St. Bernard of Clairvaux: The Way to the Kingdom

Present tribulation is the way to glory – the way to the kingdom.  

-St. Bernard of Clairvaux

St. Bernard of Clairvaux on Suffering

We must begin with patience and detachment, and at last we shall learn to love the sufferings which liken us to the Passion of our Redeemer.  

- St. Bernard of Clairvaux 

St. Teresa of Avila about St. Joseph

I do not remember to this day ever having asked St. Joseph for anything that he did not grant me... I wish that I could persuade everyone to venerate this glorious saint, for I have great experience of the blessings that he obtains from God... he gives very real help to the souls who commend themselves to him.
- St. Teresa of Avila

St. Augustine about Saints

God, who created all things, is in all places, and is everywhere to be worshiped. Yet his infinite wisdom thinks fit to work wonders at the intercession of his saints.  

- St. Augustine of Hippo

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Become a child in God's hands

"Unless you become a little child . . . " I am sure you will understand beautifully everything if you would only "become" a little child in God's hands. Your longing for God is so deep, and yet He keeps Himself away from you. He must be forcing Himself to do so, because He loves you so much - as to give Jesus to die for you and for me. Christ is longing to be your Food. Surrounded with fullness of living Food, you allow yourself to starve. The personal love Christ has for you is infinite; the small difficulty you have regarding His Church is finite. Overcome the finite with the infinite. Christ has created you because He wanted you. I know what you feel - terrible longing with dark emptiness. And yet, He is the one in love with you.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Not called to be successful

We do nothing. He does everything. All glory must be returned to Him.

God has not called me to be successful. He called me to be faithful.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

St. Charles of Sezze: What God Commands

God does not command us to live in hair shirts and chains, or to chastise our flesh with scourges, but to love Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.

- St. Charles of Sezze 

Blessed Laura Vicuna: A Cheerful Attitude

A cheerful attitude will sustain you in all your difficulties, trials and sufferings in life.

- Blessed Laura Vicuna 

Mother Teresa: Believe In God's Love More Than Your Weakness!!

Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness.

- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

St. Francis de Sales: Tranquility

It is necessary before all things to obtain tranquility, not because it is the mother of contentment, but because it is the daughter of the love of God and of the resignation of our own will.

- Saint Francis de Sales

Wisdom from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant exactly what we need. Then the rest of the day can take its course, under the same effort and strain, perhaps, but in peace.

- Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Hunger

There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness, and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

St. Bernard of Clairvaux: All God Desires

For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return. The sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.

- Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Wisdom from St. Teresa of Avila

Christ does not force our will; he only takes what we give him. But he does not give himself entirely until he sees that we yield ourselves entirely to him.

- Saint Teresa of Avila

Pope John Paul II: God's Love for Us Is Freely Given and Unearned

God's love for us is freely given and unearned, surpassing all we could ever hope for or imagine. He does not love us because we have merited it or are worthy of it. God loves us, rather, because he is true to his own nature. As Saint John puts it, "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1Jn 4:16).

- Blessed Pope John Paul II 

Pope John Paul II: Why?

Human suffering is a continent that none of us have reached the borders of: yet, traversing the pavilions of this "Little House," we have covered enough territory to get an idea of its impressive proportions. And the question again rises in our hearts: why?

In this unique environment, let's listen again to the response given by faith: the life of historical man, polluted by sin, unfolds under the sign of Christ's Cross. In the Cross, God turned the meaning of suffering upside down: suffering which was the result and evidence of sin, has now become a sharing in the redemptive expiation brought about by Christ. As such, it carries in itself, even now, the anticipation of the ultimate victory over sin and its consequences, through sharing in the glorious resurrection of the Savior.

A few days ago, with the Liturgy leading us by the hand, we relived the dramatic moments of the Passion and death of the Lord, and we listened again to the triumphal Alleluia of the Resurrection. You see, the paschal mystery contains the ultimate word on human suffering. Jesus assumes the pain of each of us in the mystery of his Passion and transforms it into a regenerative force for those who suffer and for all mankind, with the prospect of the ultimate triumph of the resurrection, when "even so, through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep."

- Pope John Paul II the Great 

Mother Teresa: The Kiss from the Cross

Suffering has to come because if you look at the cross, he has got his head bending down - he wants to kiss you - and he has both hands open wide - he wants to embrace you. He has his heart opened wide to receive you. Then when you feel miserable inside, look at the cross and you will know what is happening. Suffering, pain, sorrow, humiliation, feelings of loneliness, are nothing but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close that he can kiss you. Do you understand, brothers, sisters, or whoever you may be? Suffering, pain, humiliation - this is the kiss of Jesus. At times you come so close to Jesus on the cross that he can kiss you. I once told this to a lady who was suffering very much. She answered, "Tell Jesus not to kiss me - to stop kissing me." That suffering has to come that came into the life of Our Lady, that came in the life of Jesus - it has to come in our life also. Only never put on a long face. Suffering is a gift from God. It is between you and Jesus alone inside.

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

A Number of St. Therese of Lisieux Quotes

How often have I thought that I may owe all the graces I've received to the prayers of a person who begged them from God for me, and whom I shall know only in heaven.

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Jesus does not ask for great achievements: only surrender and gratitude.

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Yes, all is well when we seek only the will of Jesus.

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Jesus works miracles for His dearest friends only after He has tested their faith. He let Lazarus die, even though Martha and Mary sent word that he was sick. But after the trial, what rewards! Lazarus rises from the dead.

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Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be.

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I do everything for God, and in this way I lose nothing, and I'm always well repaid for the trouble I go to for other people.

- St. Therese of Lisieux

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Bl. Pope John XXIII: Discerning the Signs of the Times

Blessed John XXIII (1881-1963), Pope
Address for the opening of the Second Vatican Council 

 

Discerning the signs of the times: an important theme of the Second Vatican Council

In the daily exercise of our apostolic ministry, we are often offended when we learn what certain people are saying, who are filled with religious zeal yet lack correct judgment and level-headedness in their way of seeing things. They see only ruins and calamities in society's present situation. They are used to saying that our day and age has worsened profoundly in comparison with past centuries. They behave as if history, which is the teacher of life, had nothing to teach them and as if at the time of past Councils, everything had been perfect where Christian doctrine, customs and the Church's just freedom were concerned.

It seems to us that we must state our complete disagreement with the prophets of misfortune, who always announce catastrophes as if the world were close to its end.

In the present course of events when society seems to be at a turning point, it is better to acknowledge the mysterious plans of divine Providence which, through the succession of times and the work of human beings and most of the time against all expectations, reach their goal and arrange everything with wisdom for the good of the Church, even the events that are in opposition to it.

- Blessed Pope John XXIII

Bl. Gaetano Errico Exhortation

Let us kindle the love of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the hearts of all people.

- Bl. Gaetano Errico (1791-1860)