April 17
"He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much."
--Luke 16:10
April 16
"Faith: avoid defeatism and sterile lamenting about the religious situation of your countries, and get on with the job with effort and move … many people. Hope: God does not lose battles."
--St. Josemaria Escriva, paraphrase reported in In Conversation with God, Volume 2, by Francis Fernandez
April 15
Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep, medicine for the sick, a harbor for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad, succor for those who implore.
--St. John Damascene, Homily on Our Lady’s Dormition
April 14
"How often I have failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer."
--St. Teresa of Avila, her Life (paraphrase)
April 13
"Mary, Queen of Peace, is close to the women of our day because of her motherhood, her example of openness to others’ needs, and her witness of suffering."
--From an address of Pope St. John Paul II, “Women: Teachers of Peace”
April 12
"When we really love, we rejoice in the happiness of the loved one and make every sacrifice to procure it for him."
--St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul
April 11
St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr (1030-1097)
“The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”
--A maxim of Tertullian
April 10
“The great truth that God is all, and the rest nothing, becomes the life of the soul, and upon it one can lean securely amid the incomprehensible mysteries of this world.”
--Traditionally attributed to Bl. Marie-Therese De Soubiran
April 9
“Love has a hem to her garment
That reaches the very dust.
It sweeps the stains
From the streets and lanes,
And because it can, it must.”
--Anonymous poem,
beloved by St. Teresa of Calcutta,
describing St. Fabiola
April 8
“Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be.”
--From a sermon of St. Bernard