The proud intellectual seeks knowledge about God, but he never knows God, because he cannot accept the mysteries that he is unable to fully comprehend.
— Mother Angelica
I have a tendency to judge everything in its relationship to me instead of the value it has in God's eyes. I cannot judge everything solely on its good or bad effect on me.
I am a mirror to my neighbor, and in that mirror, he must see a reflection of Jesus. If that mirror is cloudy or distorted, Jesus' reflection will be so vague it will hardly be seen.
Any form of over-indulgence creates within the body warning signs of destruction.
We live in an age of technology and science that demands proof, and yet we desire mystery. But when God gives us mystery, we seek to destroy it by gross indifference or childish reasoning.
Many of us use God's love like the manna in the desert. We take what we need for particular situations and then go our own way - thinking we can handle other situations ourselves.
Love has been defined, analyzed, explained and excused. It has been the cause of wars, feuds, heroism, martyrdom, inordinate passion, and beautiful friendships. It pulls two people of opposite temperaments together into a married state and permits them to live happily. It makes friends understand each other without the necessity of words.
The heart of Jesus is compassionate and understanding. It has felt the sting of ingratitude, and when my heart suffers from that same offense, I can turn to him, and he understands my feelings.
There should be in the life of every married couple a continual building of the sacrament.
Like Jesus, every human being has enough memories in his past to occupy his time and thoughts continually. It is not the remembrance of these incidents but the reliving of them that creates havoc in our souls.
God has given each one of us a gift greater than a thousand I.B.M. machines. It is called a memory, and everything that passes through our five senses is stored in this faculty.
When anyone arouses my anger, I will immediately pray for them and regain my peace of soul.
I must listen as God speaks to my soul through good thoughts, inspirations, and intuitions.
Every retarded, deformed, crippled, handicapped, or senile person, who has been baptized, is a powerhouse for good in a wicked world by reason of the grace of God that dwells in his soul.
God cannot forgive a sinner who does not acknowledge his sin.
We resemble computers intellectually and animals emotionally.
Jesus showed me what it means to be holy - he did his father's will no matter how difficult it was to accomplish.
Some people spend their time and thoughts in feeling, hearing, seeing, and listening. Whatever cannot be felt or experienced they will not accept. We call these people 'emotional.'
The wisdom of God is so great that He also knows exactly what I would think and do under every possible circumstance and situation, and he placed me in that state of life and situation best suited for my salvation.
Jesus wants us to trust him to take care of all our yesterdays and tomorrows.
To God, all things are present; there is no past or future - it is all now.
Two of man's basic needs are to love and to share. Both of these needs are satisfied in greater or lesser degree by friendship.
Love fills and empties simultaneously. It makes us reach out to God, ready to be pruned, recklessly desiring whatever the cost. It soothes the aching heart and then makes it thirst for more.
Jesus feels my sorrow greater than I, for his love is infinite, and he suffers in an infinite way.
I am not like a pebble on the beach - a grain of sand on the seashore or just one of millions of human beings past, present and future. No, I am a unique human being loved by God as if I were an only child - the only fruit of his creative powers.
Family life is the backbone of mankind, and that life is dependent upon mutual giving, sharing, and receiving from each other. It entails the proper use of each other's successes and failures for mutual up-building.
Our lack of forgiveness makes us hate, and our lack of compassion makes us hard-hearted. Pride in our hearts makes us resentful and keeps our memory in a constant whirlwind of passion and self-pity.
Every moment of life is like a sacrament in which we can receive God. It is a channel through which God speaks to us, forms us, and directs us.
I cannot bring Christ to my neighbor and to the world if I have not first given him to my family.
Every Christian is important - important to God, to the world, and to the kingdom.
Salvation brings the soul a deep awareness of God's love. Life takes on more meaning, for it now has a purpose.
We often forget that everything we see, animate or inanimate, is a visual manifestation of the work of our invisible God. We have become so accustomed to trees, mountains, sky, air, water, flowers, animals, vegetables and people that we no longer see them for what they are - God's work.
Today's man of the world proclaims that sin, and his enterprising in sin, are a part of modern living, but it is not modern. It goes back to Adam and Eve - to desire and the temptation to know - to experience evil.
Jesus was happy when people acknowledged his dignity and saddened when they did not, but he never sought their esteem or regard.
Some people spend their time reasoning and thinking out everything, and so anything that cannot be fully understood, they will not accept. We call these people 'intellectuals.'
For me, a thing must exist before I know it, but with God, it is different - he must know it before it has existence.
When our weaknesses affect health and friendship, we are very much aware of their existence.
Each angel that God created was in himself a masterpiece. Each one possessed his own degree of intelligence and his own beauty.
Mary's life was a perfect imitation of Jesus. She was humble, hidden, sorrowful and afflicted, but she also knew joys that never entered the heart of man. She is all things to all men that she might understand their failings, though she failed not.
Love is an emotional feeling on a human level and a faith experience on a supernatural level.
Jesus asks me to go to him when I am overburdened. He did not promise to take away those burdens, for I must carry mine as he carried his.
The woman is a gentle, loving bond who encourages, consoles, builds, reconciles, and makes all things new and vibrant. The woman is strength in time of suffering, courageous in failure, intuitive in time of danger. A woman is ingenuous when all fails, resourceful in times of want, and a true helpmate for man.
A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality.
Our memories are our own, and we cannot blame anything or anyone in the past for any pain dwelling there. If we open the door to them or keep hashing over past incidents in our minds, we have only ourselves to blame.
To a pagan, there is no purpose to suffering. As a result, he lives a life of loneliness and frustration.
At Baptism, I received grace - that quality that makes me share in the very nature of God.
No Christian needs to feel lonely or useless.
God's grace is at its best in weakness, so we need never fear our weakness. In fact, these weaknesses will determine in what way we shall glorify God for all eternity.
Man can and does rationalize his sins. He finds reasons for all his weakness, invents excuses that first calm and then deaden his conscience. He blames God, society, education, and environment for his wrong doing.
There are many who are not guilty of doing anything wrong but very guilty of sins of omission - the things they neglect to do - the good things - the kind, thoughtful words, compassionate thoughts and hopeful attitudes they might have had towards their neighbor.
