Splendour of the Truth: Apr 10, 2006

Splendour of the Truth

Monday, April 10, 2006

Holy Quotes

The Holy Rosary

"The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"If you say the Holy Rosary every day, with a spirit of faith and love, our Lady will make sure she leads you very far along her Son's path." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary's which purifies the monotony of your sins!" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"You always leave the Rosary for later, and you end up not saying it at all because you are sleepy. If there is no other time, say it in the street without letting anybody notice it. It will, moreover, help you to have presence of God." - St. Josemaria Escriva
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The Most Blessed Sacrament

"When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Make your lives intensely Eucharistic." - Pope John Paul II

"With all the strength of my soul I urge you young people to approach the Communion table as often as you can. Feed on this bread of angels whence you will draw all the energy you need to fight inner battles. Because true happiness, dear friends, does not consist in the pleasures of the world or in earthly things, but in peace of conscience, which we have only if we are pure in heart and mind." - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

"Many Christians take their time and have leisure enough in their social life (no hurry here). They are leisurely, too, in their professionally activities, at table and recreation (no hurry here either). But isn't it strange how those same Christians find themselves in such a rush and want to hurry the priest, in their anxiety to shorten the time devoted to the most holy sacrifice of the altar?" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration." - Mother Teresa
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Reconciliation

"In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You." - Saint Augustine

"Confession is like a bridle that keeps the soul which reflects on it from committing sin, but anything left unconfessed we continue to do without fear as if in the dark." - Saint John Climacus

"A soul does not benefit from the sacrament of confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery." - Saint Faustina

"At the time of your examination beware of the devil that ties your tongue." - Saint Josemaria Escriva

"'You told me, Father, that after my past life it is still possible to become another St. Augustine. I don't doubt it, and today more than yesterday I want to try to prove it.' But you have to cut out sin courageously from the root, as the holy Bishop of Hippo did." - Saint Josemaria Escriva
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Our Lady

"It is the boast of the Catholic religion that it has the gift of making the young heart chaste; and why is this but that it gives us Jesus Christ for our food, and Mary for our nursing Mother?" - John Henry Cardinal Newman

"Before, by yourself, you couldn't. Now, you've turned to our Lady, and with her, how easy!" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Mary, give me your Heart: so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate; your Heart so full of love and humility that I may be able to receive Jesus in the Bread of Life and love Him as you love Him and serve Him in the distressing guise of the poor." - Blessed Mother Teresa

"When we were little, we kept close to our mother in a dark alley or if dogs barked at us. Now, when we feel temptations of the flesh, we should run to the side of our Mother in Heaven, by realizing how she is to us, and by means of aspirations. She will defend us and lead us to the light." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"If you ever feel distressed during your day — call upon our Lady — just say this simple prayer: 'Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.' I must admit — this prayer has never failed me." - Blessed Mother Teresa

"Love our Lady. And she will obtain abundant grace to help you conquer in your daily struggle." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Have confidence. Return. Invoke our Lady and you'll be faithful." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"So your strength is failing you? Why don't you tell your mother about it? . . . Mother! Call her with a loud voice. She is listening to you; she sees you in danger, perhaps, and she—your holy mother Mary—offers you, along with the grace of her son, the refuge of her arms, the tenderness of her embrace . . . and you will find yourself with added strength for the new battle." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"All the sins of your life seem to be rising up against you. Don't give up hope! On the contrary, call your holy mother Mary, with the faith and abandonment of a child. She will bring peace to your soul." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"May I give you some advice for you to put into practice daily? When your heart makes you feel those low cravings, say slowly to the Immaculate Virgin: Look on me with compassion. Don't abandon me. Don't abandon me, my Mother! -- And recommend this prayer to others." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"When you see the storm coming, if you seek safety in that firm refuge which is Mary, there will be no danger of your wavering or going down." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Only after the Last Judgment will Mary get any rest; from now until then, she is much too busy with her children."-St. John Vianney

"To serve the Queen of Heaven is already to reign there, and to live under her commands is more than to govern." - St. John Vianney
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Purity

"Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of true love." - Pope John Paul II

"Chastity is a difficult, long term matter; one must wait patiently for it to bear fruit, for the happiness of loving kindness which it must bring. But at the same time, chastity is the sure way to happiness." - Pope John Paul II

"Deep within yourself, listen to your conscience which calls you to be pure . . . a home is not warmed by the fire of pleasure which burns quickly like a pile of withered grass. Passing encounters are only a caricature of love; they injure hearts and mock God's plan." - Pope John Paul II

"[God] has assigned as a duty to every man the dignity of every woman." - Pope John Paul II

"To be pure, to remain pure, can only come at a price, the price of knowing God and loving him enough to do his will. He will always give us the strength we need to keep purity as something as beautiful for him." - Blessed Mother Teresa

