David Given Schwarm

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast’ if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself. — St Peter Chrysologus

Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven. – St Rose of Lima

Books are the most wonderful friends in the world. When you meet them and pick them up, they are always ready to give you a few ideas. When you put them down, they never get mad; when you take them up again, they seem to enrich you all the more. — Bl Fulton Sheen

Every fall, even if it be very grave and repeated, serves us always and only as a little step towards a higher perfection. — St Maximilian Kolbe

The more we are afflicted in this world, the greater is our assurance in the next; the more we sorrow in the present, the greater will be our joy in the future. — St Isidore

Faith means battles; if there are no contests, it is because there are none who desire to contend. – St Ambrose of Milan