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Do Not Be Ashamed Of Being Poor, Or Of Asking Alms. Receive What Is Given You With Humility, And Accept A Refusal Meekly. Frequently Call To Mind Our Lady's Journey Into Egypt With Her Holy Child, And Of All The Poverty, Contempt And Suffering They Endured. If You Follow Their Example You Will Indeed Be Rich Amid Your Poverty.

-Saint Francis De Sales

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Do Not Be Ashamed

Saint Francis De Sales

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Do Not Be Ashamed Of Being Poor, Or Of Asking Alms. Receive What Is Given You With Humility, And Accept A Refusal Meekly. Frequently Call To Mind Our Lady's Journey Into Egypt With Her Holy Child, And Of All The Poverty, Contempt And Suffering They Endured. If You Follow Their Example You Will Indeed Be Rich Amid Your Poverty.

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Don't Sow Your Desires In Someone Else's Garden; Just Cultivate Your Own As Best You Can; Don't Long To Be Other Than What You Are, But Desire To Be Thoroughly What You Are. Direct Your Thoughts To Being Very Good At That And To Bearing The Crosses, Little Or Great, That You Will Find There. Believe Me, This Is The Most Important And Least Understood Point To The Spiritual Life. We All Love According To What Is Our Taste; Few People Like What Is According To Their Duty Or To God's Liking. What Is The Use Of Building Castles In Spain When We Have To Live In France?

Do Not Be Ashamed Of Being Poor, Or Of Asking Alms. Receive What Is Given You With Humility, And Accept A Refusal Meekly. Frequently Call To Mind Our Lady's Journey Into Egypt With Her Holy Child, And Of All The Poverty, Contempt And Suffering They Endured. If You Follow Their Example You Will Indeed Be Rich Amid Your Poverty.

Professions Of Humility Are The Very Cream, The Very Essence Of Pride; The Really Humble Person Wishes To Be, And Not To Appear So. Humility Is Timorous, And Starts At Her Shadow; And So Delicate That If She Hears Her Name Pronounced It Endangers Her Existence.

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Frequent Not The Company Of Immodest Persons, Especially If They Be Also Impudent, As Is Generally The Case; ...these Corrupted Souls And Infected Hearts Scarcely Speak To Any, Either Of The Same Or A Different Sex, Without Causing Them To Fall In Some Degree From Purity; They Have Poison In Their Eyes And In Their Breath, Like Basilisks. On The Contrary, Keep Company With The Chaste And Virtuous; Often Meditate Upon And Read Holy Things; For The Word Of God Is Chaste, And Makes Those Also Chaste That Delight In It.

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I Recommend To You Holy Simplicity.

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To Live According To The Spirit Is To Love According To The Spirit.

Have Jesus Always For Your Patron, His Cross For A Mast On Which You Must Spread Your Resolutions As A Sail. Your Anchor Shall Be A Profound Confidence In Him, And You Shall Sail Prosperously.

When Charity Requires It We Must Freely And Mildly Communicate To Our Neighbor Not Only What Is His Instruction, But Also What Is Profitable For His Consolation.

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Many Great Persons Have Been Of Opinion That Love Is No Other Thing Than Complacency Itself, In Which They Have Had Much Appearance Of Reason. For Not Only Does The Movement Of Love Take Its Origin From The Complacency Which The Heart Feels At The First Approach Of Good, And Find Its End In A Second Complacency Which Returns To The Heart By Union With The Thing Beloved--but Further, It Depends For Its Preservation On This Complacency, And Can Only Subsist Through It As Through Its Mother And Nurse; So That As Soon As The Complacency Ceases, Love Ceases.

Represent To Yourself A Dark City All Burning And Stinking With Fire And Brimstone. The Damned Are In The Depth Of Hell Within This Woful City, Where They Suffer Unspeakable Torments In All Their Senses And Members. Consider Above All The Eternity Of Their Pains, Which Above All Things Makes Hell Intolerable.

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Many Would Be Willing To Have Afflictions Provided That They Not Be Inconvenienced By Them.

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Whatever Happens

There Are No Galley-slaves In The Royal Vessel Of Divine Love - Every Man Works His Oar Voluntarily!

A Dance Is The Devil's Procession, And He That Entereth Into A Dance, Entereth Into His Possession.

Better Make Penitents By Gentleness Than Hypocrites By Severity.

