THE SAINTS SPEAK-ARCHIVE 2012-2013

[Dawn Marie]

THE SAINTS SPEAK ARCHIVES

 

[Dawn Marie]

 

'Evils reinforce each other; so do virtues, thus encouraging us to still greater efforts.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

'Just as men take pride in having others wear their livery, so the Most Holy Mary is pleased when Her servants wear Her Scapular as a mark that they have dedicated themselves to Her service, and are members of the Family of the Mother of God.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

You still doubt as to whether you ought to go to Holy Communion. Do you not see that these troubles which precede your Communions come from the evil spirit who abhors them and that the moments of peace which follow them come from the Spirit of God who loves them. I am surprised that you can hesitate about it; it is as clear as daylight; without this help you would be lost. Far from dissuading you from going to Communion, I would advise you to increase the number of times you go.'

St. Claude de la Colombiere

[Dawn Marie]

 

'Believe me, afflictions, fears, desolations, dryness, abandonment, temptations, and other persecutions make an excellent broom, which sweeps from your soul all the dust of hidden imperfections.'

St. Paul of the Cross

'So blessed are you if you persevere in doing good, neither seeking nor desiring any consolation, for as St. Bernard says: To serve God is nothing else than to do good and suffer evil, and the rule of the true servant of Christ is never to receive consolation except in time of great necessity. This is the secure way; for whoever wants to go to God through sweetness and consolation is deceived.'

St. Catherine of Bologna

'You say you are my judge. Take care what you are doing; for in truth I am sent by God, and you place yourself in great danger.'

St. Joan of Arc

[Dawn Marie]

'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 Egypt

'But why seek out the opinions of the Fathers and theologians, when Holy Scripture settles the question so clearly? Look in to the Old and New Testaments, and you will find a multitude of figures, symbols and words that clearly point out this truth: very few are saved. In the time of Noah, the entire human race was submerged by the Deluge, and only eight people were saved in the Ark. Saint Peter says, "This ark was the figure of the Church," while Saint Augustine adds, "And these eight people who were saved signify that very few Christians are saved, because there are very few who sincerely renounce the world, and those who renounce it only in words do not belong to the mystery represented by that ark." The Bible also tells us that only two Hebrews out of two million entered the Promised Land after going out of Egypt, and that only four escaped the fire of Sodom and the other burning cities that perished with it. All of this means that the number of the damned who will be cast into fire like straw is far greater than that of the saved, whom the heavenly Father will one day gather into His barns like precious wheat.'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

"The time is coming when the rigor of My justice will punish the crimes of divers nations. Some of them will be annihilated. At last the severity of My justice will fall severely on those who want to destroy My reign in souls."

-- Revelation of Our Lord to Sr. Lucia

[Dawn Marie]

“In everything that we do God searches out our purpose to see whether we do it for Him or for some other motive.”

St. Maximos the Confessor

“Our labor here is brief, but the reward is eternal. Do not be disturbed by the clamor of the world, which passes like a shadow.”

St. Clare of Assisi

“My dear brethren, I call that man bad company who is without religion, who does not concern himself with either the commandments of God or those of the Church, who does not recognize Lent or Easter, who seldom comes to church or, if he does come, then only to scandalize others by his irreligious ways. You ought to shun his company; otherwise you will not be long in becoming like him without your even noticing it.”

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

 

[Dawn Marie]

"The crown will be given neither to beginners, nor to the advanced, but to the victorious, to those who persevere to the end."

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

"Good Christians make an examination of conscience and an act of contrition every evening. There was a devout monk lying at the point of death; when his Superior came and told him to make his confession, he answered: "Blessed be God! I have for thirty years made an examination of conscience every evening, and have made my confession every day as if I were at the point of death."

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

"Every time that some unexpected event befalls us, be it affliction, or be it spiritual or corporal consolation, we should endeavor to receive it with equanimity of spirit, since all comes from the hand of God."

St. Vincent de Paul

[Dawn Marie]

'Blessed the one who has not been worsted by the passion of despondency like a coward, but has found perfect endurance, by which all the Saints received their crowns.'

St. Ephrem of Syria

 

'Each of our days is marked with the protection of Mary, who is exceedingly anxious to be our Mother, when we desire to be her children.'

St. Vincent de Paul

 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God;" and if so, woe be to the rich in spirit, for theirs must be the bitterness of Hell. By rich in spirit I mean him whose riches engross his mind, or whose mind is buried in his riches. He is poor in spirit whose heart is not filled with the love of riches, whose mind is not set upon them. The halcyon builds its nest like a ball, and leaving but one little aperture in the upper part, launches it on the sea, so secure and impenetrable, that the waves carry it along without any water getting in, and it floats on the sea, superior, so to say, to the waves. And this, my child, is what your heart should be - open only to heaven, impenetrable to riches and earthly treasures. If you have them, keep your heart from attaching itself to them; let it maintain a higher level, and amidst riches be as though you had none, - superior to them. Do not let that mind which is the likeness of God cleave to mere earthly goods; let it always be raised above them, not sunk in them.'

St. Francis de Sales

 

[Dawn Marie]

"We must pray literally without ceasing -- without ceasing; in every occurrence and employment of our lives."

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

"Unquestioning acceptance of tradition is helpful for a gentle person, for then he will not try God's patience or often fall into sin."

St. Mark the Ascetic

"He who does not understand God's judgments walks on a ridge like a knife-edge and is easily unbalanced by every puff of wind. When praised, he exults; when criticized, he feels bitter. When he feasts, he makes a pig of himself; and when he suffers hardship, he moans and groans. When he understands, he shows off; and when he does not understand, he pretends that he does. When rich, he is boastful; and when in poverty, he plays the hypocrite. Gorged, he grows brazen; and when he fasts, he becomes arrogant. He quarrels with those who reprove him; and those who forgive him he regards as fools."

St. Mark the Ascetic

[Dawn Marie]

"Purgatory is in those souls that are not dead to themselves; Hell is in the heart of the impious; Paradise in that of the perfect, who are closely united to Our Lord."

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

 

"We should abandon ourselves entirely into the hands of God, and believe that His providence disposes everything that He wishes or permits to happen to us for our greater good."

St. Vincent de Paul

"The prayerless soul makes no progress whatever."

St. Thomas Aquinas

 

[Dawn Marie]

If we want to do something but cannot, then before God, who knows our hearts, it is as if we have done it. This is true whether the intended action is good or bad.

St. Mark the Ascetic

Our enemy the devil, who fights with us in order to vanquish us, seeks to disunite us in our houses, and to breed quarrels, dislikes, contests, and rivalries, because while we are fighting with each other, he comes and conquers us, and makes us more securely his own.

St. Philip Neri

Ah! the Blood of Jesus Christ, so much insulted, cries more powerfully for vengeance against the sacrilegious priest than the blood of Abel did against Cain. This Jesus Himself declared to St. Bridget. Oh! what horror must God and His Angels feel at the sight of a sacrilegious Mass!

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

[Dawn Marie]

'Who could count all those who have had wealth, power, honor? But their glory, their riches were only lent to them, and they wore themselves out in preserving and increasing that which they were forced to abandon one day.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

'Hardship and humility save the soul and free it from all the passions.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

'If your eternal salvation depended on yourself alone, you would have serious cause for alarm, but since it is in the hands of your heavenly Father, what have you to fear? My hopes rest on the Passion of Jesus and on the dolors of Mary.'

St. Paul of the Cross