The important thing is not to do a lot or to do everything. The important thing is to be ready for anything, at all times; to be convinced that when we are serving the poor, we are really serving God. . .We all have the duty to serve God where we are called to do so. I feel called to serve individuals, to love each human being. My calling is not to judge the institutions. I am not qualified to condemn anyone. I never think in terms of a crowd, but of individual persons. If I thought in terms of crowds, I would never have begun my work. I believe in the personal touch. If others are convinced that God wants them to change social structures, that is a matter for them to take up with God.

– St. Teresa of Calcutta

Our Lord presents the perfect image of what we must become: a son of God and his own brother or sister. This is no longer a dream; it means that we have made a preliminary contact with a reality that will show us the way to go and give us the strength to travel. A dream which is a mere mirage prevents us from living now, but hope enables us to participate in God’s dream for us and accept what is in front of us with patience. . .The idea of God’s presence within us is no dream; to abandon oneself, to put oneself completely at God’s service, is to acquire the ability to pass from daydreaming into truth.

– Father Rene Voillaume

There is death which is separation of body and soul – physical death. But there is also a death which is separation between man and God. This is spiritual death. Spiritual death befalls a person who deliberately chooses to live as if God did not exist . . . This spiritual life, sometimes called supernatural life, more often called grace – God wants to give to us all. He wants to give us that life, whereby here and now, we can enjoy friendship with him and ultimately be guaranteed the vision of God which alone . . . can satisfy our deepest aspirations. He wants to give us life; and he wants to renew that gesture whereby he restored life to the son of the widow of Naim, to the daughter of Jairus, to his friend Lazarus. To them, he restored physical life; to us, by a like gesture, he restores spiritual life . . . If we choose to reject it, then dearest brethren, we live ‘dead,’ we live a life which is fundamentally meaningless because it is bound by horizons of this present world, destined ultimately to frustration, to misery. To live separated from God is indeed to live ‘dead.’

-Cardinal Basil Hume

How does a lamp burn? Through the continuous input of small drops of oil. If the drops of oil run out, the light of the lamp will cease, and the bridegroom will say, ‘I do not know you’ (Mt. 25:1-13). What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, punctuality, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent. . . These are the true drops of love that keep your religious life burning like a lively flame. Do not look for Jesus away from yourselves. He is not out there; he is within you. Keep your lamp burning, and you will recognize him.

– St. Teresa of Calcutta

Be recollected; whoever pours himself out on exterior things quickly loses the graces he has acquired. A full jewel box is always kept closed. Humility: Avoid all those words which can draw down on you glory, esteem, or the appreciation of others. Let us listen unwillingly (without interest or reflection) and with interior reluctance to the words of those who praise or condemn us. It is dangerous to listen to one’s own praise in the mouths of others. It makes one lose his good judgment. When others praise us let us keep our sins before our eyes. . .Never do anything so that men may see and esteem you. Never do anything out of human respect. Do everything perfectly, because you are working in God’s presence, for God and not for men. In every situation think more about loving than about working.

-St. Maximilian Kolbe

For three days I have been meditating on the story of the prodigal son. It is a story about returning. I realize the importance of returning over and over again. My life drifts away from God. I have to return. My heart moves away from my first love. I have to return. My mind wanders to strange images. I have to return. Returning is a lifelong struggle…Even if we return because we could not make it on our own, God will receive us. God’s love does not require any explanations about why we are returning. God is glad to see us home and wants to give us all we desire, just for being home…So why delay? God is standing there with open arms, waiting to embrace me. He won’t ask any questions about my past. Just having me back is all he desires.

– Henri Nouwen

“Let us make an unconditional surrender of self to God, and seek to do a little more for him than is strictly required. Let us say, “Lord, you are enough for me; you and your cross.” The cross in some form or other will always be with us. It may come from our superiors. It may come from our brethren. It may come from our body or our soul. Certainly it will come from ourselves for our self-love is our greatest cross. But let us bear all crosses cheerfully, and thank God for each.”

– Father Frederic Dunne, O.C.S.O.

Though Christ called himself ‘the way,’ in another sense he’s our end, our destination. Don’t settle down somewhere on the way so that you never come to the end. Whatever else you come to on life’s journey, pass on by it, until you come to the end, Christ himself. Some seek money. Don’t let it be your end. Pass on by, like a traveler in a foreign land. For if you love money, you’ll be entangled by greed. And greed will be like chains on your feet. You won’t be able to make any more progress along the way. . .You seek honors. Perhaps you seek them in order to accomplish something that pleases God. If so, don’t love the honor itself. Otherwise, you might stop there. Do you seek praise? If you seek God’s praise, then you do well – but not if you seek your own praise. You’re stopping short along the way. See, brothers and sisters, how many things we pass on life’s journey that aren’t the end. These we may make use of along the road, taking a break – but then we must travel on.

-St. Augustine

Whatever the work with which you have been entrusted, as a religious, as a layperson, it is a means for you to put your love for God in a living action, in an action of love. Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. So if I want to know how much I love Christ, if I want to know if I am really in love with God, then I have only to look at how I do the work he has entrusted to me – how much love I put into the doing of that work. You see, it is not the work in itself that is our vocation. Our vocation is to belong totally to Jesus. What you are doing, I may not be able to do. What I am doing, you may not be able to do. But all of us together are doing something beautiful for God.

– Mother Teresa of Calcutta

God stands at the center of our lives just as Jesus stands at the center of the Gospel story. Jesus is the source of the gift of healing, but he is easily forgotten. He does not force himself into the lives of the ten lepers. Only one of them makes the connection between his good fortune and the role Jesus plays in it, and he is the one you would least expect to make it. The story of the ten lepers . . .teaches us that not only do most people forget who they are, but that the one who remembers is someone whom we think can teach us nothing. And yet in the story, he is the only one who shines. He is the only one with real insight into life. God is central to our personal story, but he is easily forgotten. God will not usually overwhelm us. Jesus portrays God as knocking at the door of our lives, waiting to enter. He will not come uninvited.

– Father Brendan Freeman, O.C.S.O.