Do Not Fret Under Such Assistance As Is Needful; Therein Lies One Great Grace Of Poverty. It Were Overambitious To Aim At Being Poor Without Suffering Any Inconvenience, In Other Words, To Have The Credit Of Poverty And The Convenience Of Riches.

One Rarely Does Well What One Rarely Does.

There Is No Artifice As Good And Desirable As Simplicity.

While Extremely Sensitive As To The Slightest Approach To Slander, You Must Also Guard Against An Extreme Into Which Some People Fall, Who, In Their Desire To Speak Evil Of No One, Actually Uphold And Speak Well Of Vice.

Faith Fills A Man With Love For The Beauty Of Its Truth, With Faith In The Truth Of Its Beauty

Go In All Simplicity; Do Not Be Anxious To Win A Quiet Mind, And It Will Be All The Quieter. Do Not Examine So Closely Into The Progress Of Your Soul. Do Not Crave Too Much To Be Perfect, But Let Your Spiritual Life Beformed By Your Duties, And By The Actions Which Are Called Forth By Circumstances.

What We Need Is A Cup Of Understanding, A Barrel Of Love, And An Ocean Of Patience.

True Humility Scarcely Ever Utters Words Of Humility.

And When Children Begin To Use Their Reason, Fathers And Mothers Should Take Great Pains To Fill Their Hearts With The Fear Of God. This The Good Queen Blanche Did Most Earnestly By St. Louis, Her Son: Witness Her Oft-repeated Words, "my Son, I Would Sooner See You Die Than Guilty Of A Mortal Sin;" Words Which Sank So Deeply Into The Saintly Monarch's Heart, That He Himself Said There Was No Day On Which They Did Not Recur To His Mind, And Strengthen Him In Treading God's Ways.

Make Sickness Itself A Prayer.

Humor Is The Foundation Of Reconciliation.

Let Us Run To Mary, And, As Her Little Children, Cast Ourselves Into Her Arms With A Perfect Confidence.

A Heart-memory Is Better Than A Mere Head-memory. Better To Carry Away A Little Of The Love Of Christ In Our Souls, Than If We Were Able To Repeat Every Word Of Every Sermon We Ever Heard.

Marital Intercourse Is Certainly Holy, Lawful And Praiseworthy In Itself And Profitable To Society, Yet In Certain Circumstances It Can Prove Dangerous, As When Through Excess The Soul Is Made Sick With Venial Sin, Or Through The Violation And Perversion Of Its Primary End, Killed By Mortal Sin; Such Perversion, Detestable In Proportion To Its Departure From The True Order, Being Always Mortal Sin, For It Is Never Lawful To Exclude The Primary End Of Marriage Which Is The Procreation Of Children.

To Love Our Neighbor In Charity Is To Love God In Man.

People Can Pass Thirty Nights In Dancing And No One Complains About It, But If They Watch Through A Single Christmas Night They Cough And Claim Their Stomach Is Upset The Next Morning. Does Anyone Fail To See That The World Is An Unjust Judge, Gracious And Well Disposed To Its Own Children But Harsh And Rigorous Towards The Children Of God?

When You Encounter Difficulties And Contradictions, Do Not Try To Break Them, But Bend Them With Gentleness And Time.

The Damned Are In The Abyss Of Hell, As Within A Woeful City, Where They Suffer Unspeakable Torments, In All Their Senses And Members, Because As They Have Employed All Their Senses And Their Members In Sinning, So Shall They Suffer In Each Of Them The Punishment Due To Sin.

By Giving Yourself To God, You Not Only Receive Himself In Exchange, But Eternal Life As Well.

In No Other Action Can Our Savior Be Considered More Tender Or More Loving Than In This, In Which He, As It Were, Annihilates Himself And Reduces Himself To Food, That He May Penetrate Our Souls And Unite Himself To The Hearts Of His Faithful.

Lately I Was Near The Beehives And Some Of The Bees Flew Onto My Face. I Wanted To Raise My Hand, And Brush Them Off. 'no,' Said A Peasant To Me, 'do Not Be Afraid, And Do Not Touch Them. They Will Not Sting You At All, If You Touch Them They Will Bite You.' I Trusted Him; Not One Bit Me. Trust Me; Do Not Fear These Temptations. Do Not Touch Them; They Will Not Hurt You.

The Whole World Is Not Worth One Soul.

