May 11th
Ven. Louis of Granada (1505-1588), Confessor; Granada, Spain

"All animals are born with weapons for combat.  The bull has horns; the boar has tusks; the bird has a beak and claws; the bee has a sting, and even the tiny fly or other insect has power to bite.  But man, destined to live at peace with his fellow creatures, comes into the world naked and unarmed.  Reflect, then, how contrary to your rightful nature it is to seek to be revenged upon one of your kind, to return evil for evil, particularly by making use of weapons which nature has denied you."

"If you overcome your passion, you gain a more glorious victory than he who conquers a city.  Our noblest triumph is won by subduing ourselves, by subjecting our passions to the empire of reason."

"If anger urges that our enemy does not deserve forgiveness, ask yourself how far you  have merited God's pardon.  Will you have God exercise only mercy toward you, when you pursue your neighbor with  implacable hatred?  And if it be true that your enemy does not deserve pardon from you, it will be equally true that you do not deserve pardon from God.  Remember that the pardon which man has not merited for himself, Christ has superabundantly merited for him.  For love of Him, therefore, forgive all who have offended you."

St Gregory the Great (540-604), Confessor, Pope, Doctor of the Church; Rome, Italy; Feast day March 12th

"We gain no merit from good works if we have not learned to endure injuries with patience."