We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean.
But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
I alone cannot change the world
but I can cast a stone across the waters
to create many ripples.
The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue.
Therefore, if you want to be rich, beloved, love true riches. If you aspire to the heights of real honor, strive to reach the kingdom of Heaven. If you value rank and renown, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the Angels.
The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind’s eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making.
Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending.
You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds?
Lay first the foundation of humility.
Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention
to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances,
are brought into closer connection with you.
Our Lord’s words teach us that though we labour among the many distractions of this world, we should have but one goal. For we are but travellers on a journey without as yet a fixed abode; we are on our way, not yet in our native land; we are in a state of longing, not yet of enjoyment. But let us continue on our way, and continue .. that we may ultimately arrive at our destination.
Eternal Wisdom
Because the day when she ( St Monica ) was to leave this life was drawing near – a day known to you, though we were ignorant of it – she and I happened to be alone, through (as I believe) the mysterious workings of your will. We stood leaning against a window which looked out on a garden within the house where we were staying, at Ostia on the Tiber; for there, far from the crowds, we were recruiting our strength after the long journey ..
We were alone, conferring very intimately. Forgetting what lay in the past, and stretching out to what was ahead, we enquired between ourselves, in the light of present truth, into what you are and what the eternal life of the saints would be like, for Eye has not seen nor ear heard nor human heart conceived it. And yet, with the mouth of our hearts wide open we panted thirstily for the celestial streams of your fountain, the fount of life which is with you.
This was the substance of our talk, though not the exact words. Yet you know, O Lord, how on that very day, amid this talk of ours that seemed to make the world with all its charms grow cheap, she said, “For my part, my son, I no longer find pleasure in anything that this life holds .. One thing only there was for which I desired to linger in this life: to see you a Catholic Christian before I died. And my God has granted this to me more lavishly than I could have hoped, letting me see even you spurning earthly happiness to be his servant.
Shortly afterwards, addressing us both, she said, “Lay this body anywhere, and take no trouble over it. One thing only do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be”.
“The greatest saints, those richest in grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.”
St Louis Marie de Montfort
“Be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all you necessities. Call her to your assistance, for such is the divine Will that she should help in every kind of need.”
St Basil the Great
“Mary, give me your Heart: so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate; your Heart so full of love and humility that I may be able to receive Jesus in the Bread of Life and love Him as you love Him and serve Him in the distressing guise of the poor.”
Mother Teresa
“In trial or difficulty I have recourse to Mother Mary
whose glance alone is enough to dissipate every fear.”
St Therese of Lisieux
“Let us affectionately love His angels as counselors and defenders appointed by the Father and placed over us. They are faithful; they are prudent; they are powerful; Let us only follow them, let us remain close to them, and in the protection of the God of heaven let us abide.”
“Let your prayer for temporal blessings be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary.”
“Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love.”
“True penance consists in regretting without ceasing the faults of the past, and in firmly resolving to never again commit that which is so deplorable.”
“Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, Thou fount of life, thou Light of men, From the best bliss that earth imparts We turn unfilled to Thee again. We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread, And long to feast upon Thee still: We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, And thirst our souls from Thee to fill. O Jesus, ever with us stay, Make all our moments calm and bright; Chase the dark night of sin away, Shed o’er the world Thy holy light.”
Beloved Young People and Dear Friends in Christ,
Today the Church finds herself, with Mary, on the threshold of the house of Zechariah in Ain–Karim. With new life stirring within her, the Virgin of Nazareth hastened there, immediately after the Fiat of the Annunciation, to be of help to her cousin Elizabeth.
It was Elizabeth who first recognized the “great things” which God was doing in Mary. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth marvelled that the mother of her Lord should come to her (Cfr. Luc 1,43). With deep insight into the mystery, she declared: “Blest is she who believed that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled” ( Luc 1,45). With her soul full of humble gratitude to God, Mary replied with a hymn of praise: ” God who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name” ( Luc 1,49).
On this Feast the Church celebrates the culmination of the “great things” which God has done in Mary: her glorious Assumption into Heaven. And throughout the Church the same hymn of thanksgiving, the “Magnificat”, rings out as it did for the first time at Ain–Karim: All generations call you blessed (Cfr. Luc 1,48).
The Liturgy presents you, Mary, as the Woman clothed with the sun (Cfr. Apoc 12,1). But you are even more splendidly clothed with that Divine Light which can become the Life of all those created in the image and likeness of God himself: “this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Io 1,4-5).
O woman clothed with the sun, the youth of the world greet you with so much love … Your spirit rejoices, O Mary, and our spirit rejoices with you because the Mighty One has done great things for you and for us, – for all these young people gathered here in Denver, for all of us, for all the young people of the world, for all the young people, this generation, the future generation. The Mighty One has done great things for you, Mary, and for us. For you and for us, for us with you. The Mighty One – and holy is his name!
His mercy is from age to age.
“No one in the world can change Truth.
What we can do and and should do is to seek truth
and to serve it when we have found it”
“The Immaculate will conquer, through us, the whole world and every single soul.”
“But grace, for ourselves and for others, is obtained by humble prayer, by mortification, and by fidelity in the accomplishment of our own ordinary duties, including the simplest ones.”
“For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.”