The Merit Of The Cross Does Not Consist In Its Heaviness, But In The Manner In Which We Carry It. I Would Even Say That It Is Sometimes More Virtuous To Carry A Cross Of Straw Than A Heavy Cross Because We Have To Be More Attentive For Fear Of Losing It.

If The Heart Wanders Or Is Distracted, Bring It Back To The Point Quite Gently... And Even If You Did Nothing During The Whole Of Your Hour But Bring Your Heart Back, Though It Went Away Every Time You Brought It Back, Your Hour Would Be Very Well Employed.

Trouble That Is Easily Recognized Is Half-cured.

Let God Be The Air In Which Your Heart Breathes At Ease.

Many Who Confess Their Venial Sins Out Of Custom And Concern For Order But Without Thought Of Amendment Remain Burdened With Them For Their Whole Life And Thus Lose Many Spiritual Benefits And Advantages.

Truly It Is A Blessed Thing To Love On Earth As We Hope To Love In Heaven, And To Begin That Friendship Here Which Is To Endure For Ever There.

Doing Little Things With A Strong Desire To Please God Makes Them Really Great.

Be Not Miserable About What May Happen Tomorrow. The Same Everlasting Father, Who Cares For You Today, Will Care For You Tomorrow.

Don't Get Upset With Your Imperfections. It's A Great Mistake Because It Leads Nowhere - To Get Angry Because You Are Angry, Upset At Being Upset, Depressed At Being Depressed, Disappointed Because You Are Disappointed. So Don't Fool Yourself. Simply Surrender To The Power Of God's Love, Which Is Always Greater Than Our Weakness.

Be Patient With Everyone, But Above All With Yourself.

Pride Dies 20 Minutes After Death.

We Must Fear God Out Of Love, Not Love Him Out Of Fear.

A Quarrel Between Friends, When Made Up, Adds A New Tie To Friendship.

Be Patient With Everyone, But Above All With Yourself. I Mean Do Not Be Disheartened By Your Imperfections, But Always Rise Up With Fresh Courage. How Are We To Be Patient In Dealing With Our Neighbour's Faults If We Are Impatient In Dealing With Our Own? He Who Is Fretted By His Own Failings Will Not Correct Them. All Profitable Correction Comes From A Calm And Peaceful Mind.

Every Morning Prepare Your Soul For A Tranquil Day.

There Are Many Who Want Me To Tell Them Of Secret Ways Of Becoming Perfect And I Can Only Tell Them That The Sole Secret Is A Hearty Love Of God, And The Only Way Of Attaining That Love Is By Loving. You Learn To Speak By Speaking, To Study By Studying, To Run By Running, To Work By Working; And Just So You Learn To Love God And Man By Loving. Begin As A Mere Apprentice And The Very Power Of Love Will Lead You On To Become A Master Of The Art.

A Judicious Silence Is Always Better Than Truth Spoken Without Charity.

If I Want Only Pure Water, What Does It Matter To Me Whether It Be Brought In A Vase Of Gold Or Of Glass? What Is It To Me Whether The Will Of God Be Presented To Me In Tribulation Or Consolation, Since I Desire And Seek Only The Divine Will?

Those Who Love To Be Feared Fear To Be Loved.

Be Who You Are And Be That Well.

To Lose Ourselves In God Is Simply To Give Up Our Own Will To Him. When A Soul Can Truly Say Lord I Have No Other Will Than Thine It Is Truly Lost In God And United To Him.

Where There Is Peace And Meditation, There Is Neither Anxiety Nor Doubt.

Meditation Practice

Do Not Wish To Be Anything But What You Are, And Try To Be That Perfectly.

Have Patience To Walk With Short Steps Until You Have Wings To Fly.

Having Patience

The Elephant, Not Only The Largest But The Most Intelligent Of Animals, Provides Us With An Excellent Example. It Is Faithful And Tenderly Loving To The Female Of Its Choice, Mating Only Every Third Year And Then For No More Than Five Days, And So Secretly As Never To Be Seen, Until, On The Sixth Day, It Appears And Goes At Once To Wash Its Whole Body In The River, Unwilling To Return To The Herd Until Thus Purified. Such Good And Modest Habits Are An Example To Husband And Wife.

