All Quotes

"Fourteen centuries after the Christianization of the Croats, has the time finally come for maturity, the time of our confirmation – confirmation of humanity and faith? Has the time come for a transition from the selfish egocentrism of the individual, party, government and opposition into a mature, conscious person open to dialogue and the society, where Domnius' language of the value of openness and respect, justice and solidarity, the common good and unity, to all of us in the city of Split and the homeland of Croatia, will be our everyday, understandable and acceptable language? I believe that it is! That is why we ask his intercession today and celebrate him."

"Where there is Mary, there is Jesus and where there is Jesus there is joy, Mary is not only the Mother of God, she is the Mother of all of us who seek her constant intercession, we entrust our suffering to her."

"Prayer is petition, intercession, adoration, and contemplation; great saints and mystics have agreed on this definition. To stop short at petition is to pray only in a crippled fashion. Further, such prayer encourages one of the faults which is most reprehended by spiritual instructors — turning to God without turning from Self."

"A miracle is something that happens when you least expect it. But for them to happen, you have to work hard. You need to believe it and work for it."

"All those who were physically healed in Lourdes have died or will die, even if for evils other than those for which they turned to Mary's intercession. [...] It is an obvious reflection, perhaps apparently banal. Yet, it allows us to clarify the Catholic's perspective in the face of the impressive dossier of "physical" healings which, at the foot of the Pyrenees, have not ceased to occur since 1858. The believer, that is, knows that what is promised by the Gospel - what 'everyone' is promised - it is indeed the radical and definitive "healing" of the body too; but only when this is resurrected to eternal life. (Vittorio Messori)"

"Yes, it has been a long and painful journey. I went to Lourdes in January and felt great straight after for a long time. It's an incredible place."

"Cristiano De André"

"Miracles are not the intercession of an external, divine agency in violoation of the laws of nature. A miracles is something impossible from an old understanding of reality, and possible from a new one."

"The Muslim reform movements of the nineteenth century helped to transform Muslim attitudes towards Hindus. They were essen¬ tially rejections of medieval Islam in India in favour of early Islam in Arabia. They were not movements confined to the library and to the study; their exponents did not merely formulate intellectual positions against monism, but went out and preached against the customs which so many Muslims shared with Hindus - intercession at the tombs of saints, consultation of Brahmins, even vegetarianism and aversion to the remarriage of widows. Muslims in India were to be made aware of what they did not share with their non-Muslim neighbours. India could be made by the reformers to feel not like a home, but like a habitat."

"Holiness is religious principle put into motion. It is the love of God sent forth into circulation, on the feet, and with the hands of love to men. It is faith gone to work. It is charity coined into actions, and devotion breathing benedictions on human suffering, while it goes up in intercession to the Father of all piety."

"Today I pray in a special way for peace and harmony in this country, so that with God's help and through the intercession of Our Lady of Budslau we can overcome."

"The most satisfactory way [in Jainism], perhaps, at arriving any conclusion is to divide the subject of prayer into various elements, such as petition, intercession, adoration, thanksgiving and to note under each head the actual practice and the sometimes conflicting opinions of the Jains."

"Father in heaven, just as the congregation’s intercessory prayer usually asks that you yourself will comfort all who are sick and sorrowful, so in this hour it asks that you give rest for their souls to those who labor and are burdened. And yet this is no intercession: who would dare to think himself so healthy that he would pray only for others. Alas, no, everyone is praying for himself, praying that you will give him rest for his soul. Give, O God, rest for the soul to each one individually whom you see are laboring and burdened in the consciousness of sins."

"I take the suffering of people caused by the events taking place with deep and heartfelt pain. I call on all parties to the conflict to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. I appeal to the bishops, pastors, monastics, and laity to provide all possible assistance to all victims, including refugees and people left homeless and without means of livelihood. The Russian and Ukrainian peoples have a common centuries-old history dating back to the Baptism of Rus’ by Prince St. Vladimir the Equal-to-the-Apostles. I believe that this God-given affinity will help overcome the divisions and disagreements that have arisen that have led to the current conflict. I call on the entire fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church to offer a special, fervent prayer for the speedy restoration of peace. May the All-merciful Lord, through the intercession of our Most Pure Lady the Theotokos and all the saints, preserve the Russian, Ukrainian, and other peoples who are spiritually united by our Church!"

"O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon thy holy name, and as suppliants we implore thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel St. Michael, thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen."

