Daily quotes on developing virtue from Saints, Popes and others.
"With her commandments and her prohibitions, does not the Church turn to bitterness the joy of eros, of being loved, which urges us toward the other person and wants to be realized in union? In the encyclical, I have tried to show that the deepest promise of eros can bear fruit only when do not [...]
"The remembrance of what Jesus suffered is a cure for remembrance of wrongs, shaming it powerfully with His patient endurance." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"There are two kinds of love: love for its own pleasure, or love for the sake of another; the first is carnal love, the second is spiritual." Source: Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Way to Happiness, St. Pauls, 1998.
"It is constantly assured, especially in our Tolstoyan tendencies, that when the lion lies down with the lamb the lion becomes lamb-like. But that is brutal annexation and imperialism on the part of the lamb. That is simply the lamb absorbing the lion instead of the lion eating the lamb. The real problem is – [...]
"We cannot love what we do not know." Source: Ven. Fulton Sheen, These are the Sacraments
"The Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel, which in its own way must penetrate the heart and mind of every person." Source: Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus: BULL OF INDICTION OF THE EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF MERCY
"Without care and diligence you will never acquire virtue. When you begin to grow lukewarm, you are falling into the beginning of evil; but if you give yourself to fervor, you will find peace and will experience less hardship because of God’s grace and the love of virtue." Source: Thomas a’ Kempis, The Imitation [...]
"Be sure, my daughter, that if you seek to lead a devout life, you must not merely forsake sin, but you must further cleanse your heart from all affections pertaining to sin; for, to say nothing of the danger of a relapse, these wretched affections will perpetually enfeeble your mind, and clog it, so that [...]
"Jesus: 'My daughter, let three virtues adorn you in a particular way: humility, purity of intention and love. Do nothing beyond what I demand of you, and accept everything that My hand gives you. Strive for a life of recollection so that you can hear My voice, which is so soft that only recollected souls [...]
"What does war against the obedient? Insult or injury? No, because they are patient, and patience is the sister of obedience. Are the burdens of the rule heavy for them? No, because obedience makes them observant… They have a most perfect contempt for themselves and they rejoice in patience, exulting in joy and gladness with [...]