Catholics From Switzerland

"[About Edith Stein] I see her groping, wonder-filled prayer, which in the beginning resembles a conversation she is conducting with herself and is very managed. It is half like a question she puts to herself without knowing exactly what she means; it may be that the step she takes does not need to be completed by her; the question does not need to be perfectly articulated; perhaps God would be able to intervene in the middle of her step, in order to make his presence known and answer her question in a much more profound way than she herself would have expected or even would have been capable of expecting. And God truly answers. She prays more and more and finally receives a victorious certainty and rejoices. From this moment of victorious certainty on, everything is perfectly simple and unambiguous. She will follow the path God shows to her; she belongs to him; she has rediscovered her childlike cheerfulness, which has increased and become clearly manifest through love and faith."

"[About Mozart] In relation to God he is like a child who brings everything to his father: the stones from the street and peculiar sticks and little plants and even once a ladybug; and with him all of these things are melodies, melodies that he brings to God, melodies that he suddenly knows when he is inside of prayer. And when he has finished praying, and he is no longer on his knees and no longer has his hands folded, then he sits there at the piano, or he sings with an incredible childlikeness, and in doing so he no longer has any idea whether he is playing something for God or whether it is God who is using him to play something at once for himself and for Mozart. There is a great conversation between Mozart and God that is the purest prayer, and this entire conversation is nothing but music."

"The snow fell solemnly, enlarging the silence; it came straight down from heaven, bringing an inexplicable mystery. Now and again a flake or two would alight on the windowpane, and those flakes were like little stars filled with light; other snowflakes would fall on the windowsill, slowly covering the crumbs that had been put out for the birds. I would ask: "Grandmama, would you tell me some things about heaven too?" And Grandmother would say: "Why do you say 'too'?" "Because the snow comes from there, and it seems to be telling me that everything in heaven is white.""

"As I climbed the steps that went alongside a sort of lumberyard, a man was coming down the steps toward me. He was short and rather old, and he had a slight limp. He took my hand, and at first I was really frightened, but I began to look at him. He said, "I thought you would come with me; don't you want to?" I said, with a kind of fear (was it good to say No to a poor person?): "No, Sir, but merry Christmas." He let go of my hand immediately; I thought he looked a little sad. I continued on my way, and throughout the days that followed I said to myself: "Perhaps I should have said Yes, but I really had to say No.""

"… one morning, when it was barely light, I woke up because of a golden light that filled the whole wall above my bed, and I saw something like a picture of the Holy Virgin, surrounded by several other personages … and several angels, some of whom were as big as she, while others were like little children. It was like a tableau, and yet the Holy Virgin was alive, in heaven, and the angels were changing position. I believe this lasted for a very long time. I looked, as if praying without words, and I was struck with amazement; I had never seen anything so beautiful. At the beginning, all of the light was like very vibrant gold; it faded little by little, and, as it faded, the face and the hands of the Holy Virgin became more alive and clearer. I was not frightened in the least but filled with a new joy that was both intense and very sweet."

"To me, it was not at all disagreeable to be treated as a precious, unique being, because I belonged to God."

"It became increasingly evident to me that God ordains times of illness so that they can be a time of inner recollection for those who are afflicted by them, an opportunity to recognize better what is going wrong in their lives, to take stock of their daily lives from the distant perspective of a hospital stay, to gain a clearer view of their problems and thereby become better able to master them. To this end discussion is important, which means that the physician ought to be a person of prayer who always has at hand a full supply of possibilities to help."

"When we make our own calculations, we need so many numbers and factors that any mistake is possible. The Lord's calculation boils down to love."

"Ultimate audacity: to want to love a person—to say nothing of one's neighbor!—as God loves him."

"The first step in learning to love others is the attempt to understand them."

"Only faith can keep what hope promises."

"Christian hope is a vessel in which faith lives; love carries it."

"Whoever wants to love is better knowing nothing than too much."

"Once a scientific question is settled, it remains interesting and alive only if it draws attention to new questions; every conclusion is meant as a transition to a new beginning."

"There is already so much grace in a Christian body. Can you imagine how much grace there is in a soul?"

"The sins of others can never become the measure of your own."

"If there were just one possibility—either to do the good or to combat evil—man would have to opt for the first."

"When we sin, we think we are geniuses; when we confess, we know we are idiots."

"The ability to suffer and the ability to love are one."

"If there had been no Judas, Peter would be the great betrayer. It is only because he stands in the framework of a still greater betrayal that we find a thousand excuses for him and for the faults of the Church continuing and occurring over and over again."

"There is an intensification of negative force at work in the apostate. He resembles a man who works swiftly and surely to erect a wall in order to make the Lord's image, which he knows exactly, disappear and become unrecognizable behind it."

