“I want to be only a poor Friar who prays…Pray, Hope and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayers…Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God’s heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips but with your heart. In fact on some occasions you should speak to Him only with your heart.” + St. Padre Pio of Petrelcina, Cappuchin priest (1887-1968 A.D.)
Prayer
Persevere in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2
“Break off from your cares and labors. Make a little time for God and rest a while in him.” + St. Anselm, bishop (1033-1109 A.D.)
“Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has asked for, the offering he planned as his own.” + Tertullian, priest (160-225 A.D.)
“Prayer stands before God as an honored ambassador. It gives joy to the spirit and peace to the heart.” + St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)
“Prayer is honey that flows into the soul and makes all things sweet.” + St. John Vianney, priest (1786-1859 A.D.)
“All the angels pray.” + Tertullian, priest (160-225 A.D.)
“If a man wants to be always in God’s company, he must pray regularly and read regularly.” + St. Isidore, bishop (560-636 A.D.)
“Prayer is nothing else but union with God.” + St. John Vianney, priest (1786-1859 A.D.)
“The Lord Jesus urges you to pray earnestly and frequently, not offering long and wearisome prayers, but praying often, and with perseverance.” + St. Ambrose, bishop (340-397 A.D.)
“To spend much time in prayer is to knock with a persistent and holy fervor at the door of the one whom we beseech.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Prayer gives the armor of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed.” + Tertullian, priest (160-225 A.D.)
“Prayer offered in holiness from a faithful heart rises like incense from a holy altar.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Ask the Virgin Mary to give you her Son, who in the blessed sacrament of the altar is truly the food of your soul.” + St. Cajetan, priest (1480-1547 A.D.)
“When we pray, our words should be calm, modest and disciplined.” + St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr (208-258 A.D.)
“Is it any wonder that prayer can call down water from heaven when it could obtain fire from heaven as well?” + Tertullian, priest (160-225 A.D.)
“Pray for our rulers, for our leaders, and for all those in power, even for those who persecute and hate you, and for those who are enemies of the cross.” + St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155 A.D.)
“When we offer our prayers through Christ, our priest, we confess that Christ truly possesses the flesh of our race.” + Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)
“When we pray, we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us.” + St. Isidore, bishop (560-636 A.D.)
“Are you making no progress in prayer? Then you need only offer God the prayers which the Savior has poured out for us in the sacrament of the altar.” + St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, virgin (1647-1690 A.D.)
“My friends, anyone who worships should remember the way in which the tax-collector prayed in the temple alongside the Pharisee.” + St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr (208-258 A.D.)
“If your desire lies open to him who is your Father and who sees in secret, he will answer you.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“If each one prays for himself, he receives less from God’s goodness than the one who prays on behalf of others.” + St. Ambrose, bishop (340-397 A.D.)
“If you pray for all, all will pray for you, for you are included in all.” + St. Ambrose, bishop (340-397 A.D.)
“If the prayer of one or two has such power, how much more has the prayer of the bishop and the whole Church.” + St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr (35-98 A.D.)
”If you pray and love, that is where a man’s happiness lies.” + St. John Vianney, priest (1786-1859 A.D.)
“Our goal is God, the source of all good. As we say in our prayer, we are to place our trust in God and in no one else.” + St. Jerome Emiliani, bishop (1481-1537 A.D.)
“We must above all seek the prayer of the saints. Thus, what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession.” + St. Bernard, abbot (1090-1153 A.D.)
“If something happens that we did not pray for, we must have no doubt at all that what God wants is more expedient than what we wanted ourselves.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent on God, is illumined by his infinite light.” + St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)
“You say: “Amen‟. That is: “It is true‟. What the mouth utters, let the mind within acknowledge; what the word says, let the heart ratify.” + St. Ambrose, bishop (340-397 A.D.)
“Give yourself to prayer continually, ask for wisdom greater than you now have, keep alert with an unflagging spirit.” + St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr (35-98 A.D.)
“Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God.” + St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)
“God is not accustomed to refusing a good gift to those who ask for one.” + St. Ambrose, bishop (340-397 A.D.)
“Throughout the whole of our lives we may enjoy the benefit that comes from prayer if we devote a great deal of time to it.” + St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)
“Keep all the saints in your prayers.” + St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155 A.D.)
“Let the Son who lives in our hearts be also on our lips.” + St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr (208-258 A.D.)
