Our Father's Love Section

Also See: God (Topic Page)

"...all that have eyes and understanding know God's loving-kindness toward man and the liberal bounty He exercises in our behalf. Wherever we cast our eyes, wherever we turn our thoughts, the admirable light of the divine goodness and beneficence beams upon us What have we that is not the gift of His bounty? If, then, all these things are the gifts and favors bestowed on us by His goodness, why should not everyone, as much as possible, celebrate the praises of God, and thank Him for His boundless beneficence." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"Man, who among the things that exist is reckoned as nothing, as ashes, as grass, as vanity, is made the familiar of such and so great a Majesty as can neither be seen, nor heard, nor reckoned. Man is received and accounted as son by the God of the universe. Who can discover a way of giving thanks worthily for such a gift? With what voice, with what thought, what movement of the heart, can man sing the praises of this superlative gift? Man transcends his own nature: from mortal he is made immortal, from brazen, unalloyed, from ephemeral, eternal, and in short, from man, a god. For if he is made worthy of becoming a son of God he will have entirely in himself the dignity of the Father, and will be heir to all the paternal goods. O, the liberality of that wealthy Master!" (St. Gregory of Nyssa, 4th century A.D.)

"Now of all the gifts which God vouchsafed to mankind after they had fallen away by sin, the chief is that He gave His Son; wherefore it is written (John 3:16): 'God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"God's gifts, therefore, we must use properly and wisely, lest the material for good work should become an occasion of sin. For wealth, after its kind and regarded as a means, is good and is of the greatest advantage to human society, when it is in the hands of the benevolent and open-handed, and when the luxurious man does not squander nor the miser hoard it; for whether ill-stored or unwisely spent it is equally lost." (Pope St. Leo the Great, Doctor of the Church)

"For faith gives our minds such a capacity for the heavenly gifts, that whatsoever we will we may easily obtain from a faithful Master." (Bl. Rabanus Maurus)

"But He would not so encourage us to ask were He not willing to give. Let human slothfulness blush, He is more willing to give than we to receive." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Our Lord Jesus Christ, Lk. 11:13)

"As to all those who by baptism are born again, the door of the kingdom of heaven is opened, so all in baptism receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit." (Remigius, as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)

"[T]he gift of the Holy Ghost, by coming into the soul endows it with prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, and at the same time strengthens it against every kind of temptation by His sevenfold gift" (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church)

"Wherefore, just as the moral virtues are united together in prudence, so the gifts of the Holy Ghost are connected together in charity: so that whoever has charity has all the gifts of the Holy Ghost, none of which can one possess without charity." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"The gifts of the Holy Ghost perfect man in matters concerning a good life" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"[T]he gifts of the Holy Ghost are habits whereby man is perfected to obey readily the Holy Ghost." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"[T]he gifts of the Holy Ghost dispose all the powers of the soul to be amenable to the Divine motion." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"As the Son is properly called the Image because He proceeds by way of a word, whose nature it is to be the similitude of its principle, although the Holy Ghost also is like to the Father; so also, because the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father as love, He is properly called Gift, although the Son, too, is given. For that the Son is given is from the Father's love, according to the words, 'God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son' (John 3:16)." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"So then (our) faith is given to us: and no small gift it is. Wherefore rejoice if you believe; but be not lifted up, for what have you which you did not receive? And that this grace is given to some, and not to others, no one can doubt, without going against the plainest declarations of Scripture. As for the question, why it is not given to all, this cannot disquiet the believer, who knows that in consequence of the sin of one man, all are justly liable to condemnation; and that no blame could attach to God, even if none were pardoned; it being of His great mercy only that so many are. And why He pardons one rather than another, rests with Him, whose judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"The excellence of the gifts can be measured in two ways: first, simply, viz. by comparison to their proper acts as proceeding from their principles; secondly, relatively, viz. by comparison to their matter. If we consider the excellence of the gifts simply, they follow the same rule as the virtues, as to their comparison one with another; because the gifts perfect man for all the acts of the soul's powers, even as the virtues do... Hence, as the intellectual virtues have the precedence of the moral virtues, and among the intellectual virtues, the contemplative are preferable to the active, viz. wisdom, understanding and science to prudence and art (yet so that wisdom stands before understanding, and understanding before science, and prudence and synesis before eubulia): so also among the gifts, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel are more excellent than piety, fortitude, and fear; and among the latter, piety excels fortitude, and fortitude fear, even as justice surpasses fortitude, and fortitude temperance. But in regard to their matter, fortitude and counsel precede knowledge and piety: because fortitude and counsel are concerned with difficult matters, whereas piety and knowledge regard ordinary matters. Consequently the excellence of the gifts corresponds with the order in which they are enumerated; but so far as wisdom and understanding are given the preference to the others, their excellence is considered simply, while, so far, as counsel and fortitude are preferred to knowledge and piety, it is considered with regard to their matter." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

