Daily quotes on developing virtue from Saints, Popes and others.
"Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere 'command'; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us. In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, [...]
"Insensitivity is deadened feeling in body and spirit, and comes from long sickness and carelessness. Lack of awareness is negligence that has become habit. It is thought gone numb, an offspring of predisposition, a trap for zeal, a noose for courage, an ignorance of compunction, the gateway to despair, the mother of forgetfulness giving birth [...]
"There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification." Source: Thomas a’ Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Dover Thrift Editions, 1940.
"God's mercy is magnanimous. He pardons generously and forever, for He knows not how to forget only half. He restores the joy of innocence and the honor of the first state. He pardons not as a man, but as God. He wishes us still to remember our sins, but with a thought of love, of [...]
"When children begin to use their reason, fathers and mothers should take great pains to fill their hearts with the fear of God. This the good Queen Blanche did most earnestly by St. Louis, her son: witness her oft-repeated words, 'My son, I would sooner see you die than guilty of a mortal sin,' words [...]
"Individuals who care for those in need must first be professionally competent: they should be properly trained in what to do and how to do it, and committed to continuing care. Yet, while professional competence is a primary, fundamental requirement, it is not of itself sufficient. We are dealing with human beings, and human beings [...]
"Leisure, therefore, is not idleness or incapacity, but a spiritual and moral quality of the soul. It has nothing to do with external factors, for example, a day off from work, a holiday, a weekend vacation, a day at the golf course." Source: Sheen Fulton, Guide to Contentment, Alba House, 2010. [...]
"That to arrive at such resignation as God requires, we should watch attentively over all passions which mingle as well in spiritual things as in those of a grosser nature; that God would give light concerning those passions to those who truly desire to serve Him." Source: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence [...]
"The first (method for meditation) starts from the knowledge of our nothingness, our sins, our temptations, in a word, our misery. The soul that starts from this truth, that begins her meditation by it, always has, enough to occupy her. She has always a familiar point upon which to plant her foot, and from it [...]
"Jealousy never arises where love is built up on true virtue, and therefore it is a sure sign of an earthly, sensual love, in which mistrust and inconstancy is soon infused. It is a sorry kind of friendship which seeks to strengthen itself by jealously; for though jealousy may be a sign of strong, hot [...]