"A great thing is a faithful man, being richest of all rich men. For to the faithful man belongs the whole world of wealth, in that he disdains and tramples on it." Source: St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures
"It is reason that creates motives for believing. Faith is to religion very much as credit is to business. Just as one must have a reason for giving credit, so too must one have a reason for believing." Source: Sheen Fulton, Guide to Contentment, Alba House, 2010.
"Faith today is identified with a kind of feeling or instinctive urge toward the acceptance of an idea. Very few today realize that reason is the prelude to faith. Whether they know it or not, they follow the philosophy of Jean Jacques Rouseau, who wrote to Dom Deschamps in 1762, 'Order and method are your [...]
"Among the five virtues the first is celestial love, which consists in a person knowing and loving God above all things. Then the person, because of his faith, is bound by the law God above all things. Then the person, because of his faith, is bound by the law of discipline; and from there he [...]
"Consequently, in addition to their necessary professional training, these charity workers need a 'formation of the heart': they need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others. As a result, love of neighbor will no longer be for them a commandment imposed, so [...]
"But others seem pale of body and shadowed of soul. For these are weak in faith and do not firmly believe in this sacrament, but find it as hard to understand wisdom as a child whose deeds are done in foolishness. They hear outwardly with the hearing of the ear and perceive with sluggish hearts [...]
"The sin of unbelief, which fundamentally severs a man from the unity of the Church, simply speaking, makes him to be utterly unfit for receiving this sacrament; because it is the sacrament of the Church's unity, as stated above. Hence the unbeliever who receives this sacrament sins more grievously than the believer who is in [...]
"The practice of the Presence of God strengthens us in Hope. Our hope grows in proportion as our knowledge; and in measure as our faith by this holy practice penetrates into the hidden mysteries of God, in like measure it finds in Him a beauty beyond compare, surpassing infinitely that of earth, as also that [...]
"Because when a person regards the height of goodness in his mind, he then builds a high wall of faith by virtue of the work of God. Then he ascends above that rational faith, which shows him God in the power of His Divinity, and on it he builds bulwarks of virtue higher than the [...]
"The life of faith is endangered when we lose the desire to share in the celebration of the Eucharist and its commemoration of the paschal victory." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007