Also See: Divine Providence | Thanksgiving for Blessings Received

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Divine Providence

Also See: God (Topic Page)

"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)

"God in his providence orders all things, even the slightest, through the eternal forethought of his wisdom and all things that act do so as instruments moved by him, serving him obediently in order to bring forth into the world the order of providence mediated, so to speak, from eternity. And if everything capable of acting must act as his minister, no agent can prevent the realization of divine providence by acting in opposition." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"With the confidence of a son, rest in the care and love that divine Providence has for you in all your needs. Look upon Providence as a child does its mother who loves him tenderly. You can be sure that God loves you incomparably more." (St. Jane Frances de Chantal)

"I firmly believe, and in this I find joy, that God guides those who give themselves up to his leading and that he takes care of the least things that concern him." (St. Claude de la Colombiere)

"Notice, dear children, how lovingly eternal Wisdom knows how to order all things so that people imagine that they have suffered a great loss, but God has turned it to their great advantage. It also diminishes their purgatory and garners them a great reward." (Bl. Henry Suso)

"I will always keep in mind this truth: all that happens to me is a disposition and an effect of your Providence, firmly convinced that you take as much care of me as if I were the only one in the world." (Bl. John Martin Moye)

"[A]ll things are subject to divine providence" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"Every evil that God does, or permits to be done, is directed to some good; yet not always to the good of those in whom the evil is, but sometimes to the good of others, or of the whole universe: thus He directs the sin of tyrants to the good of the martyrs, and the punishment of the lost to the glory of His justice." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"To Him then leave the care of directing the body, by whose aid you see it to come to pass that you have a body of such a stature." (St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church)

"For human providence is included under the providence of God, as a particular under a universal cause. God, however, extends His providence over the just in a certain more excellent way than over the wicked; inasmuch as He prevents anything happening which would impede their final salvation. For 'to them that love God, all things work together unto good' (Romans 8:28). But from the fact that He does not restrain the wicked from the evil of sin, He is said to abandon them: not that He altogether withdraws His providence from them; otherwise they would return to nothing, if they were not preserved in existence by His providence." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

Also See: Blessings & Gifts of God | God's Love | Thanksgiving for Blessings Received

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Also See: God (Topic Page)

"[W]hen man lifts up his mind to the light of guidance from on high, the Lord will be with him, and the dangers of temptations will be laid asleep." (St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church)

"Our Lord did not forbid us to take thought, when we have the opportunity, about what we ought to do or say, but, in the words quoted, He encourages His disciples, so that when they had no opportunity of taking thought, either through lack of knowledge or through a sudden call, they should trust in the guidance of God alone, because 'as we know not what to do, we can only turn our eyes to God,' according to 2 Paralipomenon [2 Chronicles] 20:12: else if man, instead of doing what he can, were to be content with awaiting God's assistance, he would seem to tempt God." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

Also See: Divine Providence

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God's Love

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God is Love

God Loves All Things

God's Love & Crosses

God's Love & Kindness

God's Love is Enduring

How Much God Loves Us

When God's Love For Us Began

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God's Love / Jesus Christ

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Christ's Love for the Church

Christ's Passion / Sufferings

The Holy Eucharist

The Incarnation

Jesus' Love & Kindness

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

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Love of God

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God Seeks Our Love

God Wants to Be Loved Wisely

How to Love God

Love of God / Love of Neighbor

Our Love For God

Proving One's Love for God 

Treatise on the Love of God

We Need to Love God

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The Mercy of God

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God's Great / Inexhaustible Mercy

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"It would be a monstrous ingratitude to receive daily many blessings of the Divine goodness, and not to acknowledge your gratitude, if not in deeds, at any rate, in words and canticles. Besides that, if this gratitude is due to Him, it is no less advantageous to ourselves. God has no need of us, but we have every need of Him. The thanksgiving which we offer to Him adds nothing to what He is, but it helps us to love Him more, and to repose a greater confidence in Him. For if the remembrance of benefits we have received from men induces us to love them more, there can be no doubt that, meditating on the graces which Almighty God has showered upon us, we should naturally feel more desire to love Him, more prompt to obey Him." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)

