REFLECTIONS

A good man is not without sin. He admits, and expiates sin.…the confession

"I always remember, with great affection, the goodness of my father and mother. And for me goodness also means the ability to say 'no,' because goodness that lets anything go can't be good for another.

"Sometimes goodness can also mean saying 'no,' even with the risk of sounding contradictory. But this must be nourished not by a sense of power or vindication but by an ultimate goodness which is the desire to do good to others. These are my criteria, this is my background; other people can add to it what they wish."...Pope Benedict XVI - ON GOODNESS

Why are you hurt by the unfair remarks people make about you? How much worse you would be if God were to leave you. Persevere in doing good, and shrug your shoulders.
-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

Excuses. You will never lack them if you want to avoid your obligations. What a profusion of well-argued nonsense! Don't stop to consider it. Dismiss it and do your duty.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

If you have holy shamelessness, you won't be worried by the thought of 'what will people say?' or 'what can they have said?'>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

First, prayer; then, atonement; in the third place, very much 'in the third place', action.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

You say that you don't know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and once you have said, 'Lord, I don't know how to pray!', rest assured that you have just begun to do so.
--St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

One has to give the body a little less than its due. Otherwise it turns traitor.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

If they have witnessed your faults and weaknesses, will it matter if they witness your penance?>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

Many who would willingly let themselves be nailed to a cross before the astonished gaze of a thousand onlookers cannot bear with a Christian spirit the pinpricks of each day! Think, then, which is the more heroic.
-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

Make few resolutions. Make them definite. -- And fulfil them with the help of God.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

Do your duty 'now', without looking back on 'yesterday', which has already passed, or worrying over 'tomorrow', which may never come for you.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

That is a painful wound. But it is well on its way to being healed. Stick to your resolutions. And the pain will soon turn into joyful peace.
-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

Never make a decision without stopping to consider the matter in the presence of God.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

Your holy impatience to serve him does not displease God. But it will be fruitless if it is not accompanied by a real improvement in your daily conduct.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

You are lukewarm if you carry out lazily and reluctantly those things that have to do with our Lord: if deliberately or 'shrewdly' you look for some way of cutting down your duties; if you think only of yourself and of your comfort; if your conversations are idle and vain; if you do not abhor venial sin; if you act from human motives.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

So you are bored? Naturally, if you keep your senses awake and your soul asleep>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

You are hurt by your neighbour's lack of charity towards you. Think how God must be hurt by your lack of charity -- of Love -- towards him!>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

Don't make negative criticism: if you can't praise, say nothing.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

If you are so weak, is it surprising that others too have their weaknesses?>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way

To criticize, to destroy, is not difficult; any unskilled labourer knows how to drive his pick into the noble and finely-hewn stone of a cathedral.
To construct: that is what requires the skill of a master.>-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way