The Enemy Often Tries To Make Us Attempt And Start Many Projects So That We Will Be Overwhelmed With Too Many Tasks, And Therefore Achieve Nothing And Leave Everything Unfinished. Sometimes He Even Suggests The Wish To Undertake Some Excellent Work That He Foresees We Will Never Accomplish. This Is To Distract Us From The Prosecution Of Some Less Excellent Work That We Would Have Easily Completed. He Does Not Care How Many Plans And Beginnings We Make, Provided Nothing Is Finished.

If We Say A Little It Is Easy To Add, But Having Said Too Much It Is Hard To Withdraw And Never Can It Be Done So Quickly As To Hinder The Harm Of Our Success.

Is It Not A Great Temptation To Be So Valiant In Imagination And So Cowardly In Execution?

Those Who Commit These Types Of Scandals Are Guility Of The Spiritual Equivalent Of Murder, But I, Here Among You To Prevent Something Far Worst For You. While Those Who Give Scandal Are Guilty Of The Spiritual Equivalent Of Murder, Those Who Take Scandal- Who Allow Scandals To Destroy Faith- Are Guilty Of Spiritual Suicide.

If After All Your Efforts You Cannot Succeed, You Could Not Please Our Lord More Than By Sacrificing To Him Your Will, And Remaining In Tranquility, Humility, And Devotion, Entirely Conformed And Submissive To His Divine Will And Good Pleasure.

I Have The Same Opinion Of Dances That Physicians Have Of Mushrooms: The Best Of Them Are Good For Nothing.

Do Not Look Forward To What May Happen Tomorrow; The Same Everlasting Father Who Cares For You Today Will Take Care Of You Tomorrow And Every Day. Either He Will Shield You From Suffering, Or He Will Give You Unfailing Strength To Bear It. Be At Peace, Then, Put Aside All Anxious Thoughts And Imaginations, And Say Continually: 'the Lord Is My Strength And My Shield; My Heart Has Trusted In Him And I Am Helped. He Is Not Only With Me But In Me And I In Him.'

Anxious Thoughts

Souls Do Not Wish To Be Bullied, But Gently Brought Back; Such Is The Nature Of Man.

Do Not Complain Then Of Your Poverty, My Daughter, - We Only Complain Of That Which Is Unwelcome, And If Poverty Is Unwelcome To You, You Are No Longer Poor In Spirit.

We Must Visit Jesus In The Blessed Sacrament A Hundred Thousand Times A Day.

Do Not Lose Courage In Considering Your Own Imperfections.

To Be Pleased At Correction And Reproofs Shows That One Loves The Virtues Which Are Contrary To Those Faults For Which He Is Corrected And Reproved. And, Therefore, It Is A Great Sign Of Advancement In Perfection.

Every Vocation Becomes More Agreeable When United With Devotion.

True Virtue Has No Limits, But Goes On And On, And Especially Holy Charity, Which Is The Virtue Of Virtues, And Which Having A Definite Object, Would Become Infinite If It Could Meet With A Heart Capable Of Infinity.

Do Not Look Forward To The Changes And Chances Of This Life In Fear; Rather Look To Them With Full Hope That, As They Arise, God, Whose You Are, Will Deliver You Out Of Them. He Is Your Keeper. He Has Kept You Hitherto. Do You But Hold Fast To His Dear Hand, And He Will Lead You Safely Through All Things; And, When You Cannot Stand, He Will Bear You In His Arms. Do Not Look Forward To What May Happen Tomorrow. Our Father Will Either Shield You From Suffering, Or He Will Give You Strength To Bear It.

In So Far As Divine Love Beautifies Our Souls. And Makes Us Pleasing To His Divine Majesty, It Is Called Grace; In So Far As It Gives Us Strength To Do Good, It Is Called Charity; But When It Reaches Such A Degree Of Perfection, That It Makes Us Not Only Do The Good, But Do So Carefully, Frequently And Readily, Then It Is Called Devotion.

Nothing Is So Strong As Gentleness, Nothing So Gentle As Real Strength.

Obedience Is A Virtue Of So Excellent A Nature, That Our Lord Was Pleased To Mark Its Observance Upon The Whole Course Of His Life; Thus He Often Says, He Did Not Come To Do His Own Will, But That Of His Heavenly Father.

If, When Stung By Slander Or Ill-nature, We Wax Proud And Swell With Anger, It Is A Proof That Our Gentleness And Humility Are Unreal, And Mere Artificial Show.

Don't Get Upset With Your Imperfections. Surrender To The Power Of God's Love, Which Is Greater Than Our Weakness.

