John Paul II

From Veritatis Splendor:

Revealed truth, to be sure, surpasses our telling. All our concepts fall short of its ultimately unfathomable grandeur. Nonetheless, revealed truth beckons reason - God's gift fashioned for the assimilation of truth - to enter into its light and thereby come to understand in a certain measure what it has believed.

St. Theophilus of Antioch

It is like this. Those who can see with the eyes of their bodies are aware of what is happening in this life on earth. They get to know things that are different from each other. They distinguish light and darkness, black and white, ugliness and beauty, elegance and inelegance, proportion and lack of proportion, excess and defect. The same is true of the sounds we hear: high or low or pleasant. So it is with the ears of our heart and the eyes of our mind in their capacity to hear or see God.

God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him, provided that they keep the eyes of their mind open. All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine. The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and their eyes. In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds.

A person’s soul should be clean, like a mirror reflecting light. If there is rust on the mirror his face cannot be seen in it. In the same way, no one who has sin within him can see God.

Paul Claudel

Intelligence is nothing without delight.

Helen Steiner Rice

Thank You, God, for little things
that often come our way -
The things we take for granted
but don't mention when we pray -
The unexpected courtesy,
the thoughtful, kindly deed -
A hand reached out to help us
in the time of sudden need -
Oh make us more aware, dear God,
of little daily graces
That come to us with "sweet surprise"
from never-dreamed-of places.

Mother Angelica

Where most men work for degrees after their names, we work for one before our names: 'St.' It's a much more difficult degree to attain. It takes a lifetime, and you don't get your diploma until you're dead.

Joseph Pieper

I look upon things - but this reality spread out before my eyes is illuminated by a light at which I do not look, which is, rather, situated behind my back but which illuminates things to my eyes only if I "believe."

St. Francis de Sales

Accept this cross a thousand times a day; kiss it gladly for the love of Him who sends it to you out of love and as a rich present.