One way to ensure the continuing blessings of the Lord is to use them as soon as we receive them, according to his good pleasure for the greatest benefit to our neighbor.
One way to ensure the continuing blessings of the Lord is to use them as soon as we receive them, according to his good pleasure for the greatest benefit to our neighbor.
I pray our Lord himself will be your strength and life, as he is for all those who feed upon his love.
Monsieur, please have greater confidence in God let him steer our little ship.
In the name of God, Monsieur, let us have greater confidence in Him than we do; let us allow Him to steer our little bark; if it is useful and pleasing to Him, He will save it from shipwreck. Far from being submerged by the multitude and the size of other boats, it will sail along with greater assurance in the midst of all those fine ships, provided it keeps straight on its course and does not waste its time crossing over into their path.
You will see a great amount of misery that you cannot relieve. God sees it as well and does not want to give those who suffer greater abundance. Share their trials with them; do all you can to provide them with a little assistance and remain at peace.
It is a ruse of the devil, by which he deceives good people, to induce them to do more than they are able, so that they end up not being able to do anything. The spirit of God urges one gently to do the good that can reasonably be done, so that it may be done perseveringly and for a long time.
Although God commands us to love Him with our whole heart and with all our strength, in His goodness He does not however desire that this should go so far as to injure and ruin our health through making all those acts [of excessive zeal to acquire virtue]. No, no, God does not wish us to slay ourselves in that fashion.
Our Lord wants us to serve him with common sense, and the opposite is called indiscreet zeal.
Blessed be God that you have arrived in good health!. Oh! take great care to preserve it for the love of Our Lord and His poor members and be careful not to do too much. It is a ruse of the devil, by which he deceives good people, to induce them to do more than they are able, so that they end up not being able to do anything. The spirit of God urges one gently to do the good that can reasonably be done, so that it may be done perseveringly and for a long time. Act, therefore, in this way, Mademoiselle, and you will be acting according to the spirit of God.
It seems to me that you are killing yourself from the little care you take of yourself.
It is essential that you should be ready to go anywhere you may be ordered, and even to ask and say: I do not belong to this parish or that, but to wherever God is pleased I should be. Do not act like the sons of Zebedee for whom places were asked surreptitiously, which God, for their own good, did not give them. You have been chosen to be at the disposition of Divine Providence and, if you do not fully submit to It, you will lose much.
How happy is the Missionary who has no limit in this world on where he can preach the Gospel. Why then do we hesitate and set limits, since God has given us the whole world to satisfy our zeal?
Now this maxim of neither asking nor refusing anything which keeps us dependent on God and his guidance, can only be pleasing to God, especially because it destroys human sentiments that, under pretext of zeal and of the glory of God, lead us often to undertake works that He neither inspires nor blesses.
We have great need of affability because by our vocation we must often talk with one another and with our neighbor. What contributes to the difficulty of such conversation is that we come from such diverse backgrounds, in our place of origin, our temperament, and our dispositions. Dealing with our neighbor we will have much to put up is like the soul of good conversation. Affability will make it not only useful, but agreeable as well. Affability will help us converse with pleasure, with mutual respect for all. As charity is the virtue which unites us as members of the one body, affability is the virtue which perfects that union.
Rarely is any good done without difficulty.
By union and counsel we can achieve anything.
By the grace of God we belong to Him; what else should we desire except to please him?
By binding yourself entirely to God, Our Lord will bind Himself to you more closely than ever and will be your strength in weakness, your joy in sorrow and your steadfastness in times of indecision.
Blessed are those who converse on this earth only to snatch souls from it so as to raise them up to God.
Blessed are those souls who have died in the practice of charity.
Bitterness has never served any purpose but to embitter.
Begin with something small and have great love for your own abjection. This is the spirit of Our Lord and that is how he acted and that is also the means of attracting his graces.
Beg the Lord to bind your hearts together into one, which will be His own, and to strengthen you in your work.
Be very grateful to God, thank Him often, and ask Him for mercy.
Be very faithful to God in your spiritual exercises, acting in such a way as to make yourself ever more pleasing in God’s eyes and loving in the eyes of the poor.
Be most cordial with everyone and spare nothing for the assistance of the sick members of the Company.
Be hopeful that in proportion as difficulties increase, God will increase His grace for you.
Be faithful to your faithful lover who is Our Lord. Also be very simple and humble.
Be assured that it is not improper for priests of the Mission to demand justice for poor slaves so that they may be given what is being held back from them.