St. Philip Neri said.....

[Denise]

"Those who wish to enter upon the religious life, should first of all mortify themselves for a long time, and particularly mortify their will in things to which they have the greatest repugnance."

[Denise]

"Excessive sadness seldom springs from any other source than pride."

[Denise]

"Charity and cheerfulness, or charity and humility, should be our motto."

[Denise]

"It is very necessary to be cheerful, but we must not on that account give in to a buffooning spirit."

[Denise]

"Buffoonery incapacitates a person from receiving any additional spirituality from God."

[Denise]

"Nay more, buffoonery roots up the little spirituality a man may have already acquired."

[Denise]

"At table, especially where there are guests, we ought to eat every kind of food, and not say, 'I like this,' and 'I do not like that.' "

[Denise]

"Human language cannot express the beauty of a soul which dies in a state of grace."

[Denise]

"If a man finds it very hard to forgive injuries, let him look at a crucifix, and think that Christ has shed all His Blood for him, and not only forgave his enemies, but prayed the Eternal Father to forgive them also."

[Denise]

"Let him remember also that when he says the Pater Noster every day, instead of asking pardon for his sins, he is calling down vengeance upon them."

[Denise]

"Men are generally the carpenters of their own crosses."

[Denise]

"Let us concentrate ourselves so completely in the divine love, and enter so far into the living fountain of wisdom, through the wounded Side of our Incarnate God, that we may deny ourselves and our self-love, and so be unable to find our way out of that Wound again."

[Denise]

"We must not give up praying and asking, because we do not get what we ask all at once."

[Denise]

"He who is unable to spend a long time together in prayer, should often lift up his mind to God by ejaculations."

[Denise]

"We must often remember what Christ said, that not he who begins, but he that perseveres to the end, shall be saved."