Introduction
In the autumn of 2001 I embarked on a year of a much desired spiritual sabbatical. My goal was to engage more time in prayer, on retreats, on spiritual reading and study, and pilgrimage. I intended to meet God and draw near to him. I had no expectations of how much he would meet me as well. I should have known he would desire my year dedicated to him much more than I did. I was not disappointed.
The following excerpts are taken from a compilation of quotes that I have been compiling since 2001. Many saints, those who have gone before us, and some still on this side of heaven, have more clearly conveyed the Word of God to me through these quotes.
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Psalm 119:103
I believe most of these quotes would appeal to Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox readers. I hope you will find true inspiration in these quotes as much as I have.
Grace
Grace is nothing else but a certain beginning of glory in us.
Thomas Aquinas
Grace has five effects in us: First, our soul is healed; second, we will good; third, we work effectively for it; fourth, we persevere; fifth, we break through to glory.
Thomas Aquinas
No matter what efforts I make, I cannot die to myself without His grace. I am like a frog which, no matter how high it leaps, always finishes up back in the mud. No matter how hard I try to escape from myself, I always come back to myself and my self-love. Draw me, then, O Lord, draw me after You; for unless You do, I cannot move even one step away from myself.
Dominic Barberi
Let grace be the beginning, grace the consummation, grace the crown.
Bede the Venerable
How should our Lord fail to grant His graces to him who asks for them from his heart when He confers so many blessings even on those who do not call on Him? Ah, He would not so urge and almost force us to pray to Him if He had not a most eager desire to bestow His graces on us.
John Chrysostom
The great grace God can give a man is to send him a trial he cannot bear with his own powers and then sustain him.
Walter Ciszek, He Leadeth Me
The person failing to comprehend [God’s] grace is blind. After receiving a pearl, he throws it away as a common pebble, thereby freely depriving himself of its possession by his ignorance of the beautiful.
Gregory of Nyssa
Take O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my will, whatsoever I have and possess. Thou hast given all these things to me; to Thee O Lord I restore them; all are Thine, dispose of them all according to Thy will. Give me thy love and thy grace, for this is enough for me.
Ignatius of Loyola
When God’s grace touches our innermost minds to bring understanding, His word which has been received by the ear sinks deep into the heart.
Isidore of Seville
It is not enough for me that God has given me grace once, but He must give it always. I ask, that I may receive; and when I have received, I ask again. I am covetous of receiving God’s bounty. He is never slow in giving, nor am I ever weary of receiving. The more I drink, the more thirsty I become.
Jerome
Reawaken my soul by the grace of Your love, since it is Your commandment that we love You with all our heart and strength – and no one can fulfill that commandment without Your help.
John of Alverna
Grace is the light by which men see the way out of sin; and grace is the staff without whose help no man is able to rise out of sin.
Thomas More
Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.
Eugene O’Neill, What’s so Amazing about Grace?
As we look around us and see sin apparently so triumphant, and men and women apparently far from God, let us remember that no one was farther from God than we, until Christ saved us. There is no justification for loss of hope, or for discouragement as we serve Christ. There is no need that His grace cannot meet, and no problem that His grace cannot solve.
Bruce Yocum, Servants of the Word Christmas letter 1995
Dependence on God
Entrust the past to God’s mercy, the present to his love, and the future to his providence.
from Writings of Early Church Fathers
Do not be afraid to throw yourself on the Lord! He will not draw back and let you fall! Put your worries aside and throw yourself on him; He will welcome you and heal you.
Augustine of Hippo
God is not a deceiver, that he should offer to support us, and then, when we lean upon him, should slip away from us.
Augustine of Hippo
Expect much of God, and he will do much for you.
Bernard of Clairvaux
God never forgets [you]. He knows your needs. Show that you are generous in accepting whatever he may send you in the future. Nothing will happen to you without him knowing it.
Andre Bessette
It is not a question of our equipment but of our poverty, not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
My secret is that I need God – that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.
Dennis Copeland
Have no fear for what tomorrow will bring. The same loving God who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. He will either shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.
Francis de Sales
It is we who need you, above anything in the world. You give yourself to us with such total generosity, that it might almost seem that you need us. There never was a king like this before!
Ephraem the Syrian
My Jesus, if you uphold me, I shall not fall.
Philip Neri
Entrust yourself entirely to God. He is a Father and a most loving Father at that, who would rather let heaven and earth collapse than abandon anyone who trusted in him.
Paul of the Cross
The heart of God invites all to put it to the proof. The more he gives, the more he desires to give. He loves to see the trust which makes us persist in knocking unceasingly.
Placid Riccardi
You pay God a compliment by asking great things of him.
