The language of friendship

The language of friendship is not in words but meanings.

--Henry David Thoreau

Faith

This is a sane, wholesome, practical, working faith: That it is a man's business to do the will of God; second, that God himself takes on the care of that man; and third, that therefore that man ought never to be afraid of anything.

--George Macdonald

Filled

Only when a box is empty can it be filled. Only when the ego is deflated can God pour in His blessings.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Peace

Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul; we may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence to, not in an exemption from, suffering.

--Pere Francois de Fenelon

Contented

A contented man is never poor though he have very, very little. The discontented man is never rich, let him have so very much.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

A friend

A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

--Charles Kingsley

Feast of the Annuciation (Lady Day)

With such glad dreams I sought this holy place
And now with wondering eyes and heart I stand
Before this supreme mystery of Love:
Some kneeling girl with passionless pale face,
An angel with a lily in his hand
And over both the white wings of a dove
--from Ave Maria Gratia Plena by Oscar Wilde

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Feast of Saint Gabriel

Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

Courage

Courage is not the absence of fear but, rather, the judgment that something is more important than fear.

--Ambrose Redmoon 

Virtue

The power of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special efforts, but by his ordinary doing.

--Blaise Pascal

Feast of Saint Benedict

Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.
--Saint Benedict

Saint Benedict, pray for us.

Love

"Who has ever found it repulsive to make sacrifices for someone he loves deeply? On the contrary, to give is precisely what love impels us to do."
--Reverend Gerald Vann

Our Lady of Akita, pray for the people of Japan.

Feast of Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Joy

"And so it is that if joy produces patience, patience in its turn produces joy, and in the end the final joy of a final achievement:  the joy of the blessed ones whose troubles are for ever over, the joy that can never fade."
--Reverend. Gerald Vann, OP 

Feast of Saint Patrick

Whatever will come my way, whether good or bad, I may accept it calmly, and
always give thanks to God, who has ever shown me how I should believe in him
unfailing without end.

--Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick, pray for us. 

Share your courage

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.

--Robert Louis Stevenson

Many Flowers

Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.
--Leigh Hunt

Our Lady of Akita, pray for the people of Japan.

Seek Him

There are only three types of people: those who have found God and serve Him, those who have not found God and seek Him, and those who live not seeking or finding Him. The first are rational and happy, the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.

--Blaise Pascal

A spark of heavenly fire

There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

--Washington Irving 

(This, dear Hannah, is for you and your courageous mother.)

Cheerfulness

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance - the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen.
--Thomas Carlyle

The strong soul

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: it is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.

--Thomas Carlyle

Farther

Go as far as you can see; when you get there you'll be able to see farther.

--Thomas Carlyle

Ash Wednesday

Of all acts of man, repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

--Thomas Carlyle

Hand in hand

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.
--Emily Kimbrough 

Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
--Saint Thomas Aquinas 

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us. 

Hope

Were it not for hope, the heart would break.

--Scottish proverb

Joy

The joy late coming late departs. 

--Lewis J. Bates

From the heart alone

What is uttered from the heart alone,

Will win the hearts of others to your own.

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Contentment

Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and a happy purchase.

--John Balguy

Counsel

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.

--Marcus Aurelius

The elegance of honesty

The elegance of honesty needs no adornment.

--Merry Browne