“Do what Jesus says… what he commands through his ministers who are in the Church [see 1 Cor 6:4]. Be subject to his vicars, your leaders, not only those who are gentle and kind, but even those who are overbearing [see 1 Pt 2:18].”

Persecution shows who is a hireling, and who a true pastor.

The more I contemplate God, the more God looks on me. The more I pray to him, the more he thinks of me too.

The rivers of Grace cannot flow uphill, up the steep cliff of the proud man’s heart.

Have death always before your eyes as a salutary means of returning to God.

True penance consists in regretting without ceasing the faults of the past, and in firmly resolving to never again commit that which is so deplorable.

With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear.

The piercing nail has become a key to unlock the door, that I may see the good will of the Lord. And what can I see as I look through the hole?

What we love we shall grow to resemble.

Who loves me will love my dog also.

A pretext is never lacking to him who would break with a friend.

All things are possible to one who believes.

Let no one believe that he has received the divine kiss, if he knows the truth without loving it or loves it without understanding it. But blessed is that kiss whereby not only is God recognized but also the Father is loved; for there is never full knowledge without perfect love.

There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is curiosity. There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is vanity. There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve; that is Love.

Death is the gate of life.

If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing.

Understanding is the sure and clear knowledge of some invisible thing.

That the Jews were unholy was a belief so ingrained by the Church [by the 14th century] that the most devout persons were the harshest in their antipathy, none more so than St. Louis.

The Church [in the 14th century] gave ceremony and dignity to lives that had little of either. It was the source of beauty and art to which all had some access and which many helped to create.

This is criterion by which the Church is to be judged, not by the forms of its doctrine or ritual, but by the reality of the reality of the love which it manifests.

The problem is, many of the people in need of saving are in churches, and at least part of what they need saving from is the idea that God sees the world the same way they do.

The only thing God is building in this world is his church.

a church ought to express the joy of religion as well as its majesty.

If the church does not identify with the marginalized, it will itself be marginalized. This is God’s poetic justice.

Voluntary self-directed religion was more dangerous to the Church than any number of infidels.