Saints Archives

Per St. Augustine: “Love God, and Do Whatever You Please.”

St. Augustine’s bold statement, “Love God, and do whatever you please,” may seem like a license for recklessness, but a closer look reveals a life-changing perspective on the nature of love and desire.

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St. Augustine, one of the most influential theologians in the history of the Church, left us with a profound and often misunderstood quote: “Love God, and do whatever you please.”

At first glance, this statement might seem to promote a life of self-indulgence and disregard for God’s commandments. However, when we delve deeper into the context and true meaning behind St. Augustine’s words, we discover a profound truth about the nature of love and our relationship with God.

St. Augustine understood that true love for God transforms our desires and aligns them with His will. When we genuinely “love God with all our heart, soul, and mind” (Matthew 22:37), our actions naturally flow from that love. We begin to desire what God desires for us, and our will becomes conformed to His.

In this light, “do whatever you please” does not mean following our sinful inclinations or disregarding moral principles. Instead, it suggests that when our love for God is authentic and all-consuming, our “pleasure” will be to do what pleases Him. Our deepest joy will be found in living according to His commandments and seeking His will in all things.

St. Augustine’s own life serves as a testament to this truth. Before his conversion, he pursued worldly pleasures and ambitions, yet he found himself restless and unfulfilled.

In his famous work, “Confessions“, he wrote, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” It was only when he surrendered his life to God and allowed divine love to transform him that he discovered true peace and purpose.

As Catholics, we are called to cultivate this transformative love for God. Through prayer, the sacraments, and a deep relationship with Christ, we allow His love to shape our desires and guide our actions. When we love God above all else, we find freedom not in doing whatever we want, but in wanting what God wants for us.

Reflecting on St. Augustine’s words with renewed understanding, we should strive to love God so completely that our greatest pleasure is found in pleasing Him.

As we grow in love, our lives will bear witness to the joy and freedom that comes from aligning our will with God’s perfect plan. Let us embrace this profound truth and allow it to transform our hearts, drawing us ever closer to the God who loves us beyond measure.

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A Prayer To Do God’s Holy Will

St. Jude: The Underdog Apostle of Lost Causes

Discover the inspiring story of St. Jude, the lesser-known apostle who became the patron saint of lost causes through his unwavering faith and quiet dedication, offering hope to those facing seemingly impossible situations.

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Though not the most frequently mentioned apostle in the Bible, St. Jude has become one of the most beloved Catholic saints, especially for those facing desperate situations.

Known also as St. Jude Thaddaeus to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot, he worked quietly in the background while spreading the gospel. After Jesus’ death, he journeyed through Mesopotamia and Persia, bringing Christianity to distant lands. Yet he never sought credit or fame for his missionary work.

Through simple, unshakable faith, St. Jude fulfilled his mission. According to tradition, his fearless preaching challenged local authorities and eventually led to his martyrdom. But even in the face of death, he never wavered in speaking truth.

This unwavering faith in impossible odds made him the perfect patron of hopeless causes. In his powerful epistle urging Christians to “snatch others from the fire” (Jude 1:23), St. Jude became a voice for perseverance against all adversity. His words continue to inspire those facing seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Over the centuries, St. Jude’s reputation as a miracle worker grew. Desperate souls with no other alternatives began invoking his intercession in their darkest hours. Today, his legacy lives on not only in prayer but also in institutions like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where hope prevails against impossible odds.

St. Jude offers a lifeline to those ready to give up, reminding us that God’s loving power can triumph over even the bleakest situations. He shows us that with deep faith, nothing is ever truly lost.

So the next time you face an impossible circumstance, remember this underdog apostle; he understands, and he stands ready to intercede on your behalf.

St. Jude

Intercessory Prayers

St. Thomas Aquinas

About St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th-century Italian Dominican friar who became one of the most influential Christian thinkers in history. Born to nobility around 1225, he defied his family’s wishes by joining a religious order instead of becoming a powerful abbot. Despite being nicknamed the “Dumb Ox” due to his quiet nature and large size, Aquinas proved to be a brilliant scholar who successfully merged Christian theology with ancient Greek philosophy, particularly the works of Aristotle. He wrote extensively on topics ranging from the existence of God to human nature and ethics, with his masterpiece being the “Summa Theologica.” Though he died relatively young at 49, his ideas profoundly shaped Catholic thought and Western philosophy, leading to his canonization as a saint in 1323. CopyRetry

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints

St. Therese of Lisieux

About St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as “The Little Flower,” was a French Carmelite nun who lived a short but spiritually impactful life in the late 19th century. Born in 1873, she entered the Carmelite convent at the remarkably young age of 15, where she developed her famous “Little Way” – a spiritual path that focused on doing ordinary things with extraordinary love. Despite never leaving her convent and dying of tuberculosis at just 24 years old in 1897, her posthumously published autobiography “Story of a Soul” became a spiritual classic that resonated worldwide with its message of simple holiness and childlike trust in God. Her practical approach to spirituality and accessible way of achieving sanctity led to her being declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997, one of only four women to receive this rare honor.

