Thoughts and Counsels of the Saints for December

For each day in December:

IF WE consider all that is imperfect and worldly in us, we shall find ample reason for abasing ourselves before God and man, before ourselves and our inferiors.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

No one should think or say anything of another which he would not wish thought or said of himself.—ST. TERESA.

We should study the interests of others as our own, and be careful to act on all occasions with uprightness and loyalty.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

It is God Himself who receives what we give in charity, and is it not an incomparable happiness to give Him what belongs to Him, and what we have received from His goodness alone?—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

Let your constant practice be to offer yourself to God, that He may do with you what He pleases.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

It is not enough to forbid our own tongue to murmur; we must also refuse to listen to murmurers.—VEN. LOUIS DE GRANADA.

We can obtain no reward without merit, and no merit without patience.— ST. ALPHONSUS.

No harp sends forth such sweet harmonies as are produced in the afflicted heart by the holy name of Mary. Let us kneel to reverence this holy, this sublime name of Mary!—BL. HENRY SUSO.

The life of a true Christian should be such that he fears neither death nor any event of his life, but endures and submits to all things with a good heart.—ST. TERESA.

We should abandon ourselves entirely into the hands of God, and believe that His providence disposes everything that He wishes or permits to happen to us for our greater good.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

Regulate and direct all your actions to God, offering them to Him and beseeching Him to grant that they be for His honor and glory.—ST. TERESA.

Conformity to the will of God is an easy and certain means of acquiring a great treasure of graces in this life.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

Do not consider what others do, or how they do it; for there are but few who really work for their own sanctification.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

To-day God invites you to do good; do it therefore to-day. To-morrow you may not have time, or God may no longer call you to do it.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

To advance in the way of perfection it does not suffice to say a number of weak prayers; our principal care should be to acquire solid virtues.—ST. TERESA.

Humility is the virtue of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of His blessed Mother, and of the greatest saints. It embraces all virtues and, where it is sincere, introduces them into the soul.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

It will be a great consolation for us at the hour of death to know that we are to be judged by Him whom we have loved above all things during life.—ST. TERESA.

Humble submission and obedience to the decrees of the Sovereign Pontiffs are good means for distinguishing the loyal from the rebellious children of the Church.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

The devil attacks us at the time of prayer more frequently than at other times. His object is to make us weary of prayer.—BL. HENRY SUSO.

It is an act as rare as it is precious, to transact business with many people, without ever forgetting God or oneself.—ST. IGNATIUS.

God is our light. The farther the soul strays away from God, the deeper it goes into darkness.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

True Christian prudence makes us submit our intellect to the maxims of the Gospel without fear of being deceived. It teaches us to judge things as Jesus Christ judged them, and to speak and act as He did.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

Remember that men change easily, and that you can not place your trust in them; therefore attach yourself to God alone.—ST. TERESA.

If we secretly feel a desire to appear greater or better than others, we must repress it at once.—ST. TERESA.

The King of heaven deigned to be born in a stable, because He came to destroy pride, the cause of man's ruin.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

To save our souls we must live according to the maxims of the Gospel, and not according to those of the world.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

Be gentle and kind with every one, and severe with yourself.—ST. TERESA.

If you wish to be pleasing to God and happy here below, be in all things united to His will.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

In proportion as the love of God increases in our soul, so does also the love of suffering.—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

He who keeps steadily on without pausing, will reach the end of his path and the summit of perfection.—ST. TERESA.

The past is no longer yours; the future is not yet in your power. You have only the present wherein to do good.—ST. ALPHONSUS.

*******

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