I will go up to the foot of the Cross; I will press my arms tightly around the cold body, the corpse of Christ, with the fire of my love.....I will unail it, with my reparation and mortifications....I will wrap it in the new winding-sheet of my clean life, and I will bury it in the clean rock of my breast, where no one can tear it away from me, and there, Lord, take your rest! Were the whole world to abandon you...serviam! I will serve you Lord.

-- St. Jose Maria Escriva

Of God, we cannot say all that ought to be said...In those matters that concern God, to confess our ignorance is already a great knowledge.

-- St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The Holy Spirit has both taught us and reminded us. He has taught us whatever it was that Christ did not teach to His Disciples, because they were not able to hear it; He reminded them of whatever the Lord had said to them, but which they could not remember, either because of its obscurity, or because they were slow of mind.

-- St. Theophylactus

When we depart from the truth, we simultaneously and increasingly choose vanity. Vanity is the absence of truth. With it we stumble into Hell. Lucifer withdrew the eyes of his understanding from this infinitely lovable Object and lowered them at once to a consideration of his own beauty. The Supreme beauty should have been his continual focus. In failing to persevere in truth, he perished in vanity.

-- St. Francis de Sales

Everyone -- past, present, and future -- will be judged. Now, then, is the time for mercy, while the time to come will be the time for justice only. For that reason, the present time is ours, but the future time will be God's only!

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

He who prays most receives most.

-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

1) Genesis 1:1 - 2:2 or Genesis 1:1, 26-31
Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12-14, 24, 35 or Psalm 33:4-7, 12-13, 20-22

2) Genesis 22:1-18 or Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18
Psalm 16:5, 8-11

3) Exodus 14:15 --15:1
(Ps) Exodus 15:1-6, 17-18

4) Isaiah 54:5-14
Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13

5) Isaiah 55:1-11
(Ps) Isaiah 12:2-6

6) Baruch 3:9-15, 32 - 4:4
Psalm 19:8-11

7) Ezekiel 36:16-28
Psalm 42:3, 5; Psalm 43:3-4 (Read when baptism is celebrated)
(Ps) Isaiah 12:2-6 or Psalm 51:12-15, 18-19 (Read when baptism is not celebrated)

8) Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

9) Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

Nations as well as individuals can violate God's laws. It follows that the evil that brings us to the tragic predicament must be expiated. Guilt must be atoned for. When man's will rebels against God's Will, man creates a tragic situation, which in the person is a sense of guilt and in the community of nations , a crisis. Our tragedy today is due basically to the human will opposing the Divine Will.

-- Bishop Fulton Sheen

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