Sayings of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

“Jesus, I live for Thee, I labor for Thee, I desire only Thee. Thou in me and I in Thee; Thou with me and I with Thee; Thou all mine and I all Thine.”

“Lord, You alone are the Center in which I find rest. Give me Your arm to support me, Your shoulders to carry me, Your breast to lean upon, Your Cross to uphold me, Your Body to nourish me. In You, Lord, I sleep and rest in peace.”

“O Jesus, my Divine Saviour, I offer You my mind and heart. Direct their movements while I pray, so that I may offer my prayer in union with Your Immaculate Mother.”

“Strengthen in us, O God, the work You have begun in us.”

“From the time I was twelve years and some months old, when God bestowed upon me the grace of a religious vocation, I believe I never let pass a single day without praying to him to enlighten me about it and make me faithful to it.”

“O Blessed night, when I believed a second time that my prayer was heard! I am convinced of it, dear Mother, because of the pure joy I taste and the firm confidence I have… All night long I was on the new continent, and I traveled in such good company. First, I carefully collected all the blood of Jesus from the Garden, the Pretorium, and Calvary; I took possession of Him in the Blessed Sacrament, and holding it close, I carried my treasure everywhere to spread it without fear of its being exhausted… The twelve hours of the night passed very quickly and without fatigue, even though I knelt the whole time.”

“If you have no earthly consolation, why do you not seek consolation in the Heart of Jesus? To love him is truest joy.”

“I love my solitude, and I would love it still more if I had more of it.”

“Preach by the example of your lives rather than by words. Example is the very best sermon.”

“My desires flared up from morning onward at these words that gripped me as I entered the choir: ‘Go, teach all nations.’”

“For a long time, a very strong and deep attraction has drawn me to missionary life.”

“My first longing to become a missionary came from conversations with a good Jesuit father who had been a missionary in Louisiana and told us stories of the Indians. I was only eight or ten years old, but nevertheless I considered these missionaries blessed.”

“How truly blessed we shall be if at the price of even very great sacrifices we shall have made God known and loved by one more soul!”

“It fills me with joy to realize that I can lay down my life daily for God, that I can sacrifice it willingly for Him. I may not be a martyr for the faith, but I can be a martyr of charity.”

“Jesus went before us on the narrow path along which He beckons us to follow Him.”

“We cultivate a very small field for Christ. But we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements, but a heart that holds back nothing for self.”

“You may dazzle the mind with a thousand brilliant discoveries of natural science; you may open new worlds of knowledge which were never dreamed of before; yet, if you have not developed in the soul of the pupil strong habits of virtue which will sustain her in her struggle of life, you have not educated her, but only put in her hand a powerful instrument of self-destruction.”

“Let us try not to be exacting with other people, but rather to pass over in silence those thousand little annoyances that tend to irritate us. For we know that no one is perfect in this life, and we must put up with the defects of others as they put up with ours.”

“Learn to let others do their share of the work. Things may be done less well, but you will have more peace of soul and health of body. And what temporal interest should we not sacrifice in order to gain these blessings?”

“God must be very good to give me an intercessor like you. Thank you, a thousand times, for the Masses offered to God for my poor soul. I beg you to continue to protect it with your prayers.”

“Kneeling in spirit at your feet, dear Reverend Mother, I offer my wishes for you to the Heart of Jesus. May He bless the year that is ahead of us; may he take care of you, help you bear the burden you carry and never let me add to it by any fault of mine.”

“Even if we are entirely separated from one another, we declare that we shall always be united closely in this loveable center of all our affections, the divine Heart of Jesus.”

“At such great distances, our relationships must often be kept up in the divine Heart of Jesus.”

“God wills to separate us; he will reunite us in his Heart.”

“There are no difficulties except for those who worry too much about tomorrow.”

“Do not look back to the past, nor forward to the future. Claim only the present, for it holds God’s will.”

“I am where God wills me to be, and so I have found rest and security. His wisdom governs me, His power defends me, His grace sanctifies me, His mercy encompasses me, His joy sustains me and all will go well with me.”

“He will never let the trial surpass the strength He gives you, and at the very moment you think yourself overwhelmed by sorrow, He will lift you up and give you peace.”

“Let us bear our cross and leave it to God to determine the length and the weight.”

“The cross is for everyone and only those who know how to carry it are happy.”

“Profit by the little trials that come to you, for through them we make real progress.”

“Those who desire only the good pleasure of God abide in peace even in the midst of failure, for God has not told us that He requires success of us.”

“Strength of character is certainly needed to face life in the world and to stand by right principles, especially in the age in which we live.”