Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI on prayer, the Word of God, and their importance in spiritual growth


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our catechesis on Christian prayer, we now consider the decision of the early Church to set aside seven men to provide for the practical demands of charity (cf. Acts 6:1-4). This decision, made after prayer and discernment, provided for the needs of the poor while freeing the Apostles to devote themselves primarily to the word of God. It is significant that the Apostles acknowledge the importance of both prayer and works of charity, yet clearly give priority to prayer and the proclamation of the Gospel. In every age the saints have stressed the deep vital unity between contemplation and activity. Prayer, nourished by faith and enlightened by God's word, enables us to see things in a new way and to respond to new situations with the wisdom and insight bestowed by the Holy Spirit. In our own daily lives and decisions, may we always draw fresh spiritual breath from the two lungs of prayer and the word of God; in this way, we will respond to every challenge and situation with wisdom, understanding and fidelity to God's will.

Pope Benedict XVI, April 25, 2012



Saturday, April 21, 2012

Fr. Michael Dwyer to speak of near death experience at St. Clement of Rome Parish in St. Louis, MO on April 24, 2012


For a brief summary of Fr. Michael Dwyer's message, click here

Christian Quotes on Sex and Purity


"The free exchange of consent properly witnessed by the Church establishes the marriage bond. Sexual union consummates it – seals it, completes it, perfects it. Sexual union, then, is where the words of the wedding vows become flesh." 
- Christopher West


"Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." 
- St. Augustine


Imitation of Christ
1.6 Unbridled Affections
WHEN a man desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace. An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought.
True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man.


'In temptations of the flesh, a Christian ought to have immediate recourse to God, make the sign of the cross over his heart three times, and say, "Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me."'
St. Philip Neri

'How beautiful is a pure soul! Our Lord showed one to St. Catherine; she thought it so beautiful that she said, "O Lord, if I did not know that there is only one God, I should think it was one." The image of God is reflected in a pure soul, like the sun in the water. A pure soul is the admiration of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. The Father contemplates His work: There is My creature! . . . The Son, the price of His Blood: the beauty of an object is shown by the price it has cost. . . The Holy Spirit dwells in it, as in a temple.'
--St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

'St. Peter Damian says that the altar of God receives no other fire than that of divine love. Hence he that dares to ascend the altar inflamed by the fire of impurity is consumed by the fire of divine vengeance.'
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of true love." 
- Pope John Paul II

"The Church's basic moral principle regarding reproductive technologies is this: if a given technology assists the marital embrace in achieving its natural end, it can be morally acceptable, even praiseworthy. However, if it replaces the marital embrace as the means by which the child is conceived, it's not in keeping with God's design." 
- Christopher West

'In the choice of a state of life, if we wish to secure our eternal salvation, we must embrace that state to which God calls us, in which only God prepares for us the efficacious means necessary to salvation.'
--St. Alphonsus Maria de 

'The spiritual masters point out many remedies for the vice of impurity; but the principal and the most necessary are the flight of occasions, and prayer. As to the first means, St. Philip Neri used to say that in this warfare cowards, that is, they that avoid dangerous occasions, gain the victory. Let a man use all other possible means, unless he flies away he is lost. He that loveth danger shall perish in it.

As to the second means, it is necessary to know that we have not strength to resist temptations of the flesh. This strength must be the gift of God. But God grants it to those only that pray and ask for it. The only defence against this temptation, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, is prayer.'
--St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'If you have loved virginity, you will be favored by the Lord in all things.'
--St. Ephrem of Syria

"Marriage is a living sign that truly communicates the love of Christ and the Church." 
- Christopher West

'Possess purity in an eminent degree, and jealously preserve this fragrant flower. I earnestly desire to see you shine by the brilliancy of this virtue; be like to angels, and omit no precaution to retain this treasure, which is so easily lost by imprudence. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, says the Apostle. (2 Cor. x. 5.)'
--St. Paul of the Cross


How to Conquer Temptations:
1. Think of the presence of God.
2.  Fight without fear.
3.  Avoid occasions of sin.  (Don't go to places that make it easy to sin).
4.  Guard the senses.
5.  Avoid idleness.
6.  Remove temptation promptly.
7.  Remove oneself from all--especially particular friendships
8.  Practice the spirit of mortification
9.  Reveal all temptations to your confessor.

