Top 132 Quotes & Sayings by Mother Angelica - Page 2

Two of man's basic needs are to love and to share. Both of these needs are satisfied in greater or lesser degree by friendship.

Love fills and empties simultaneously. It makes us reach out to God, ready to be pruned, recklessly desiring whatever the cost. It soothes the aching heart and then makes it thirst for more.

Some people spend their time reasoning and thinking out everything, and so anything that cannot be fully understood, they will not accept. We call these people 'intellectuals.'

For me, a thing must exist before I know it, but with God, it is different - he must know it before it has existence.

Every Christian who strives for holiness of life experiences dryness of soul. It is to most people a heart-rending experience. It is a paradox, for the soul becomes confused when it realizes the harder it strives the further away Jesus seems to be.

God's word is always effective and produces whatever it expresses. My words, on the contrary, cannot create anything; I can only change what already is into something else.

Jesus made Himself available to everyone. Unlike former prophets and the religious men of His day, who often kept themselves aloof, Jesus was easy to approach and always ready to give his help.

Saints are ordinary people who love Jesus, try to be like him, are faithful to the duties of their state in life, sacrifice themselves for their neighbor, and keep their hearts and minds free of this world.

Men climb mountains, scale heights, venture into the unexplored to prove to other men it can be done.

The heart of Jesus is compassionate and understanding. It has felt the sting of ingratitude, and when my heart suffers from that same offense, I can turn to him, and he understands my feelings.

Neighbors are competitors instead of partners, suspicious instead of trustful, indifferent instead of helpful, cold instead of loving, greedy instead of generous. We no longer consider ourselves living in neighborhoods, but only as living next to 'hoods.'

Religious life is an encounter with the living God. Sometimes that encounter is preceded by a kind of soul-searching agony that tries desperately not to hear, runs in the opposite direction, and frantically tries to reason itself out of answering the invitation.

For thirty years, Jesus never allowed his divinity to manifest itself. He was infinitely superior to everyone but never showed it.

Jesus was happy when people acknowledged his dignity and saddened when they did not, but he never sought their esteem or regard.

Love has been defined, analyzed, explained and excused. It has been the cause of wars, feuds, heroism, martyrdom, inordinate passion, and beautiful friendships. It pulls two people of opposite temperaments together into a married state and permits them to live happily. It makes friends understand each other without the necessity of words.

To a pagan, there is no purpose to suffering. As a result, he lives a life of loneliness and frustration.

Jesus showed me what it means to be holy - he did his father's will no matter how difficult it was to accomplish.

Today's man of the world proclaims that sin, and his enterprising in sin, are a part of modern living, but it is not modern. It goes back to Adam and Eve - to desire and the temptation to know - to experience evil.

From the time of Adam and Eve, man has tried to escape suffering in any form.

Jesus feels my sorrow greater than I, for his love is infinite, and he suffers in an infinite way.

We often forget that everything we see, animate or inanimate, is a visual manifestation of the work of our invisible God. We have become so accustomed to trees, mountains, sky, air, water, flowers, animals, vegetables and people that we no longer see them for what they are - God's work.

No Christian needs to feel lonely or useless.

Jesus wants us to trust him to take care of all our yesterdays and tomorrows.

Many of us use God's love like the manna in the desert. We take what we need for particular situations and then go our own way - thinking we can handle other situations ourselves.

No man can see God in this life and live because His glory would annihilate our poor, weak human nature.

Some people spend their time and thoughts in feeling, hearing, seeing, and listening. Whatever cannot be felt or experienced they will not accept. We call these people 'emotional.'

Every Christian is important - important to God, to the world, and to the kingdom.

People live, work, walk, play, shop, study, and eat with other people. There are few desert dwellers who live alone without depending in some way on people.

When our weaknesses affect health and friendship, we are very much aware of their existence.

The wisdom of God is so great that He also knows exactly what I would think and do under every possible circumstance and situation, and he placed me in that state of life and situation best suited for my salvation.

Death at times seems like a dark tunnel to be traveled, and the future seems bleak.

