Dial-Thoughts
of the Saintsâ
“So, when are we going to start doing something
good?”
St. Philip Neri
The practices of one
saint differ from those of another, but it is the same spirit
that works in all of them.
(Sayings of the Desert Fathers)
02 May Athanasius, bishop
You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading, and as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed in his progress.
If the son is a king, the
mother who begot him is rightly and truly considered a
queen and sovereign.
However great a sinner we may have been,
if we show ourselves devout to Mary, we will never
perish.
09 May Pachomius
The spiritual combat in which
we kill our passions to put on the new man is the most
difficult struggle of all. We must never weary of this
combat, but fight the holy fight fervently and without
stopping.
10 May John of Avila
Christ tells us that if we want to join him, we shall travel the way he took. It is surely not right that the son of God should go his way on the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way of worldly honor.
Just as the father gave us the great gift of his son to be our Redeemer, so also the son gives us the great gift of his blessed Mother to be our advocate. When he said to John at the foot of the cross: "Behold your mother!" He said it to him representing all Christians.
12 May Germanus of Constantinople
Mary is holier than the
saints, loftier than the heavens, more glorious than
the cherubim, and more worthy of our praise than any
other creature.
The prayers of this mother have a certain maternal authority with Jesus Christ; so that she obtains the grace of pardon even for those who have been guilty of grievous crimes, and who commend themselves to her.
14 May Mary Mazzarello
Laugh and play and dash about as much as you like, only be careful not to say or do anything that would be displeasing to God.
17 May Bruno of Wurzburg, bishop
Jesus, son of Mary, has no likeness among me, nor has Mary any likeness among women. She is the most beautiful of the living; she is a splendid dawn rising.
No sooner had Mary consented to be mother of the eternal Word, than she merited by this consent to be made queen of the world and of all creatures.
You must practice first, all
that you desire to teach others.
The more we indulge ourselves
in soft living and pamper our bodies, the more
rebellious they will become against the spirit.
25 May Madeleine Sophie Barat,
foundress
It show
weakness of mind to hold too much to the beaten
track through fear of innovations. Times
change and to keep up with them, we must modify our
methods.
Never trust to yourself,
either on the ground of experience, or length of time,
or age, or sickness; but always fly from every
occasion of danger as long as you have strength to
raise your eyelids.
Entire conformity and
resignation to the divine will is truly a road on
which we cannot go wrong, and it is the only road that
leads us to taste and enjoy that peace of which
sensual and earthly men know nothing.