'Personal Stories of Inspiration' Section

Affliction Measured According to Our Need

"God measures out affliction according to our need." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)

Also See: Suffering / Death (Reflections)

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All Things Are Ordered By God For Our Good

"We must remember that all incapacity and distress is sent to us by God. Life and death, health and sickness, are all ordered by Him; and in whatever form they come, it is always to help us and for our good." (St. Vincent de Paul)

Also See: Suffering / Death (Reflections) | Our Father's Love (Reflections)

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All Things Are Possible

"All things are possible for him who believes, more to him who hopes, even more to him who loves." (St. Lawrence of Brindisi)

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Courageous Endurance Makes a Man Strong

"For as a victory in battle bears witness to the strength of the soldiers, so a courageous endurance of labors and temptations will make a man strong." (St. Cyril, Doctor of the Church)

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Faith Triumphs Over All

"For faith is able to resist all, and to triumph over all." (St. Cyril, Doctor of the Church)

Also See: Feed Your Faith (Reflections)

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Healing Remedy of Jesus' Name

Also See: Jesus (Topic Page)

"If thou dost debate or converse, I find no pleasure in thy words, unless I hear there the name of Jesus. Jesus is honey on the lips, melody in the ear, joy in the heart. Yet not alone is that name light and food. It is also a remedy. Is any one amongst you sad? Let the name of Jesus enter his heart; let it leap thence to his mouth; and lo! the light shining from that name shall scatter every cloud and restore peace. Has some one perpetrated a crime, and then misled, moved despairingly towards the snare of death? Let him but invoke this life-giving name, and straightway he shall find courage once more... Whoever, all a-tremble in the presence of danger, has not immediately felt his spirits revive and his fears depart as soon as he called upon this name of power? There is nothing so powerful as the name of Jesus to check anger, reduce the swelling of pride, heal the smarting wound of envy." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church)

Also See: Suffering / Death (Reflections) | Prayers / Devotions Section

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The More Peril in Battle, the Greater Joy in Triumph

"Strife or struggle arising from the opposition of an external thing, hinders delight in that thing. For a man delights not in a thing against which he strives: but in that for which he strives; when he has obtained it, other things being equal, he delights yet more: wherefore [St.] Augustine says (Confessiones viii,3) that 'the more peril there was in the battle, the greater the joy in the triumph.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

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Patience / Trials

"Patience is a perfect sacrifice that we can offer to God, because in our trials we do nothing but accept from His hands the cross that He sends us." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)

"Then, be it that the 'earth is accursed' and brings forth 'thistles and thorns,'- be it that the soul is saddened with grief and the body with sickness; even so, there will be no evil which the envy of man or the rage of devils can invent, nor calamity which can fall upon the individual or the community, over which we shall not triumph by the patience of suffering. For this reason it has been truly said that 'it belongs to the Christian to do and to endure great things,' for he who deserves to be called a Christian must not shrink from following in the footsteps of Christ." (Pope Leo XIII, "Laetitiae Sanctae", 1893)

"Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, because 'the Lord is compassionate and merciful.'" (St. James, Jms. 5:10-11)

Also See: Suffering / Death (Reflections) | Scripture / Parables Section

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Recalling Pleasant / Sad Things to Mind

"Sad things, called to mind, cause pleasure, not in so far as they are sad and contrary to pleasant things; but in so far as man is delivered from them. In like manner the recollection of pleasant things, by reason of these being lost, may cause sadness." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"The recollection of sadness becomes a cause of pleasure, on account of the deliverance which ensued: because absence of evil is looked upon as something good; wherefore so far as a man thinks that he has been delivered from that which caused him sorrow and pain, so much reason has he to rejoice. Hence [St.] Augustine says in De Civitate Dei xxii,31 that 'oftentimes in joy we call to mind sad things ... and in the season of health we recall past pains without feeling pain... and in proportion are the more filled with joy and gladness': and again (Confessiones viii,3) he says that 'the more peril there was in the battle, so much the more joy will there be in the triumph.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

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Sharing Others' Joys / Sorrows

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." (St. Paul, Rom. 12:15)

"[W]hen many rejoice together, each one has more exuberant joy, for they are kindled and inflamed one by the other." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"Moreover, when in the mystical body of Christ, which is the Church, all the members are united and flourish, it results, according to St. Paul, that the joy or pain of one member is shared by all the rest, so that if one of the brethren in Christ is suffering in mind or body the others come to his help and succor him as far as in them lies. The members are solicitous in regard of each other, and if one member suffer all the members suffer in sympathy, and if one member rejoice all the others rejoice also." (Pope Leo XIII, "Octobri Mense", 1891)

"In either case there is a proof of friendship, viz. when a man rejoices with the joyful, and when he sorrows with the sorrowful." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"[T]hose who are in pain are consoled when their friends sympathize with them...When one is in pain, it is natural that the sympathy of a friend should afford consolation: whereof the Philosopher indicates a twofold reason (Ethica Nicomachea ix,11). The first is because, since sorrow has a depressing effect, it is like a weight whereof we strive to unburden ourselves: so that when a man sees others saddened by his own sorrow, it seems as though others were bearing the burden with him, striving, as it were, to lessen its weight; wherefore the load of sorrow becomes lighter for him: something like what occurs in the carrying of bodily burdens. The second and better reason is because when a man's friends condole with him, he sees that he is loved by them, and this affords him pleasure... Consequently, since every pleasure assuages sorrow..., it follows that sorrow is mitigated by a sympathizing friend." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"It belongs to the same virtue to love a man and to rejoice about him, since joy results from love... wherefore love is reckoned a virtue, rather than joy, which is an effect of love." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

Also See: Catholic Life (Reflections) | Scripture / Parables Section

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The Ultimate Triumph

"When the Lord ascended into heaven, the disciples adoring Him where His feet lately stood, immediately return to Jerusalem, where they were commanded to wait for the promise of the Father, for it follows, 'And they worshipped him, and returned...' Great indeed was their joy, for they rejoice that their God and Lord after the triumph of His resurrection had also passed into the heavens." (St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church)

Also See: Catholic Basics (Reflections)

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