If I want only pure water, what does it matter to me whether it be brought in a vase of gold or of glass? What is it to me whether the will of God be presented to me in tribulation or consolation, since I desire and seek only the Divine Will?- St. Francis de Sales
The accomplishment of the divine will is the sole end for which we are in the world.- St. John Eudes
To do the will of God man must despise his own; the more he dies to himself, the more he will live to God.- St. Peter Claver
Entire conformity and resignation to the divine will is truly a road on which we cannot go wrong, and it is the only road that leads us to taste and enjoy that peace which sensual and earthly men know nothing of.- St. Philip Neri
As in heaven Thy will is punctually performed, so may it be done on earth by all creatures, particularly in me and by me.- St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Thou alone knowest best and what is for my good. As I am not my own but altogether Thine, so neither do I desire that my will be done, but Thine, nor will I have any will but Thine.- St. Francis Borgia.
I shall remind myself of the labors He undertook in preaching, of his weariness while traveling, of the temptations He suffered while fasting, of his vigils while praying, and of the tears He shed out of compassion. I will remember, moreover, his sorrows, and the insults, spittle, blows, ridicule, rebukes, nails, and all the rest that rained down upon Him in abundance.- St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Say always, 'My beloved and despised Redeemer, how sweet it is to suffer for you.'- St. Alphonsus Liguori
I have had crosses in plenty-more than I could carry, almost. I set myself to ask for the love of crosses-then I was happy.- St. John Vianney
The temple of the spirit is raised through work and suffering; and I would add that suffering counts for more than work.- St. Anthony Mary Claret
Many people would be ready to accept suffering so long as they were not inconvenienced by it. "I wouldn't be bothered by poverty," says one, "If it didn't keep me from helping my friends, educating my children, and living respectably." "It wouldn't bother me," says another, "So long as people didn't think it was my own fault." Or another would be willing to suffer evil lies told about him as long as no one believed his detractors.- St. Francis de Sales.
An unpitied pain wins greater merit before God. Never say to God: "Enough"; simply say, "I am ready!"- Blessed Sebastian Valfre
Try to resemble that holy soul who wouldn't give up the least part of her sufferings so as not to lose the merit thereof.- St. Joseph Cafasso
Suffering is a short pain and a long joy.- Blessed Henry Suso
When it is all over, you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little and suffered that little so badly.- Blessed Sebastian Valfre
To suffer much, yet badly, is to suffer like reprobates. To suffer much, even bravely, but for a wicked cause, is to suffer as a martyr of the devil. To suffer much or little for the sake of God is like to suffer like saints.- St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort
What I suffered is known only to One for whose love and in whose cause it is pleasing and glorious to suffer.- St. Isaac Jogues
"on one of my visits to the missions, I went to a leper colony in Buluba, Africa, where there were 500 lepers. I brought with me 500 silver crucifixes, intending to give one to each of the lepers-this symbol of the Lord's Redemption. The first one who came to meet me had his left arm eaten off at the elbow by the disease. He put out his right hand and it was the most foul, noisome mass of corruption I ever saw. I held the silver crucifix above it, and dropped it. It was swallowed up in that volcano of leprosy.From Treasure in Clay: The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen.
All of a sudden there were 501 lepers in that camp; I was the 501st because I had taken that symbol of God's identification with man and refused to identify myself with someone who was a thousand times better on the inside than I. Then it came over the awful thing I had done. I dug my fingers into his leprosy, took out the crucifix and pressed it into his hand. And so on, for all the other 499 lepers. From that moment on I learned to love them."
When we do something we dislike, let us say to God: 'May God, I offer you this in honor of the moment when you died for me.'- St. John Vianney
He, the most beatific and most joyful, did make Himself most wretched in order that through His infinite suffering He might redeem man and save him from everlasting and unspeakable pain.- Blessed Angela of Foligno
I will attempt day by day to break my will into little pieces. I want to do God's holy will, not my own.- Gabriel Possenti
I thank God that now when I preach I shall be able to say instead of 'dear brethren,' 'my fellow lepers.- Blessed Damien of Moloka'i
Christ one day said to St. John of the Cross, 'John, what recompense dost thou ask for thy labors?' He answered: 'Lord, I ask no other recompense than to suffer and be condemned for Thee."- John of the Cross
I began to understand that the love of the sacred Heart without a spirit of sacrifice is but empty illusion.- Bl. Maria Droste Zu Vischering
It's a form of trade, you see. I ask God for souls, and pay him by giving up everything else.- St. John Bosco
How terrible, I thought, that no act of love is ever made in hell! And I told God that I was ready to go there myself, if it pleased him to contrive, in that way, that for all eternity there would be one loving soul in that abode of blasphemy.- St. Therese of Lisieux
Today the Cardinal Newman Society announced the publication of a new comprehensive college guide for students and parents, The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: What to Look for and Where to Find It. Edited by Joseph A. Esposito, The Newman Guide will be officially published on Nov. 1, 2007.
