Saint Quotes

"Pray, hope, and don't worry." -Padre Pio

"Do not be afraid." - Saint Pope John Paul II

"We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love." -Mother Teresa

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if the drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of the missing drop." -Mother Teresa

"If you are what you should be, you will set the world ablaze!" -Saint Catherine of Siena

“Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.” -Saint Augustine of Hippo

“The nation doesn’t simply need what we have. It needs what we are.” -Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

"You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all." -Saint Therese of Lisieux

"Love God, serve God, everything is in that." -Saint Clare of Assisi

"Apart from the Cross, there is no other ladder by which we can get to heaven." -Saint Rose of Lima

"I am not afraid. I was born to do this." -Saint Joan of Arc

"I fear nothing for God is with me." -Saint Joan of Arc

"My television is the tabernacle." -Mother Teresa

"I will spend my heaven doing good on earth." -Saint Therese of Lisieux

"Love without suffering does not exist." -Saint Bernadette Soubirous

"If you have God as the center of all the action, you will reach your goal." -Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

"For Jesus I am prepared to suffer still more." -Saint Maximilian Kolbe

"Those who seek the truth seek God, whether or not they realize it." -Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

"The smallest thing when done for the love of God is priceless." -Saint Teresa of Avila

"O my Lord, inflame my heart with love for You, that my spirit may not grow weary amidst the storms, the sufferings, and the trials." -Saint Faustina Kowalska

"A saint is a sinner that keeps trying." -Saint Josemaria Escriva

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." -Saint Augustine

Make the Saints Your Friends!

Saint: "a person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven after death." Saints are people who have made it to heaven. Everyone in heaven is a saint, but some saints are recognized by the church for being especially saintly. But being a saint is not far off! Saint Therese wanted to be a saint, and she said, 

"I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by."

Saint Therese is one of the most popular saints ever, but even she found it hard to be a saint. The way Saint Therese tried to be a saint was through her Little Way. 

It is always nice to have a best friend, someone you can talk to, someone who is always watching out for you. I have found that the saints can be my best friends. Even when you move away from your old home, the saints will move along with you. 

Challenge!: Find one saint that will become your new "best friend". Find a quote from them, find a prayer for them, and find an image of them. Find out a lot about your saint, because when you have a best friend, you know about them, right? You know where they live, go to school, and what they like to do. Find out as much as you can about your new best friend. 

Before you make the saints your friends, remember that you are not praying to the saints, you are asking for their intercession. It's like asking a friend to pray for you. You're not praying to them, but you are asking them to pray for you. When we pray for the intercession of a saint, we are really just asking them to ask God for us.

The next time you are praying, ask a saint to intercede for you. They will help you out, and they will never forget about you!

God bless you!

The Rosary

There is a string of beads many Catholics use to pray. It is called the rosary. "Rosary" has roots in Latin, and it means "garden of roses".  The rosary was first given to Saint Dominic by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The rosary consists of 150 Hail Marys in groups of five separated by an Our Father. Each set of ten beads comes with a mystery to pray. If you read some earlier posts about the Rosary Garden, you can find all the mysteries there! There are the Joyful Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries. All of them have to do with the lives of Jesus and Mary.

Challenge!: Find a time to pray at least a decade of the rosary (a decade is just one set of ten beads). My family prays a decade of the rosary each night and a whole rosary on Sundays. Can you make a time with your family to pray the rosary? Remember: Mary is the one who asks us to pray her special prayer! So the next time you see a rosary, pray with it.

(I have a few ideas! If you want to keep your rosary with you all the time, put it in your pocket. If you don't have a pocket, put it in your pencil bag for school! This is a good way to remind you about praying the rosary!)

God bless you!

February, The Month of the Holy Family

February is the Month of the Holy Family. The Holy Family should be the role model for all families, and they show us how to act as a family. Sure, Mary and Jesus were both perfect, and we are nowhere near, but we can still try to act like them!

We can act like Mary when she became selfless when the Angel Gabriel told her she was going to have a Son. Selfless means when you are more concerned about others' needs. How can you be selfless like Mary?

We can act like Joseph when he was obedient when the Angel Gabriel told him in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Obedient means doing what others tell you. How can you be obedient like Joseph?

We can act like Jesus when he was sharing his knowledge with others in the temple. Sharing your knowledge means helping other people learn something they don't know about. How can you share your knowledge (that God gave you) with others like Jesus?

As you can tell, all three members of the Holy Family were very virtuous. If you haven't already noticed, the entire Holy Family shares their virtues! For example, Mary was also obedient when the Angel Gabriel told her she was going to have a Son. Joseph was selfless when he married Mary even though he knew it was going to be tough. Jesus was obedient in the temple when Mary and Joseph told Him to come with them. Mary and Joseph shared their knowledge with Jesus when he was a boy. They taught Him all the things He needed to know, sort of like school!

Now, try to help your family become like the Holy Family! Try to be more selfless, obedient, and share your knowledge with others! 

God Bless you!