no, we must suffer. There are some who suffer like the good thief, and others like the bad thief.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure' of Ars

'Pride is concerned with who is right...Humility is concerned with what is right.'

Ezra Taft Benson

'A persons greatest accomplishment develops at the point where they overcome their greatest weakness'

Unknown.

'Life is a journey, not a destination.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

'If we confide in God's providence and resign ourselves entirely into His hands, and renounce our individual pleasure, He is pleased to reward us with great peace and interior consolation, and all the more so if we seek ourselves less, and more purely desire the Divine glory and God's good pleasure.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

'God be in my head, and in my understanding; God be in my eyes, and in my looking; God be in my mouth, and in my speaking; God be in my heart, and in my thinking; God be at my end, and at my departing.'

from a Medieval Primer