"Holy Purity is granted by God when it is asked for with humility." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"'Purity?' they ask. And they smile. They are the ones who go on to marriage with worn-out bodies and disillusioned souls." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"By Lust I mean that affection of the mind that aims at the enjoyment of one's self and one's neighbor without reference to God." - St. Augustine

"Lust indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity." - St. Augustine

"There is need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and nullify the savage work of those who think man is a beast. And that crusade is your work." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Many live like angels in the middle of the world. You, … why not you?" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"When you decide firmly to lead a clean life, chastity will not be a burden on you: it will be a crown of triumph." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Don't be such as coward as to be 'brave.' Flee!" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"When you have sought the company of a sensual satisfaction, what loneliness afterward!" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thornbush, Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond . . . You . . . what have you done?" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Don't say, 'That's the way I am—its my character.' It's your lack of character. Esto vir!—Be a man!" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Purity is the fruit of prayer." - Blessed Mother Teresa

"Purity prepares the soul for love, and love confirms the soul in purity." - St. John Henry Cardinal Newman

"Holy Purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like the angels of God in heaven, even though clothed in mortal flesh." - St. John Bosco

"As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Temptation is necessary to make us realize that we are nothing in ourselves." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"More souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason." - Our Lady of Fatima
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Purity of Mind

"In the realm of evil thoughts none induces to sin as much as do thoughts that concern the pleasure of the flesh." - St. Thomas Aquinas

"In temptations against chastity, the spiritual masters advise us, not so much to contend with the bad thought, as to turn the mind to some spiritual, or, at least, indifferent object. It is useful to combat other bad thoughts face to face, but not thoughts of impurity." - St. Alphonsus Liguori
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Purity of Speech

"A man who has the habit of abusive language will never mature in character as long as he lives" - Sirach 23:15

"Filthy talk makes us feel comfortable with filthy action. But the one who knows how to control the tongue is prepared to resist the attacks of lust." - St. Clement of Alexandria

"Never talk of impure things or events, not even to deplore them. Look, it's a subject that sticks more than tar. Change the conversation, or if that's not possible, continue, but speaking of the need and beauty of holy purity--a virtue of the men who know what their souls are worth." - St. Josemaria Escriva

The man of impure speech is a "person whose lips are but an opening and a supply pipe which hell uses to vomit its impurities upon the earth." - St. John Vianney

"That conversation . . . was as dirty as a sewer! It is not enough for you to take no part in it. You must show your repugnance to it strongly!" - St. Josemaria Escriva

"I have never talked about impurity. . . . But I have spoken many times, as I have to do, about chastity, purity, and the joyful affirmation of love." - St. Josemaria Escriva
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Birth Control

"The way to plan the family is Natural Family Planning, not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily." - Mother Teresa (in front of Bill and Hillary Clinton)

"I am supposing, then, although you are not lying [with your wife] for the sake of procreating offspring, you are not for the sake of lust obstructing their procreation by an evil prayer or an evil deed. Those who do this, although they are called husband and wife, are not; nor do they retain any reality of marriage, but with a respectable name cover a shame. Sometimes this lustful cruelty, or cruel lust, comes to this, that they even procure poisons of sterility [oral contraceptives] . . . Assuredly if both husband and wife are like this, they are not married, and if they were like this from the beginning, they come together not joined in matrimony, but in seduction." - St. Augustine

"No Christian married couple can want to block the well-springs of life. For their love is based on the love of Christ, which entails dedication and sacrifice. . . Moreover, as Tobias reminded Sara, a husband and wife know that 'we are children of saints, and we cannot come together in the way of the gentiles, who do not know God.'" - St. Josemaria Escriva
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Love

"Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self." - Mother Teresa

"Intense love does not measure . . . it just gives." - Mother Teresa

"The person who does not decide to love forever will find it very difficult to really love for even one day." - Pope John Paul II

"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This is why Christ the Redeemer 'fully reveals man to himself.'" - Pope John Paul II

"There is no place for selfishness—and no place for fear! Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands. Do not be afraid when love requires sacrifice" - Pope John Paul II

"Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not tell you so. Love demands a personal commitment to the will of God." - Pope John Paul II
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Modesty

"Either we must speak as we dress, or dress as we speak. Why do we profess one thing and display another? The tongue talks of chastity, but the whole body reveals impurity." - St. Jerome

"Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much." - Our Lady of Fatima, in 1920.
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Vocations

"In the first place I say this: you must never think that you are alone in deciding your future! And second: when deciding your future, you must not decide for yourself alone." - Pope John Paul II

"[young people] know that their life has meaning to the extent that it becomes a free gift for others." - Pope John Paul II

"Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. When you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ."
- St. John Vianney

"For everyone, whatever his state - single, married, widowed, or priest - chastity is a triumphant affirmation of love." - St. Josemaria Escriva

"Leave a parish twenty years without a priest and they'll be worshipping the animals" - St. John Vianney
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