Favourite Christian quotes

[Sacha Saint Francis]

I'll start it off with a quote from St. Francis De Sales work "Introduction to the Devout Life" published in the year 1608, at about the same time that Shakespeare published his Anthony and Cleopatra.

"There are four chief means of placing yourself in the presence of God. The first of which consists of a keen and attentive realizing of God's omnipresence; that He is in all and everywhere: that there is no place nor thing in the world where He is not; so that, as the birds, let them fly where they will, always meet the air, so we, let us go where we will, be where we will, shall always be where God is.

We all know this as an intellectual truth, but we do not always receive and act upon it. A blind man does not see his sovereign, but if he is informed of his presence he maintains an attitude of reverence: yet not seeing the object of respect he easily forgets that it is present, and so forgetting soon loses his reverence. So with us, we do not see God, and although faith warns us that He is present, yet not seeing Him with our own eyes we soon forget it and act as though He were afar off. For though as a mere matter of reasoning we know that He is everywhere, if we do not think about it, the result is the same as if we did not know it.

For this reason, we should always, before we pray, excite our souls to an attentive recollection of the presence of God."

 

[BlackRain]

"God's treasure is like an infinite ocean, yet a
little wave of feeling, passing with the moment,
contents us. blind as we are, we hinder God, and stop
the current of His graces. but when He finds a soul
permeated with a living faith, He pours into it His
graces and His favors plentiously; into the soul they
flow like a torrent, which, after being forcibly
stopped against it's ordinary course, when it has
found a passion, spreads with impetuosity it's pent-up
flood."
-brother lawrence

gotta love The Practice of the Presence of God!! if you've never read it, i highly encourage you to. it's not long and it's only like 5 bucks.

 

[Sacha Saint Francis]

Nice one BlackRain! Who is Brother Lawrence BTW?

Here's another one I like, This is a prayer by the Christian martyr, Statesman, Husband and father, St. Thomas Moore:

"Give me the grace, good Lord, to set the world at naught,
to set my mind fast upon Thee, and not to hang upon
the blast of men's mouths, to be content to be solitary.
Not to long for worldy company, but utterly to cast off
the world and rid my mind of the business thereof."

 

[soblessed53]

"None so empty of grace as he that thinks he is full."-Thomas Watson

It's only forgetting yourself that you draw near to God. -- Henry David Thoreau

In whatever direction you turn, you will see God coming to meet you; nothing is void of him, he himself fills all his work. -- Seneca The Younger

The purpose of Christianity is not to avoid difficulty, but to produce a character adequate to meet it when it comes. It does not make life easy; rather it tries to make us great enough for life. -- James L. Christensen

A Christian is a keyhole through which other folk see God. -- Robert E. Gibson

We should live our lives as though Christ was coming this afternoon Jimmy Carter

[font=Arial, Helvetica, adobe-helvetica, Arial Narrow]Be ye fishers of men - you catch them & He'll clean them. Author Unknown[/font]​

[font=Arial, Helvetica, adobe-helvetica, Arial Narrow]Be ye fishers of men - you catch them & He'll clean them.[/font]​

 

[mamabear4]

"The fires of sorrow burn up a great amount of shallowness." Oswald Chambers

 

[soblessed53]

Never heard that,it's good,though

 

[Sacha Saint Francis]

"The fires of sorrow burn up a great amount of shallowness." Oswald Chambers

Aaaaaahhh Brilliant! As are SoBlessed's quotes. Thanks everyone for sharing and praise be to God!

Here's another nice one,

"It is very good and holy to consider the passion of our Lord, and to meditate on it, for by this sacred path we reach union with God. Love is a unifying virtue which takes upon itself the torments of its beloved Lord. It is a fire reaching through to the inmost soul. It transforms the lover into the one loved. (In contemplating the cross) more deeply, love intermingled with grief, and grief with love, and a certain blending of love and grief occurs. They become so united that we can no longer distinguish love from grief nor grief from love. Thus the loving heart rejoices in its sorrow and exults in its grieving love.

Therefore be constant in practicing every virtue, and especially in imitating the patience of our dear Jesus, for this is the summit of pure love. Live in such a way that all may know that you bear outwardly as well as inwardly the image of Christ crucified, the model of all gentleness and mercy".

This was written by St. Paul of the Cross, who devoted his life working as a Priest to care for the poor and the sick of Liguria. He died October 19th, 1694.

Prayer: Father, you gave our Christian brother, Saint Paul, a very special love for the cross of Christ. May his example inspire us to embrace our own cross with courage! Amen

 

[Peaceful Dove]

I know St Theresa of Avilla is credited as saying my favorite Christian quote the question seems to be the circumstances in which she says it. This seems to be the most popular one.

Sister, Saint Theresa was riding along in a small wagon when the wheels hit a bump and the lady was tossed out and onto her backside.
She looked up to heaven and said,

"Lord, If this is the way you treat your friends, it's no wonder you have so few!”

 

[NorwayUnn]

www.dayspring.com


- I think this is a real good one:

''WITH GOD, TIMING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TIME''

 

[soblessed53]

Yes, it is so very thought provoking isn't it? Lovely page.

 

[Lil'_Miss_Princess_Aimz]

hey Norway..

i really like urs!!

 

[Sacha Saint Francis]

Nice one Norway Thanks for sharing. I love this yummy yummy food for thought. It makes for a good breakfast.

 

[Sacha Saint Francis]

O Lord and Master of my life,
take from me the spirit of laziness,
despair, lust of power and idle talk,

But give rather the spirit of
Chastity, Humility, Patience,
and Love to Thy servant,

Yes, O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own transgressions,
and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.
Amen.​

This was written by St. Ephraem the Syrian in about 350 AD. Here's a brief introduction to this fabulous writer of the early Christian Church:

Born at Nisibis, then under Roman rule, early in the fourth century; died June, 373. The name of his father is unknown, but he was a pagan and a priest of the goddess Abnil. His mother was a native of Amid. Ephraem was instructed in the Christian mysteries by St. James, the famous Bishop of Nisibis, and was baptized at the age of twenty-eight. Thenceforth he became more friendly with the bishop, who availed himself of the services of Ephraem to renew the moral life of the citizens of Nisibis, especially during the sieges of 338, 346, and 350. He lived as a hermit and wrote many works that were successful in combatting some ten heresies against the Christian faith.

 

[NorwayUnn]

That was a beautiful prayer. Thanks for sharing it with us.