"The Eucharist and Penance thus become in a sense two closely connected dimensions of authentic life in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel, of truly Christian life. The Christ who calls to the Eucharistic banquet is always the same Christ who exhorts us to penance and repeats his 'Repent'." Source: Pope St. John [...]
"Even so, my child, your changed life may be attended with some inward discomfort, and you may feel some reaction of discouragement and weariness after you have taken a final farewell of the world and its follies. Should it be so, I pray you take it patiently, for it will not last – it is [...]
"The essence of the virtues is the will of God. He who does the will of God faithfully, practices all the virtues." Source: St. Faustina, Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul
"He [Fr. Alvarez] used also to say, that religious persons were indeed fortunate, because in the very houses in which they reside, they can, whenever they please, either night or day, visit this great Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament; and this lay people cannot do." Source: St. Alphonsus Liguori, Visits to the Most [...]
"Part of Marxist strategy is the theory of impoverishment: in a situation of unjust power, it is claimed, anyone who engages in charitable initiatives is actually serving that unjust system, making it appear at least to some extent tolerable. This in turn slows down a potential revolution and thus blocks the struggle for a better [...]
"This sacrament, whether as the theme of devout meditation, or as the object of public adoration, or best of all as a food to be received in the utmost purity of conscience, is to be regarded as the centre towards which the spiritual life of a Christian in all its ambit gravitates; for all other [...]
"In the first place, purity is an “ability” or, in the traditional language of anthropology and ethics, an attitude. And in this sense it is a virtue. When this ability, that is, virtue, leads to abstaining 'from unchastity,' it does so because the man who possesses it knows 'how to keep his own body with [...]
"The Eucharist and the unity of Christians. Before the greatness of this mystery St. Augustine exclaims, 'O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!' The more painful the experience of the divisions in the Church which break the common participation in the table of the Lord, the more urgent are our [...]
"The love that we celebrate in the sacrament is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature it demands to be shared with all. What the world needs is God's love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him. The Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of [...]
"A proud soul is the slave of cowardice. Trusting only itself, it is frightened by a sound or a shadow." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent