Quotes from the Saints

The following quotes taken from the writings of some of the greatest Saints and figures of the Church are part of the rich heritage of our faith. Many of the quotes are based on scripture or reflect the Saints’ personal experience or contemplation. As such they are to be cherished for the depth of wisdom they reveal as for the truth they convey.   

Please click on link below:

~ On vocation in general
~ On vocation to the priesthood
~ On the Vocation to Marriage

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On vocation in general:

"...even when I have nothing to offer him, then... I will give him this nothing!"
– St. Therese of Lisieux

"I considered that I was born for glory and when I searched out the means of attaining it, [God] made [sic] me understand that my own glory would not be evident to the eyes of mortals, that it would consist in becoming a great saint! This desire would certainly appear daring, if one were to consider how weak and imperfect I was, and how, after seven years in the religious life, I still am weak and imperfect. I always feel, however, the same bold confidence of becoming a great saint because I don't count on my merits, since I have none, but I trust in Him who is Virtue [sic] and Holiness. God alone, content with my weak efforts, will raise me to Himself and make me a saint."
– St. Therese of Lisieux

"Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing. Be not afraid to tell Jesus that you love Him; even though it may be without feeling; this is the way to oblige Him to help you and carry you like a little child too feeble to walk."
– St. Therese of Lisieux

"I feel in me the vocation of the Priest. I have the vocation of the Apostle. Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown in me. Considering the mystical body of the Church, I desired to see myself in them all. Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places...in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love...my vocation, at last I have found it...My vocation is Love!"
– St. Therese of Lisieux

"I am very glad I shall soon go to heaven, but I think of these words of God: 'I carry my reward with me to render to each according to his works.' I tell myself that in my case He will be quite embarrassed. I have no works! He will then be unable to render to me 'according to my works.' Well, He will then render to me according to His own works!"
– St. Therese of Lisieux

“Love is a fire — it must spend itself in service. Service is the dry wood which turns into a bonfire that reaches out to eternity and burns there. What you and I have to be is a flame in this pitch black darkness... a lamp to our neighbor's feet; a place where he can warm his hands, a place where he can see the face of God.”
— Catherine Doherty (Co-Founder of Madonna House)

“Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.”
- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“True holiness consists in doing God's will with a smile”
- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.”
- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”
- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try”
- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing.”
- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. … What you spend years building, someone could destroy over night. Build anyway. … The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have. It may never be enough. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
– Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

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On the vocation to the priesthood:

The Apostolic Age

“The apex of dignities is the priesthood.”
- St. Ignatius, Martyr

"Consider the priests as the dispensers of Divine graces and the associates of God."
- St. Ignatius, Martyr

Patristic Authors (Church Fathers)

According to St. Cyprian, a priest at the altar performs the office of Christ.
“The priesthood is an astounding miracle, great, immense, and infinite.”
- St. Ephrem

“The gift of the sacerdotal dignity surpasses all understanding. For us it is enough to know, that Jesus Christ has said that we should treat his priests as we would treat his own person: "He who hears you, hears Me; he who despises you, despises Me."
- St. Ephrem

The priest "deals familiarly with God."
- St. Ephrem

"The sacerdotal dignity also surpasses the dignity of the angels, who likewise show their veneration for the priesthood", says St. Gregory Nazianzen."All the angels in Heaven cannot absolve from a single sin."

“The priestly office is a Divine profession.”
- St. Ambrose

“The dignity of the priest as far exceeds that of kings, as the value of gold surpasses that of lead. The reason is, because the power of kings extends only to temporal goods and to the bodies of men, but the power of the priest extends to spiritual goods and to the human soul.”
- St. Ambrose

“Though its functions are performed on earth, the priesthood should be numbered among the things of Heaven.”
- St. John Chrysostom

“He who honors a priest, honors Christ; and he who insults a priest, insults Christ.”
- St. John Chrysostom

“The priest is an ambassador of the whole world, to intercede with God and to obtain graces for all creatures.”
- St. John Chrysostom

“The sovereign Master of the universe only follows the servant by confirming in Heaven all that the latter decides upon earth."
- St John Chrysostom

“Princes have the power of binding, but they bind only the bodies, while the priest binds the souls.”
- St. John Chrysostom

“The sacerdotal dignity,” says St. John Chrysostom, “effaces the royal dignity; hence the king inclines his head under the hand of the priest to receive his blessing.”

“For the priestly office is indeed discharged on earth, but it ranks amongst heavenly ordinances; and very naturally so: for neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself, instituted this vocation, and persuaded men while still abiding in the flesh to represent the ministry of angels. Wherefore the consecrated priest ought to be as pure as if he were standing in the heavens themselves in the midst of those powers.”
- St. John Chrysostom

This is how St. John Chrysostom understands the authority of the priest toward those entrusted to his care:
“Secular judges indeed, when they have captured malefactors under the law, show their authority to be great, and prevent them even against their will from following their own devices: but in our case the wrong-doer must be made better, not by force, but by persuasion. For neither has authority of this kind for the restraint of sinners been given us by law, nor, if it had been given, should we have any field for the exercise of our power, inasmuch as God rewards those who abstain from evil by their own choice, not of necessity.”
Again,
“For the pastor of sheep has his flock following him, wherever he may lead them: and if any should stray out of the straight path, and, deserting the good pasture, feed in unproductive or rugged places, a loud shout suffices to collect them and bring back to the fold those who have been parted from it: but if a human being wanders away from the right faith, great exertion, perseverance and patience are required; for he cannot be dragged back by force, nor constrained by fear, but must be led back by persuasion to the truth from which he originally swerved.”

