January
'The difference between
a good person and a devout one is this: the good person keeps
God's commandments, though without any great speed or fervour;
the devout not only observes them but does so willingly, speedily,
and with a good heart'
St.
Francis De Sales (Jan 24th)
February
'To change your mind
from good to bad is the height of absurdity. True goodness
changes from evil to righteousness. I thank my God that I
am being allowed my share in the sufferings of his martyrs.
He who gives me strength to endure fire will enable me to
stand unmoved to the end'.
St
Polycarp (Feb 23rd)
March
'My Lord and my God,
remove from me all that may keep me from you. My Lord and
my God, give me all that I need to bring me to you. My Lord
and my God, take me from myself and give me to yourself'.
St.
Nicholas Von Flue (March 21st)
April
'Whenever you think God
has shown you other people's faults, take care: your own judgment
may well be at fault. Say nothing. And if you do attribute
any vice to another person, immediately and humbly look for
it in yourself also. Should the other person really possess
that vice, he will correct himself so much the better when
he sees how gently you understand him, and he will say to
himself whatever you would have told him'.
St.
Catherine Of Siena (April 29th)
May
'All of us are naturally
frightened of dying and the dissolution of our bodies, but
remember this most startling fact: that those who accept the
faith of the cross despise even what is normally terrifying,
and for the sake of Christ cease to fear even death. When
he became man, the Saviour's love put away death from us and
renewed us again; for Christ became man that we might become
God'.
St.
Athanasius (May 2nd)
June
'Finally, all of you
be likeminded, compassionate, loving the brethren, tender-hearted,
humbleminded, not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for
reviling, but instead paying back with a blessing. You are
called to do this, so as to inherit a blessing yourselves'.
St.
Peter (Jun 29th)
July
'In a time of desolation,
never forsake the good resolutions you made in better times.
Strive to remain patient - a virtue contrary to the troubles
that harass you - and remember that you will be consoled'.
St.
Ignatius Of Loyola (Jul 31st)
August
'The character of God's
eternal and just law is this: that those refusing to be ruled
by God's gentleness will have the misfortune of being ruled
by their own selves; that whoever voluntarily throws off the
gentle yoke and light burden of charity will be obliged to
carry the unbearable burden of their own will'.
St.
Bernard Of Clairvaux (Aug 20th)
September
'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 spirtual deformities
and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are
making and how far we are from perfection'.
St.
Gregory The Great (Sept 3rd)
October
'O Divine Master, grant
that I may not seek to be consoled as to be console; to be
understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it
is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are
pardoned; and it is in dying that we rise to eternal life'.
St.
Francis Of Assisi (Oct 4th)
November
'In Jesus humility was
take up into majesty, weakness into strength, mortality into
eternity; and to pay the debt that we humans had incurred,
an inviolable nature was united with a nature capable of suffering.
He assumed the form of a servant without the stain of sin,
enhancing what was human, not detracting from what was divine'.
St.
Leo The Great (Nov 10th)
December
'Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God; and everyone that loves is
born of God and knows God. See what love the Father has given
us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are'.
St.
John The Divine (Dec 27th)
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