You cannot arrive at transforming union without spiritual and mental suffering because transformation demands it. You’re not able to face God in your present state—so you’ve got to go through physical suffering or spiritual suffering. Dryness, desolation, the darkness of faith; all of this is painful.

– from the book Mother Angelica: Her Grand Silence

Almighty, eternal, just, and merciful God, grant us in our misery that we may do for your sake alone what we know you want us to do, and always what pleases you; so that, cleansed and enlightened interiorly and fired with the ardor of the Holy Spirit, we may be able to follow in the footsteps of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
— Francis of Assisi

Almighty God, who gave to the just man from Nazareth, St. Joseph, the privilege of serving as earthly Father to Jesus your Son, through his intercession, watch over our families and guide us in your ways. May this son of David, in whom the shoot from the stump of Jesse has blossomed, guide your people with care and protect your Church from harm. United with Mary his spouse and Jesus our Lord, may we be joined forever in the joys of your heavenly kingdom.

Like the good thief who hung condemned next to the sinless Christ on a cross, anyone who confesses at the end of life may experience the same eternal reward as those who have lived a lifetime of piety and penitence for their sins. Their lives, St. Bernard of Clairvaux says, can be like “a short bridge from the religion of death unto the land of the living.”

In certain places, the Mother’s presence is felt in a particularly vivid way. These places sometimes radiate their light over a great distance and draw people from afar. Their radiance may extend over a diocese, a whole nation, or at times over several countries and even continents. These places are the Marian sanctuaries or shrines.

The courage to live the call to share Jesus with others comes from a hope that gives way to the discipline of prayer. Prayer inspires a life of joyful dependence on the Lord, which allows us to see and recognize him at work in the most surprising of ways. And from a heart focused on God blossoms the thanksgiving that overflows into sharing Christ with a waiting world.

– from: Who Does He Say You Are?