“As the Word of God created Heaven and earth, so,” says St. Jerome, “the words of the priest create Jesus Christ.” “At a sign from God there came forth from nothing both the sublime vault of the Heavens and the vast extent of the earth; but not less great is the power that manifests itself in the mysterious words of the priest.”

And St. Augustine has written, “O venerable sanctity of the hands! O happy function of the priest! He that created [if I may say so] gave me the power to create Him; and He that created me without me is Himself created by me!”

“O wonderful dignity of the priests,” cries out St. Augustine; “in their hands, as in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, the Son of God becomes incarnate.”

"You hold the place of Christ, you are therefore His lieutenants." - St. Augustine

“Divine are the offices confided to priests.”
- St. Cyril of Alexandria

"They are the glory and the immovable columns of the Church; they are the doors of the eternal city; through them all reach Christ; they are the vigilant guardians to whom the Lord has confided the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; they are the stewards of the king's house, to assign to each according to His good pleasure His place in the hierarchy."
- St. Prosper of Aquitaine

The Middle Ages

“The sentence of the priest precedes and God subscribes to it”
- St. Peter Damian.

“Although,” says St. Peter Damian, “Angels may be present, they yet wait for the priest to exercise his power, but no one of them has the power of the keys-of binding and of loosening.”

St. Francis of Assisi used to say, “If I saw an angel and a priest, I would bend my knee first to the priest and then to the angel.”

St. Bernardino of Sienna has written: “Holy Virgin, excuse me, for I speak not against thee: the Lord has raised the priesthood above thee.” The Saint assigns the reason of the superiority of the priesthood over Mary; she conceived Jesus Christ only once; but by consecrating the Eucharist, the priest, as it were, conceives Him as often as he wishes, so that if the person of the Redeemer had not as yet been in the world, the priest, by pronouncing the words of consecration, would produce this great person of a Man-God.”

”The power of the priest,” says St. Bernardino of Sienna, “is the power of the Divine person; for the transubstantiation of the bread requires as much power as the creation of the world.”

"Oh, how very great is their power," speaking of priests. "A word falls from their lips and the body of Christ is there substantially formed from the matter of bread, and the Incarnate Word descended from Heaven, is found really present on the table of the altar! Never did Divine goodness give such power to the Angels. The Angels abide by the order of God, but the priests take Him in their hands, distribute Him to the faithful, and partake of Him as food for themselves."
- St. Laurence Justinian

“Let the priest approach the altar as another Christ.” - St. Laurence Justinian

The Reformation Era

In the Council of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo called priests “the representatives of the person of God on earth.”

After having given the order of priesthood to a holy ecclesiastic, St. Francis de Sales perceived, that in going out he stopped at the door as if to give precedence to another. Being asked by the Saint why he stopped, he answered that God favored him with the visible presence of his angel guardian, who before he had received the priesthood always remained at his right and preceded him; but afterwards he walked on his left and refused to go before him. It was in a holy contest with the angel that he stopped at the door.

Modern Times

“A priest is a minister destined by God to be a public ambassador of the whole Church, to honor Him, and to obtain His graces for all the faithful. The entire Church cannot give to God as much honor, nor obtain so many graces, as a single priest by celebrating a single Mass; for the greatest honor that the whole Church without priests could give to God would consist in offering to Him in sacrifice the lives of all men. But of what value are the lives of all men compared with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is a sacrifice of infinite value? What are all men before God but a little dust; a drop of a bucket? They are but a mere nothing in His sight: All nations are before Him as if they had no being at all. Thus, by the celebration of a single Mass, in which he offers Jesus Christ in sacrifice, a priest gives greater honor to the Lord, than if all men by dying for God offered to Him the sacrifice of their lives. By a single Mass, he gives greater honor to God than all the Angels and Saints, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, have given or shall give to Him; for their worship cannot be of infinite value, like that which the priest celebrating on the altar offers to God.”
– St. Alphonsus Liguori

“Moreover, in the holy Mass, the priest offers to God an adequate thanksgiving for all the graces bestowed even on the Blessed in Paradise; but such a thanksgiving all the Saints together are incapable of offering to Him. Hence, it is that on this account also the priestly dignity is superior even to all celestial dignities.”
– St. Alphonsus Liguori

“To priests every door is open. Jesus has died to institute the priesthood. It was not necessary for the Redeemer to die in order to save the world; a drop of His Blood, a single tear or prayer was sufficient to procure salvation for all; for such a prayer, being of infinite value, should be sufficient to save not one but a thousand worlds. But to institute the priesthood, the death of Jesus Christ has been necessary. Had he not died, where should we find the victim that the priests of the New Law now offer; a victim altogether holy and immaculate, capable of giving to God an honor worthy of God? As has been already said, all the lives of men and Angels are not capable of giving to God an infinite honor like that which a priest offers to Him by a single Mass.”
– St. Alphonsus Liguori

