"Consider what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses. Consider the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night - the whole universe. And this, along with all the satisfied follies of the heart, is worth [...]
"You must seek earnestly the grace of devotion, ask for it fervently, await it patiently and hopefully, receive it gratefully, guard it humbly, cooperate with it carefully and leave to God, when it comes, the length and manner of the heavenly visitation. When you feel little or no inward devotion, you should especially humiliate yourself, [...]
"It is true, that in every place God graciously hears the petitions of those who pray to Him, having promised to do so: 'Ask, and you shall receive;' yet the disciple tells us that Jesus dispenses His graces in greater abundance to those who visit Him in the Most Holy Sacrament." Source: St. Alphonsus [...]
"You must be meek toward the neighbor. The principle of meekness toward the neighbor lies in charity. You will be meek toward him, if you see in him the gifts of God, if you love God in him. To love men for themselves is time and trouble lost. Men are sacks full of holes. He [...]
"Very often demons manage to persuade us either to omit confession, or else to confess as though the sins were committed by someone else or else to blame others as responsible for our own sins." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"He chose for instituting the Eucharist bread and wine, the food of all, both rich and poor, of strong or weak, to show us that his heavenly nourishment is for all Christians - little and great, subjects and kings: 'Come to me all you who wish to preserve the life of grace and to have [...]
"The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread, above all at the [...]
"Let all vain ornament be banished, and every hurtful glance, and all wanton gait, and every flowing robe, and perfume enticing to pleasure. But in all for perfume let there be the prayer of sweet odour, and the practice of good works, and the sanctification of our bodies: that the Virgin-born Lord may say even [...]
"You will ask how to put away anger. My child, when you feel its first movements, collect yourself gently and seriously, not hastily or with impetuosity." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"The gift of Christ and his Spirit which we receive in Eucharistic communion superabundantly fulfils the yearning for fraternal unity deeply rooted in the human heart; at the same time it elevates the experience of fraternity already present in our common sharing at the same Eucharistic table to a degree which far surpasses that of [...]