The “Joyfully Catholic” colleges are: Christendom College, The College of Saint Thomas More, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Magdalen College, Thomas Aquinas College, The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, University of Dallas, and the University of St. Thomas (Houston, Tex.).
The “Born from the Crisis” colleges are: Ave Maria University, Holy Apostles College & Seminary, John Paul the Great Catholic University; Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, Southern Catholic College and Wyoming Catholic College.
The “Fighting the Tide” colleges are: Aquinas College (Nashville, Tenn.), Belmont Abbey College, Benedictine College, The Catholic University of America, DeSales University, Mount St. Mary’s University and St. Gregory’s University.
4. Do some of your schooling at Barnes and Noble or Starbucks. Seriously. Take the Friday freewrite to the mall or the local coffee house. Finish your math for the week at the library or at a park. Do you see a pattern here? Get out of the house more, not just for music or dance lessons and errands.Check out the rest at A Brave Writer's Life in Brief: Refreshing the Homeschool Plan
"Clay has to be molded, and that is done primarily in the family, which is more sacred than the state..."With regard to his ordination:
"...The molding of the clay was done by great sacrifices on the part of my father and my mother, who would deny themselves every personal comfort and luxury in order that their sons might be well clothed and well cared for. Our family life was simple and the atmosphere of our home Christian. Grace was said before and after each meal; when we had visitors, none of us was permitted to sit at table without wearing a coat and tie; the Rosary was said every evening; the priest so the cathedral visited the home once every week; and visits of old country cousins were very frequent."
"On Saturday, September 20, 1919, I was ordained a priest, by the grace of God, in the cathedral at Peoria. The stirrings which the Holy Spirit put in my soul in the early days were now fulfilled-or were they? I was now a priest. Yes, But is not that just half the story? I never asked myself that question the day I was ordained. In due time, and not in any easy way, I was to learn that a priest is also a victim..."Later on in the book he goes into more detail on the sufferings that made him not only priest but victim as well.
"The church is always judged by the bishops; that is the lesson of the Book of Revelation. And in many instances in which St. John writes about these churches, he said: 'I know your works," that is your administration, finances, social service and schools. I know all of these- then there comes a 'but'...What was forgotten was love of Christ, or orthodoxy or self-denial. I once heard of a preacher who was developing the theme about the three young the three young men who were called by Our Lord. Each of them said: 'I will go, but...' and then each gave an excuse. The preacher ended up by saying: 'It seems to me that many people are going to Hell on their 'buts' Well, here there is a 'but', such as lost love, a cold church or allowing false prophets to teach. The only two churches that were approved without any criticism were the churches that suffered.It is a small wonder to me that this man of God will someday be proclaimed a saint in the Roman Catholic church. His love of Christ and the way he lived his life in generosity to the less fortunate, the people he brought into the Catholic church are just a few examples of his saintliness.
Today bishops are often criticized for a wrong reason. In the Book of Revelation, we are condemned for want of spirituality. The danger today may be the primacy of administration over love. Few who criticize the bishops know what goes on in our hearts, our worries and our heartaches...
Obedience is the only virtue that implants the other virtues in the heart and preserves them after they have been so implanted.- St. Gregory I The Great
Obedience is the mortification of the members while the mind remains alive. Obedience is unquestioned movement, death freely accepted, a simple life, danger faced without worry, an unprepared defense before God, fearlessness before death, a safe voyage, a sleeper's journey. Obedience is the sepulcher of the will and the resurrection of lowliness.- St. John Climacus
If you are ordered to eat meat, be extremely careful not to make the slightest resistance to obedience, for you will render more honor to God by eating flesh meat through obedience than by fasting on bread and water of your own volition.- St. John Eudes
If you begin to grieve at this, to judge your superior, to murmur in your heart, even though you outwardly fulfill what is commanded, this is not the virtue of obedience, but a cloak over your malice.- St. Bernard of Clairvaux
The virtue of obedience makes the will supple. It gives the power to conquer self, to overcome laziness, and to resist temptations. It inspires the courage with which to fulfill the most difficult tasks.- St. John Vianney
Thus the abbot john without a single though as to whether it would do any good or not, with great and prolonged labor watered a dray stick for a whole year on end when told to do so. Heaven sometimes approved this kind of obedience with miracles.- St. Ignatius of Loyola.
I originally posted this last year on October 9th, 2006."Wherefore Your Highnesses...determined to send me, Cristobal Colon, to the said parts of India...and ordered that I should not go by land to the East, as the custom was, but by way of the West, by a course which no man, to our certain knowledge, has taken until this day."...from Columbus' journal
Spiritual Adoption PrayerJesus, Mary and Joseph, I love Thee very much. I beg Thee to spare the life of the preborn child that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion.Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
At the command of Mary all obey, even God.
