What Our Lady looked like May 13, 1917

 

Lucia dos Santos describes Our Lady of Fatima:
“A Lady dressed all in white, more brilliant than the sun,
shedding a light that was clearer and more intense
than that of a crystal goblet filled with crystalline water
and struck by the rays of the most brilliant sun.
Her face, indescribably beautiful, was neither sad nor happy, but serious,
with an air of mild reproach.
Her hands, joined together as if she were praying,
were resting at her breast and pointing upward. A rosary hung from her right hand.
Her clothes seemed to be made of light. The tunic was white.
The veil, white and edged with gold, covered the head of the Virgin and
descended to her feet. Neither her hair nor her ears could be seen.”

A pure life

 

If men lead a pure life, they are saved.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Who except God can give peace?

 

Who except God can give you peace?
Has the world ever been able
to satisfy the heart?

St. Gerard Majella

He waits

 

He loves, He hopes, He waits.
If He came down on our altars on certain days only,
some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have
to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait.
Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner
for years
rather than keep him waiting one instant.

St. Peter Julian Eymard

We must decide

 

This world and the world to come
are two enemies.
We cannot therefore be friends to both; but
we must decide which we will forsake
and which we will enjoy.

Pope St. Clement I

This sums up man’s entire relation to God

Charity
may be a very short word,
but with its tremendous meaning of pure love, it
sums up man’s entire relation to God
and to his neighbor.

St. Aelred of Rievaulx

Divine medicine

 

Trials and tribulations offer us a chance
to make reparation for our past faults and sins.
On such occasions the Lord comes to us
like a physician to heal the wounds left by our sins.
Tribulation is the divine medicine.

St. Augustine of Hippo

Can you love the Blessed Virgin too much?

 

Never be afraid
of loving the Blessed Virgin too much.
You can never love her more than Jesus did.

St. Maximilian Kolbe

How to approach God

 

Go to God simply,
with great confidence that His goodness will guide you;
let yourself go confidently as your heart draws you, and
fear nothing but pride and self-love.

St. Claude de la Colombière

I'll be getting broiled on a grill in purgatory

 

They think I'm a saint...
When I'm dead, they'll come and touch holy pictures and rosaries to me, and
all the while I'll be getting broiled on a grill in purgatory.
At least promise me you'll pray a lot for the repose of my soul.

St. Bernadette Soubirous

How do you learn to love?

 

You learn to speak by speaking,
to study by studying, to run by running,
to work by working, and just so,
you learn to love by loving.
All those who think to learn in any other way
deceive themselves.

St. Francis de Sales

Love implies sacrifice

 

Love is not just an affirmation,
but a negation.
It implies sacrifice – a surrender of our will,
of our selfish interests, for the good of the other.
It looks not to the lover’s pleasure, but to the happiness of the beloved.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Where is the proof of love?

 

The proof of love is in the works.
Where love exists, it works great things.
But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

St. Gregory the Great

What does it mean to love God?

 

To love God as He ought to be loved, we must be
detached from all temporal love.
We must love nothing but Him, or
if we love anything else, we must love it only for His sake.

St. Peter Claver

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil, and the astonishing reason why

 

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is
humility.
For, as he does not know at all how to employ it,
neither does he know how to defend himself from it.

St. Vincent de Paul

What does it mean to belong to the Church?

 

Belonging to the Church is a very great and very demanding thing.
We must think as the Church thinks, have the mind of the Church,
proceed as the Church wishes in all the circumstance of our lives.
This supposes a real Catholic sense,
an authentic and complete purity of customs, and
a profound and sincere piety.
In other words,
it supposes the sacrifice of an entire lifetime.

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Begin every day like this

 

If we wish to make any progress in the service of God
we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness.
We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and
have no other view or end in all our actions
but the divine honor.

St. Charles Borromeo

How lust seizes power

 

Lust indulged became habit, 
and habit unresisted 
became necessity.

St. Augustine of Hippo

What Saint’s love for God can match Mary’s?

 

 Think of what the Saints have done for their neighbor because they loved God.
But what Saint’s love for God can match Mary’s?
She loved Him more in the first moment of her existence
than all the Saints and angels ever loved Him or will love Him.
Just as there is not one among all the Blessed who loves God as Mary does,
so there is no one, after God, who loves us as much as this most loving Mother does.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

How to pray better

 

When we pray, the voice of the heart
must be heard more
than that proceeding from the mouth.

St. Bonaventure