"Since it is most fitting for Us to show Our obedience and devotion as consecrated Pope by offering praise to the Lord, We cannot stifle Our exclamations of exultation as We praise Him and cry with the prophet: 'Let Our mouth speak the praise of the Lord and Our soul, spirit, flesh and tongue bless His holy name.' 'But if it is religious conduct to rejoice at a grace, it is also necessary to be anxious about deserving it. For what is so fearful as toil to the weak, height to the lowly and rank to one who does not deserve it?'" (Pope Pius VI, "Inscrutabile", 1775)

"For it is a sign, not of a modest, but an ungrateful mind, to keep silence on the kindnesses of God" (Pope St. Leo the Great, Doctor of the Church)

"We must take to heart, brothers, from what stuff we were created, who we were and what kind of creatures we were when we entered the world, as if from a tomb and from utter darkness. Having prepared for us bountifully before we were born, He who fashioned us and created us brought us into His world. Since, then, we owe all this to Him, we ought to give Him thanks for everything." (Pope St. Clement I)

Also See: Blessings & Gifts of God | Prayers / Devotions Section

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Trust in God

Also See: God (Topic Page)

"Entrust yourself entirely to God. He is a Father and a most loving Father at that, who would rather let heaven and earth collapse than to abandon anyone who trusted in Him." (St. Paul of the Cross)

Also See: Divine Providence | God's Guidance | God's Love

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"Unanswered Prayers"

Also See: Catholic Prayers (Topic Page)

"We must understand, then, that even though God doesn't always give us what we want, He give us what we need for our salvation." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"He who faithfully prays to God for the necessaries of this life is both mercifully heard, and mercifully not heard. For the physician knows better than the sick man what is good for the disease." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"For God will either grant what is asked, and thus they will obtain their wishes; or He will not grant it, and that will be a most certain proof that what is denied by the good of Him is not conducive either to their interest or their salvation, since He is more desirous of their eternal welfare than they themselves." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"Everything is possible to God, but not everything is profitable for mankind. God does whatever is profitable and fitting for man"

"I thank you, dear Jesus, that your will and not mine has been done." (St. Frances Xavier Cabrini)

"But the Lord is good, who often gives us not what we would, that He may give us what we should rather prefer." (St. Isidore of Seville, Doctor of the Church)

"The goodness of God knows how to use our disordered wishes and actions, often lovingly turning them to our advantage while always preserving the beauty of His order." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church)

"This is what the Lord says in another place, Whatever you shall ask in my name believing, you shall receive. Therefore when we receive not, it is not the weakness of Him that gives, but the fault of them that ask." (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church)

"So blind is our mortality, and so unaware what will fall, so unsure also what manner of mind we will have tomorrow, that God could not lightly do man a more vengeance than in this world to grant him his own foolish wishes." (St. Thomas More)

"[If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?' (Mt. 7:11)] He says 'good things', because God does not give all things to them that ask Him, but only good things." (Pseudo-Chrys, as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)

"But whenever we are not heard when we pray, it is either because we ask something adverse to the means of our salvation; or because the perverseness of those for whom we ask hinders its being granted to them; or because the performance of our request is put off to a future time, that our desires may wax stronger, and so may have more perfect capacity for the joys they seek after." (Bl. Rabanus Maurus)

"In that God sometimes delays His gifts, He but recommends, and does not deny them. For that which is long looked for is sweeter when obtained; but that is held cheap, which comes at once. Ask then and seek things righteous. For by asking and seeking grows the appetite of taking. God reserves for you those things which He is not willing to give you at once, that you may learn greatly to desire great things. Therefore we ought always to pray and not to fail." (St. Isidore of Seville, Doctor of the Church)

"Next we must remember that if by prayers and supplications we are not delivered from evil, we should endure our afflictions with patience, convinced that it is the will of God that we should so endure them. If, therefore, God hear not our prayers, we are not to yield to feelings of peevishness or discontent; we must submit in all things to the divine will and pleasure, regarding as useful and salutary to us that which happens in accordance with the will of God, not that which is agreeable to our own wishes." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"For whenever you ask and receive not, it is because your request was improperly made, either without faith, or lightly, or for things which are not good for you, or because you left off praying. But some frequently make the objection, 'Why pray we? Is God then ignorant of what we have need?' He knows undoubtedly, and gives us richly all temporal things even before we ask. But we must first desire good works, and the kingdom of heaven; and then having desired, ask in faith and patience, bringing into our prayers whatever is good for us, convicted of no offense by our own conscience." (St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church)

