Quotes

28 Jan 2024

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Do not go in pursuit of [God] outside yourself. You will only become distracted and you won’t find him, or enjoy him more than by seeking him within you.
Saint John of the Cross

Authority is a service, and as such should be exercised, for the good of all and for the dissemination of the gospel.
—Pope Francis

Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?
—Saint Gerard Majella

14 Jan 2024

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Healing begins with our taking our pain out of its diabolic isolation and seeing that whatever we suffer, we suffer it in communion with all of humanity.
—Henri Nouwen

Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God.
—Martin Luther

It is no use saying: ”Speak, Lord, your servant wants to hear,” if we never risk the silence to listen. 
—M. Basil Pennington

31 Dec 2023

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Cycle B

If you want to bring happiness to the whole world, go home and love your family.
—Saint Teresa of Calcutta

One light feeds another. One strong family lends strength to more. One engaged community can ignite those around it. This is the power of the light we carry. 
Michelle Obama, The Light We Carry

The family is indeed sacred: It is the place in which life—the gift of God—can be properly welcomed and protected.
—Pope John Paul II in Centesimus Annus

Jesus is the only person in recorded history whose parents thought he was a child of God rather than their own creative project and possession.
—Polly Berrien Berends in Gently Lead

17 Dec 2023

Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Every great movement needs an agitator. Every leader of spiritual ideals needs a John the Baptist.
—William Allen White, 19th-century newspaper editor

If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.
—Michelle Obama, Becoming

John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives for ever.
—Saint Augustine

The true secret of love consists in this: we must forget self like Saint John the Baptist and exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus.
—Saint Peter Julian Eymard 

10 Dec 2023

Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

You don't have to become something you're not to be better than you were. 
Sidney Poitier, Measure of a Man

Sin is the wound, repentance is the medicine.
—Saint John Chrysostom

I call something a miracle when an ordinary person achieves something extraordinary. We all have the potential to create miraculous changes. 
Tina Turner, Happiness Becomes You

3 Dec 2023

First Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Advent increases our hope. A hope which does not disappoint. The Lord never lets us down.
—Pope Francis

Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.
—Henri Nouwen

Advent: the time to listen for footsteps―you can’t hear footsteps when you’re running yourself.
—Bill McKibben

God withholds Himself from no one who perseveres.
―Saint Teresa of Ávila

26 Nov 2023

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Cycle A

It is by the works of mercy that we shall be judged.
—Dorothy Day

Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation. Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them the condition for entering the kingdom.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 544)

Love is the final word.
—Dorothy Day


© 2023 by TrueQuest Communications, LLC. PrepareTheWord.com; 312-356-9900; mail@preparetheword.com. You may reprint any material from Prepare the Word in your bulletin or other parish communications you distribute free of charge with the following credit: Reprinted with permission from Prepare the Word ( ©2023 ), www.PrepareTheWord.com.