Magnificat > Quotes

“Madeleine L'Engle observes: "We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”
― Magnificat, 2014 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“The minute we feel safety in numbers, we tend to start judging.”
― Magnificat, 2014 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“MERCY IS THE FORM LOVE TAKES when it encounters misery. It is first of all a form of love because it wants what is good for the one who is loved.”
― Magnificat, Magnificat Year of Mercy Companion

“We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it." Reflection based on Matthew 4:1-11”
― Magnificat, 2014 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“No goal is more worthy of such seriousness than reaching heaven by following Jesus and putting God first in all things.”
― Magnificat, 2014 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up.”
― Magnificat, 2015 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“Father, when the weight of the world falls upon our shoulders, it is then that we need you most. Please draw near, so that when we are burdened by the world, you may lift us up.”
― Magnificat, 2014 Magnificat Advent Companion

“Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life; rather, look to them with full hope that as they          arise, God, whose very own you are, will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand it, God will carry you in his arms.”
― Magnificat, Magnificat Year of Mercy Companion

“Empty me of my willfulness, my petulance, my hardness, my cynicism, my contemptuousness. Fill me with your truth, your strength, your fortitude, your purity, your gentleness, your generosity, your wisdom, your heart, and your grace.”
― Magnificat, 2024 Magnificat Advent Companion

“Advent is a time of waiting, longing, and begging.”
― Magnificat, 2015 Magnificat Advent Companion

“Love is expressed with few words, always the same and always repeated.”
― Magnificat, The Magnificat Rosary Companion

“happen. “ALL IS CONSUMMATED.” May this be said of you also. May all the graces you have received become fruitful, all that has been confided to you terminated like the task of a good laborer when evening comes. Let nothing be neglected, not one iota of the law. May you have treated nothing as being too small to be worth accomplishing with a great deal of love. I would like to be able to reunite, on the last evening of your life, all your days in a splendid sheaf, and offer it to my Son in eternal thanksgiving for the sinner that you could have been and who has become a saint by the mercy of the blood of my Son.”
― Magnificat, 2015 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do... I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (9: 12-13). Surely this is shockingly good news – that considering oneself righteous disqualifies one from being called by Jesus!”
― Magnificat, Praying with Saint Matthew's Gospel: Daily Reflections on the Gospel of Saint Matthew

“Sometimes we need to be alone to learn the difference between loneliness and solitude. Loneliness is separation from God, and solitude is private friendship with him.”
― Magnificat, Praying with Saint Matthew's Gospel: Daily Reflections on the Gospel of Saint Matthew

“Saint AUGUSTine describes the Christian life after baptism as a life-long convalescence, a gradual healing of the effects of original sin. Healing is a coming together of what has been parted, cut, separated.”
― Magnificat, Praying with Saint Matthew's Gospel: Daily Reflections on the Gospel of Saint Matthew

“Opening Prayer God our Father, out of loving obedience to you, and out of love for all that you created through him, your Only Begotten Son became human and dwelt among us. He was born as a baby, just like us. He went through the joys and sufferings of living, just like us. He suffered and died and rose again, just for us. Give us hearts of repentance, so that we may weep for the one who was pierced for our sins, and rejoice as our sins and impurities are washed away. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
― Magnificat, 2015 Magnificat Advent Companion

“Look upon me, have pity on me,/ for I am alone and afflicted./ Relieve the troubles of my heart;/ bring me out of my distress. (Ps 25:16-17)”
― Magnificat, The 2024 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“In the Gospel, the Lord calls us to perseverance in prayer. Pray without ceasing. Watch and pray. While our world lacks hope, a powerful remedy is offered to us. In a society that suffers from loneliness and individualism, Eucharistic adoration helps us discover the Real Presence of Christ at our side: I am with you always, until the end of the age. His love for us does not change. From him alone comes the stability of our life. The prayer of adoration allows us to welcome this love, to take this time of reflection in silence, to root ourselves in Christ and to allow our inner freedom to grow. Furthermore, Eucharistic adoration has the power to transform our everyday relationships by giving them the true meaning of human love.”
― Magnificat, The Magnificat Adoration Companion