"See the mercy of God, that He thinks rather of man's benefit than of His own honor; He loves concord in the faithful more than offerings at His altar; for so long as there are dissensions among the faithful, their gift is not looked upon, their prayer is not heard. For no one can be a true friend at the same time to two who are enemies to each other. In like manner, we do not keep our fealty to God, if we do not love His friends and hate His enemies. But such as was the offense, such should also be the reconciliation. If you have offended in thought, be reconciled in thought; if in words, be reconciled in words; if in deeds, in deeds be reconciled. For so it is in every sin, in whatsoever kind it was committed, in that kind is the penance done." (Pseudo-Chrys, as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)

"In these words (cf. Lk. 11:9-13) our Savior gives us a very necessary piece of instruction. For oftentimes we rashly, from the impulse of pleasure, give way to hurtful desires. When we ask any such thing from God, we shall not obtain it. To show this, He brings an obvious example from those things which are before our eyes, in our daily experience. For when your son asks of you bread, you give it him gladly, because he seeks a wholesome food. But when from want of understanding he asks for a stone to eat, you give it not to him, but rather hinder him from satisfying his hurtful desire." (St. Cyril, Doctor of the Church)

"But some one may seek to know, how it comes that they who pray are not heard? To which we must answer, that whoso sets about seeking in the right way, omitting none of those things which avail to the obtaining of our requests, shall really receive what he has prayed to be given him. But if a man turns away from the object of a right petition, and asks not as it becomes him, he does not ask. And therefore it is, that when he does not receive, as is here promised, there is no falsehood. For so also when a master says, 'Whoever will come to me, he shall receive the gift of instruction;' we understand it to imply a person going in real earnest to a master, that he may zealously and diligently devote himself to his teaching. Hence too James says, you ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, namely, for the sake of vain pleasures. But some one will say, Nay, when men ask to obtain divine knowledge, and to recover their virtue they do not obtain? To which we must answer, that they sought not to receive the good things for themselves, but that thereby they might reap praise." [Origen ("the greatest scholar of Christian antiquity" - although he would eventually be excommunicated and be regarded as a heretic), 3rd century A.D.]

"Accordingly if this other thing that we ask for ourselves be not useful for our beatitude, we do not merit it; and sometimes by asking for and desiring such things we lose merit for instance if we ask of God the accomplishment of some sin, which would be an impious prayer. And sometimes it is not necessary for salvation, nor yet manifestly contrary thereto; and then although he who prays may merit eternal life by praying, yet he does not merit to obtain what he asks for. Hence [St.] Augustine says (Liber Sententarium Prosperi ccxii): 'He who faithfully prays God for the necessaries of this life, is both mercifully heard, and mercifully not heard. For the physician knows better than the sick man what is good for the disease.' For this reason, too, Paul was not heard when he prayed for the removal of the sting in his flesh, because this was not expedient. If, however, we pray for something that is useful for our beatitude, through being conducive to salvation, we merit it not only by praying, but also by doing other good deeds: therefore without any doubt we receive what we ask for, yet when we ought to receive it: 'since certain things are not denied us, but are deferred that they may be granted at a suitable time,' according to [St.] Augustine (Tractatus 102 in Joannis): and again this may be hindered if we persevere not in asking for it. Wherefore Basil says (De Constitutione Monachorum i): 'The reason why sometimes thou hast asked and not received, is because thou hast asked amiss, either inconsistently, or lightly, or because thou hast asked for what was not good for thee, or because thou hast ceased asking.' Since, however, a man cannot condignly merit eternal life for another..., it follows that sometimes one cannot condignly merit for another things that pertain to eternal life. For this reason we are not always heard when we pray for others... Hence it is that four conditions are laid down; namely, to ask - 'for ourselves - things necessary for salvation - piously - perseveringly'; when all these four concur, we always obtain what we ask for." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

Also See: Divine Providence | God's Love | Answered Prayers Section | Prayers / Devotions Section

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"God did not make the first man because He needed company, but because He wanted someone to whom He could show His generosity and love." (St. Irenaeus of Lyons)

"For God formed the world not from materials of any sort, but created it from nothing, and that not by constraint or necessity, but spontaneously, and of His own free will. Nor was He impelled to create by any other cause than a desire to communicate His goodness to creatures. Being essentially happy in Himself, He stands not in need of anything" (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"[God] created man, not that He might Himself profit in any way by man's service, but because He is good. He made him for the sharing of His own happiness" (St. Hilary of Poitiers, Doctor of the Church, circa 365 A.D.)

Also See: God's Love 

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Misc. / Our Father's Love

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