1
CAN WE, amongst all hearts, find one more amiable than that of Jesus? It
is on His Heart that God looks with special complacency--ST. ALPHONSUS.
2
One must wage war against his predominant passion, and not retreat,
until, with God's help, he has been victorious.--ST. ALPHONSUS.
3
An act of perfect conformity to the will of God unites us more to Him
than a hundred other acts of virtue.--ST. ALPHONSUS.
4
The love of God inspires the love of our neighbor, and the love of our
neighbor serves to keep alive the love of God.--ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.
5
Live always in the certainty that whatever happens to you is the result
of divine Providence; because nothing hard or laborious falls to your
lot without the Lord permitting it.--VEN. LOUIS DE BLOIS.
6
Whatsoever good work you undertake, pray earnestly to God that He will
enable you to bring it to a successful termination.--ST. BENEDICT.
7
What is a fruitless repentance, defiled almost immediately by new
faults?--ST. BERNARD.
8
You propose to give up everything to God; be sure, then, to include
yourself among the things to be given up.--ST. BENEDICT.
9
If you can find a place where God is not, go there and sin with
impunity.--ST. ANSELM.
10
He can not err who is constantly with the visible Head which Jesus
Christ has left to His Church, as its foundation, rule, teacher, and
defender of the Faith.--ST. ALPHONSUS.
11
The more numerous the gifts we have received from God, the greater the
account we must render to Him.--ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.
12
True penance consists in regretting without ceasing the faults of the
past, and in firmly resolving to never again commit that which is so
deplorable.--ST. BERNARD.
[Illustration: The Sacred Heart of Mary.]
13
We are not raised the first day to the summit of perfection. It is by
climbing, not by flying, that we arrive there.--ST. BERNARD.
14
What we do for ourselves during life is more certain than all the good
we expect others to do for us after death.--ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.
15
Idleness begets a discontented life. It develops self-love, which is the
cause of all our misery, and renders us unworthy to receive the favors
of divine love.--ST. IGNATIUS.
16
Have death always before your eyes as a salutary means of returning to
God.--ST. BERNARD.
17
If the devil tempts me by the thought of divine justice, I think of
God's mercy; if he tries to fill me with presumption by the thought of
His mercy, I think of His justice.--ST. IGNATIUS.
18
In time of temptation continue the good thou hast begun before
temptation.--ST. VINCENT FERRER.
19
In the eyes of the sovereign Judge the merit of our actions depends on
the motives which prompted them.--ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.
20
The benefits to be derived from spiritual reading do not merely consist
in impressing on the memory the precepts set forth, but in opening the
heart to them, that they may bear fruit.--VEN. LOUIS DE BLOIS.
21
As clouds obscure the sun, so bad thoughts darken and destroy the
brightness of the soul.--VEN. LOUIS OF GRANADA.
22
To judge rightly of the goodness and perfection of any one's prayer, it
is sufficient to know the disposition he takes to it, and the fruits he
reaps from it.--ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.
23
To commence many things and not to finish them is no small fault; we
must persevere in whatever we undertake with upright intention and
according to God's will.--BL. HENRY SUSO.
24
The perfect champion is he who establishes complete control over his
mind by overcoming temptations and the inclination of his nature to
sin.--VEN. JOHN TAULER.
25
If the love of God is in your heart, you will understand that to suffer
for God is a joy to which all earthly pleasures are not to be
compared.--ST. IGNATIUS.
26
The world around us is, as it were, a book written by the finger of God;
every creature is a word on the page. We should apply ourselves well to
understand the signification of the volume.--VEN. BARTHOLOMEW OF
MARTYRS.
27
A man of prayer is capable of everything. He can say with St. Paul, "I
can do all things in Him who strengthened me."--ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.
28
Whilst here below our actions can never be entirely free from
negligence, frailty, or defect; but we must not throw away the wheat
because of the chaff.--VEN. JOHN TAULER.
29
Strive always to preserve freedom of spirit, so that you need do nothing
with the view of pleasing the world, and that no fear of displeasing it
will have power to shake your good resolutions.--VEN. LOUIS DE BLOIS.
30
Wo to us poor sinners if we had not the Divine Sacrifice to appease the
Lord!--ST. ALPHONSUS.