In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany Quotes

“37.3 New Year resolutions. In these final days of the old year and at the beginning of the new, we like to wish each other a good year. To tradesmen, neighbours, everyone we meet ... we say Happy New Year! They wish the same to us and we thank them. But, what do most people mean by Happy New Year? Doubtless they mean a year free from illness, pain, trouble or worry; that instead, everyone may smile on you, that you flourish, that you make plenty of money, that the taxman doesn’t get you, that you get a rise in salary, that prices fall, and that the news is good every morning. In short, that nothing unpleasant may happen to you.[132] It is good to wish these material good things for ourselves and others so long as they do not make us veer away from our final goal. The new year will bring us our share of happiness and our share of trouble, and we don’t know how much of each. A good year for a Christian is one in which both joys and sorrows have helped him to love God a little more. It is not a year that comes, supposing it were possible, full of natural happiness that leaves God to one side. A good year is one in which we have served God and our neighbour better, even if, on the human plane, it has been a complete disaster. For example, a good year could be one in which we are attacked by a serious illness that has been latent and unsuspected for many years, provided we know how to use it for our sanctification and that of those close to us. Any year can be the best year if we make use of the graces that God keeps in store for us and which can turn to good the greatest misfortunes. For the year just beginning God has prepared all the help we need to make it a good year. So let’s not waste even a single day. And when we happen to commit sin, or fall into error or discouragement, let us immediately begin again, in many cases through the sacrament of Penance. May we all have a good year, so that when it is over we can come before God with our hands full of hours of work offered to him, apostolate with our friends, innumerable acts of charity with those around us, many little victories over our self love, and unforgettable meetings with Our Lord in Holy Communion. Let us resolve to convert our defeats into victories, each time turning to God and starting once again. And, finally, let us ask Our Lady for the grace to live during this new year with a fighting spirit, as if it were the last that God was going to give us.”
― Francisco Fernández-Carvajal, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“Let each one examine himself,’ exhorted Paul VI, ‘to see what he has done up to now and what more he ought to accomplish. It is not enough to cite general principles, make resolutions, condemn grave injustices, make denunciations with a certain prophetic daring. None of this will carry any weight unless accompanied in each person by a more lively realisation of his own responsibility and by effective action. It is too easy to make other people responsible for today’s injustices, if, at the same time, we don’t realise that we too are responsible and that a personal conversion is therefore the first necessity.’[95]”
― Francisco Fernández-Carvajal, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“The family is a school of virtues and the ordinary place for us to find God. Husbands and wives will achieve this aim by exercising the virtues of faith and hope, facing serenely all the great and small problems which confront any family, and will be persevering in the love and enthusiasm with which they fulfil their duties. They will learn to smile and forget about themselves in order to pay attention to others. Husband and wife will listen to each other and to their children, showing them that they are really loved and understood. They will forget about the unimportant little frictions that selfishness can magnify out of all proportion. They do lovingly all the small acts of service that make up their daily life together.”
― Francisco Fernández-Carvajal, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“The growth the Lord requires of us is unique in that instead of leaving our youth behind us as we do in our natural life, we renew and refresh it. In our natural life as human beings the ‘not yet’ of our youth reaches a point where it becomes the ‘not already!’ of our old age. The opposite happens in our supernatural life: the Christian life never grows old: at any time I can turn towards God Who gives joy to my youth[336] even in old age. God keeps young those who love Him. Perhaps we have known saintly people who, though old in years, have had great interior youthfulness of spirit born from a faithful relationship to Christ and manifested in all their acts.”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“when John was a very old man he repeated again and again to the disciples who came to see him, Little children, love one another. They asked him why he always went on repeating the same thing. St John answered, It is the Lord’s commandment and, if that is kept, it is enough.[69]”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“The value of Our Lord’s actions was always infinite and he gave the same glory to his Father when he was sawing wood as when he was raising a dead man, and when the crowds were following him, praising God.”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“Mortification is made up of small conquests, such as smiling at those who annoy us, denying the body some superfluous fancy, getting accustomed to listening to others, making full use of the time God allots us ... and so many other details.”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“us, denying the body some superfluous fancy, getting accustomed to listening to others, making full use of the time God allots us ... and so many other details.”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“If we are simple before God we will know how to be simple with those whom we meet every day – our relations, friends and colleagues. The simple person is one who acts and speaks in complete harmony with what he thinks and desires. He is a person who shows himself as he is, without trying to appear to be what he is not, or to have what he does not have. It always gives one great joy to meet a straightforward soul, without nooks and crannies, someone we can trust,”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“The Holy Mass is the most suitable moment for offering all that is most painful in our lives. And”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“winds of temptation rise against you, if you strike against the reefs of temptation, look at the star, call on Mary. If you are tossed by the waves of pride, of ambition, or of envy, look at the star, call on Mary. If anger, greed or impurity throw themselves violently against the barque of your soul, look at Mary. If you are troubled by the memory of your sins, confounded at the ugliness of your conscience, fearful at the thought of judgement, and you start sinking in the bottomless pit of sadness or in the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In danger, in affliction, in doubts, think of Mary, call on Mary. Don’t let Mary be apart from your tongue, don’t withdraw her from your heart; and to obtain her intercession, do not depart from the example of her virtue. You will not go wrong if you follow her, and not lose heart if you pray to her; you will not be lost if you think of her. If she takes you by the hand you will not fall; if she protects you, you will never have cause to fear; you will not grow weary if she guides you; you will reach port safely if she aids you.[195] Let us invoke her name especially in the Hail”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“Any year can be the best year if we make use of the graces that God keeps in store for us and which can turn to good the greatest misfortunes.”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“I have called you by your name, you are mine’ (Is 43:1).”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“Maturity, both human and supernatural, is not something we achieve instantaneously. It is a task of each day, of many small successes gained by responding to grace in small things. We have to assume the task of repeatedly practising the virtues by concrete acts. By practising the virtues with a care for detail we fashion a true character, a spirit submissive to the action of the Holy Spirit, a will fixed on the things of God, and on the needs of others for God’s sake.”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany

“Our Lady knew that Jesus’ birth was about to take place and she set out on that journey with her thoughts centred on the Child who was to be born of her in the town of David.”
― Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2; Christmas and Epiphany