“God hears our heart not our voice.” + St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr (208-258 A.D.)
The Lord’s Prayer
“This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Matthew 6:9
“My dear friends, the Lord’s Prayer contains many great mysteries of our faith.” + St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr (208-258 A.D.)
“If you study every word of the petitions of Scripture, you will find, I think, nothing that is not contained and included in the Lord’s Prayer.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Faith, hope and love bring safely to God the person who prays, that is, the person who believes, who hopes, who desires, and who ponders what he is asking of the Lord in the Lord’s Prayer.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“When we say: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are asking God to make us obedient so that his will may be done in us as it is done in heaven by his angels.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“When we say: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, we are reminding ourselves of what we must ask and what we must do in order to be worthy in turn to receive.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“When we say: Deliver us from evil, we are reminding ourselves to reflect on the fact that we do not yet enjoy the state of blessedness in which we shall suffer no evil.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“What prayer could be more a prayer in the truth than the one spoken by the lips of the Son, who is truth himself?” + St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr (208-258 A.D.)
A Saint’s Prayer
Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray at about noontime. Acts 10:9b
“Lord, let me seek you in desiring you and desire you in seeking you, find you in loving you and love you in finding you.” + St. Anselm, bishop (1033-1109 A.D.)
“Lead me to pastures, Lord, and graze there with me. Do not let my heart lean either to the right or to the left, but let your good Spirit guide me along the straight path. Whatever I do, let it be in accordance with your will, now until the end.” + St. John Damascene, priest (675-479 A.D.)
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“O Good Shepherd, show me the place where there are green pastures, let me know restful waters, lead me out to nourishing grass and call me by name so that I can hear your voice, for I am your own sheep. And through that voice calling me, give me eternal life.” + St. Gregory of Nyssa, bishop (335-394 A.D.)
“What is easier, sweeter, more pleasant, than to love goodness, beauty and love, the fullness of which you are, O Lord, my God?” + St. Robert Bellarmine, cardinal and doctor (1542-1621 A.D.)
“I am well aware, almighty God and Father, that in my life I owe you a most particular duty. It is to make my every thought and word speak of you.” + St. Hilary, bishop (315-367 A.D.)
“May my soul bless you, O Lord God my Creator, may my soul bless you.” + St. Gertrude, virgin (1256-1301 A.D.)
“Eternal blessing be yours, my Lord Jesus Christ, because in your last agony you held out to all sinners the hope of pardon, when in your mercy you promised the glory of paradise to the penitent thief.” + St. Bridget, widow (1304-1373 A.D.)
“Your Son went down from the heights of his divinity to the depths of our humanity. Can anyone’s heart remain closed and hardened after this?” + St. Catherine of Siena, virgin (1347-1380 A.D.)
“May your resurrection, Jesus, bring true greatness to our spiritual self and may your sacraments be the mirror wherein we may know that self.” + St. Ephrem, deacon (306-373 A.D.)
“Sunrise marks the hour for men to begin their toil, but in our souls, Lord, prepare a dwelling for the day that will never end.” + St. Ephrem, deacon (306-373 A.D.)
“To be a good shepherd I depend entirely on God’s grace, for without his help I should be a very bad one, there is so much evil in me. Pray, then, that I may not be a bad shepherd but a good one.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“Help me both by your prayers and by your obedience, for then it will be a pleasure for me, not to preside over you, but to serve you.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“May you have mercy and peace in abundance from Almighty God and Jesus Christ our Savior.” + St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155 A.D.)
“Jesus, my Lord and Savior, what can I give you in return for all the favors you have first conferred on me?” + St. John de Brebeuf, priest and martyr (1593-1649 A.D.)
“As an act of thanksgiving, I praise and worship you, Father, in deepest humility for your most loving kindness and mercy.” + St. Gertrude, virgin (1256-1301 A.D.)
“The world rages, the flesh is heavy, and the devil lays his snares, but I do not fall, for my feet are planted on firm rock.” + St. Bernard, abbot (1090-1153 A.D.)
“Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night, and always think of you.” + St. Columban, abbot (545-615 A.D.)
“Let me see your face, Lord, even if I die, for if I see it not, I shall die of longing.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)
“May nothing visible or invisible rob me of my prize which is Jesus Christ!” + St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr (35-98 A.D.)
“May God on high shield you with his mighty arm from all temptation and preserve you for his kingdom.” + St. Martin, pope (316-397 A.D.)