Teresa of Avila
Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you; all things are passing; God never changes.
Teresa of Avila
To be conscious of one’s weakness and to trust in God’s help is the way to authentic strength and victory.
Alice von Hildebrand
Union with God
Teach me to seek You, and when I seek You show Yourself to me, for I cannot seek You unless You teach me, nor can I find You unless You show Yourself to me. Let me seek You in desiring You and desire You in seeking You, find You in loving You and love You in finding You.
Anselm
His goodness does not bring things so much to us as it takes our hearts away from us.
Thomas Aquinas
What then have we promised to God, except that we be God’s temple? We can offer Him nothing that is more pleasing than to say to Him: “Possess us!”
Augustine, Sermon 127, 2
We don’t walk to God with the feet of our body, nor would wings, if we had them, carry us to Him; but we go to Him by the affections of our soul.
Augustine
Thou hast made us for Thyself and our heart is restless (unquiet) until it rests in Thee.
Augustine
The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire. You do not yet see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when He comes you may see and be utterly satisfied. Supposing you are going to fill some holder or container, and you know you will be given a large amount. Then you set about stretching your sack or wineskin or whatever it is. Why? Because you know the quantity you will have to put in it and your eyes tell you there is not enough room. By stretching it, therefore, you increase the capacity of the sack, and this is how God deals with us. Simply by making us wait He increases our desire, which in turn enlarges the capacity of our soul, making it able to receive what is to be given to us.
Augustine
When I am completely united to You, O Lord, there will be no more sorrows or trials; entirely full of You, my life will be complete.
Augustine
Things are at rest when they are in their proper place. The proper place for the heart of a human being is the heart of God.
Augustine
Listen to me, you who are poor: what is lacking to you if you have God? Listen to me, you who are rich: what do you possess if you do not have God?
Augustine, Sermon 311, 14-15
Excellent guest that He is, the Spirit finds you empty and fills you; He finds you hungry and thirsty and satisfies you abundantly.
Augustine, Sermon 225, 4
The Cross
The Christian who desires to follow Jesus carrying his cross must bear in mind that the name “Christian” means “learner or imitator of Christ” and that if he wishes to bear that noble title worthily he must above all do as Christ charges us in the Gospel: We must oppose or deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow him.
Anthony Mary Claret
Glory be to You, who laid your Cross as a bridge over death, that souls might pass over it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life!
Ephraem the Syrian
Whoever doesn’t seek the Cross of Christ doesn’t seek the glory of Christ.
John of the Cross
A man shows himself a true disciple of Christ by carrying the cross in his turn every day in the activity that he is called to perform.
John Paul II
He who embraces the cross and bears it with patience lightens the weight of the cross. Indeed, the weight itself becomes a consolation; for God abounds with grace to all those who carry the cross with good will in order to please him.
Alphonsus Liguori
The cross will not crush you; if its weight makes you stagger, its power will also sustain you.
Padre Pio
Put a good bunch of grapes under the winepress, and a delicious juice will come out. Under the winepress of the cross, our soul produces a juice that feeds and strengthens us. When we haven’t got any crosses, we are dry. If we carry them with resignation, what happiness, what sweetness we feel!
John Vianney
The Cross is the ladder to heaven.
John Vianney
- See related article, When Your Worst Fear Becomes Reality, by Myriam Torres
Top image credit: Digital painted illustration of an open scroll inscribed with the title “Quotes to Live By”, from artstyles.com. Used with permission.
Myriam Torres died peacefully on August 1, 2018, after a ten-year battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. When faced with her diagnosis, she chose to accept it with grace and dignity. Myriam was born in New York City and returned with her parents to Puerto Rico when she was ten. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Puerto Rico with a Bachelors degree in Statistics. Her hard work won her the only ITT post graduate grant award in 1975 at the age of twenty-two, and gave her the opportunity to attend the University of Michigan where she completed her Masters degree in the same field. For most of her career Myriam worked as a Research Associate for the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan.
Although Myriam loved her work and did it with diligence, advancing her career was never her priority. She chose to work less hours in order to dedicate her life to sharing her Christian faith and helping others come to know the love of God. Myriam lived a life of simplicity and consecrated celibacy in order to serve others. She was a faithful parishioner at Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor. She was a member of Word of Life Community, an ecumenical Christian community based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA and a member of Bethany Association, an international, ecumenical association of women living single for the Lord in various communities of the Sword of the Spirit. Myriam served Christian communities around the world (Central America, Mexico, Spain, Lebanon, and the USA) with a focus on helping young women grow in their love for God and their capacity to navigate their professional and personal lives with faith and joy.