Quotes of the Week - 2007-03-28

Two weekends ago I was away on retreat, during the four days I managed to read almost 20 books. It was an amazing time it also made it really hard to pick some quotes for this week's installment of Quotes of the Week so here goes:

"More than a great lesson is impressed upon us, that our duty as Christians lies in this, in making ventures for eternal life without the absolute certainty of success."
-Cardinal John Henry Newman
-The Ventures of Faith

"That one word gives the key to the whole method of spiritual reading. For spiritual reading is food, and we must digest what we read."
-Eugene Boylan
-Seeking Christ in Reading

"We consider that a firm resolution to read in this fashion is of capital importance for everyone who wishes to live in Christ. In fact, unless some sufficient substitute for it be provided, we would say that there is as little chance of living spiritually without reading, as there is of living corporeally without eating."
-Eugene Boylan
-Seeking Christ in Reading

"An ideal is something great. It is essentially felt to be something greater than one's self. It is something which, by the sheer force of it's beauty and nobility, makes a person want to get away from himself, to forget himself, so as to defend, to admire, to love and serve that ideal, and strives upwards towards it. A person with an ideal is ready to live for it, and if necessary, even die for it. There are not that many true ideals: love, family, country, God …"
-Cormac Burke
-Ideals in Youth

"A resolution is simply the desire and readiness of the will to do what God wants of us."
-Rev. Francis Luna
-How to Pray

"For a son of God each day should be an opportunity for renewal, knowing for sure that with the help of grace he will reach the end of the road, which is Love.
That is why if you begin and begin again, you are doing well. If you have a will to win, if you struggle, then with God's help you will conquer. There will be no difficulty you cannot overcome."
-St. Josemaria Escriva
-The Forge #344

"Days on retreat. Recollection in order to know God, to know yourself and thus to make progress. A necessary time for discovering where and how you should change your life. What should I do? What should I avoid?"
-St. Josemaria Escriva
-Furrow #177

"Renewal is not relaxation."
-St. Josemaria Escriva
-Furrow #176

"I have always seen rest as time set aside from daily tasks, never as days of idleness.
Rest means recuperation: to gain strength, form ideals and make plans. In other words it means a change of occupation, so that you can come back later with a new impetus to your daily job."
-St. Josemaria Escriva
-Furrow #514

"Lord, take away my pride; crush my self-love, my desire to affirm myself and impose myself on others. Make the foundation of my personality my identification with you."
-St. Josemaria Escriva
-Christ is Passing By #31