Collection of phrases, thoughts from prayers, quotes from the notes and letters of Don Luigi Orione, founder of the Little Work of Divine Providence, made a saint under the papacy of John Paul II in 2004.
Quotes of San Luigi Orione
- Souls and souls! Here is our whole life; here is our cry, our program, our whole soul, our whole heart: Souls and Souls! Having a big heart and the divine madness of souls!
- May my secret martyrdom for the salvation of souls be my paradise and my supreme bliss. Love of souls, souls, souls!
- Love of God and love of neighbor: two flames of one and sacred fire.
- The greatest charity that can be done to God is to give it to a soul: and the greatest charity that can be done to a soul is to give it to God.
- How many times have I seen Jesus in the poor people! We must treat them as our masters.
- On the occasion of the opening of a hospitalization, he wrote to the nuns: take the narrowest, most humble place, to leave the most beautiful, most airy and most comfortable part for the children, the girls and the poor. Serve Jesus Christ in the poor, who must always be our dearest brothers. And this is done with a spirit of love to Jesus Our Lord.
- In another letter he wrote: we will have a great Catholic renewal, if we have a great charity. We must, however, begin to exercise it today, among ourselves, to cultivate it in the bosom of our Institutes, which must be true cenacles of charity.
- Our charity does not lock doors.
- Seeing and feeling Christ in man. We must have in us the most profound music of charity.
- We must be saints, but make ourselves such saints that our holiness does not belong only to the worship of the faithful, nor is it only in the Church, but transcends and casts in society so much splendor of light, so much life of love of God and men to be, more than the saints of the Church, the saints of the people and social health.
Recommended readings- Phrases of St. Dominic of Guzman: biography
- Phrases of Santa Gemma Galgani: quotes and aphorisms
- Phrases of Saint Anthony of Padua: quotes, aphorisms
- Phrases of San Filippo Neri: famous aphorisms from the writings
- Phrases of San Camillo de Lellis: quotes and thoughts
- Without Christ everything is lowered, everything is dimmed, everything is broken: work, civilization, freedom, greatness, the glory of the past, everything must be destroyed, everything dies.
- We are Sons of Divine Providence! We are not of those catastrophic who believe the world ends tomorrow; the last to win will be God, and God wins in infinite mercy.
- Peoples are tired, they are disillusioned; they feel that everything is in vain, all and empty life without God.
Phrases of San Luigi Orione
- The Church and society today need great souls, who love God and their neighbor without measure, and who consecrate themselves as victims to charity, which is still what can make men return to faith.
- A great renaissance of faith is needed, and new and humble disciples of Christ, vibrant souls of faith, porters of God, sowers of faith come out of the heart of the Church! And it must be a faith applied to life. It takes spirit of faith, ardor of faith, impetus of faith; faith of love, charity of faith, sacrifice of faith!
- Man is worth as much as he prays. As much of our work remains as is cemented by the prayer.
- Sometimes he said: Do not be shocked if you rarely see me go to the chapel to pray ... you see how much work I have! You know, I often send my Guardian Angel to greet Jesus.
- It is in the morning, before any distraction and communication with men, that we must pray and listen to God. The first hour all to God! Then God speaks, God plows souls, God works in us, God molds our spirit: God vivifies, God illuminates, and the splendor of God is above us; in meditation we feel the touch of God.
- The image of the Divine Master, who, in the midst of preaching, retires to the mountain to pray and meditate, is our favorite image. Let us remember, brothers, that even in the work of active life, the obligation of prayer does not cease for us. It is the prayer that elevates us to God, makes us speak with God, unites us to God, sanctifies us in God. The excellent part is the only thing necessary: the duty to pray.
- We want to be hot with faith and charity. Every word of ours must be a breath of open skies: everyone must feel the flame that burns our heart and the light of our inner fire, find God and Christ there. To conquer God and grab others, you must first live an intense life of God in ourselves, have within us a dominant faith, a great ideal that burns and shines ...
- A sign of having a spirit of prayer is having your heart aflame and inflamed with love for God and neighbor. Have thoughts always and generally turned and tending to good, heavenly things and zealous the glory of God.
- Charity commands us not to seclude ourselves in a comfortable sufficiency, but to feel and have active compassion for the pains and needs of others, from whom we must not concern ourselves separately, while they are one with us in Christ.
- We make charity reign with the gentleness of the heart, with compassion, with helping each other, with giving our hand to walk together.
- Without listening and dialogue with the Word of God, without dependence on the Will of God, we end up living in an egocentric religious protagonism which is the death of spiritual life and community life.
- When you go to a family and find good harmony and you see that there is an agreement of the spirits, you will find yourself well. My mother said: "Better a slice of polenta without saracca eaten in peace, than capons with blood in the nose."
-The family of Nazareth is the model of everything it takes for us. First of all there is the great lesson of God's love, of charity. The great love they brought to God. God was their life, they loved only God, they spoke only of God, they worked only for God; God was the motive for everything! Mary and Joseph had the greatest affection for Jesus, because in Jesus they recognized the Son of God. They always worked for the love of the Lord. The love of the Lord must also guide us in all our actions. See if you have this love that directs all your actions. In this family there was the love of God and the love of neighbor! Our family will never be modeled enough on this specimen. (Feast of the Holy Family 1932).