How to preserve virtue:
1.  Humility
2.  Spirit of Prayer
3.  Modesty
4. Fidelity to the Rule
5.  Sincere devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Christian Quotes on Presumption

""Presumptuous devotees are sinners who give full rein to their passions or their love of the world, and who, under the fair name of Christian and servant of our Lady, conceal pride, avarice, lust, drunkenness, anger, swearing, slandering, injustice and other vices. They sleep peacefully in their wicked habits, without making any great effort to correct them, believing that their devotion to our Lady gives them this sort of liberty. They convince themselves that God will forgive them, that they will not die without confession, that they will not be lost for all eternity"
--Saint Louis de Montfort

"What will you do then, my child? Look well whence the trial comes, for we are often ourselves the cause of our own dryness and barrenness. A mother refuses sugar to her sickly child, and so God deprives us of consolations when they do but feed self-complacency or presumption. "It is good for me that I have been in trouble, for before I was troubled I went wrong." So if we neglect to gather up and use the treasures of God's Love in due time, He withdraws them as a punishment of our sloth. The Israelite who neglected to gather his store of manna in the early morning, found none after sunrise, for it was all melted. Sometimes, too, we are like the Bride of the Canticles, slumbering on a bed of sensual satisfaction and perishable delight, so that when the Bridegroom knocks at the door of our heart, and calls us to our spiritual duties, we dally with Him, loath to quit otir idle and delusive pleasures, and then He "withdraws Himself, and is gone," and "when I sought Him, I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer." Of a truth we deserved as much for having been so disloyal as to have rejected Him for the things of this world. If we are content with the fleshpots of Egypt we shall never receive heavenly manna. Bees abhor all artificial scents, and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit is incompatible with the world's artificial pleasures."
--Introduction to the Devout Life

Christian Quotes on Prayer

"He who labors as he prays lifts his heart to God with his hands." 
- St. Benedict of Nursia

"Lack of prayer is the cause of lack of time." 
- Peter Kreeft

In the knowledge of God thou shalt find the fire of divine charity. Where shalt thou rejoice? Upon the Cross, with the Spotless Lamb, seeking His honour and the salvation of souls, through continual, humble prayer.
--Saint Catherine of Sienna

See if this grace of prayer, with which the Most High favors you, produces in you a better knowledge of your utter insufficiency.
--Saint Paul of the Cross

"We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone." 
- St. Frances Cabrini

"No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ." 
- St. Leo the Great

"Prayer is like a great love. When you start dating the silence can be awkward, but as you grow to know each other you can sit in silence for hours and just being with each other is a great comfort." 
- Matthew Kelly, The Rhythm of Life

"To make the sign of the cross is to pronounce a visible and public yes to him who died for us and who is risen, to the God who in the humility and weakness of his love is omnipotent, stronger than all the power and intelligence of the world.\" 
- Pope Benedict XVI

'But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty. Let us consider that we are standing in God's sight. We must please the divine eyes both with the habit of body and with the measure of voice.'
--St. Cyprian of Carthage

For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. 
--Saint Teresa 

More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones. 
--Saint Teresa 

Christian Quotes on Obedience

I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible. 
--Saint Teresa 

"Whatever you do, think not of yourself, but of God." 
- St. Vincent Ferrer

'We are preparing ourselves for the time, which will come very soon, when we shall find ourselves at the end of our journey and shall be drinking of living water from the fountain I have described. Unless we make a total surrender of our will to the Lord, and put ourselves in His hands so that He may do in all things what is best for us in accordance with His will, He will never allow us to drink of it.'
--St. Teresa of Jesus

