"What alarms me most of all is my inconstancy in God's service. I say a thousand times with St Augustine that I will rise again, but unlike him I always fall back. Worst of all, recently, partly through my own negligence, partly for other reasons, I have been many days without going to confession. And to think that Charles Borromeo went to confession twice a day. Enough! No words can describe how wretched I am: my pride still clouds my intellect."
- Saint John XXIII
“God the Son loves us; for the sake of our salvation he is generous toward us. He is not satisfied with redeeming us by his blood. He also prays to the Father on our behalf. Consider the love exemplified in that prayer. The Father and Son are one; we too are to abide in that oneness.” -St. Cyprian
As we honor the many fathers in our lives today, let us first give thanks to God the Father for His unfailing love, providence, and countless blessings. Through the intercession of St. Joseph, let us pray for all fathers, that they may faithfully support their wives and courageously protect, provide for, and lead their families in the ways of faith. And recognizing the great need in our world for strong and holy fatherly witness, let us also pray for an increase in spiritual fatherhood within our families, parishes, and communities, that more men may embrace their call to guide, encourage, and nurture others with the love of a true father.
That is his great glory, to be the Christian poet, to have sung with Divine accents those Christian ideals which he so passionately loved in all the splendour of their beauty... the Commedia, which deservedly earned the title of Divina.
-Pope Benedict XV
“When we pray, our words should be calm, modest and disciplined. Let us reflect that we are standing before God. We should please him both by our bodily posture and the manner of our speech.” -St. Cyprian
"The world greatly needs pastors who offer more than simply words or programs; it needs the living witness of a reconciled heart that exudes the sweet fragrance of Christ’s holiness." (Pope Leo XIV; cf. https://t.co/weJuq5DR3w)
Thou art called to endure and to labour, not to a life of ease and trifling talk. Here therefore are men tried as gold in the furnace.
-Thomas á Kempis
"In a world like the West, where money and wealth are the measure of all things, and where the model of the free market imposes its implacable laws on every aspect of life, authentic Catholic ethics now appears to many like an alien body from times long past."
- Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict XVI: the man who was Ratzinger P.54
“Miserável é toda alma presa à amizade das coisas perecíveis; fica despedaçada quando as perde, e então sente a miséria que tinha antes de perdê-las.”
— Santo Agostinho