We May Be Excused For Not Always Being Bright, But We Are Not Excused For Not Being Gracious, Yielding And Considerate.

Have Patience With All Things, But Chiefly Have Patience With Yourself. Do Not Lose Courage In Considering Your Own Imperfections But Instantly Set About Remedying Them -- Every Day Begin The Task Anew.

Nothing Is More Like A Wise Man Than A Fool Who Holds His Tongue.

Without A Doubt, One Of The Things Which Keeps Us From Attaining Perfection Is Our Tongue. When One Has Reached The Point Of No Longer Committing Faults In Speech, He Has Surely Reached Perfection, As Was Said By The Holy Spirit. The Worst Defect In Talking Is Talking Too Much. Hence, In Speech Be Brief And Virtuous, Brief And Gentle, Brief And Simple, Brief And Charitable, Brief And Amiable.

When The Bee Has Gathered The Dew Of Heaven And The Earth's Sweetest Nectar From The Flowers, It Turns It Into Honey, Then Hastens To Its Hive. In The Same Way, The Priest, Having Taken From The Altar The Son Of God (who Is As The Dew From Heaven, And True Son Of Mary, Flower Of Our Humanity), Gives Him To You As Delicious Food.

For Every Great Temptation There Will Be Many Small Ones. Wolves And Bears Are More Dangerous Than Flies, But We Are Bothered Most By Flies.

Be Who You Are And Do That Well.

Every Christian Needs A Half-hour Of Prayer Each Day, Except When He Is Busy, Then He Needs An Hour.

Take Care Of Your Health, That It May Serve You To Serve God.

Consider The Pains Which Martyrs Have Endured, And Think How Even Now Many People Are Bearing Afflictions Beyond All Measure Greater Than Yours, And Say, "of A Truth My Trouble Is Comfort, My Torments Are But Roses As Compared To Those Whose Life Is A Continual Death, Without Solace, Or Aid Or Consolation, Borne Down With A Weight Of Grief Tenfold Greater Than Mine."

God Takes Pleasure To See You Take Your Little Steps; And Like A Good Father Who Holds His Child By The Hand, He Will Accommodate His Steps To Yours And Will Be Content To Go No Faster Than You. Why Do You Worry?

One Single Day Of Devotion Is Worth More Than A Thousand Years Of Worldly Life.

Chastity Is The Lily Of Virtues, And Makes Men Almost Equal To Angels. Everything Is Beautiful In Accordance With Its Purity. Now The Purity Of Man Is Chastity, Which Is Called Honesty, And The Observance Of It, Honor And Also Integrity; And Its Contrary Is Called Corruption; In Short, It Has This Peculiar Excellence Above The Other Virtues, That It Preserves Both Soul And Body Fair And Unspotted.

Let Us Think Only Of Spending The Present Day Well. Then When Tomorrow Shall Have Come, It Will Be Called Today, And Then We Will Think About It.

It Is Right That You Should Begin Again Every Day. There Is No Better Way To Complete The Spiritual Life Than To Be Ever Beginning It Over Again.

What Son Would Not Bring His Mother Back To Life And Would Not Bring Her Into Paradise After Her Death If He Could?

All True And Living Devotion Presupposes The Love Of God And Indeed It Is Neither More Nor Less Than A Very Real Love Of God, Though Not Always Of The Same Kind; For That Love One While Shining On The Soul We Call Grace, Which Makes Us Acceptable To His Divine Majesty; When It Strengthens Us To Do Well, It Is Called Charity; But When It Attains Its Fullest Perfection, In Which It Not Only Leads Us To Do Well, But To Act Carefully, Diligently, And Promptly, Then It Is Called Devotion.

Be Neat, Philothea; Let Nothing Be Negligent About You. It Is A Kind Of Contempt Of Those With Whom We Converse, To Frequent Their Company In Uncomely Apparel; But, At The Same Time, Avoid All Affectation, Vanity, Curiosity, Or Levity In Your Dress. Keep Yourself Always, As Much As Possible, On The Side Of Plainness And Modesty, Which, Without Doubt, Is The Greatest Ornament Of Beauty, And The Best Excuse For The Want Of It.

You Learn To Love By Loving.

Do Not Desire Crosses, Unless You Have Borne Those Already Laid Upon You Well — It Is An Abuse To Long After Martyrdom While Unable To Bear An Insult Patiently.

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