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