'We have learnt to recognize as freedom that which the Lord alone confers on us when he liberates us from lusts and desires and the other passions. "He who says, I know the Lord, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him," says John.'
--St. Clement of Alexandria

Woe to the rebellious children,
says the Lord,
Who carry out plans that are not mine,
who weave webs that are not inspired by me,
adding sin upon sin.
--Isaiah 31

"We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides." 
- St. Ignatius of Loyola
This level of obedience flows from absolute trust in the Apostolic authority of the Catholic Church and a very humble heart and mind.  He knows his own mind and senses are less likely to have the truth than the Church.  Haven't we all at some point thought we were absolutely certain about something, only to find that we were mistaken in the end?  It takes humility and trust to have obedience.
Here is an example of a another viewpoint:
"If all Church power vests in the clergy, then the people are practically bound to passive obedience in all matters of faith and practice; for all right of private judgment is then denied."
--Charles Hodge, Presbyterian Theologian, Princeton
Although the whole man partakes of this grace, it is first and most appropriately in the soul and later progresses to the body, inasmuch as the body of the man is capable of the same obedience to the will of God as the soul.
--William Ames, Puritan


Christian Quotes on Peace

"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you." 
- St. Augustine

"Peace begins with a smile." 
- Mother Teresa

"Do everything calmly and peacefully. Do as much as you can as well as you can. Strive to see God in all things without exception, and consent to His will joyously. Do everything for God, uniting yourself to him in word and deed. Walk very simply with the Cross of the Lord and be at peace with yourself." 
- St Francis de Sales

"The woman is at the heart of the home. Let us pray that we women realize the reason for our existence: to love and be loved and through this love become instruments of peace in the world." 
- Mother Teresa

"While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart." 
- St. Francis of Assisi

"Maintain a spirit of peace and you will save a thousand souls." 
- St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Peace is not just the absence of war. Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed patiently and with unshakable faith." 
- Pope John Paul II

"Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, not even if your whole world seems upset. If you find that you have wandered away from the shelter of God, lead your heart back to Him quietly and simply." 
- St. Francis de Sales

"Peace is defined as harmony among those who are divided. When, therefore, we end the civil war within our nature and cultivate peace within ourselves, we become at peace." 
- St. Gregory of Nyssa

"Peace is not just the absence of war. Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed patiently and with unshakable faith." 
- Pope John Paul II

"As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace." 
- St. Josemaria Escriva


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Quotes on Socialism and Equality


"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."
--Alexis de Tocqueville

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
--Winston Churchill

"If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves."

--Thomas Sowell


What the popes say about socialism



Christian Quotes on Joy

"The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything." 
- St. Catherine of Genoa

Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.
--Saint Thomas Aquinas

"Take nothing seriously, except for God; and even then remember, He has a sense of humor too." 
- Deacon Kevin McGoldrick

"Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all you meet especially your family. Be holy - let us pray." 
- Mother Teresa

"There is one and only one possible road to joy: selfless love." 
- Peter Kreeft


Christian Quotes on Integrity


"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable." 
--G.K. Chesterton

"An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded." 
- Pope John Paul II

"Any goal without salvation as its ultimate end is as pointless as trying to live forever on this earth." 
--Tarek Saab, Gut Check
"In the fulfillment of your duties, let your intentions be so pure that you reject from your actions any other motive than the glory of God and the salvation of souls." 
--St. Angela Merici

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person." 
--Mother Teresa

"The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gains more fruit."--Saint Teresa of Avila

"Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny."
--Peter Kreeft, Prayer for Beginners

"The soul will not attain sanctity if it does not keep watch over its tongue."
--Saint Faustina Kowalska

"Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out."
--Jack Buck, sports announcer

"...teaching is food, even for the teacher."
--Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop

