January 2005 Quotations

January 1

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

-Michaelangelo

January 2

Dear Lord, give bread to the hungry, and hunger for Thee to those who have bread.

-Anonymous

January 3

Lord, your hand of love is always stretched out toward me, even when I stubbornly look the other way.

St. Teresa of Avila

January 4

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

-Maori Proverb

January 5

Give graciously to all the living; do not withhold kindness even from the dead.  Do not avoid those who weep, but mourn with those who mourn.

-Sirach 7:33-34

 

January 6

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.

-Theodore Isaac Rubin

January 7

The peculiar grace of a Shaker chair is due to the fact that it was made by someone capable of believing an angel might come and sit on it.

-Thomas Merton

January 8

Few Things will liberate you faster and move you more quickly along your inner paths than doing the things you fear.

-Elaine St. James

January  9

Nothing matters; everything matters.  "It is a key of entrance into suffering.  One who knows only one-half of the paradox can never enter that door of mystery and survive.

-Thomas Kelly

January 10

We should consider those moments spent before the Blessed sacrament as the happiest of our lives.

-St. John Vianney

January 11

Those who dance appear insane to those who cannot hear the music.

-Anonymous

January 12

So you, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And what you heard from me through many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well.  Bear your share of hardship along with me like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

-2 Timothy2:2-3

January 13

Every time I'm out under the sky, I know I'm in church.

-Pete Seeger

January  14

There's nothing worth the wear of winning but laughter, and the love of friends.

-Hilaire Belloc

January  15

Grace always attendeth him that is truly thankful.

-Thomas Kempis

January  16

Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

January 17

Hope is hearing the melody of the future.  Faith is dancing to it today.

Ruben Alvez

January 18

It is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity.

-George Eliot

January 19

Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross.

-Hebrews 12:1-2

January   20

Rightly has a friend been called "the half of my soul"

-St. Augustine

January  21

It's easy to be independent when you've got money.  But to be independent when you haven't got a thing--that's the Lord's test.

-Mahalia Jackson

January 22

Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight:  Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary.

-Sir James M. Barrie

January  23

Remember that you will derive much strength by reflecting that the saints yearn for you to join their ranks;  desire to see you fight bravely, and behave like a true knight in your encounters with the same adversities which they had to conquer, and that breathtaking joy is their eternal reward for having endured a few years of temporal pain.  Every drop of earthly bitterness will be changed into an ocean of heavenly sweetness.

-Bl. Henry Suso

January  24

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

-Mignon McLaughlin

January  25

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

-Emerson

January 26

What you are is  God's Gift to you,

What you become is your gift to God.

-Author Unknown

January 27

Never address your words to God while you are thinking of something else.

-St. Teresa of Avila

January 28

How much did I hear of religion as a child?  Very little, and yet my heart leaped when I heard the name of God.  I do believe every soul has a tendency toward God.

-Dorothy Day

January  29

 If you wish, you can be taught

If you apply yourself,

you will be shrewd.

If you are willing to listen,

you will learn.

If you give heed, you will be wise.

Frequent the company of elders;

whoever is wise, stay close to that person.

Be eager to hear every discourse openly;

Let no wise saying escape you.

If you see someone of prudence,

seek that person out.

Reflect on these precepts,

Let them be your constant meditation.

Then you will be enlightened

and wisdom shall be yours.

-Author Unknown

January  30

Life is like a great jazz riff.  You sense the end the very moment you were wanting it to go on forever.

-Sheila Ballantyne

January 31

Christ is all, and in all.

-Colossians 3:11