The proud intellectual seeks knowledge about God, but he never knows God, because he cannot accept the mysteries that he is unable to fully comprehend.

A family spirit is not always synonymous with family life. Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh makes for brothers, sisters and relatives, who may be as distant as strangers in a foreign land.

Jesus asks me to go to him when I am overburdened. He did not promise to take away those burdens, for I must carry mine as he carried his.

We must look at the personality of Jesus and see him under various circumstances - circumstances not unlike our own - and then praise him by imitating him to the best of our ability.

Each one of us sees Jesus in a different way. To some, He was prophet, for they needed to know the kingdom was at hand. But most of all, He was the son of God, and He came to experience the consequences of the curse the Father had put upon mankind when Adam and Eve disobeyed.

Men are not born saints with special gifts and privileges. They fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, and as they conquer, the spirit of Jesus begins to shine through with more clarity.

I cannot bring Christ to my neighbor and to the world if I have not first given him to my family.

Each one of us has a particular virtue and faults that make the process of becoming like Jesus different.

Jesus was loyal to his apostles, with full knowledge of their cowardice. He was loyal to the poor, accepting the criticism of the Pharisees, so the destitute would never feel deserted. He was loyal to his father, accomplishing his will even unto death.

Everything starts with one person... I don't care if you're 5 or 105, God from all eternity chose you to be where you are, at this time in history, to change the world.

Where most men work for degrees after their names, we work for one before our names: 'St.' It's a much more difficult degree to attain. It takes a lifetime, and you don't get your diploma until you're dead.

God always forgives when you are totally repentant and you desire to change. He forgives... and He never gets tired of forgiving. Never. You may get tired asking. I hope not. He never, never tires of forgiving. Never.

If you want to be holy, if you seek meaning in your life, start looking into your own life and attacking your pride in all of its many forms. God will give you extraordinary light and the ultimate reward of holiness. For your holiness relies not on what you do, but on what you allow God to do through you. Have courage. God will perfect you.

Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach.

You want to do something for the Lord...do it. Whatever you feel needs to be done, even though youre shaking in your boots, youre scared to death -- take the first step forward. The grace comes with that one step and you get the grace as you step. Being afraid is not a problem; its doing nothing when you feel afraid.

Faith is what gets you started. Hope is what keeps you going. Love is what brings you to the end.

Never put a lid on God. You can give God a thimble and ask for a quart. It won't work. Your plans, your projects, your dreams have to always be bigger than you, so God has room to operate. I want you to get good ideas, crazy ideas, extravagant ideas. Nothing is too much for The Lord to do - accent on 'The Lord'.

Those who tell the Truth love you. Those who tell you what you want to hear love themselves.

Holiness is not for wimps and the cross is not negotiable, sweetheart, it's a requirement.

God wants you to be in the world, but so different from the world that you will change it. Get cracking.

Simply believing in the existence of God is not exactly what I would call a commitment. After all, even the devil believes that God exists. Believing has to change the way we live.

I'm not afraid to fail...I'm scared to death of dying and having the Lord say to me, 'Angelica, this is what you might have done had you trusted more.

Sometimes my worst day - one filled with pain and suffering - in the eyes of God, is my best day if I've born it cheerfully and I've born it with love.

We are commanded to love God with all our strength, heart, mind and soul and our neighbor in the same way God loves us - it is the same love flowing between God and the soul - the soul and its neighbor. It is difficult, but the burden of the cross is light compared to the cross of uncontrolled emotions, anger, insistence on one's own opinion, the frustration of trying to change others rather than being changed oneself, resentment, regrets and guilt. Accepting the present moment like Jesus did is certainly a lighter burden.

You can't go to Heaven hating somebody. Forgive now. Be compassionate now. Be patient now. Be grateful now. Love Jesus and Mary now. Accept God's will now.

It's your obligation to speak the truth, and everyone can either take it or leave it. But truth must be in us. We live in such a poverty of truth today.

Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous. When you have God, you don’t have to know everything about it; you just do it.

We are all called to be great saints, don't miss the opportunity.

If you're not a thorn in somebody's side, you aren't doing Christianity right.