"Please join me in thanking Our Lord for the election of Pope Leo XIV, Successor of St. Peter, as Shepherd of the Church throughout the world.The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse has a particularly strong bond with the Roman Pontiff, especially through its affiliation with the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major. I urge all pilgrims and friends of the Shrine to pray fervently for Pope Leo XIV that Our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Peter the Apostle and Pope St. Leo the Great, may grant him abundant wisdom, strength and courage to do all that Our Lord asks of him in these tumultuous times. May God bless Pope Leo and grant him many years."

"It is only Jesus Christ who has thrown light on life and immortality through the Gospel; and because He has done so, and has enabled us by His Atoning Death and Intercession to make the most of this discovery, His Gospel is, for all who will, a power of God unto salvation."

"Christ by His intercession is able to save thee beyond the horizon and largest compass of thy thoughts, even to the utmost. In danger Christ lashes us to Himself, as Alpine guides do when there is perilous ice to get over."

"There are not petitional or intercessory prayers in Buddhism. However much we may pray to the Buddha we cannot be saved. The Buddha does not grant favors to those who pray to Him. Instead of petitional prayers there is meditation that leads to self-control, purification and enlightenment. Meditation is neither a silent reverie nor keeping the mind blank. It is an active striving. It serves as a tonic both to the heart and the mind. The Buddha not only speaks of the futility of offering prayers but also disparages a slave mentality. A Buddhist should not pray to be saved, but should rely on himself and win his freedom."

"5. The incarnation of the Son of God, His work of atonement for the sins of mankind, and His mediatorial intercession and reign;"

"I guess when we love somebody we want to see them loved by others and being praised by others. And that's what Jesus, even all through history, so many miracles are done at the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, so much good comes into the world at the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, because Jesus wants her to be loved. Wants people, wants you and I to love her as much as he loves her."

"We will do our part, but everything is in God's hands, but one thing is certain: Niña now offers herself to us and to the faithful around the world, especially children and young people, as a model of Christian life. In her life she chose the path of holiness, she wanted to be close to the heart of God, she accepted and was faithful to the will of God in her journey. At this time we continue to ask for her intercession and we continue to work for the cause, praying and hoping that one day, God willing, she will be presented to us by Mother Church as Saint Niña Ruiz-Abad."

"Certainly, in the full and strict meaning of the term, only Jesus Christ, the God-Man, is King; but Mary, too, as Mother of the divine Christ, as His associate in the redemption, in his struggle with His enemies and His final victory over them, has a share, though in a limited and analogous way, in His royal dignity. For from her union with Christ she attains a radiant eminence transcending that of any other creature; from her union with Christ she receives the royal right to dispose of the treasures of the Divine Redeemer's Kingdom; from her union with Christ finally is derived the inexhaustible efficacy of her maternal intercession before the Son and His Father."

"And cite for them the example of the people of the town, when the messengers came to it. Where We sent two to them, but they disbelieved in them, so We supported them with a third one, thus they said: "We are messengers to you." They replied: "You are but human beings like us, and the Almighty did not send down anything, you are only telling lies." They said: "Our Lord knows that we have been sent to you. And we are only required to give a clear delivery." They replied: "We have welcomed you better than you deserve. If you do not cease, we will stone you, and you will receive a painful retribution from us!" They said: "Keep your welcome with you, for you have been reminded. Indeed, you are transgressing people." And a man came running from the farthest part of the city, saying: "O my people, follow the messengers. Follow those who do not ask you for any wage, and are guided. And why should I not serve the One who created me, and to Him is your ultimate return? Shall I take gods besides Him? If the Almighty intends any harm for me, their intercession cannot help me in the least, nor can they save me. Then I would be clearly astray." "I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me!" It was said: "Enter Paradise." He said "Oh, how I wish my people only knew! Of what my Lord has forgiven me, and made me of the honoured ones." And We did not send down upon his people after him soldiers from the sky; for there was no need to send them down."

"Prayer is a relationship with God, probably the most personal and intimate aspect of our lives. My ministry as a bishop has expanded my vision of prayer, and even though prayer has always been a part of my life, I would say one thing that has grown is my intercessory prayer. There are so many individuals and things to pray for. With the mission of bishop, and as a shepherd to the faithful, I first and foremost want to reach out to everyone, and there’s no better way to do that than through prayer. I have a deeper consciousness of inner prayer, and bringing to the heart of Christ the intercession that has been entrusted to me."

"If the infidels pray, they will surely seek the intercession of their idols, which is taking things too far… A wise man has said that unless you become a maniac (diwanah) you cannot attain Islam. The state of this mania means going beyond considerations of profit and loss. Whatever one gains in the service of Islam should suffice…"

"So it was that the Catherines poured water and spooned gruel, while the Clares prayed for the intercession of the saints. The Catherines changed sheets. The Clares practiced mortification of the flesh. The Catherines employed antibiotics. The Clares made a public display of a kneecap of their patron saint. It was soon widely know to which hospital one went to get well, and to which one went to die."

