'The One whom we adore … is not some distant power. He has himself knelt down before us to wash our feet. And that gives to our adoration the quality of being unforced, adoration in joy and hope, … because we bow down to enter into a love that does not make slaves of us but transforms us.'

Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), God is Near Us, p. 113

'The cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found heir consummation -- very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God's suffering and the trophy of his victory. it stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world.'

-- From a discourse by St. Andrew of Crete, bishop, in today's Office of Readings.

George Herbert said prayer is 'something understood.' I love that. He doesn't say what is understood. He doesn't attempt to explain what he has seen and what he has heard and what he has learned for 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.'
When we pray it is like the stable in the final Narnia book. The Church or chapel where we pray is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Our heart and our world is enlarged. So why don't we pray more? Because we're blind. Satan would have us do anything else but pray. He'd prefer us to be involved in good works, church meetings, planning retreats, anything else but pray.
So let us remember today that in the Christian life we only go forward on our knees.

From Fr. Dwight Longenecker's blog

Here's a beautiful line from William F. Buckley's autobiography of faith, "Nearer, My God."
'To ponder the glory of God is to worship a transcendence that gives us a measure of man, near-infinitely small on the scale of things, but infinitely great, as the complement of divine love. Who are you, buster? I am the man Christ-God died for.'

'The patient and humble endurance of the cross-whatever nature it may be-is the highest work we have to do.'

Saint Katharine Drexel

'Do with your adversities as the merchant does with his merchandise: Make a profit on ever item. Don't allow the loss of the tiniest fragment of the true cross. It may only be the sting of a horsefly or the prick of a pin that annoys you; it may be a neighbor's little eccentricities, some unintended slight, the insignificant loss of a penny, some small restlessness of a soul, a light pain in your limbs. Make a profit on every item as the grocer does, and you'll soon be wealthy in God.'

St. Louis de Montfort

'The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world! ' "Unity must subsist in Truth!" - Fr. John Corapi

'Remember that the Christian life is one of action, not speech and daydreams. Let there be few words and many deeds, and let them be done well.'

St. Vincent Pallotti

'He who labors as he prays
lifts his heart to God with his hands.'

St. Benedict of Nursia

'If we pray, we will believe;
If we believe, we will love;
If we love, we will serve.'

Bl. Mother Teresa

'Conscience and reputation are two different things.
Your conscience depends on you, whereas your reputation depends on your neighbor's estimation of you.'

St. Augustine

I dreamt death came the other night
And Heaven's gate swung wide.
An Angel with halo bright
Ushered me inside.
And there! To my astonishment,
Stood folks I'd judged and labeled
As "quite unfit": "of little worth",
And "Spiritually disabled".
Indignant words rose to my lips,
But never were set free,
For every face showed stunned surprise -
Not one expected ME!
(unknown author)

'Prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine.'

Kathleen Norris

'Without love, nothing is pleasing to God.'

Pope St. Clement 1 of Rome

'When you hear talk about so-called ‘traditionalists', some thinkthat they are a group with a stubborn and nostalgic attachment to thepast. That is not true. In fact, here we find ourselves before adynamic Christian view of the life of faith and devotion, shared by somany families and their children who are attached to those ancientliturgical and devotional forms which have accompanied the Churchthrough centuries of her history and have formed legions of saints.'

Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy, in an interview for Il Giornale, May 31, 2004

'AMOR VINCIT OMNIA!' (Love defeats everything!)

St Augustine