Inspiration from the writings of Fr. Chaminade
These quotes could be used as the focal point for prayer and reflection, for classroom or retreat discussion — or even for your next Tweet or Facebook post!
“Ours is a work, a magnificent work. If it is universal, it is because we are missionaries of Mary, who has said to us, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Each one of us has received from the Blessed Virgin a commission to work at the salvation of our brothers and sisters in the world.”
“No doubt, faith must be animated by charity. Faith should not only be a light in the mind, but it should be in the heart as well. There must be in faith a disposition of the heart; love of truth. This is why you must savor what you believe.”
“It is best to choose leniency in discipline, rather than harsh methods.”
“Let us always tend to the pure love of God and to the profound contempt of ourselves, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to work wonders.”
“As long as you are on earth you will have problems. Go with simplicity. Do not worry about the troublesome or disconcerting things you will experience. Do your duties. Try to please God and keep your peace.”
“Be really faithful to the Lord, not as a slave through fear, but as a good son through love.”
“We are convinced that we shall not bring others back to Jesus except through his most Holy Mother, whom the Doctors of the Church acclaim as our only hope, our Mother, our refuge, our help, our strength and our life.”
“True missionaries should not count on themselves, their talents, or their industry, but they should put all their confidence in the grace of their mission and the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
“Do not neglect prayer, however busy you may be.”
“In mental prayer … you will find the courage, the strength, and all that is necessary for you.”
“We have been urged to preach in season and out of season. It has been foreseen that the world will not always listen to us. We must nevertheless bear witness to the truth. God will see to the fruits in his own good time.”
“Not to hate, not to wish evil, not even to be indifferent would not be enough in regard to an enemy. We must love.”
“On every occasion, let us preserve charity and union.”
“No material good is so precious as peace.”
“Remember, brother, that the goal of your prayer is that God may be all in all. You do not pray simply because of your personal needs and wants, nor because of your finding comfort and consolation, nor to win the admiration of others, nor to appear wise in their eyes, nor for any other reason than to give yourself wholly and completely to God.”
“The Society (of Mary) has in reality but one object in view: the most faithful imitation of Jesus Christ, Son of God become Son of Mary, for the salvation of all.”
“Always preserve the peace of your soul. Always go to God with an entire simplicity. Despise and reject everything that might trouble you. In all your uncertainties over your interior conduct, make up your mind promptly to do what you would counsel another to do.”
“One of the surest means for re-establishing religion soon in France is that of missions, above all if they are done by missionaries who combine light and exactness with true zeal. This group of good workers who have brought so many back to God has not been extinguished among us. There are many virtuous ecclesiastics who would be very fit for this kind of ministry.”
“It is in prayer that you will find peace for your soul, the strength, enthusiasm and the means that allow us to multiply our efforts when we are overburdened.”
“I am like a brook that makes no effort to overcome obstacles in its way. All the obstacles can do is hold me up for a while, as a brook is held up; but during that time it grows broader and deeper and after a while it overflows the obstruction and flows along again. This is how I am going to work.”
“Baptism and faith cause the life of Jesus Christ to begin in us, and it is thus that we are, so to say, conceived of the Holy Spirit; but we must, like the Savior, be born of the Virgin Mary.”
“Let the most perfect union reign among all of you. I shall never be satisfied until I see realized among you the motto: ‘One heart, one mind, and all things in common.’”
“Let us labor with all our strength at the work of the Lord, but let us not forget about ourselves. Recall often the counsel of St. Bernard to Pope Eugene, his former disciple: ‘Be a reservoir, not a channel.’”
“It seems to me that we must not become discouraged if we encounter some obstacle in the way of necessary change. Never has change been done and never will it be done without difficulty. With patience we will come to the end of all.”
“How I desire that you grow in the virtues of our holy religion! Let us make synonymous the expressions saint and son of Mary!”
“We have taken for our motto, the great phrase so full of sense and truth which Mary said to the servants at the wedding of Cana: ‘Do all that he will tell you.’”
“Oh, my dear son, what happiness for us if for the rest of our lives we can walk along the beautiful paths of faith, act only by faith, and live only from faith!”
“It is impossible to make mental prayer without Mary … Let us unite ourselves to Mary in mental prayer and beg her to make her Son known to us. Mary is present. She is watching over us with maternal solicitude, making herself all to all and apportioning her help according to our needs … She enriches the poor, protects the timid, disarms the one who is angry, touches the hearts of the ungrateful, and never abandons anyone.”
For more on Blessed Chaminade and his writings, please visit the online bookstore at the North American Center for Marianist Studies.