"I have often encountered certain people still attached to the fables of pagan mythology who ridicule our belief and assert that faith is all we require of those whom we give religious instruction. They also point with scorn at the Apostles' lack of education and stigmatize these men as uncouth and ignorant of the niceties of cultivated speech. They further say that the veneration shown to the martyrs is absurd. And as for the living seeking to obtain the intercession of the dead, this, they declare, is the utmost folly."

"I am grateful to the Lord for his grace in choosing me, a humble servant, as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Beijing. I am aware that I do not have the qualities required for the task entrusted to me, but I accept it in faith and entrust myself to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Matthew the Apostle, trusting with all my heart and promising to dedicate myself entirely to the fulfillment of my pastoral duties, because "I do all things for the sake of Gospel.""

"That intercession is like this:"

"I choose what I want to see, what I want to hear, and who I surround myself with."

"You should knot that a certain Franciscan from France, whose name indeed was Franz, was here not many days since and had such conversation with me concerning the Scriptural basis for the doctrine of the adoration of the saints and their intercession for us. He was not able to convince me with the assistance of a single passage of Scripture that the saints do pray for us, as he had with a great deal of assurance boasted he should do. At last he went to Basel, where he recounted the affair in an entirely different way from the reality - in fact he lied about it. So it seemed good to me to let you know about these things that you might not be ignorant of that Cumaean lion, if perchance he should ever turn your way. There followed within six days another strife with our brethren preachers of the [different orders in Zurich, especially with the Augustinians]. Finally the burgonmaster and the Council appointed for them three commissioners on whom this was enjoined - that Aquinas and the rest of the doctors of that class being put aside they should base their arguments alone upon those sacred writings which are contained in the Bible. This troubled those beasts so much that one brother, the father reader of the order of Preachers [i.e., the Dominicans] cut loose from us, and we wept - as one weeps when a cross-grained and rich stepmother has departed this life. Meanwhile there are those who threaten, but God will turn the evil upon His enemies."

"It would be monstrous if prices remained the same in spite of cheapened transport, improved machinery, and all the efforts of scientific progress. Until reasonable men become convinced that low prices are best, the teachings of economy will be in vain."

"So far as the Rig Veda is concerned, there is not a particle of evidence suggesting the invasion of India by the Aryans from outside India."

"So far as the testimony of the Vedic literature is concerned, it is against the theory that the original home of the Aryans was outside India."

"The language in which reference to the seven rivers is made in the Rig Veda (x. 75,5) is very significant. ... — the rivers are addressed as 'my Ganges, my Yamuna, my Sarasvati' and so on. No foreigner would ever address a river in such familiar and endearing terms unless by long association he had developed an emotion about it."

"The third point to note is that whatever the degree of conflict, it was not a conflict of race. It was a conflict which had arisen on account of difference of religions. That this conflict was religious and not racial is evidenced by the Big Veda itself. Speaking of the Dasyus, it says : — “ They are avrata , without (the Arya) rites..."

"the distinction between the Aryans on the one hand and the Dasas and Dasyus on the other was not a racial distinction of colour or physiognomy. That is why a Dasa or Dasyu could become an Arya."

"The theory of the Aryan race set up by Western writers falls to the ground at every point…"

"Anyone who cares to scrutinize the theory will find that it suffers from a double infection. In the first place, the theory is based on nothing but pleasing assumptions and inferences based on such assumptions. In the second place, the theory is a perversion of scientific investigation. It is not allowed to evolve out of facts. On the contrary, the theory is preconceived and facts are selected to prove it. ..."

"The theory of the Aryan race is just an assumption and no more. It is based on a philological proposition put forth by Dr. Bopp in his epoch-making book called * Comparative Grammar which appeared in 1885. In this book, Dr. Bopp demonstrated that a greater number of languages of Europe and some languages of Asia must be referred to a common ancestral speech. ... This assumption is the major premise on which the theory of the Aryan race is based."

"From this assumption are drawn two inferences : (1) Unity of race, and (2) that race being the Aryan race. The argument is that if the languages are descended from a common ancestral speech then there must have existed a race whose mother tongue it was and since the mother tongue was known as the Aryan tongue the race who spoke it was the Aryan race. The existence of a separate and a distinct Aryan race is thus an inference only. From this inference, is drawn another inference which is that of a common original habitat. It is argued that there could be no community of language unless people had a common habitat permitting close communion. Common original habitat is thus an inference from an inference."

