Saints

ST FRANCIS DE SALES

BE PATIENT with every one, but above all with yourself. I mean, do not be disturbed because of your imperfections, and always rise up bravely from a fall. I am glad that you make a daily new beginning; there is no better means of progress in the spiritual life than to be continually beginning afresh, and never to think that we have done enough.

St Francis de Sales

ST FRANCIS DE SALES

THE GREATEST HAPPINESS of anyone is to “possess his soul” and the more perfect our patience, the more completely do we possess our souls. Often remind yourself that our Saviour redeemed us by bearing our sins and suffering for us, and in like manner we must work out our own salvation amid sufferings and afflictions; bearing insults, contradictions and distresses with all the gentleness we can possibly command. Do not limit your patience to this or that kind of trial, but extend it universally to whatever God may send, or permit to befall you. Look often with the eye of the spirit upon Jesus Christ crucified, naked, blasphemed, falsely accused, forsaken, overwhelmed with every possible grief and sorrow; and remember that none of your sufferings can ever be compared to His, either in kind or degree, and that you can never suffer anything for Him worthy to be set against what He has borne for you. Think of the pains which martyrs have endured, and consider how even now many people are enduring afflictions immeasurably greater than yours, and say “Of a truth my trouble is comfort, my torments are but roses as compared with those whose life is a continual death, without solace, or help, or consolation, borne down with a weight of grief ten times greater than mine.”

St Francis de Sales

ST FRANCIS DE SALES

STRIVE TO SEE GOD in all things without exception, and acquiesce in His will with absolute submission. Do everything for God, uniting yourself to Him by a mere upward glance, or by the overflowing of your heart towards Him. Never be in a hurry; do everything quietlt and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in His bosom. Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God, trusting to His eternal love for you; and if you find that you have wandered forth from this shelter, recall your heart quietly and simply. Maintain a holy simplicity of mind, and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, wishes, or longings, under any pretext.

St Francis de Sales

ST. BEDE

“IF YOU CAN do anything, have compassion on us and help us”: and the Saviour answered: “All things are possible to him who believes”. The leper, who said with perseverance: “Lord, if you will, You can make me clean,” had a more lively faith; he, therefore, was magnificently rewarded by the corresponding answer of Jesus: “I will, be you mada clean. One’s prayer will be answered according to his faith.

St. Bede

“I DO BELIEVE, help my unbelief”: the father, who was just beginning to believe, implored the Saviour to develop the faith in his soul. Not yet believing perfectly, he was at the same time an unbeliever and a believer.

St Bede

FRUIT

Frequently ask for an increase of faith, even if you already believe; because he who does not take care to maintain and to augment his own faith, little by little will end up by losing or at least stifling it.

BLESSED MOTHER TERESA

“YOU DID IT FOR ME.” Mother Teresa said these words in a low voice counting one by one the fingers on one hand for these five words held the meaning of her extraordinary life. These words hinge on the evangelical commandment, “you did it for me”, which the little sister witnessed with her love for the most little ones before the whole world. Asked who were the poor, she replied: “All. Even you and me. If we do not love the poor, we are also poor. Whosoever does not love is the poorest among the poor. Jesus came into the world to save and love the pople of the whole world and above all the poorest among them. So we missionaries do all we could for them. It is important that even all those who are lonely, abanodoned, living in despair, without owning anything, understand this truth: that God loves them, notwithstanding how they look, notwithstanding that their life is what it is. Indeed, we try being only an instrument of this great truth. It is not so much what is done but the love with which it is done”.

But how? “We try communicating christian joy to the persons around us. We try in what we actually do for them make them feel that we love them, that we are very much worried about their needs, that we share in their sorrow. And this we do not only in India but in the whole world, even in Rome, where we receive the old, the poor, the sick. If you go and find them you will see and understand how we radiate happiness through love. Go ye also to see and serve these people as we do every day. Go to speak to them to make them understand that they are not alone and that there are so many people who love them. Listen to them. They can tell you much more than what I am telling you.”

Mother Teresa once inscribed a prayer which said: “The fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is love. And from words of love, peace is born.”

Commenting on this prayer Mother Teresa said: “Holiness does not belong just to a few, we can all become saints. It is a way that may become simple; whatever I do can be done by all. Each one of us has a way how to communicate this truth and it is our duty to do it. It not matter much how much we do, but how we do it. I am not important at all. Speak of Jesus before speaking of me”.

BLESSED MOTHER TERESA

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I have always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.

BLESSED MOTHER TERESA

THE MORE YOU HAVE, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have, the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.

BLESSED MOTHER TERESA

IF YOU ARE HUMBLE nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.

BLESSED MOTHER TERESA

SUFFERING BY ITSELF is nothing; it is useless. But suffering shared with Christ in his passion is a wonderful gift to human life. It is the most beautiful gift for us to share in the passion of Christ, yes, and a sign of love, because His Father proved that He loved the world by giving His Son to die for us, and so in Christ’s own life it was proved that suffering was the gift, the greatest gift. As Our Lord has said, "Greater love than this no man has that he gives his life for his friends.” And so when we suffer for Jesus, this is the greatest love, the undivided love.

ST TERESA OF AVILA

LET US ALWAYS BE MINDFUL OF CHRIST’S LOVE

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend. And I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight.

Many, many times I have perceived this through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries. A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation; on this road he walks safely. All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near. Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart. Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplattves, and found that they took no other path: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, Catherine of Siena.

A person must walk along this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands. If God should desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and shares his secrets, we ought to accept this gladly.

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favours, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.

Universalis: Office of Readings

ST CHARLES BORROMEO

IF TEACHING AND PREACHING is your job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well. Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.

St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584)

Christian Readings - Home