FAMILY
"The family is the most ancient institution which God founded in Paradise, when He called the first pair of human beings into existence. The first blessing which God gave was for the wellbeing of the family. With family life, the history of the world commences."
+St. John Vianney
"Marriage has three blessings: The first is children, to be received and raised for God's service. The second is the loyal faithfulness by which each serves the other. The third is the sacrament of matrimony, which signifies the inseparable union of Christ with His Church."
+St. Thomas Aquinas
"The history of mankind, the history of salvation, passes by way of the family. The family is placed at the center of the great struggle between good and evil, between life and death, between love and all that is opposed to love."
+Bl. Pope John Paul II
"It is not enough for Christian parents to nourish only the bodies of their children; even animals do this. They must also nourish their souls in grace, in virtue, and in God's holy commandments."
+St. Catherine of Siena
"Virtues go easily from mothers into the hearts of their children, who willingly do what they see being done."
+St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney
"Mothers of children, even if they have a thousand, carry each and every one fixed in their hearts, and because of the strength of their love they do not forget any of them. In fact, it seems that the more children they have the more their love and care for each one is increased."
+St. Angela Merici
"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you always find forgiveness."
+St. Bonaventure
"The home must be in accord with the Church, that all harmful influences be withheld from the souls of children. Where there is true piety in the home, purity of morals reigns supreme."
+St. John Vianney
"The first thing that a person finds in life and the last to which he holds out his hand, and the most precious that he possesses, even if he does not realize it, is family life."
+Bl. Adolph Kolping
"Family – where life begins and love never ends."
~Unknown
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family."
~Anthony Brandt
"The family is a haven in a heartless world."
~Unknown
"A family is a haven of rest, a sanctuary of peace and most of all, a harbor of love."
~Feldman
"An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship."
~Spanish Proverb
"God has given us no greater blessing than that of belonging to a loving and loyal family - and it will be so, always and forever."
~Richard L. Evans
"Children and mothers never really part, bound in the beating of each other's heart."
~Charlotte Gray
"Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love. Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children."
~Rosaleen Dickson
RELATIONSHIPS
A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.
Sir 6:14-17
"Consider seriously how quickly people change, and how little trust is to be had in them; and hold fast to God, who does not change."
+St. Teresa of Avila
"It is a great folly to be willing to violate the friendship of God, rather than the law of human friendship."
~St. Teresa
"What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it."
~C.S. Lewis
"There is nothing more unreasonable than to estimate our worth by the opinion of others. Today they laud us to the skies, tomorrow they will cover us with ignominy."
~Ven. Louis of Granada
"The world is full of inconstancy; its friendship ceases the moment there is no advantage to be expected from us."
+Bl. John Tauler
"We easily lose peace of mind, because we make it depend, not on the testimony of a good conscience, but on the judgment of men."
+Bl. Bartholomew of Martyrs
"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."
~Andre Gide
"A friend accepts us as we are, yet helps us to be what we should be."
~Unknown
"Do not wish to be anything but what you are and try to be that perfectly."
+St. Frances de Sales
"If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise."
~Johann von Goethe
"You were born an original. Don't die a copy."
~John Mason
"Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What we really are consists in what God knows us to be."
+St. John Berchmans
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Do not try to please everybody. Try to please God, the angels and the saints. These are your public. If you are afraid of other people's opinions, you should not have become a Christian."
+St. John Vianney
"The friendship that can cease has never been real."
+St. Jerome
