Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the Suffering: You Can Do the Most!

In Minneapolis, a woman in a wheelchair, suffering continuous convulsions from cerebral palsy asked me what people like her could do for others. I told her: You can do the most. You can do more than any of us because your suffering is united with the suffering of Christ on the Cross and it brings strength to all of us. There is a tremendous strength that is growing in the world through this continual sharing, praying together,

suffering together and working together.

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

St. John Chrysostom: Thankful Suffering Repels Satan

You say you cannot be silent when stung by pain. I would not have you silent. I would wish you to give thanks. It is this which repels Satan and brings you help from God. 

 - St. John Chrysostom

Elisabeth Leseur: The Power of Suffering

Lord, make us realize that by simply suffering for Jesus’ sake and by bearing “in the body the death of Jesus” [2 Corinthians 4: 10], we can often do more for him and for others than we can by being active. It is very hard to understand this, so please make us realize that our very helplessness can be of great use to others, if we suffer it with and for Jesus. Our suffering works mysteriously, first in ourselves by a kind of renewal and also in others who are perhaps far away, without our ever knowing what we are accomplishing. Christ on the cross has perhaps done more for humanity than Christ speaking and acting in Galilee or Jerusalem. Suffering creates life. It transforms everything it touches. Help us to understand this through Christ, our Lord. 

- Elisabeth Leseur

Song of the prayer of St. Benedict: CRUX SACRA SIT MIHI LUX (33x)

St. Vincent de Paul: Humility

 

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not not at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.

~St. Vincent de Paul

 

 

St. John of the Cross: Better Than Working Miracles

Suffering for God is better than working miracles.

- St. John of the Cross

St. John Paul II: May your suffering become redeeming love

At this moment I would like to express the deep sympathy that I feel for each of you, and all my understanding for the sickness you carry in your body and your spirit; I would like to speak with you one by one to instill in you comfort and encouragement.

Your life as handicapped persons constitutes a great trial; it is a trial for you above all, but also for your parents, for those who love you, and for those who wonder why this infirmity?
In fact, your ordeal is also a mystery.

The Lord does not ask us to close our eyes in the face of infirmity. It is very real, and we must have a clear knowledge of it. He asks us to look more deeply, to believe that in these suffering bodies beats not only human life with all its dignity and its rights but also, by virtue of baptism, the divine life, the marvelous life of the children of God. If to the external eyes of men you appear weak and infirm, before God you are great and luminous in your existence.

There is yet another important reality that Jesus reveals to us.

In human society, powerful, cultivated people occupy the positions of authority and are more visible; in the Kingdom of God, on the other hand, the opposite happens - the first and the greatest, Jesus tells us, are the children, the weak, the poor, the suffering. The ways of God are disturbing to mankind. St. Paul says: "God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."

This truth, which leaves us bewildered, becomes comprehensible if we look at the example of Jesus. Jesus was not content with revealing to us the mystery of suffering. He gave us the most convincing answer by taking our weaknesses upon himself, becoming the Man of sorrow who is acquainted with suffering.

When we ask God, then: Why must this innocent suffer? God in turn, asks us a question: Do you not see me in your brother who suffers? And what will you do for me and for him?

- St. John Paul II

Eucharistic Adoration As Spiritual Weapon

Listen: There are two things the Devil is deathly afraid of: fervent Communions and frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament. 

Do you want Our Lord to grant you many graces? Visit him often. 

Do you want Him to grant you only a few? Visit Him only seldom. 

Do you want the Devil to attack you? Rarely visit the Blessed Sacrament. 

Do you want the Devil to flee from you? Visit Jesus often.

Do you want to overcome the Devil? Take refuge at Jesus’ feet. 

Do you want to be overcome by the Devil? Give up visiting Jesus. 

Visiting the Blessed Sacrament is essential, my dear boys, if you want to overcome the Devil. Therefore, make frequent visits to Jesus. If you do that, the Devil will never prevail against you. 

- St. John Bosco

 

 

St. Alphonsus Liguori: Today

Today God invites you to do good;
do it therefore today.
Tomorrow you may not have time, or
God may no longer call you to do it.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

 

St. Augustine: The Truth!

People hate the truth
for the sake of whatever it is they love more than the truth.
They love truth when it shines warmly upon them
and hate it
when it rebukes them.

St. Augustine of Hippo

St. Gemma Galgani: If You Really Want to Love

If you really want to love Jesus, first
learn to suffer, because
suffering teaches you to love.

St. Gemma Galgani

 

 

 

St. Vincent de Paul: Why Trials and Afflictions?

God sends us trials and afflictions
to exercise us in patience and
teach us sympathy with the sorrows of others.

St. Vincent de Paul

 

 

 

St. Therese of Lisieux: I Will Sing!

I will sing even when I must pick my flowers amid thorns. The longer and sharper the thorns are, the sweeter my song will sound.

~St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Teresa of Avila: Detachment

Detachment, if practiced perfectly, includes the other two necessary virtues, love of others and true humility.

~St. Teresa of Avila

St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi: In Prayer

... in prayer God teaches the soul, and through prayer the soul detaches itself from created things and unites itself to God.

~St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

Pope St. John Paul Quotes: July 27, 2017

What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ, and that we love him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless.

*** 

There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us.

***

Christ himself carried a burden, and his burden - the cross - was made heavier by the sins of us all. But Christ did not avoid the cross; he accepted it and carried it willingly. Moreover, he now stands beside those weighed down by trials and persecutions, remaining beside them to the end. It is for all people and with all people that he carries the cross to Calvary, and it is there that for all of us he is nailed to his cross. He dies the death of a criminal, the most humiliating death known to the world at that time. That is why to those in our own century who carry terrible burdens he is able to say: "Come tome! I am your Brother in suffering. There is no humiliation or bitterness which I do not know!"

***

Jesus Christ has taken the lead on the way of the cross. He has suffered first. He does not drive us toward suffering but shares it with us, wanting us to have life and to have it in abundance. 

~Pope St. John Paul the Great

St. Francis de Sales: Sign of the Cross

When making the Sign of the Cross, therefore, we confess three great mysteries: the Trinity, the Passion, and the remission of sins, by which we are moved from the left, the hand of the curse, to the right, the hand of blessing.

~ St. Francis de Sales

St. Therese of Lisieux: Suffering with Love

Suffering borne with love is happiness most pure.

~ St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Francis de Sales: You Would Be Courageous!

If you were able to stir your heart a little more deeply to the practice of meekness and true humility, you would be courageous. But you must frequently think of it. Prepare yourself to do so first thing each morning, and God will send you a thousand consolations.

~ St. Francis de Sales

St. John Paul the Great: What Really Matters

What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ, and that we love him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless.

~ St. John Paul the Great