Quote/s of the Day – 25 November – Speaking of: Mercy

Quote/s of the Day – 25 November – Monday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:1-4

Speaking of:  Mercy

“What sort of people are we?
When God gives, we want to receive,
when He asks, we refuse to give?
When a poor man is hungry,
Christ is in need, as He said Himself:
“I was hungry and you gave me no food” (v. 42).
Take care not to despise the hardship of the poor,
if you would hope, without fear,
to have your sins forgiven…
What He receives on earth,
He returns in heaven!”

“I put you this question, dearly beloved –
what is it you want,
what is it you are looking for,
when you come to church?
What indeed if not mercy?
Show mercy on earth and you will receive mercy in heaven.
A poor man is begging from you
and you are begging from God,
he asks for a scrap, you ask for eternal life…
And so when you come to church
give whatever alms you can to the poor
in accordance with your means.”

“So hold fast to the sweet and salutary bond of love,
without which,
the rich are poor
and with which the poor are rich.
What do the rich possess if not charity? (…)
And since “God is love,” (1 Jn 4:8) as John the evangelist says,
what can the poor lack,
if they merit to possess God by means of charity? (…)
So love, dearest brethren
and hold fast to charity.
without which no-one
will ever see God.”

Saint Caesarius of Arles (470-543)

“When we attend to the needs of those in want,
we give them what is theirs, not ours.
More than performing works of mercy,
we are paying a debt of justice.”

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Father of the Fathers”

“The poor are our masters,
let us love them and serve them,
as we would serve
Jesus Christ Himself. “

Blessed Vincenza Maria Poloni (1802-1855)

“Yours must be a work of love, of kindness,
you must give your time, your talents, yourselves.
The poor person is a unique person of God’s fashioning
with an inalienable right to respect.
You must not be content with tiding the poor over the poverty crisis,
You must study their condition
and the injustices which brought about such poverty,
with the aim of a long term improvement.”

“It is our vocation to set people’s hearts ablaze,
to do what the Son of God did,
who came to light a fire on earth
in order to set it ablaze with His love.”

“I would like to embrace
the whole world
in a network of charity.”

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813–1853)
“Servant to the Poor”
and Founder of the St Vincent de Paul Society

“True friendship with Jesus
is expressed in how one lives,
in the goodness of one’s heart,
in one’s humility, kindness and mercy,
in one’s love for justice and truth,
in one’s sincere commitment
to peace and reconciliation.
This, we might say, is the ‘identity card’
that qualifies us as true ‘friends,’
it is the ‘passport’
that will let us enter eternal life.”

Pope Benedict XVI
Angelus, 26 August 2007