Church
Through obedience to God's will receive the grace to become His family! (Cf. Mt 12:46-50). Obedience brings unity in truth. One heart, one mind, one love in Christ. We share the life of the Trinity. Obedience ushers the Kingdom of God unto earth "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done".
"My greatest desire is to be a submissive and loving daughter of the Holy Church, obeying Her in all She will judge good to command. I have never wanted to deceive or delude myself, remaining ever disposed to follow God's voice in His Church, who is never deceived, while I can be. Thanks to God, I have always let myself be guided by obedience.
I have no other ambition than to live a hidden, obscure life. I will follow with all my heart the path the Holy Church will lay out for me." -Conchita Dec. 9, 1913 (Philipon English pg 74).
The Church is our mother
"No one can have God as Father unless they have the Church as Mother." This is why we do not say "my Father," but "Our Father," because it is only in the "we" of the Church, of the brothers and sisters, that we are children. -St Cyprian
One Church
"There is one God, and one Christ, and one Church, and one chair, by our Lord's voice founded upon Peter. To set up another altar, or to constitute another priesthood, besides the one altar and the one priesthood, is impossible. Whosever gathereth elsewhere scattereth. It is adulterous, it is impious, it is sacrilegious, whatsoever is instituted by man to the breach of God's disposition" -St. Cyprian
Faithful love to the Church put into practice
Almost every feast of the Church gives me a deeper knowledge of God and a special grace. That is why I prepare myself for each feast and unite myself closely with the spirit of the Church. What a joy it is to be faithful child of the Church! Oh, how much I love Holy Church and all who live in it! I look upon them as living members of Christ, who is their Head. I burn with love with those who love. I suffer with those who suffer. I am consumed with sorrow at the sight of those who are cold and ungrateful; and I then try to have such a great love for God that it will make amends for those who do not love Him, those who feed their Savior with ingratitude at its worst. -St. Faustina, Diary No. 481
"Since the sanctification of man is in the power of God who sanctifies, it is not in the competency of man to choose the things by which he is to be sanctified, but this must be determined by Divine institution." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica,
Intolerant in principle; tolerant in practice
Church is intolerant in her principles because she believes; but is tolerant in practice because she loves. The enemies of the Church are tolerant in principles because they do not believe, but are intolerant in practice because the do not love - P Reginald Garrigous-Lagrange, O.P.
Let us be patient and forgiving with others but strict towards ourselves. Let us not dilute the principles we live by.
