Talk about the Saints that inspire you, share some of your favorite quotes

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fhansen said:
"This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections."
– Saint Augustine
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Been doing a lot of reading on St. Augustine.

Sometimes you come across references to St. Augustine in other readings – sort of “asides” that illuminate a lot of what Augustine was or meant to the writer. These are some instances that I encountered the past several years and probably resulted in my reading even more deeply into the man and his thought. When you survey the depth of these observations, it makes you stand in awe of the man that Augustine was.

A collection of these “asides” here:

payingattentiontothesky.com/2009/08/14/the-majesty-of-st-augustine/

And much more in a category I’ve devoted to him here:

payingattentiontothesky.com/category/great-men-of-the-church/st-augustine-great-men-of-the-church/

which features selections from John Paul II’s AUGUSTINUM HIPPONSENSEM.

I always found this amazing for a 4th Century man:

Augustine teaches no less insistently freedom from time, a freedom that Christ, the eternal Word, has come to bring us by his entry into the world in the incarnation: “O Word that exists before time, through whom time was made,” he exclaims, “born in time although You are eternal life, calling those who exist in time and making them eternal!” It is well known that St. Augustine studied deeply the mystery of time and both felt and stated the need to transcend time in order to exist truly. “That you may be truly yourself, transcend time. But who shall transcend it by his own power? Let Christ lift him up, as He said to the Father: ‘I wish that they too may be with me where I am.’”

Regards

dj
 
I think that this is already an unbelievable list of Saints and quotes from them, that we have going here. I also wanted to give someone an honorable mention here. even though He is not a cannonized saint of the church, I really enjoy reading many of the quotes that G.K. Chesterton has blessed the Catholic church with. I would also like to add this quote inside of a quote (He quotes the Bible as well) by Saint Francis of Assisi, who talks about the Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration, & how important it was in his life. St Francis of Assisi, who was never ordained a priest, had a great personal devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. His first admonition on the Holy Eucharist could not have been more precise:

Sacred Scripture tells us that the Father dwells in “light inaccessible” (1 Timothy 6:16) and that “God is spirit” (John 4:24). and St. John adds. “No one at any time has seen God” (John 1:18). Because God is a spirit He can be seen only in spirit; It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63). But God the Son is equal to the Father and so He too can be seen only in the same way as the Father and the Holy Spirit. That is why all those were condemned who saw our Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity but did not see or believe in spirit in His divinity, that He was the true Son of God. In the same way now, all those are damned who see the Sacrament of the Body of Christ which is consecrated on the altar in the form of bread and wine by the words of our Lord in the hands of the priest, and do not see or believe in spirit and in God that this is really the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Saint Francis of Assisi
 
Just thought that I would add St. Joan of Arc here in the mix of great company. 🙂 Ever since I was a little girl, I have admired here, and loved her story. She is everything that I wish to be! I don’t really know why her story affected me so much, but it has, and she’ll always be among my favorites. I knew, at the age of 10, that she would be my Confirmation saint and name, and in September of 2008, I celebrated my Confirmation, indeed choosing the name “Joan” in her honor.

Here is my quote (although St. Joan did not say it…true, Mother Teresa is not a saint [yet] but I love it nonetheless):

“I have found the paradox - that if you love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, only more love.”

❤️
 
I hadn’t seen this one until today but loved it:

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things." - St. Theresa of Avila
 
“Withdraw yourself from people and spend at least a quarter of an hour, or a half-hour, in some church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Taste and see how sweet is the Lord, and you will learn from your own experience how many graces this will bring you.”

St. Alphonsus Liguori
 
“Sometimes I ask myself if there could be any souls who do not feel a divine fire burning in their breasts, especially when they stand before him in the Sacrament. This seems impossible to me, particularly if the souls in question are priests or religious. Perhaps those who say they do not feel this fire, do not notice it because of the greatness of their hearts. Only a benign interpretation such as this prevents me from distancing myself from them and accusing them of shameful untruth.”

Padre Pio
 
Although I am very happy with this thread, I think something more has to be added to it, and with today being All Saints day, I couldn’t think of a more appropriate time to say this. Today at Mass, my priest gave an excellent Homily on the subject of All Saints day. it really made me think about the sacrifice that many Holy men & women made, so that we are free to go too church and worship God. there have been many evil people throughout history that have tried destroying Christianity and the Catholic church altogether. many Holy men and women have been martyred for our faith. people would celebrate Mass secretly and hide priests in their basements, barns or wherever they could. many of these people were tortured and killed along with the priests, if & when they were caught, and still did what they did anyway, even knowing of the consequences they would suffer. God bless all of the Saints on this happy and Holy All Saints day and every day. when you kneel down and say a prayer tonight, please remember all of these brave Holy men and women that have gone before us.
 
“It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
 
This is probably my favorite quote that I have ever read by any Saint.

“Prayer is a fragrant dew, but we must pray with a pure heart to feel this dew. There flows from prayer a delicious sweetness, like the juice of very ripe grapes. Troubles melt away before a fervent prayer like snow before the sun. To approach God one should go straight to him, like a ball from a cannon. Prayer disengages our soul from matter; it raises it on high, like the fire that inflates a balloon. The more we pray, the more we wish to pray. Like a fish which at first swims on the surface of the water, and afterwards plunges down and is always going deeper, the soul plunges, dives, and loses itself in the sweetness of conversing with God. Prayer is the holy water that by its flow makes the plants of our good desires grow green and flourish, that cleanses our souls of their imperfections, and that quenches the thirst of passion in our hearts.”