"Charity begins today. Today somebody is suffering, today somebody is in the street, today somebody is hungry. Our work is for today, yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today to make Jesus known, loved, served, fed, clothed, sheltered. Do not wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow we will not have them if we do not feed them today."
--Mother Teresa

"The devil is afraid of us when we pray and make sacrifices. He is also afraid when we are humble and good. He is especially afraid when we love Jesus very much. He runs away when we make the Sign of the Cross."
--St. Anthony of the Desert

Before reading these next two quotes, it is important to note that charity, in these quotes' original languages, means Love and is the same love that the gospel writer John uses to say about God when he says, "God is love." In English, we use love in many connotations but the ancients had different words for different types of love. Charity for us now seems to mean generosity but that is not its true full meaning. Generosity is a result of charity.

"Faith and charity are the beginning and end of life. The beginning is faith; the end is charity. Both, joined in unity, lead to God, and all the rest that attains perfection and holiness follows from them." --Saint Ignatius of Antioch

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your: Faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, Knowledge with self-control [temperance], self-control with steadfastness [endurance with patience], steadfastness with godliness [devotion/piety], and godliness with brotherly affection [fraternal love/mutual affection], and brotherly affection with charity."
--2 Peter, 1:5-8

"Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is doing it, and right is right, even if nobody is doing it."
--SaintAugustine

"The times are past when they closed our mouths with sausage."
--A Polish poet, a few months after the strike in August 1980, referring to their integrity not being for sale anymore.

"Managers that always promise to 'make the numbers' will at some point be tempted to make up the numbers." - Warren Buffett


Christian Quotes on Humility



'If any one thought to sweeten the vast waters of the sea with one drop of fresh water, would he not be justly regarded as a fool? So also the man who thinks or hopes to do any good without the help of God grievously deceives himself. If he claims any good as his own, God will not fail to humble and confound him; such a man could never become the Lord's instrument, nor accomplish great things for His glory.'
--St. Paul of the Cross

Imitation of Christ
1.7 False Hope & Pride
The Seventh Chapter
Avoiding False Hope and Pride

VAIN is the man who puts his trust in men, in created things.
Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world. Do not be self-sufficient but place your trust in God. Do what lies in your power and God will aid your good will. Put no trust in your own learning nor in the cunning of any man, but rather in the grace of God Who helps the humble and humbles the proud.
If you have wealth, do not glory in it, nor in friends because they are powerful, but in God Who gives all things and Who desires above all to give Himself. Do not boast of personal stature or of physical beauty, qualities which are marred and destroyed by a little sickness. Do not take pride in your talent or ability, lest you displease God to Whom belongs all the natural gifts that you have.
Do not think yourself better than others lest, perhaps, you be accounted worse before God Who knows what is in man. Do not take pride in your good deeds, for God's judgments differ from those of men and what pleases them often displeases Him. If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better than even one. The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger.


"Will we fulfill God's purpose, or will we shrink back and live a comfortable, self-centered life?"
--Rick Warren

"We shall see clearly that is is greater to despise the world than to have it at one's command; that it is infinitely preferable to submit to the humblest of men for God's sake, than to command kings and princes; that a humble knowledge of ourselves surpasses the deepest sciences; in short, that greater praise is due to him who curbs his passions on the most trivial occasions, than to him who conquers the strongest cities and defeats entire armies." 
- Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli

"Without the necessary humility to worship, I subconsciously desired to be worshiped, not in a crazy Napoleanic manner, but like a modern-day celebrity." 
- Tarek Saab, Gut Check

"It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world." 
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga

'They who when they have got a little devotion think they are some great one, are only fit to be laughed at.'
--St. Philip Neri