"The theory of invasion is an invention. This invention is necessary because of a gratuitous assumption which underlies the Western theory. The assumption is that the Indo-Germanic people are the purest of the modern representatives of the original Aryan race. Its first home is assumed to have been somewhere in Europe. These assumptions raise a question : How could the Aryan speech have come to India ? This question can be answered only by the supposition that the Aryans must have come into India from outside. Hence the necessity for inventing the theory of invasion."

"The third assumption is that the Aryans were a superior race. This theory has its origin in the belief that the Aryans are a European race and as a European race it is presumed to be superior to the Asiatic races. Having assumed its superiority, the next logical step one is driven to take is to establish the fact of superiority. Knowing that nothing can prove the superiority of the Aryan race better than invasion and conquest of the native races, the Western writers have proceeded to invent the story of the invasion of India by the Aryans and the conquest by them of the Dasas and Dasyus."

"The fourth assumption is that the European races were white and had a colour prejudice against the dark races. The Aryans being a European race, it is assumed that it must have had colour prejudice. The theory proceeds to find evidence for colour prejudice in the Aryans who came into India. This it finds in the Chaturvarnya — an institution established by the Indo-Aryans after they came to India and which according to these scholars is based upon Varna which is taken by them to mean colour."

"Not one of these assumptions is borne out by facts. Take the premise about the Aryan race. The theory does not take account of the possibility that the Aryan race in the physiological sense is one thing and an Aryan race in the philological sense quite different, and that it is perfectly possible that the Aryan race, if there is one, in the physiological sense may have its habitat in one place and that the Aryan race, in the philological sense, in quite a different place. The theory of the Aryan race is based on the premise of a common language and it is supposed to be common because it has a structural affinity. The assertion that the Aryans came from outside and invaded India is not proved and the premise that the Dasas and Dasyus are aboriginal tribes of India is demonstrably false."

"The originators of the Aryan race theory are so eager to establish their case that they have no patience to see what absurdities they land themselves in. They start on a mission to prove what they want to prove and do not hesitate to pick such evidence from the Vedas as they think is good for them."

"Prof. Michael Foster has somewhere said that ‘hypothesis is the salt of science.’ Without hypothesis there is no possibility of fruitful investigation. But it is equally true that where the desire to prove a particular hypothesis is dominant, hypothesis becomes the poison of science. The Aryan race theory of Western scholars is as good an illustration of how hypothesis can be the poison of science as one can think of."

"The Aryan race theory is so absurd that it ought to have been dead long ago. But far from being dead, the theory has a considerable hold upon the people. There are two explanations which account for this phenomenon. The; first explanation is to be found in the support which the theory receives from Brahmin scholars. This is a very strange phenomenon. As Hindus, they should ordinarily show a dislike for the Aryan theory with its express avowal of the superiority of the European races over the Asiatic races. But the Brahmin scholar has not only no such aversion but he most willingly hails it. The reasons are obvious. The Brahmin believes in the two-nation theory. He claims to be the representative of the Aryan race and he regards the rest of the Hindus as descendents of the non-Aryans. The theory helps him to establish his kinship with the European races and share their arrogance and their superiority. He likes particularly that part of the theory which makes the Aryan an invader and a conqueror of the non-Aryan native races. For it helps him to maintain and justify his overlordship over the non-Brahmins."

"Turning to the Vedas for any indication whether the Aryans had any colour prejudice, reference may be made to the following passages in the Rig Veda : In Rig Veda, i . 117 . 8, there is a reference to Ashvins having brought about the marriage between Shyavya and Bushati. Shyavya is black and Bushati is fair. In Rig Veda, i . 117 . 5, there is a prayer addressed to Ashvins for having saved Vandana who is spoken as of golden colour. In Rig Veda, ii . 3 . 9, there is a prayer by an Aryan invoking the Devas to bless him with a son with certain virtues but of ( pishanga ) tawny (reddish brown) complexion. These instances show that the Vedic Aryans had no colour prejudice. How could they have ? The Vedic Aryans were not of one colour. Their complexion varied; some were of copper complexion, some white, and some black. Rama the son of Dasharatha has been described as Shyama i.e., dark in complexion, so is Krishna the descendant of the Yadus, another Aryan clan. The Rishi Dirghatamas, who is the author of many mantras of the Rig Veda must have been of dark colour if his name was given to him after his complexion. Kanva is, an Aryan rishi of great repute. But according to the description given in Rig Yeda — x . 31 . 11, he was of dark colour."