Favorite Quotes from St. John Vianney, the Cure` D’ars

During my recent journey through the South West, I was able to read a few books (Nancy Pearcey's "Saving Leonardo" was the most inspiring). But I wanted to share with you several quotes from the beautiful little devotional, "Meditations of the Cure` d'Ars". I hope that you are as touched by the simple wisdom of these words as I have been.

“A Christian either rules his inclinations, or his inclinations rule him…”

“I have had crosses in plenty – more than I could carry almost! I set myself to ask for the love of crosses – then I was happy.”

“We must have a great confidence in God in times of illness or grief, because it is precisely then that God waits to see whether or no we shall put our trust in Him.”

“Where are the Christians today who would be ready, I do not say to give their lives for God, but even to put up with the least unpleasantness or inconvenience rather than disobey Him?”

“You wonder why God, who is goodness Itself, allows us to suffer…But, what would you think of a doctor who lost his patient because he was afraid to give him the necessary but unpleasant treatment?”

“An undertaking to be pleasing to God must have three conditions: It must be sincere, selfless and persevering.”

“If I may make use of such an expression, I compare those who serve sometimes God, sometimes the world, as the case may be, with dogs who answer to every whistle.”

“It is good to abandon oneself unreservedly to the guidance of Divine Providence. Our reserves dry up the current of His mercies, and our distrust stops the course of God’s blessings.”

“You do not know the resources of God’s providence for those who put their trust in Him.”

“God does not require of us the martyrdom of the body; He requires only the martyrdom of the heart, and the will.”

“Those who run after the vanities of the world which pass away like the wind give a great deal for very little profit; they give their eternity for the miserable smoke of the world.”

“The heart is drawn towards what it loves the most. The heart of a good Christian turns towards heaven, where God is, who is his treasure.”

“If you are afraid of other people’s opinion, you should not have become a Christian.”