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Faithful Citizenship

Wise Words from the Saints

Wise Words from the Saints

"... your greatest beauty and your richest blessing is found in the human person: in each man, woman and child, in every immigrant, in every native-born son and daughter. For this reason, America, your deepest identity and truest character as a nation is revealed in the position you take towards the human person. The ultimate test of your greatness in the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones.” (St. John Paul the Great)

"The nation doesn’t simply need what we have. It needs what we are."(St. Edith Stein)

"I die the king's faithful servant, but God's first." (St. Thomas More)

"Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family." (St. Angela Merici)

“Bad times, hard times - this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.” (St. Augustine)

"If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire. Let the truth be your delight – proclaim it, but with a certain congeniality." (St. Catherine of Siena)

"Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses." (St. Paul VI)

"Jesus said, ' I am the truth', and it is your duty and mine to speak the truth. Then it is up to the person who hears it whether to accept or reject it." (St. Teresa of Calcutta)

"Sometimes people think they have to do big things in order to make change. But if each one would light a candle we'd have a tremendous light." (Servant of God Thea Bowman)

Other notable Catholics...

“None of us can say, ‘I have nothing to do with this, they govern'.... Politics, according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, is one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good. I cannot wash my hands, eh? We all have to give something!” (Pope Francis)

"Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that by your faith, His name will continue to resound throughout the world." (Pope Benedict XVI)

“If we prepare ourselves well, then when the opportunity to build bridges comes, the Lord will find us ready to do his work. It can be daunting to look at the hostile, hurting world, and we can be nostalgic for other times that seem easier than ours. But in reality, this is an exciting and fruitful time in the Church. The last three popes have exhorted us time and again to preach the Gospel with joy.” (Archbishop Charles J. Chaput)

"Social historians of the future no doubt will be amused by the fact that we late-twentieth-century Americans found it acceptable to discuss publicly in detail the most intimate aspects of personal life, while maintaining an almost prudish reserve concerning the political significance of family life." (Mary Ann Glendon)

"The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?" (Dorothy Day)

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