"The Lord gives his whole innocent spirit to the Father and keeps only our own sinful spirit back for himself. In this way he can carry sin as if he himself had committed it."

"Adrienne von Speyr has brought mysticism back from the clandestine existence into which, increasingly misunderstood, indeed scorned, it had been exiled and silenced by official theology and proclamation and has returned it to the center of salvation history."

"There were many mystical phenomena in Adrienne's life—stigmata, transferences, the radiating of light, levitation, speaking with tongues, and other things of that kind, but they all occurred in a totally unemphatic way. They were mere accompaniments to show forth the heart of the matter: what was to be passed on to the Church, invisibly through prayer and strenuous penance, visibly through the dictated works. The criterion of her mysticism's authenticity lies primarily, if not exclusively, in the quality of what she did and what she had and has to say."

"Adrienne had a very high spirituality with many mystical manifestations (including stigmata). By conversing assiduously with her and noting down her confidences, B. slowly developed his own theological vision."

"We are witnessing history. This is the most dominant athlete on planet earth today."

"[Federer] ...is the most beautiful man to watch play tennis. The most beautiful I've ever seen play. His movement, combined with the artistry, his racquet, the look, he's got everything going."

"Roger can produce tennis shots that should be declared illegal"

"I would suggest that his next opponents don't look to me for advice"

"Because he can cover so well to the forehand, it really allows him to stay at home in the backhand corner. That backhand corner gets smaller and smaller, sort of dares you to hit the forehand. There's a lot of times you do, and you're thinking that it's a good idea, then a second later you're going, 'Why did I do that?'"

"He hits shots that other guys don’t hit. You want to go over and give him a high five sometimes, but you can’t do that. You want to beat him but he’s fun to watch, too."

"What do you want me to do?"

"[...] I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the youth climate movement, and I am grateful to young climate activists for pushing us all to examine our behaviours and act on innovative solutions. We owe it to them and ourselves to listen. I appreciate reminders of my responsibility [...] and I’m committed to using this privileged position to dialogue on important issues with my sponsors."

"We need a clown for this circus."

"Maybe, hopefully, one day you can tell me how it feels to win Montreal."

"You gotta be careful about how you phrase that. You don't want to be rude to the other players, because you gotta face them; I don't have to face them. Yeah, I don't ask them stupid questions like that (laughing)...Um, I think there a lot of good players on the tour."

"No, the other one was a night session too and I was wearing a white! No I'm not superstitious at all as you can see and… I try not to be… and because I try no to be, I guess I am… So it's really strange!"

"I think you need inspiration, motivation from different angles to keep you going, because it isn’t that simple just to wake up every morning and go for another travel around the world, another practice, all these other things; another fitness workout, another stretch. It’s always nice, but you need to have some success and you need to have the right reasons why you’re doing it. I think I’ve always been able to do that and I really enjoy myself out on the court."

"Sometimes you're just happy playing. Some people, some media, unfortunately, don't understand that it's okay just to play tennis and enjoy it. They always think you have to win everything, it always needs to be a success story, and if it's not, obviously, what is the point? Maybe you have to go back and think, Why have I started playing tennis? Because I just like it. It's actually sort of a dream hobby that became somewhat of a job. Some people just don't get that, ever."

"No no no, too late! Stop! Yeah, come on… I was allowed to challenge for like two seconds, the guy takes like ten… Every time! I can't allowed that stuff to happen! You have any rules in there or what ?! Stop showing me your hand, ok?! Don't tell me to be quite, ok?! When I wanna talk, I talk, all right?! I don't give a shit what he said, I just say he's waiting way too long…"

"I never waited 27 years, because 27 years ago I was just born. My parents never told me, 'If you don't win Roland Garros we take you to the orphanage.'"

"Today, I'm totally zen."

"I would so like to be Lenny Kravitz."

"It was just one of those days for him to forget and me to remember."

"It's just unreal, I'm shocked myself. I've played good matches here, but never really almost destroyed somebody."

"All four of those are on grass, whereas I have to play some on a hard court!"

"Previously I always thought it was just tactical and technique, but every match has become almost mental and physical—I try to push myself to move well. I try to push myself not to get upset and stay positive, and that's what my biggest improvement is over all those years. Under pressure I can see things very clear."

"People sometimes miss it and sometimes they don't have it and they want it, and when they have it, they don't want it"

"I think there's—he's the main guy and then there's probably four or five of us that are—I don't know. Maybe we need to do just a tag team effort or something, join forces, you know, like Power Rangers or something."

"He's a real person. He's not an enigma. Off the court he's not trying to be somebody. If you met him at McDonald's and you didn't know who he was, you would have no idea that he's one of the best athletes in the world."