Every time I pick up Pope Benedict’s new book, Light of the World, I read something so profoundly encouraging, inspiring, and renewing that I’m moved to chills.
Here’s what Pope Benedict XVI said, “We must acknowledge again that we cannot simply live in any way we please. That freedom cannot be arbitrariness [on a personal whim]. That it is imperative to learn to exercise a freedom that is responsibility.”
“Learn to defend your convictions without hating your adversaries and love those who think differently from yourselves.” –Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, one of the founders of St. Vincent de Paul Society, beatified by Pope John Paul II in the cathedral church Notre Dame de Paris in 1997.
“So let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love …”
Mother Teresa
As St. Valentine’s Day draws near we at LightsMyWay begin a series of inspirations and thoughts about love.
“If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
– Mother Teresa
“So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you;” This is a quote from Jesus we may hear often, but don’t forget the next portion: “search, and you will find.” To search is to act. To act is to win.
Just after that comes: “Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” (excerpt from Luke 11:10)
“Then Peter went up to him and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.” -Matthew 18: 21-22
– Mother Teresa
“Young people are threatened… by the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural inclination to avoid hard work by promising the immediate satisfaction of every desire.”
– Pope John Paul II
“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” ~ G.K. Chesterton The Everlasting Man (1925)
God gave us free will, so be strong, going against the grain, sacrificing for real ideals like life, freedom, and nurturing our spirits.
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
Mother Teresa