Thoughts and Counsels of the Saints for August

For each day in August:

CHRIST Himself guides the bark of Peter. For this reason it can not perish, although He sometimes seems to sleep.—ST. ANTONINUS.

Prayer teaches us the need of laying before God all our necessities, of corresponding with His grace, of banishing vice from our heart and of establishing virtue in it.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

Take this to heart: Owe no man anything. So shalt thou secure a peaceful sleep, an easy conscience, a life without inquietude, and a death without alarm.—VEN. LOUIS DE GRANADA.

If you would know whether you have made a good confession, ask yourself if you have resolved to abandon your sins.—ST. BERNARD.

He who does that which is displeasing to himself has discovered the secret of pleasing God.—ST. ANSELM.

An ordinary action, performed through obedience and love of God, is more meritorious than extraordinary works done on your own authority—VEN. LOUIS DE BLOIS.

Vigilance is rendered necessary and indispensable, not only by the dangers that surround us, but by the delicacy, the extreme difficulty of the work we all have to engage in the work of our salvation.—VEN. LOUIS DE GRANADA.

Among the different means that we have of pleasing God in all that we do, one of the most efficacious is to perform each of our actions as though it were to be the last of our life.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

I have to seek only the glory of God, my own sanctification, and the salvation of my neighbor. I should therefore devote myself to these things, if necessary, at the peril of my life.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

Idleness is hell's fishhook for catching souls.—ST. IGNATIUS.

Whoever imagines himself without defect has an excess of pride. God alone is perfect.—ST. ANTONINUS.

As we take the bitterest medicine to recover or preserve the health of the body, we should cheerfully endure sufferings, however repugnant to nature, and consider them efficacious remedies which God employs to purify the soul and conduct it to the perfection to which He called it.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

To give up prayer because we are often distracted at it is to allow the devil to gain his cause.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

Curb the desire of display, and do nothing from human respect.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

O Mary, vessel of purest gold, ornamented with pearls and sapphires, filled with grace and virtue, thou art the dearest of all creatures to the eyes of eternal Wisdom.—BL. HENRY SUSO.

We must be careful not to omit our prayers, confession, communion, and other exercises of piety, even when we find no consolation in them.—ST. VINCENT FERRER.

Let us leave to God and to truth the care of our justification, without trying to excuse ourselves, and peace will truly spring up within us.— VEN. JOHN TAULER.

Read good and useful books, and abstain from reading those that only gratify curiosity.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

So great is the goodness of God in your regard, that when you ask through ignorance for that which is not beneficial, He does not grant your prayer in this matter, but gives you something better instead.—ST. BERNARD.

Men can use no better arms to drive away the devil, than prayer and the sign of the cross.—ST. TERESA.

He who knows well how to practise the exercise of the presence of God, and who is faithful in following the attraction of this divine virtue, will soon attain a very high degree of perfection.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

One of the most admirable effects of holy communion is to preserve the soul from sin, and to help those who fall through weakness to rise again. It is much more profitable, then, to approach this divine Sacrament with love, respect, and confidence, than to remain away through an excess of fear and scrupulosity.—ST. IGNATIUS.

Let us remember that every act of mortification is a work for heaven. This thought will make all suffering and weariness sweet.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

Correction should be given calmly and with discernment, at seasonable times, according to the dictates of reason, and not at the impulse of anger.—VEN. LOUIS DE GRANADA.

There is nothing more certain, nothing more agreeable, nothing richer than a good conscience.—VEN. BARTHOLOMEW OF MARTYRS.

God, to procure His glory, sometimes permits that we should be dishonored and persecuted without reason. He wishes thereby to render us conformable to His Son, who was calumniated and treated as a seducer, as an ambitious man, and as one possessed.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

All that God gives us and all that He permits in this world have no other end than to sanctify us in Him.—ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA.

If you can not mortify your body by actual penance, abstain at least from some lawful pleasure.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

One whose heart is embittered can do nothing but contend and contradict, finding something to oppose in every remark.—VEN. JULIENNE MOREL.

Without prayer we have neither light nor strength to advance in the way which leads to God.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

I have never gone out to mingle with the world without losing something of myself.—BL. ALBERT THE GREAT.

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This is taken from Thoughts and Counsels of the Saints for Every Day of the Year.