Saint John Vianney
 
“However great may be the temptation, if we know how to use the weapon of prayer well we shall come off conquerors at last, for prayer is more powerful than all the devils. He who is attacked by the spirits of darkness needs only to apply himself vigorously to prayer and he will beat them back with great success.”

St Bernard of Clairvaux
 
I wanted to share this quote that I found from Francis of Assisi and how he feels about Priests.

“Listen my brothers: if the blessed Virgin is so honored, as it is right, since she carried him in her most holy womb; if the blessed Baptist trembled and did not dare to touch the holy head of God; if the tomb in which he lay for some time is so venerated, how holy, just, and worthy must be the person who touches Him with his hands, receives Him in his heart and mouth, and offers Him to others to be received.”

Saint Francis of Assisi
 
“If her priests are saints, what good they are able to do! But whatever they are, never speak against them.”

John Vianney
 
Speaking of martyrs: When I spent a year as a Franciscan postulant, many talked about the 4 martyrs of El Salvador. You can look them up on the internet.

But, there are two prospective martyr-saints I am truly inspired by: Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, (as some of you already know). When Fr. Jochmann (jail chaplain) offered to read spiritual readings on the day of execution, Franz replied, “I am completely bound in inner union with the Lord, and any reading would only interrupt my communication with my God.” I cannot imagine walking to a torturous Nazi beheading machine in that holy state (pics on Internet–chills up the spine).

The second is Sr. Dorothy Stang who was murdered on Feb 12, 2005. She knew she was on the hit list; she went home to the US (Dayton, OH) to visit family then went back. When the gunmen came, she pulled out her Bible and began to read out loud to them. Then they shot her 6 times. They call her the martyr of the rainforest.

I guess I am partial to these people because we tend to view Saints as beyond the rest of us. There were many sisters in my Franciscan community who did similar missionary work as Dorothy and the 4 martyrs of El Salvador and would have accepted death also. There were many Stangs in religious life in that area including the community I was in. Franz appeals to me because he had an illegitimate child before he married and was fond of adventure and motorcycles. I find those kinds of things make Sainthood more real, regular, and attainable.
 
St. Augustine, in Confessions, praying to God:

“The house of my soul is too small for you to come to it. May it be enlarged by you. It is in ruins: restore it.”

I nearly fell out of my chair when I first read this. He wrote this explaining his conversion, after spending his entire life (to that point) denying God. Exactly where I was, starting my journey not too long ago. “The house of my soul is in ruins” summarizes perfectly the result of a life spent denying God. The plea to God to “restore it” summarizes perfectly the solution. Reading this is incredibly inspiring to me, knowing that a saint who lived 1600 years ago went through the same thing as I am now.
 
After a Polish prisoner had escaped from the infamous Auschwitz camp, the commandant called the Polish prisoners together and as punishment picked ten to die by starvation. One of the ten, Francis Gajowniczek, cried out that he wanted to see his wife and children again. From the ranks of the other prisoners stepped a forty-three year old priest named Maksymilian Maria Kolbe. It was unheard of for prisoners to step out of line, but Kolbe did and somehow walked past the guards and right up to the commandant. “Who are you and what do you want?” the commandant asked. “I am a Catholic priest and I would like to take that man’s place,” Kolbe answered.

jb
 
GwenL said:
St. Augustine, in Confessions, praying to God:

“The house of my soul is too small for you to come to it. May it be enlarged by you. It is in ruins: restore it.”

I nearly fell out of my chair when I first read this. He wrote this explaining his conversion, after spending his entire life (to that point) denying God. Exactly where I was, starting my journey not too long ago. “The house of my soul is in ruins” summarizes perfectly the result of a life spent denying God. The plea to God to “restore it” summarizes perfectly the solution. Reading this is incredibly inspiring to me, knowing that a saint who lived 1600 years ago went through the same thing as I am now.
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Wow :). Praise God!
 
These last couple of posts remind me that this thread is more than just quotes from Saints, and I’m glad that I have been reminded of that. I’m glad that people are writing stories about Saints that inspire them, and Saints that they can relate to. I find many of the quotes that I read from Padre Pio very inspiring and I can kind of relate to what he has to say in many of them. Padre Pio suffered spiritual dryness at times, a real fear of not being able to do enough to please God, etc. I know that Mother Teresa is not a Saint (yet), but it blew my mind to hear that she lived her life on the inside “in perpetual darkness”. Padre Pio also experienced the same thing. if any of you get a chance, I would highly suggest reading a book called - WORDS OF LIGHT inspiration from the letters of Padre Pio. its published by Paraclete Press, and it really gives you a keen insight into this great mans soul.
 
“When I am before the Blessed Sacrament I feel such a lively faith that I can’t describe it. Christ in the Eucharist is almost tangible to me, I kiss his wounds continually and embrace Him. When it’s time for me to leave, I have to tear myself away from his sacred presence.”

Anthony Mary Claret
 
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