Quotables

 

"You must not abandon the ship in a storm [just] because you cannot control the winds."
- St. Thomas More

 

"Against the temptation to regard utility as the sole criterion for measuring anyone's worth, [St. Pope John Paul II] has insisted that every human being possesses an inherent and inalienable dignity and value."
-Witness to Hope - the Biography of Pope John Paul II published in 2004 (G. Weigel, Harper Perennial)

 

 "Every one who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; . . . God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in the body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also."
–St. John Henry Newman

 

"If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot's inclination wishes. In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions."
- James 3:3-5

 

"God's time is the very best time."
-Johann Sebastian Bach, who would sign every one of his musical compositions with the initials "J.J." to represent the words Jesu Juva which means Jesus help me.

 [To expound on the "T" of REACT: When we don't get what we want when we want it, it's not that we are left with nothing. It is a moment we can consider God's timing versus what we think is our own. Things ultimately happen according to God's timing for us, not based on ours.]

 

 “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, wheelchair-bound President who led the United States during World War II.

 

"Have patience with all things - but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that." - St. Francis de Sales

When Moses came close to a burning bush which the fire did not consume, he encountered the presence of God and was told to take off his shoes. “Do not come near here; (שַׁל־נְעָלֶיךָ) remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is (אַדְמַת־קֹדֶשׁ) holy ground .” (Ex 3:5).

 

"Today we hear from the Book of Daniel, in the Old Testament, the story of Suzanna and the bad judges of Israel. Give me Your grace this day to truly listen and to be slow to judge others. Many people were quick to judge Jesus, Your Son, during His public ministry and judge Him unjustly. Even to bring him to be judged by Pontius Pilot to condemn Him, and he washed his hands as he saw an innocent man. Help me, oh Lord, not to be the judge of mental behavior, motives and actions of others with whom I live and those I encounter in my daily life. Please give me this grace [...] Amen." - Fr. Ignatius Kissel, OSM of the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother.

 

"If we set our compass true, we will reach our destination." - Senator Edward M. Kennedy 

 

"When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, [God]. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone. The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, a prisoner for thirteen years, nine of them spent in solitary confinement, has left us a precious little book: Prayers of Hope. During thirteen years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope—to that great hope which does not wane even in the nights of solitude." - reference to Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận from Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical letter titled Spe Salvi ("Saved in Hope").