"We may think it humility not to realize that the Lord is bestowing gifts upon us. Let us understand very, very clearly, how this matter stands. God gives us these gifts for no merit of ours. Let us be grateful to His Majesty for them, for, unless we recognize that we are receiving them, we shall not be aroused to love Him. And it is a most certain thing that, if we remember all the time that we are poor, the richer we find ourselves, the greater will be the profit that comes to us and the more genuine our humility."--Saint Teresa of Avila

'Therefore God says to this proud man: If you seek, according to the nature of the created soul, for such great things as seem at present to be good and for that happiness which belongs to earth, know that they are not; they cannot satisfy nor afford contentment.  Seek rather in heaven, where pride is lawful, and where it is not placed in things empty and vain, but in those which are really great, which always remain and which cause a sinless pride; but if you seek after worthless things you shall never find them and shall lose those which you should have sought.'
--St. Catherine of Genoa

'I will make you appear so poor, so vile and so abject in your own eyes, and will so completely annihilate you in your own opinion, that I may be able to build up My own Self upon this nothingness.'
The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

"It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope." 
- Pope John XXIII

"He who is the beginning and the end, the ruler of the angels, made Himself obedient to human creatures. The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant." 
- St. Anthony

"As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed."
--James Allen

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish tasks as though they were great and noble."
--Helen Keller

"If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you."
--Paul Bryant

"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work."
--Mother Theresa

"Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."
–Marcus Aurelius

"...with God, all things are possible." 
--Matthew 19:26

"From self-knowledge flows the stream of humility, which never seizes on mere report, nor takes offense at anything, but bears every insult, every loss of consolation, and every sorry, from whatever direction they may come, patiently, with joy."
-Saint Catherine of Siena

"As waters from from the mountains down onto the valleys, so too do God's graces flow only onto humble souls."
–Saint Faustina Kowalska

"The way of a fool seems right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise."
-Proverbs 12:15

"The fool immediately shows his anger, but the shrewd man passes over an insult."
--Proverbs 12:16

"As the crucible tests silver and the furnace gold, so a man is tested by the praise he receives."
-Proverbs 27:21

"Humility is constant forgetfulness of one's achievements."
--Saint John Climacus

"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."
--Saint Augustine

"Humility is the virtue that requires the greatest amount of effort"
--St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

"I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, "What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility."
-Saint Anthony the Great

"For there is no obedience without humility, nor humility without charity."
--Saint Catherine of Siena

"Our body has this defect that the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds."
–Saint Teresa of Avila

"Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help of God, who sees everything."
--Saint Mark the Ascetic

"How could I bear a crown of gold when the Lord bears a crown of thorns? And bears it for me!"
--Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

"Why not learn to enjoy the little things—there are so many of them."
--Saint John Chrysostom

"It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance."
--Saint Jerome

"Beauty, when unadorned, is adorned the most."
--Saint Jerome

"Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind."
--Ecclesiastes 4:6

"True humility scarcely ever utters words of humility."
--Saint Francis de Sales

"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels."
--Saint Augustine

"We shall see clearly that it is greater to despise the world than to have it at one's command; that it is infinitely preferable to submit to the humblest of men for God's sake than to command kings and princes; that a humble knowledge of ourselves surpasses the deepest sciences; in short, that greater praise is due to him who curbs his passions on the most trivial occasions, than to him who conquers the strongest cities and defeats entire armies."
--Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli

"Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my whole will, all I have and all I possess. You gave it all to me; to you, Lord, I return it. It is all yours: do with me entirely as you will. Give me your love and your grace: this is enough for me." 
- St. Ignatius of Loyola


"Let us not be afraid to be humble, small, helpless to prove our love for God. The cup of water you give the sick, the way you lift a dying man, the way you feed a baby, the way you teach a dull child, the way you give medicine to a sufferer of leprosy, the joy with which you smile at your own at home - all this is God's love in the world today." 
-- Mother Teresa


"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work." 

