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

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)

St. Albert the Great Quotation

An egg given during life for love of God is more profitable for eternity than a cathedral full of gold given after death.

- St. Albert the Great (1206-1280)

St. John of Kanty: Fighting Error

Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause.  

- St. John of Kanty (1390-1473)