Favorite Quotes for Lent 2013

"Look at His adorable face.
Look at His glazed and sunken eyes.
Look at His wounds.
Look Jesus in the Face.
There, you will see how He loves us."

~ St. Therese of Lisieux


"My beloved Jesus, Your face was beautiful before You began this journey; but, now, it no longer appears beautiful and is disfigured with wounds and blood. Alas, my soul also was once beautiful when it received Your grace in Baptism; but I have since disfigured it with my sins. You alone, my Redeemer, can restore it to its former beauty. Do this by the merits of Your passion; and then do with me as You will."
~St Alphonsus Liguori


"Yes, I love the cross, the cross alone, because I always see it behind Jesus' shoulders."
~ St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"How can we complain when He Himself was considered 'as one struck by God and afflicted'." (Isa. 53:4)
~ St. Therese of Lisieux

"Are you capable of risking your life for someone? Do it for Christ."
~Pope John Paul II

"We all suffer for each other, and gain by each other's suffering; for man never stands alone here, though he will stand alone hereafter; but here is he is a social being, and goes forward to his long home as one of a large company."
~Cardinal John Henry Newman

"Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God."
~Thomas a Kempis

"As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent?  Our indifference, our hardness of heart.  What are we to believe?  Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you."  ~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

"Lent is like a long 'retreat' during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual 'combat' which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism."
~ Pope Benedict XVI


 “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your etition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.” ~ St. Peter Chrysologus


"Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. By what kind of works? If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see an enemy, be reconciled with him. If you see a friend gaining honor, do not be jealous of him. If you see a beautiful woman, pass her by. And let not only the mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all members of your bodies." ~ St. John Chrysostom

“…but for a long time I have understood that we must not depend (‘on beautiful thoughts which nourish the soul’).  The most beautiful thoughts are nothing without good works.” ~ St. Therese of Lisieux