-- Mother Teresa




Christian Quotes on Gratitude or Thankfulness


On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well." 
--Luke 17:11-19

'In all your needs, trustfully have recourse to the divine Heart, and I am confident that our Lord will provide for your wants; but above all be very grateful for the many benefits He has bestowed on you.'
--St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Christian Quotes on Friendship


"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are."
--unknown

Seeing your brother is seeing God.
--Saint Clement of Alexandria

For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. 
--Saint Teresa 

Christian Quotes on Freedom

"The call for a sincere gift of self is the fullest way to realize our personal freedom." 
- Pope John Paul II

"Just as religion has need of freedom, so also freedom has need of religion."
--Bishop Wilhelm von Ketteler

"Finally, true freedom is not advanced in the permissive society, which confuses freedom with license to do anything whatever and which in the name of freedom proclaims a kind of general amorality. It is a caricature of freedom to claim that people are free to organize their lives with no reference to moral values, and to say that society does not have to ensure the protection and advancement of ethical values. Such an attitude is destructive of freedom and peace." 
- Pope John Paul II

"Freedom requires a primordial link to a higher instance. The fact that there are values which are not absolutely open to manipulation is the true guarantee of our freedom", which "develops only in responsibility to a greater good. Such a good exists only for all of us together. ... In human coexistence, freedom is impossible without solidarity. ... This holds true not only in private matters but also for society as a whole. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, society must give sufficient space for smaller structures to develop and, at the same time, must support them so that one day they will stand on their own."
--Pope Benedict XVI, Sept 22, 2011

"Do not be afraid to be saints. Follow Jesus Christ who is the source of freedom and light. Be open to the Lord so that He may lighten all your ways." 
- Pope John Paul II

"Living out one's faith is either no way to live or the only way to live; it's either imprisonment, or the only path to freedom. It offers happiness, or it frustrates the pursuit. There is no half-love, half-religion, half-worship, half-belief, half-truth. There is no kinda-sorta." 
- Tarek Saab, Gut Check

'We have learned to recognize as freedom that which the Lord alone confers on us when he liberates us from lusts and desires and the other passions. "He who says, I know the Lord, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him," says John.'
--St. Clement of Alexandria


Christian Quotes on Fortitude



"I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

It is not enough to encounter dangers with resolution; we must with equal courage and constancy vanquish pleasure and the softer passions, or we possess not the virtue of true fortitude.--Butler's Lives of the Saints, 1894 edition

"Constant dropping wears away stones."--Ben Franklin

"Living out one's faith is either no way to live or the only way to live; it's either imprisonment, or the only path to freedom. It offers happiness, or it frustrates the pursuit. There is no half-love, half-religion, half-worship, half-belief, half-truth. There is no kinda-sorta." 
- Tarek Saab, Gut Check

The person with fortitude is one who perseveres in doing what his conscience tells him he ought to do. He does not measure the value of a task exclusively by the benefit he receives from it, but rather by the service he renders to others. The strong man will at times suffer, but he stands firm; he may be driven to tears, but he will brush them aside. When difficulties come thick and fast, he does not bend before them. Remember the example given us in the book of the Machabees: an old man, Eleazar, prefers to die rather than break God's law. 'By manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.'
--Saint Josemaria Escriva

Persevere to the end. Victory depends on this. There is a swift and effective remedy for the wounds of anyone who fights for God's cause and who places his entire trust in Him. When he least expects it, he will see his enemy at his feet. 
--from the book, Spiritual Theology

"What shall I say of fortitude, without which neither wisdom nor justice is of any worth? Fortitude is not of the body, but is a constancy of soul; wherewith we are conquerors in righteousness, patiently bear all adversities, and in prosperity are not puffed up. This fortitude he lacks who is overcome by pride, anger, greed, drunkenness, and the like. Neither have they fortitude who when in adversity make shift to escape at their souls' expense; wherefore the Lord saith, 'Fear not those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.' In like manner those who are puffed up in prosperity and abandon themselves to excessive joviality cannot be called strong. For how can they be called strong who cannot hide and repress the heart's emotion? Fortitude is never conquered, or if conquered, is not fortitude."--St. Bruno.