“This hallmark of Paul’s thought bears witness to the first of the two great commandments of Christ, that we should love the Lord with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our strength (see Mk 12: 29-30). There has been an unfortunate tendency in recent times to emphasize the second great commandment, the love of neighbor (see Mk 12: 31), to the point of virtually excluding the first. Paul’s life and words attest that genuine love of neighbor draws its inspiration from the depth of our love for God.”
― Magnificat, Praying with Saint Paul: Daily Reflections on the Letters of Saint Paul

“An English professor started class one semester by writing the phrase "woman without her man is nothing" on the board, and telling his students to punctuate it. Most of them wrote, "Woman, without her man, is nothing." A few of the women had a different take, however: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing." A comma may not seem important, but it can make all the difference.”
― Magnificat, 2014 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“As long as I conceive of myself as alone, and as long as I conceive of God as far away from the truest and deepest longings of my heart, I will always sin. I will continually set my heart on things that will never answer its infinite longing.”
― Magnificat, 2016 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“It is remarkable to ponder that the world is saved by a first-century Jewish man, one moreover who was crucified.”
― Magnificat, Praying with Saint Paul: Daily Reflections on the Letters of Saint Paul

“Faith and the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary The Baptism of the Lord – Baptism is the sacrament of faith. Baptism was instituted to destroy the sin in us so that it could never again give birth to death. May I imitate the gesture of self-emptying Jesus manifests at his baptism. May I constantly turn to the Father in my nothingness and in the confident dependence of faith. The Wedding Feast of Cana – In the miracle of the water made wine at Cana, Jesus revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. May daily problems and the experience of need move me to place my trust in our Savior’s providential care for me. May my struggles deepen my belief in Christ’s compassion. The Preaching of the Kingdom – Faith comes through hearing. The preaching of the Church brings me to belief; the Word of God nourishes my faith. May I grow in my conversion and become a credible witness. May God use me to open the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life. The Transfiguration – The Transfiguration of Jesus aims to strengthen the disciples’ faith in anticipation of the Passion. May I believe in the radiant life of holiness Jesus reveals in his Transfiguration. May I grow in my belief that what I behold in the miracle of the Lord’s Transfiguration is what he desires me to become. The Institution of the Eucharist – At the Last Supper Jesus blesses us with his supreme gift: the Holy Eucharist, sum and summary of our faith. May my way of thinking become more and more attuned to the Eucharist, and may the Eucharist in turn confirm my way of thinking, filling me with confidence. – Father Peter John Cameron, O.P.”
― Magnificat, Magnificat Year of Faith Companion

“Whenever we start to rationalize sinful practices, we can expect to find ourselves redefining God.”
― Magnificat, Praying with Saint Paul: Daily Reflections on the Letters of Saint Paul

“Nothing is more powerful than crying: it accomplishes all things, it cleanses sins, it quenches thirst, it cools off heat, it enriches the soul, it extinguishes lust, it purifies hearts, it does not depart empty from the Lord’s sight. Happy is the soul that possesses such a fountain to bathe in its waters, that it might appear beautiful before its bridegroom!”
― Magnificat, The 2024 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“only from”
― Magnificat, 2016 Magnificat Advent Companion

“The seventeenth-century Jesuit Scripture scholar Father Cornelius a Lapide († 1637) observes that the Church annually celebrates the conversion of Saint Paul on January 25 in order to propose the apostle as an example of penitence to all sinners, and to invoke Paul the convert, that “from heaven he may convert sinners, for still, although transported into heaven, he converts very many by his example, his prayers, and his epistles.”
― Magnificat, Praying with Saint Paul: Daily Reflections on the Letters of Saint Paul

“Eternal Father, remove everything in my heart
that prevents me from being open, eager,
and willing to be surprised.”
― Magnificat, 2020 Magnificat Advent Companion

“We remain for the time being in the valley of the shadow of death. But the grace and mercy of Jesus, especially in this holy season of Lent, assure us that life looms on the horizon.”
― Magnificat, 2021 Magnificat Lenten Companion

“The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then he said, “Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.”
― Magnificat, 2016 Magnificat Advent Companion