Our Lord knew that to draw strength and efficacy from fasting, something more than abstinence from prohibited food is necessary. Thus He instructed His disciples and, consequently, disposed them to gather the fruits proper to fasting. Among many others are these four: fasting fortifies the spirit, mortifying the flesh and its sensuality; it raises the spirit to God; it fights concupiscence and gives power to conquer and deaden its passions; in short, it disposes the heart to seek to please only God with great purity of heart.

-- St. Francis de Sales

Inordinate love for the flesh is cruelty, because under the appearance of pleasing the body, we kill the soul.

-- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Laetáre, Jerúsalem: et convéntum fácite, omnes qui dilígites eam: gaudéte cum laetítia, qui in tristítia fuístis: ut exsultétis, et satiémini ab ubéribus consolatiónis vestrae. Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.

-- Introit, Laetáre Sunday, St. Andrew's Missal, 1945

Irrational feeding darkens the soul and makes it unfit for spiritual experiences.

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

As iron is fashioned by fire and on the anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive that form which our Lord desires them to have.

-- St. Madeline Sophie Barat

The person with fortitude is the one who perseveres in doing what his conscience tells him he ought to do. He does not measure the value of a task exclusively by the benefit he derives from it, but rather by the service he renders to others.

-- St. Josemaria Escriva

She [Mary] stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him. After a long period of waiting the times are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Sion, and the new plan of salvation is established.

-- Lumen Gentium

The rich man is not one who is in possession of much, but one who gives much.

-- St. John Chrysostom

By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practicing, and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful.

-- Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Desu

Our Savior says, if you have not recieved the graces that you desire, do not complain to me, but blame yourself, because you have neglected to seek them from me.

-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

We therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to the study of divine truths. It is not enough barely to believe them, and let our thoughts now and then glance upon them: that knowledge which shows us heaven, will not bring us to the possession of it, and will deserve punishments, not rewards, if it remain slight, weak, and superficial. By serious and frequent meditation it must be concocted, digested, and turned into the nourishment of our affections, before it can be powerful and operative enough to change them, and produce the necessary fruit in our lives. For this all the saints affected solitude and retreats from the noise and hurry of the world, as much as their circumstances allowed them.

-- St. Apollinaris

When I consider Jesus' love on the one hand and my own ingratitude on the other, I should like to tell him that if I cannot correspond to his love he should stop loving me; only in this way do I feel less guilty. But this is too terrifying a thing for me, and hence it makes me invariably pray Jesus to continue to love me and to help me himself if I do not succeed in loving him as much as he deserves.

-- St. Padre Pio

What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honour? It is man that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that He did not spare His own Son for the sake of man. Nor does He ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until He has raised man up to Himself and made him sit at His right hand.

-- St. John Chrysostom

During the course of the day, recollect as often as you can that you stand in the presence of God. Consider what He does and what you are doing. You will find His eyes turned towards you and perpetually fixed on you with an incomparable love.

-- St. Francis de Sales

When we have to reply to anyone who has insulted us, we should be careful to do it always with gentleness. A soft answer extinguishes the fire of wrath.

-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

To love our neighbor in charity is to love God in man.

-- St. Francis de Sales

There is nothing which is hid from God, but our very secrets are near to Him. Let us therefore do all things as those who have Him dwelling in us, that we may be His temples, and He may be in us as our God, which indeed He is, and will manifest Himself before our faces. Wherefore we justly love Him.

-- St. Ignatius

If by a diligent life of virtue, you wash away the film of dirt that covers your heart, then the divine beauty will shine forth in you.

-- St. Gregory of Nyssa

Whoever is humble, on being humiliated, humbles himself the more; on being rejected, rejoices in the disgrace; on being placed in low and mean occupations, acknowledges himself to be more honored than he deserves, and performs them willingly; and only abhors and avoids exalted and honorable offices.

-- St. Jane Frances de Chantal

0h, if you could see the mystery of the altar as it really is after the Consecration, you would see Jesus Christ on the Cross, making oblation to His Father of His Wounds, His Blood, His Death for the salvation of your soul and the whole world.

-- St. Peter Julian Eymard

The Father willed that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave to us and who was born for us, should through his own blood offer himself as a sacrificial victim on the altar of the cross. This was to be done not for himself through whom all things were made, but for our sins. It was intended to leave us an example of how to follow in his footsteps. Furthermore, let us produce worthy fruits of penance. Let us also love our neighbours as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin.

-- St. Francis of Assisi

The Kingdom of Heaven, O man, requires no other price than yourself. The value of it is yourself. Give yourself for it and you shall have it.

-- St. Augustine

Praise and beauty are before Him: holiness and majesty in His sanctuary.

-- Psalm xcv. 6

Humility has been regarded by the Saints as the basis and guardian of all virtues.

-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

Idleness begets a life of discontent. It develops self-love, which is the cause of all our miseries, and renders us unworthy to receive the favors of divine love.

-- St. Ignatius Loyola

How sweet it has been to me to be deprived of the delights of a frivolous world! What incomparable joy have I felt after a privation once so dreaded.

-- St. Augustine

We should love God because He is God, and the measure of our love should be to love Him without measure.

-- St Bernard

So blind are we in this mortal life, and so unaware of what will happen, so uncertain of even how we will think tommorow, that God could not take vengeance on a man more easily in this world than by granting his own foolish wishes.

-- St. Thomas Moore

If our life were not under Mary's protection, we might tremble for our perseverance and salvation.

-- St. Peter Julian Eymard

The greatest mercy of God is not to let those nations remain in peace with each other who are not at peace with God.

-- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

The family is the most ancient institution which God founded in Paradise, when He called the first pair of human beings into existence. The first blessing which God gave was for the wellbeing of the family. With family life, the history of the world commences.

-- St. John Vianney