Cheerfulness Taught by Reason

I THINK we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope
Of yon gray blank of sky, we might grow faint
To muse upon eternity's constraint
Round our aspirant souls; but since the scope
Must widen early, is it well to droop,
For a few days consumed in loss and taint ?
O pusillanimous Heart, be comforted
And, like a cheerful traveller, take the road
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To meet the flints ? At least it may be said
' Because the way is short, I thank thee, God. '
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

A book

The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts.  
--Oliver Wendell Holmes

Prayer

In the war upon the powers of darkness, prayer is the primary and mightiest weapon, both in aggressive war upon them and their works; in the deliverance of men from their power; and against them as a hierarchy of powers opposed to Christ and His Church.
--Jessie Penn-Lewis

Be at peace

“Be at peace with your own soul, then heaven and earth will be at peace with you.”
--Saint Jerome

Friends

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.  
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The Feast of Saint Agnes

He lifts me to the golden doors;
The flashes come and go;
All heaven bursts her starry floors,
And strows her lights below,
And deepens on and up! the gates
Roll back, and far within
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of sin.
The sabbaths of Eternity,
One sabbath deep and wide--
A light upon the shining sea--
The bridegroom with his bride!

--from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Saint Agnes' Eve

Saint Agnes, pray for us.

Kindness

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.  
--Mark Twain