Christian Quotes on Detachment

"When you give yourself away you find that a new and more real self has somehow been given to you." 
- Peter Kreeft

"Once we take our eyes away from ourselves, from our interests, from our own rights, privileges, ambitions - then they will become clear to see Jesus around us." 
- Mother Teresa

"To be a real man is to be unattached - not from responsibility or justice - but from those dependencies that inhibit responsibility and justice."
- Tarek Saab, Gut Check

'One of the things which we must be very firm about, if we are to please our Lord, is to cast far from us everything that could remove us from the love of our brethren. We should make every effort to love them with a tender charity, for Supreme Truth has said: This is how all will know you are my disciples, etc. [John 13:35]'
--St. Ignatius of Loyola

'Seeing that this divine Shepherd has taken so many steps seeking you, you will return Him thanks for it and, uniting all your steps to His, ask His help to walk henceforth only in the way of His love. Say often to Him: O my kind Shepherd, detach me from all earthly things and from myself, that I may be united to Thee.'
--St. Margaret Mary Alacoque


St. John of the Cross on Detachment, taking spirituality to its fullness; Prayer and Fasting are not enough; spiritual poverty

This passage from St. John of the Cross criticizes our conditional love for God, our desire to get good feelings from God, warm and fuzzies that make us feel like God is with us.  But true spiritual poverty, which we must have in order to be fully obedient to God, is to love God even without having those feelings, even if we don't feel His presence at all.  After reading this, I thought that all relationships are really this way.  Sometimes parents have to be absent from their children for the sake of the children's growth and benefit.  Many marriages end up in divorce when the good feelings are gone because the love for each other was only conditional love, due to their attachment to a false idea of what a marriage should be.  If marriage reflects God's relationship with us, then we should expect times when we don't sense comforting feelings from our spouses, periods of dryness, and we should know that these periods will pass but we have to wait patiently and trust in God's plan for us.  In the end, the joy is amazing!

St. John of the Cross, 3.8: … and continuing in prayer and pursuing mortification; but they attain not to detachment and …

5. Oh, that one could show us how to understand, practise and experience what this counsel is which our Saviour here gives us concerning self-denial,[246] so that spiritual persons might see in how different a way they should conduct themselves upon this road from that which many of them think proper! For they believe that any kind of retirement and reformation of life suffices; and others are content with practising the virtues and continuing in prayer and pursuing mortification; but they attain not to detachment and poverty or selflessness[247] or spiritual purity (which are all one), which the Lord here commends to us; for they prefer feeding and clothing their natural selves with spiritual feelings and consolations, to stripping themselves of all things, and denying themselves all things, for God's sake. For they think that it suffices to deny themselves worldly things without annihilating and purifying themselves of spiritual attachment. Wherefore it comes to pass that, when there presents itself to them any of this solid and perfect spirituality, consisting in the annihilation of all sweetness in God, in aridity, distaste and trial, which is the true spiritual cross, and the detachment of the spiritual poverty of Christ, they flee from it as from death, and seek only sweetness and delectable communion with God. This is not self-denial and detachment of spirit, but spiritual gluttony. Herein, spiritually, they become enemies of the Cross of Christ; for true spirituality seeks for God's sake that which is distasteful rather than that which is delectable; and inclines itself rather to suffering than to consolation; and desires to go without all blessings for God's sake rather than to possess them; and to endure aridities and afflictions rather than to enjoy sweet communications, knowing that this is to follow Christ and to deny oneself, and that the other is perchance to seek oneself in God, which is clean contrary to love. For to seek oneself in God is to seek the favours and refreshments of God; but to seek God in oneself is not only to desire to be without both of these for God's sake, but to be disposed to choose, for Christ's sake, all that is most distasteful, whether in relation to God or to the world; and this is love of God.