The sinner who suddenly realizes God's love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death.

Jesus made Himself available to everyone. Unlike former prophets and the religious men of His day, who often kept themselves aloof, Jesus was easy to approach and always ready to give his help.

God's grace is at its best in weakness, so we need never fear our weakness. In fact, these weaknesses will determine in what way we shall glorify God for all eternity.

Healing and miracles have been a mystery to men of all times. To some, the phenomenon is frightening, while others find it exhilarating.

Is detachment the answer to freedom? No, because detachment is negative - it is to be without. The answer must be positive - I must replace what I have with something better.

To see a friend who has suffered the loss of all things begin again with trust and love, gives us strength to continue on.

To a pagan, there is no purpose to suffering. As a result, he lives a life of loneliness and frustration.

God has always worked wonders through his prophets to increase the faith of His chosen people or to correct their disobedience.

Many of us use God's love like the manna in the desert. We take what we need for particular situations and then go our own way - thinking we can handle other situations ourselves.

Jesus asks me to go to him when I am overburdened. He did not promise to take away those burdens, for I must carry mine as he carried his.

No matter what Jesus did, someone found fault with it.

Love fills and empties simultaneously. It makes us reach out to God, ready to be pruned, recklessly desiring whatever the cost. It soothes the aching heart and then makes it thirst for more.

Humility is preserved when I give credit where credit is due - to God.

We resemble computers intellectually and animals emotionally.

When anyone arouses my anger, I will immediately pray for them and regain my peace of soul.

My life is such a contradiction. My soul yearns for holiness and then runs from the mortification necessary to attain it.

Religious life is an encounter with the living God. Sometimes that encounter is preceded by a kind of soul-searching agony that tries desperately not to hear, runs in the opposite direction, and frantically tries to reason itself out of answering the invitation.

It is good to have an intellectual awareness of our dependence upon God - to understand how great He is and how very small we are in His sight.

Every individual we meet is different than we are. Members of the same family differ one from the other. Friend differs from friend, husband from wife, sister from brother, nation from nation. All these differences make 'feeling' love difficult and isolated to specific individuals according to our tastes and their personalities.

From the time of Adam and Eve, man has tried to escape suffering in any form.

At Baptism, I received grace - that quality that makes me share in the very nature of God.

There are many who are not guilty of doing anything wrong but very guilty of sins of omission - the things they neglect to do - the good things - the kind, thoughtful words, compassionate thoughts and hopeful attitudes they might have had towards their neighbor.

A family spirit is not always synonymous with family life. Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh makes for brothers, sisters and relatives, who may be as distant as strangers in a foreign land.

God has given each one of us a gift greater than a thousand I.B.M. machines. It is called a memory, and everything that passes through our five senses is stored in this faculty.

When our neighbor's personality possesses harsh qualities, we show our love by not voluntarily provoking those qualities in any way. Past experience shows us what upsets a person, so in their presence we are careful not to do or say those things that cause anger. We are self-effacing.

Every Christian who strives for holiness of life experiences dryness of soul. It is to most people a heart-rending experience. It is a paradox, for the soul becomes confused when it realizes the harder it strives the further away Jesus seems to be.

Family life is the backbone of mankind, and that life is dependent upon mutual giving, sharing, and receiving from each other. It entails the proper use of each other's successes and failures for mutual up-building.

St. Paul did not want the sufferings encountered by being a Christian to discourage or dishearten anyone. He realized that when the Christian saw the blessings and grace that poured upon him after his trials, he would gain courage to suffer in his turn.

Jesus wants us to trust him to take care of all our yesterdays and tomorrows.

The heart of Jesus is compassionate and understanding. It has felt the sting of ingratitude, and when my heart suffers from that same offense, I can turn to him, and he understands my feelings.

Each one of us has a particular virtue and faults that make the process of becoming like Jesus different.

No man can see God in this life and live because His glory would annihilate our poor, weak human nature.

God is a spirit and converses with us in a quiet atmosphere because our minds are not capable of listening to his voice when they are filled with noise and confusion.

My failures may be my greatest successes. It is in failure that I have often drawn closer to God, learn to depend more on Him than myself, gained self-knowledge, and seen things in their right perspective.

Neighbors are competitors instead of partners, suspicious instead of trustful, indifferent instead of helpful, cold instead of loving, greedy instead of generous. We no longer consider ourselves living in neighborhoods, but only as living next to 'hoods.'

Every Christian is important - important to God, to the world, and to the kingdom.

No creature, not even the most exalted angel, can understand God or have perfect knowledge of Him.

Some people spend their time and thoughts in feeling, hearing, seeing, and listening. Whatever cannot be felt or experienced they will not accept. We call these people 'emotional.'

For me, a thing must exist before I know it, but with God, it is different - he must know it before it has existence.

Today's man of the world proclaims that sin, and his enterprising in sin, are a part of modern living, but it is not modern. It goes back to Adam and Eve - to desire and the temptation to know - to experience evil.

Married life has become to many a necessary burden, but a burden that is shed very easily.

Each one of us sees Jesus in a different way. To some, He was prophet, for they needed to know the kingdom was at hand. But most of all, He was the son of God, and He came to experience the consequences of the curse the Father had put upon mankind when Adam and Eve disobeyed.

Jesus told us to learn from him how to be meek and humble of heart. We must look at his life if we are to have any concept of what humility is all about.

For thirty years, Jesus never allowed his divinity to manifest itself. He was infinitely superior to everyone but never showed it.

I have a tendency to judge everything in its relationship to me instead of the value it has in God's eyes. I cannot judge everything solely on its good or bad effect on me.

I cannot bring Christ to my neighbor and to the world if I have not first given him to my family.

There should be in the life of every married couple a continual building of the sacrament.

People live, work, walk, play, shop, study, and eat with other people. There are few desert dwellers who live alone without depending in some way on people.

Jesus was happy when people acknowledged his dignity and saddened when they did not, but he never sought their esteem or regard.

Like Jesus, every human being has enough memories in his past to occupy his time and thoughts continually. It is not the remembrance of these incidents but the reliving of them that creates havoc in our souls.