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Thoughts On Wisdom

Dear Friends,

Today I offer you gleanings from a book I picked up yesterday (used) at a Thrift Shop – “The Wisdom of the Saints.” I have occasionally told people that if they desire to be wise (a very lacking and much needed virtue these days!) one of the ways to become wise is to read the books of those who were wise. Therefore, I offer you some samples of wisdom sayings by wise saints of the past. Some you will recognize some of their words because they are still spread around today. I picked 20 of my favorites. Enjoy.

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you.”
St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)

“Nothing can happen to me that God doesn’t want. And all that He wants, no matter how bad it may appear to us, is really for the best… Earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t heal.” Thomas More (1478-1535 A.D.)

“The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner He wills it; and thirdly, to do it because He wills it.” Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821 A. D.)

“You will accomplish more by kind words and a courteous manner than by anger or sharp rebuke, which should never be used except in necessity.” Angela Merici (1474-1540 A.D.)



“We can never know how patient or humble someone is when everything is going well for him. But when those who should cooperate with him do exactly the opposite, then we can know. A man has as much patience and humility as he has then, and no more.” St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226 A. D.)

“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn to love in any other way deceive themselves.” and “Great occasions to serve God come seldom, but little ones surround us daily – do not let them slip by.” Francis de Sales (1557-1622 A.D.)

“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)

“Find happiness in making others happy… Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kind word. Always do the smallest right and do it all for love.” Theresa of Lisieux (1873-1897 A. D.)



“Withdraw often into the depths of your being, and there with living faith rest on the breast of God, like a child, in the sacred silence of faith and holy love.” Paul Danei (1694-1775 A.D.)

“My Lord Jesus… I shall love You, I shall love you always; when day breaks, when evening turns to night, at every hour, at every moment – I will love You always, always, always.” G. Galgani (1878-1903 A.D.)

“The best way to prepare for death is to spend each day of life as though it were your last.”
Philip Neri (1515-1595 A.D.)

“What we love we will grow to resemble.”
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153 A.D.)

“Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for only one reason – nobody is seeking to make them Christians.” Francis Xavier (1506-1552 A.D.)

 
“Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”
St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)

“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a warm bath, and a glass of wine.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.)

“[For the preacher] love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything. But if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill. It is much the same with the word of God, If it is spoken by someone who is filled with charity – the fire of love for God and neighbor – it will work wonders.”
Anthony Claret (1807-1870 A.D.)

“As to the past, entrust it to God’s mercy, as to the future, entrust it to God’s Providence. Our task is to live a holy life in the present moment.” Gianna Molla (1922-1962 A.D.)

“God is more pleased with one work, however small, done secretly, without any desire that it be known, than a thousand done hoping men know about them.”
John of the Cross (1542-1591 A.D.)

“Every day my love for the mountains grows more and more. If my studies permitted, I’d spend whole days in the mountains contemplating the Creator’s greatness in that pure air… I am ever more determined to scale the mighty peaks and feel the pure joy which can only be felt in the mountains.”
Georgio Frassati (1901-1925 A.D.)



Living in His All-sufficient Grace, Pastor Jeff

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