St. Therese of Lisieux On Confidence

St. Therese had a great deal of confidence.  Great humility mixed with confidence, mixed with great love for Jesus. Therese wanted to be a saint, she went confidently in that direction, never looking back.

"My way is all confidence and love." St. Therese of Lisieux

Isak Dinesen Quote Enjoying the Beauty of Life Without Worry

"I think these difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is, in every way and that so many things that one goes around worrying about are of no importance whatsoever."
Isak Dinesen- Writer

The Poor in Jesus and Jesus in the Poor

"When our Lord promised that the poor would remain with us always, he pledged his enduring presence in our midst. The poor are never simply the poor. They are the poor who hide Jesus himself."
(Fr. Donald Haggerty-from his book, "Contemplative Provocations" p.160)
Fr. Haggerty has given many retreats for the Missionaries of Charity, who minister to the poorest of the poor. They "see" the suffering Jesus in the poor and marginalized.

St. John of the Cross-In the Evening of Life......

"In the evening of life, you will be examined in love."
St. John of the Cross

Love well, love compassionately, love as Jesus loves. In the end, all that matters is love as St. John has written

St. John of the Cross on Love

"Think nothing else but that God ordains all and where there is no love, put love and you will draw out love........"
St. John of the Cross-Saint and Mystic Extraordinaire

St. Peter Julian Eymard On Doing God's Will

"Those who want only God and God's will of the moment are always in a state of peace and fervor."
St. Peter Julian Eymard

We all need the peace that comes from doing God's will and knowing God's will for our lives.

Teilhard de Chardin on Patient Trust

"Above all trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability-and that may take a very long time. And so, I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually-let them grow, Let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on. As though you could be today what time (that is to say grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be."
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

God Wants Your Heart!

"What God wants from you is your heart."
(St. Luigi Guanella)

That's what God wants, love, with no strings attached, pure and simple, a loving heart.......that's my opinion too!

Blessed John Henry Newman's Quote on God's Generosity

"The more men scoff, the more will I believe in you, the good God, the good Jesus, the hidden Lord of life, who has done me nothing else but good, from the very first moment that I began to live."
Blessed John Henry Newman

Discover Your Mission and Find Joy

"Discover your mission and begin to live the life you are supposed to live and you will discover the beauty and joy of life, even in the midst of the crosses. Saints were not the depressing and boring figures the world makes them out to be. The saints were the most joyful people to ever walk the earth. Focus on your mission and like the saints, you will come to see the struggles of life not as a burden but as an integral part of the process. You will find a peace that can't be taken from you and does not depend on substance or circumstance. You will find everlasting joy."
Ordinary Lives Extraordinary Mission-5 Steps to Winning the War Within by John Wood-p.176

(The above book was given out to every parishioner in my parish, in the Spring,  in the hope each person would read it and gain from it. I read it and found some nuggets of truth and wisdom within it.)

"Be Ready To Receive"-Oprah's Quote

"You must know you are worthy and feel you are worthy and open yourself and be ready to receive."
Oprah Winfrey (on her last show)

(God tells that over and over again in Scripture, "We are made in the image and likeness of God" we are more than worthy, we are children of God and heirs to the Kingdom.)

Spread Joy and Happiness According to Mother Teresa

"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one come to you without leaving happier."
Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

(Mother Teresa's work continues after her death. The religious order she founded, the Missionaries of Charity still serve in over 133 countries.)

Importance of Gratitude

In Jesuit spirituality, the examination of conscience popularized by St. Ignatius of Loyola, is made up of  five steps. The first step is to reflect upon things you are grateful for and give thanks for them.
(My summer reading group just finished reading Fr. James Martin's excellent book, "Jesus-A Pilgrimage" and in that book Fr. James lists the five steps.)

Also....
"A grateful mind is a great mind that eventually attracts to it great things."
Plato

And....
"If the only prayer you ever said in your life was thank you, that would suffice."
Meister Eckhart, Christian mystic

Nearness of God

"God is so close to us."
Blessed Titus Brandsma

"So many problems arise from imagining Jesus as far away, when He is really near to us."
St. Teresa of Avila-Saint and Doctor of the Church

Be Right With Jesus According to Pope Francis!

