Great Throughts Treasury

"Providence must call us and we must follow it, if we are to go forward confidently."

"Put your trust in Him and following His example, always act humbly, graciously, and in good faith."

"Rarely is any good done without difficulty; the devil is too subtle and the world too corrupt not to attempt to nip such a good work in the bud"

"Remember the maxim of the Romans which states that by union and counsel we can achieve anything."

"Remember, Monsieur that roses are not gathered except in the midst of thorns and that heroic acts of virtue are accomplished only in weakness."

"Remember, Monsieur, that the downfall of most Communities comes from the cowardice of Superiors in not holding firm and in not purging them of the troublesome and incorrigible."

"Rest assured that, when you remain thus in the state in which obedience has placed you, the merit of this same obedience extends over everything you do, giving each action inestimable value, even when things do not turn out as you wish."

"Restlessness usually stems from pride and from being discontented with one's lot in life."

"Return thanks to God, for having chosen you for such a perfect vocation; ask Him to grant you all the graces you need to be faithful to it. I beseech Him to do so with all my heart and I beg Him to imitate the Blessed Virgin in the care, vigilance and love which She had for her Son, so that, like her, true mothers and true virgins at one and the same time, you may bring up those poor little children [foundlings] in the fear and love of God and that they may, with you, glorify Him for all eternity."

"Scandal often does as much harm to the listeners as to those who devise it, even if it were to do no other harm than disturb the mind, as it does, and give rise to temptations to speak or write about it to others."

"Seek counsel of very pious, disinterested persons, and follow the call of Our Lord and the advice of those persons."

"Since God is satisfied with our good will and honest efforts, let us also be satisfied with the outcome He gives to them, and our actions will never be without good results"

"Since I am a great sinner, I cannot reject those who have been, provided they have good will."

"Since you know the means of getting better, in the name of God, make use of them. Do not take on anything beyond your strength, do not be anxious, do not take things too much to heart, go gently, do not work too long or too hard."

"So, do not dwell any longer on what you are, but consider Our Lord close by you and within you, ready to put His hand to the work as soon as you call upon Him for help, and you will see that all will go well."

"So, our vocation is to go, not just to one parish, not just to one diocese, but all over the world; and do what? To set people's hearts on fire, to do what the Son of God did. He came to set the world on fire in order to inflame it with His love."

"So, we pray well when we remain in this way in the presence of God, with no exertion of the understanding or will. Therefore, you will do well to listen to God in the urge you feel to return to us."

"That’s what our Rules engage us to do, to help poor persons, our lords and masters."

"The angels would become incarnate if they could, so that they might come to earth to imitate the example and virtues of the Son of God!"

"The children of our Lord walk gladly in his ways; they have confidence in him, and so when they fall, they rise again; and if, instead of stopping to grumble about the stone they have tripped over, they humble themselves at their fall, this helps them to advance with great strides in his love."

"The kingdom of God is peace in the Holy Spirit; He will reign in you if your heart is at peace. So, be at peace, Mademoiselle, and you will honor in a sovereign way the God of peace and love."

"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."

"The net result of my experience on the matter is the judgment I have formed, that true religion - true religion, Gentlemen, true religion is to be found amongst the poor."

"The poor are your masters. You are the servant."

"The poor have much to teach you. You have much to learn from them."

"The whole purpose of the Congregation is: 1) to have a genuine commitment to grow in holiness, patterning ourselves, as far as possible, on the virtues which the great Master Himself graciously taught us in what He said and did; 2) to preach the good news of salvation to poor people, especially in rural areas; 3) to help seminarians and priests to grow in knowledge and virtue, so that they can be effective in their ministry."

"The wisest persons, surprised by some passion, often say things they later regret."

"The works of God are not accomplished when we wish them, but whenever it pleases Him."

"The works of God have their moment; His Providence brings them about at that time and neither sooner nor later. The Son of God saw the loss of souls; yet, He did not advance the hour ordained for His coming. Let us wait patiently but let us act, and, so to speak, let us make haste slowly in the negotiation of one of the most important affairs the Congregation will ever have."

"There are good, God-fearing persons who still fall into certain faults, and it is better to bear with them than to be hard on them."

"There are some persons who are content with everything and others who are scarcely content with anything. These latter need patience to bear with themselves."

"There is a vast difference between an Apostolic life and the solitude of the Carthusians. The latter is truly very holy but is not suited to those whom God has called to the former, which is in itself more excellent."

"There is no act of charity that is not accompanied by justice or that permits us to do more than we reasonably can."

"There is nothing good that does not meet with opposition, and it should not be valued any less because it encounters objections."

"These ideas are only suggestions of the evil spirit who, to jeopardize your salvation, suggests to you extraordinary works that are beyond your strength, under the fine pretext of practicing, on your own, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy . . ."

"These losses of the Church in the past hundred years give us reason to fear in the present misfortune that in another hundred years we may lose the Church entirely in Europe. So, keeping this fear in mind, blessed are those who cooperate in extending the Church elsewhere."

"Things arrange themselves with time. Only God can have everything to His liking; His servants should act as Our Lord did."

"Those persons who console you today may humiliate you tomorrow."

"Three can do more than ten when Our Lord puts His hand to things, and He always does so when He takes away the means of doing otherwise."

"To this end, we should help and support one another and strive for peace and union among ourselves. This is the wine that cheers and strengthens travelers along the narrow path of Jesus Christ."

"Use gentle methods to get whatever good you can from priests and monks who are slaves, as well as from merchants and captives. Resort to severe measures only in extreme cases, for fear lest the hardship they are already enduring in their state of captivity, joined to the strictness you might want to exercise in virtue of your authority, drive them to despair. . . . It is not light they need, but strength, and strength permeates through the external balm of words and good example."

"Virtue is not found in extremes, but in prudence, which I recommend as strongly as I can…"

"We cannot better assure our eternal happiness than by living and dying in the service of the poor, in the arms of Providence, and with genuine renouncement of ourselves in order to follow Jesus Christ."

"We likewise give ourselves to Thee, O my God, to honor and serve, all our lives, our lords the poor, and ever beseech Thee to grant us this grace by Thy holy love."

"We must be firm but not rough in our guidance and avoid an insipid kind of meekness, which is ineffective. We will learn from Our Lord how our meekness should always be accompanied by humility and grace so as to attract hearts to Him and not cause anyone to turn away from Him."

"We must be full reservoirs in order to let our water spill out without becoming empty, and we must possess the spirit with which we want them to be animated, for no one can give what he does not have."

"We must endeavor to have God reign sovereignly in us, and then in others. The trouble with me is that I take more care to have Him reign in others than in myself."

"We must hold as an irrefutable maxim that the difficulties we have with our neighbor arise more from our immortified moods than from anything else."

"We should take as a maxim never to be surprised at current difficulties, no more than at a passing breeze, because with a little patience we shall see them disappear. Time changes everything."

"Well! bon Dieu! what better opportunity awaits you to suffer something for God? I certainly see none. In the name of God, Monsieur, let us not be so little attached to God's service that we yield to a useless fear which may cause us to abandon the task He has given us."