The Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love Where there is injury, pardon Where there is doubt, faith Where there is despair, hope Where there is darkness, light Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console to be understood as to understand to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. + St. Francis of Assisi, religious (1182-1226 A.D.)
Love
In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10
“All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good.” + St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop (1696-1787 A.D.)
“The man who truly loves God also loves his neighbor.” + St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop (1807-1870 A.D.)
“The gift of love enables us to become in reality what we celebrate as mystery in the sacrifice.” + St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)
“Anyone who has love is far from sin.” + St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155 A.D.)
“Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defense, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him and brings him to his journey’s end.” + St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)
“Love does not reflect; it is unreasonable and knows no moderation.” + St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop (406-450 A.D.)
“Whatever is honestly done out of love and in accordance with love can never be blameworthy.” + Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot (1100-1169 A.D.)
“If someone wishes to savor the joy of brotherly love with greater perfection and delight, he must extend even to his enemies the embrace of true love.” + St. Aelred, abbot (1110-1167 A.D.)
“We should indeed love one another as Christ loved us, he who laid down his life for us.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Love unites us to God; it cancels innumerable sins, has no limits to its endurance, bears everything patiently.” + St. Clement I, pope (unknown – 100 A.D.)
“Love appeared to me to be the hinge of my vocation.” + St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin (1873-1897)
“I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.” + St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin (1873-1897 A.D.)
“Oh Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love.” + St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin (1873-1897 A.D.)
“Christ taught us in many different ways that we should wish to imitate him by our own kindness and genuine love for one another.” + St. Maximus the Confessor, abbot (580-662 A.D.)
“With outstretched arms Christ begs us to turn toward him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors.” + St. John of God, religious (1495-1550 A.D.)
“Those who are loved enter fearlessly into the heart of their lover.” + St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)
“Anyone alive to the love of God can be recognized from the way he constantly strives to glorify him by fulfilling all his commandments and by delighting in his own abasement.” + Diadochus of Photice, bishop (400-486 A.D.)
“Love is as strong as death because Christ’s love is the very death of death.” + Baldwin of Canterbury, bishop (unknown – 1190 A.D.)
“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.” + St. Bernard, abbot (1090-1153 A.D.)
“Hatred is utterly rooted out of a heart whose only love is goodness.” + St. Gregory the Great, pope (540-604 A.D.)
“Be driven by the love of God, because Jesus Christ died for all, that those who live may live not for themselves but for him who died and rose for them.” + St. John Baptist de la Salle, priest (1651-1719 A.D.)
“Happy are we, beloved, if love enables us to live in harmony and in the observance of God’s commandments, for then it will also gain for us the remission of our sins.” + St. Clement I, pope (unknown – 100 A.D.)
“As heat makes things expand, so it is the work of love to expand the heart, for its power is to heat and make fervent.” + St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)
“We cannot love unless someone has loved us first.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Nothing so much wins love as the knowledge that one’s lover desires most of all to be himself loved.” + St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)
“The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and works with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God’s love.” + St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop (1807-1870 A.D.)
“By your diligence show your love for those whom God has given you, just as Christ loved the Church.” + St. John Baptist de la Salle, priest (1651-1719 A.D.)
“If someone wishes to love himself he must not allow himself to be corrupted by indulging his sinful nature.” + St. Aelred, abbot (1110-1167 A.D.)
“When unbelievers observe that we not only fail to love people who hate us, but even those who love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the Name is blasphemed.” + From a homily written in the second century
“Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.” + St. John of God, religious (1495-1550 A.D.)
“If a person loves himself he seeks his own glory, but the man who loves God loves the glory of his Creator.” + Diadochus of Photice, bishop (400-486 A.D.)
“Blessed is the soul so wounded by love.” + St. Columban, abbot (545-615 A.D.)
“Are you puzzled to know how it is that the Lord will be with you if you love? God is love.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Job was said to fear God because he turned away from evil. For love is moved by fear when the mind rejects the thought of sin.” + St. Gregory the Great, pope (540-604 A.D.)
“Our love for Christ is as strong as death, because it is itself a kind of death: destroying the old life, rooting out vice, and laying aside dead works.” + Baldwin of Canterbury, bishop (unknown – 1190 A.D.)
“The spiritual building up of the body of Christ is achieved through love.” + St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)
“It was love that was to bring the Church of God together all over the world.” + Sixth Century African Author
“A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“The greater one’s love is, the easier is the work.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“By loving your neighbor you prepare your eye to see God.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way.” + St. Gregory the Great, pope (540-604 A.D.)
“Love your neighbor more than your own life.” + St. Barnabas, apostle (unknown – 61 A.D.)
“My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven.” + St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)
“Loving God renews his image in us.” + St. Columban, abbot (545-615 A.D.)
“The perfection of brotherly love lies in the love of one’s enemies.” + St. Aelred, abbot (1110-1167 A.D.)
“Love, and the Lord will draw near; love, and He will dwell within you.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Love’s profit lies in its practice.” + St. Bernard, abbot (1090-1153 A.D.)