"One who goes to the Eucharist having compassion for the needy and without sharing, is not right with Jesus."  (So true!)
Pope Francis-8/3/14

Georgia Moved By Nature

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way-things I had no words for."  Georgia O'Keefe

Tillich On Faith

"Faith means being grasped by a power that is greater than we are, a power that shakes us and turns us and transforms and heals us. Surrender to this power of faith."
Paul Tillich

Giving What You Have

"Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

G. K. Chesterton's Hymn..."O God....."

"O God of earth and altar, Bow down and hear our cry.
Our earthly rulers falter, Our people drift and die; The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide: Take not thy thunder from us, But take away our pride."
G.K. Chesterton-"O God of Earth and Altar"

St. Catherine of Siena's Prayer

"O eternal Trinity, my sweet love! You light, give us light, You, wisdom, give us wisdom. You,
Supreme strength, strengthen us. Today, eternal God, let our cloud be dissipated so that we may perfectly know and follow your truth, in truth, with a free and simple heart."
St. Catherine of Siena

On Creativity

"Find your voice, shout it from the rooftops, and keep doing it until the people that are looking for you, find you."
Dan Harmon

"If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive."
Kenneth Goldsmith

Maya Angelou on Words & Overcoming Diversity

"Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning."  Maya Angelou (1928-2014) from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

And God's inspiration to make them holy and sacred  (NJ Azzaro)

"Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words.
You may cut me with your eyes.
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise."    Maya Angelou   from Still I Rise

Pope Francis on Peace

"The way of peace is strengthened if we realize that we are all of the same stock and members of one human family, if we never forget that we have the same heavenly Father and are all his children, made in his image and likeness.............Peace is not something that can be bought, it is a gift to be sought patiently and to be crafted through the actions, great and small, of our everyday lives."
(Pope Francis-Holy Land Trip-May 2014)

The Future Belongs To......

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."  Eleanor Roosevelt

The future also belongs to those who believe in their dreams and attach themselves to the Vine which helps bring dreams to fruition.  And who remember that "With God all things are possible" (NJA)

The Boldness of The Apostles

"It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard."  (Acts 4:20)

Humility God's Style

"I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who tore out my heart, my face I did not hide from insults and spitting, the Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced."
(Isaiah 50: 6-7)

Come Alive!

"Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
(Howard Thurman-theologian)

On Helping The Poor-NY to Syrian Refugees

My Scripture Study class raised a few hundred dollars this Lent which was sent to Catholic Relief Services to help Syrian refugees. We felt that as we studied the Hebrew Scriptures (we're reading and studying the Book of Genesis), we should reach out and help those suffering in a part of the Middle East.

"In the poor and suffering we see Christ's face, by loving and helping the poor, we love and serve Christ."  Pope Francis-Lent 2014

On Mary as Queen

The whole multitude of the angels is gathered together to see their Queen at the right of the Lord of hosts, in gilded vesture, in her ever Immaculate body.  
(St. Peter Damian)

Growth In Prayer

"Generosity towards others upon leaving prayer, a soul turned humbly and charitably towards others, a tendency to self-effacement, these are among the reliable signs of graces given during prayer."
(Fr. Donald Haggerty-Contemplative Provocations, p.109)

Jesus-Son of God-Divine Energy

"Jesus is not simply a teacher whose words we savor. He is an energy, a life-force in whom we participate. We are not simply his disciples, we are members of his mystical Body. Consequently, the Eucharist is not simply a symbol. It is the means by which Christ's life becomes our own."
(Fr. Robert Barron- Magnificat article)

Grace Flowing From the Liturgy

The next time you are at Mass imagine grace flowing over you, in you and through you. A good image.

"From the liturgy, and especially from the Eucharist, as from a font, grace is poured forth upon us."
Second Vatican Council (CSL, 10)

On Becoming A Saint

"To be Saints is not a privilege for the few, But a vocation for everyone."
Pope Francis

Clarity Through Love

Do we therefore suppose that we have understood? It is not argument which makes us understand these things, but sanctity; if indeed what is incomprehensible can be in any way understood."
St. Bernard

I would humbly add that through love much can be understood, more clarity comes with love of God.
NJA

Being In God

Then the soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish.
St. Catherine of Siena-Doctor and Saint

For God Alone

"The moment I realized that God existed, I knew I could not do otherwise than to live for God alone."
Ven. Charles De Foucauld

Movement of the Heart

"We come from God and we return to God by a movement of the heart."
St. Thomas Aquinas

"We are beggars before God"  (CCC 2559)

CONVERSION QUOTE

CONVERSION EVERY DAY
"The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give us a new heart. Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to Him." (CCC 1432

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