”Were the Redeemer to descend into a church, and sit in a confessional to administer the Sacrament of Penance, and a priest to sit in another confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent, "Ego te absolvo," the priest would likewise say over each of his penitents, “Ego te absolvo," and the penitents of each would be equally absolved. How great the honor that a king would confer on a subject whom he should empower to rescue from prison as many as he pleased! But far greater is the power that the eternal Father has given to Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ has given to his priests, to rescue from Hell not only the bodies but also the souls of the faithful”
– St. Alphonsus Liguori

The Twentieth Century

“A priest – whoever he may be – is always another Christ.”
- St. Josemaría Escrivá

“How we should admire purity in the priesthood!  It is its treasure.  No tyrant will ever be able to wrest this crown from the Church.”
- St. Josemaría Escrivá

“To love God and not to revere the priest…This is not possible.”
- St. Josemaría Escrivá

“Like the good sons of Noah, cover the weaknesses you may see in your father, the priest, with a cloak of charity.”
- St. Josemaría Escrivá

“If you don’t have the highest reverence for the priesthood and for the religious state, you certainly don’t love God’s Church.”
- St. Josemaría Escrivá

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On the Vocation to Marriage:

Saint Augustine “On the Good of Marriage”

“The first natural bond of human society is man and wife. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one out of the other…”

            Here, Augustine mentions a couple of points – first, that the marital bond is the most basic societal bond, without which there would be no society, and, second, that all human persons come from one another.  We are not isolated (alien) individuals, each with our own independent beginnings, who form a social contract with one another, but persons who take our origins from a bond of love, in community with one another, mutually contributing to each other’s growth.  One of the ways in which this community is passed on is through the gift of children in the family, the domestic church.

“Marriages have this good also, that carnal or youthful incontinence, although it be faulty, is brought unto an honest use in the begetting of children, in order that out of the evil of lust the marriage union may bring to pass some good.”

            Saint Augustine is not here condemning sexual attraction, but is rather describing how sexual attraction can be given a particular positive value (among other such positive values) in its orientation and openness to the gift of children.  He also remarks concerning how sexual attraction is given a negative value through lust, and how the vocation to marriage is redemptive of such devaluation. 

“There is this further, that in that very debt which married persons pay one to another, even if they demand it with somewhat too great intemperance and incontinence, yet they owe faith alike one to another. Unto which faith the Apostle allows so great right, as to call it “power,” saying, “The woman hath not power of her own body, but the man; again in like manner also the man hath not power of his own body, but the woman.” (1 Cor. 7:4) But the violation of this faith is called adultery…”

“Married persons owe one another not only the faith of their sexual intercourse itself, for the begetting of children, which is the first fellowship of the human kind in this mortal state; but also, in a way, a mutual service of sustaining one another’s weakness, in order to shun unlawful intercourse.”

            In the preceding quotations, Augustine is relating that a married couple should understand themselves as having “one body”, and as difficult as that may be at times, should do everything that they can to preserve and strengthen their relationship.  The consummation of a marriage should be about giving one’s body for the other person and not taking the other person’s body for oneself.  

 

“The marriage of the faithful is to be set before the virginity of the impious…”

            In saying this, Augustine is making an important point about the relative value that chastity in marriage and virginity have, in comparison to one another.  Although Augustine maintains that, objectively, virginity dedicated to the Kingdom of God is a greater calling, it doesn’t always work out that way for particular persons.  A marriage that incarnates charity bears much more fruit that a celibate life from which charity is absent.  As St. Josemaría Escrivá said (The Way no. 119), “Without charity, purity is fruitless and its sterile waters turn the soul into a swamp, a stagnant marsh, from which rises the stench of pride.”      

“But a marriage once for all entered upon in the City of our God, where, even from the first union of the two, the man and the woman, marriage bears a certain sacramental character, can no way be dissolved but by the death of one of them.”

“Marriage is a good, wherein married persons are so much the better, in proportion as they fear God with greater chastity and faithfulness, specially if the children, whom they desire after the flesh, they also bring up after the spirit.”

          As Saint Augustine clearly says, one of the greatest blessings in the vocation to marriage is the gift of children.  But marriage as a sacrament is not only oriented toward raising children physically, but spiritually as well.  Marriage is the sacrament upon which the “domestic church” is built, the place where children first learn prayer.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá “The Way”

No. 26 “Matrimony is a holy sacrament.  When the time comes for you to receive it, ask your spiritual director or your confessor to suggest an appropriate book.  Then you’ll be better prepared to bear worthily the burdens of a home.”

No. 27 “Do you laugh because I tell you that you have a ‘vocation to marriage’?  Well, you have just that – a vocation.
Comment yourself to St. Raphael that he may keep you pure, as he did Tobias, until the end of the way.”

No. 120 “’Purity?’ they ask.  And they smile.  They are the ones who go on to marriage with worn-out bodies and disillusioned souls.”

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