From the Book of Proverbs :
Argue your own case with your neighbor but do not reveal another person’s secrets. –Prov. 11,17
Put all your trust in the Lord and do not rely on your own understanding. –Prov. 23,9
Let your eyes look straight before you, fix your gaze upon what lies ahead. –Prov. 4,25
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. –Prov. 1,7
Anyone who despises a hungry person does wrong but anyone who is generous to the poor will be happy. –Prov. 14,23
Man plans his journey by his own wit, but it is the Lord who guides his steps. –Prov. 16,9
Commit to the Lord all that you do and your plans will be fulfilled –Prov. 16,3
A soft answer turns away anger. –Prov. 15,1
Through wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established. –Prov. 24,3
From various nations in the world :
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. –China
Life is alike the flame of a lamp exposed to the wind. — Japan
The one who speaks the truth is always at ease. — Persia
Everyone must row with the oars he has. — England
Kind words don’t wear out the tongue. — Denmark
The palest ink is better than the best memory. — China
When a proud man hears the other man praised, he feels himself injured. — England
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. — Italy
Saints Speak OutÂ
I do not seek to understand that I may believe but I believe to understand. –Saint Augustine
Two criminals were crucified with Christ. One was saved; do not despair. One was not; do not presume. –Saint Augustine
The Christian should be an Alleluia from head to foot. –Saint Augustine
Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love. –Saint Therese
If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He certainly intends to make you a saint. –Saint Ignatius
Do not be disturbed by the clamor of the world that passes like a shadow. –Saint Clare
A cheerful giver does not count the cost of what he gives. His heart is set on pleasing and cheering the one to whom the gifts are given. –Saint Julian
Do something good for someone you like least, today. –Saint Anthony
Be diligent in serving the poor. Love the poor, honor them as you would Christ himself. –Saint Louise de Marillac
If everyone would take according to his needs and would leave the surplus to the needy, no one would be rich, no one poor, no one in misery. –Saint Basil
At the end of life, we shall be judged by love. –Saint John of Cross
The Virgin, heavy
with the Word of God
Comes down the road:
If only you’ll shelter her.
–Saint John of the Cross
He did not say: You will not be assailed, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted, but he said: You will not be overcome. –Blessed Julian of Norwich
Must you continue to be your own cross? No matter which way God leads you, you change everything into bitterness by constantly brooding over everything. For the love of God, replace all this self-scrutiny with a pure and simple glance at God’s goodness. –Saint Jeanne Chantal
I have come to see that I do not limit my mind enough simply to prayer, that I always want to do something myself in it, wherein I do very wrong… By allowing the fear of being ineffectual to enter into the state of prayer, and by wishing to accomplish something myself, I spoilt it all.” –Saint Jeanne Chantal
He who is the beginning and the end, the ruler of the angels, made himself obedient to human creatures. The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant. –Saint Anthony of Padua
Christianity does not tremble before discussion but before ignorance. –Pope Saint Pius X
You as a community must do all in your power to be formed in the image of God. And what do we find in God? We see equality of persons and unity of essence. What should that teach you if not that you should all be one and equal? –Saint Vincent de Paul
Never be hurried by anything whatever – nothing can be more pressing than the necessity for your peace before God. You will help others more by the peace and tranquility of your heart than by any eagerness or care you can bestow on them. –Saint Elizabeth Seton
A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one. –Saint Philip Neri
Manifest yourself. You have not time to occupy your thoughts with that complacency or consideration of what others will think. Your business is simply, “What will my Father in Heaven think.” –Blessed Catherine Drexel
It makes no difference whom you mistreat, a just person or an unjust one, since mistreatment is not permitted you. To punish others by doing the same things they do is spreading wickedness, not avenging it. –Saint Ambrose
For the Christian there is no such thing as a “stranger”. There is only the neighbor…the person near us and needing us. –Saint Edith Stein
Christianity is not a collection of truths to be believed, of laws to be obeyed…Christianity is a person, one who loved us very much, one who calls for our love. Christianity is Christ. –Archbishop Oscar Romero
O tender Father,
You gave me more, much more,
than I ever thought to ask for.
Thank you, and again thank you,
O Father,
for having granted my requests,
and for having granted those things
that I never realized
I needed or sought.
–Saint Catherine of Siena
I have come more and more to realize that being unwanted is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience. Nowadays we have found medicine for leprosy and lepers can be cured….But for being unwanted, except there are willing hands to serve and there’s a loving heart to love, I don’t think this terrible disease can be cured. –Mother Teresa
The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight, but desire to please God in everything. –Saint Teresa of Jesus
Do not think, my friends and daughters, that I shall burden you with many things… I shall enlarge on only three things, which are from our own constitutions, for it is very important that we understand how much the practice of these three things help us to possess inwardly and outwardly the peace our Lord recommended so highly to us. The first of these is love for one another; the second is detachment form all created things; the third is true humility…. –Saint Teresa of Jesus
One finds that one does not love enough, how true this is. One will never love enough, but God Who knows with what clay He has formed us and Who loves us so much more than a mother could love her child, has told us, He who does not lie, that He would never turn away the one who comes to Him. –Charles de Foucauld written on the last day of his life