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints

St. Teresa of Calcutta

About St. Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa, who became St. Teresa of Calcutta in 2016, was an Albanian-born Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. Born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910, she left home at 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto, eventually arriving in India as a teacher. After experiencing what she called a “call within a call” in 1946, she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious order dedicated to serving the sick, dying, and destitute. Despite facing criticism for her methods and medical practices, her work garnered worldwide attention and earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Her order grew from a small group to thousands of sisters operating in over 130 countries. Known for her distinctive white sari with blue stripes, she became a global symbol of charity until her death in 1997, though her private writings later revealed she experienced a deep spiritual darkness for much of her ministry, making her public perseverance all the more remarkable.

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints

St. Teresa of Avila

About St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Spanish noblewoman turned Carmelite nun, was one of the most remarkable figures of the Catholic Reformation. Born in 1515, she entered religious life partly to avoid marriage, but underwent a profound spiritual transformation in her 40s that led her to reform the Carmelite order, founding numerous monasteries despite fierce opposition and physical illness. A mystic who experienced powerful visions and wrote about them with remarkable clarity, she composed several spiritual classics, including “The Interior Castle” and her autobiography, which uniquely combined practical wisdom with accounts of mystical experiences. Despite living in an era of the Spanish Inquisition when women’s voices were often silenced, she became the first female Doctor of the Church (alongside Catherine of Siena) in 1970. Her close friendship with fellow mystic St. John of the Cross and her determination to reform religious life while maintaining a sense of humor – she once said “God deliver us from gloomy saints” – made her both influential and deeply human, contributing to her lasting impact on Christian spirituality.

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints

St. Roch

About St. Roch

St. Roch (also called St. Rock or St. Rocco) was a 14th-century French nobleman who became a pilgrim and healer during the time of the Black Death. Born with a red cross-shaped birthmark on his chest, he gave away his inheritance after his parents’ death and set out as a pilgrim to Rome. Along his journey, he encountered many cities ravaged by plague and became known for miraculously healing the sick by making the sign of the cross over them. Ironically, he eventually contracted the plague himself and retreated to a forest to avoid infecting others. According to legend, he survived thanks to a dog that brought him bread daily and licked his wounds. Upon returning to his hometown of Montpelier, he was unrecognizable and mistakenly imprisoned as a spy, dying in jail around 1327. He became one of the most popular saints in Europe, particularly invoked against plagues and epidemics, and is often depicted in art with his faithful dog and showing his plague sore.

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints

St. Rita

About St. Rita

St. Rita of Cascia, known as the “Saint of the Impossible,” lived a life marked by remarkable patience through extraordinary suffering in medieval Italy. Born in 1381, she initially wished to become a nun but obeyed her parents’ arrangement of her marriage to a violent husband. After 18 years of marriage during which she worked to convert her hostile husband through prayer and gentleness, he was murdered in a feud. Her two sons swore to avenge their father’s death, but Rita prayed they would die rather than commit murder – they both died of natural causes within a year. Finally free to pursue her original calling, she had to overcome three rejections before being accepted into the Augustinian convent in Cascia. There, she received a mysterious wound on her forehead, believed to be a partial stigmata from a thorn of Christ’s crown, which remained with her for 15 years until her death in 1457. She became known for her deep devotion despite multiple personal tragedies, and is particularly invoked as a patron saint of impossible causes, abused wives, and grieving mothers.

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints

St. Raphael the Archangel

About St. Raphael the Archangel

St. Raphael the Archangel is one of the three principal angels venerated in Abrahamic religions, best known for his healing powers and his role in the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament. In this biblical account, Raphael appears in human form as a traveling companion to Tobit’s son Tobias, helping him find a cure for his father’s blindness and assisting in driving away a demon that had killed the previous seven husbands of Sarah, who would become Tobias’s wife. His name means “God has healed” in Hebrew, and he is often depicted carrying a staff and a fish, referring to the fish whose organs were used to heal Tobit’s blindness in the biblical narrative. While Michael is known as the warrior angel and Gabriel as the messenger, Raphael is recognized as the angel of healing, travelers, matchmaking, and joyful meetings. In Catholic tradition, he is one of only three angels mentioned by name in the canonical scriptures and is traditionally invoked for healing and safe travel.

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints

St. Philomena

About St. Philomena

St. Philomena was a Greek princess who was martyred at age 13 by the Roman emperor Diocletian after refusing to marry him and maintaining her vow of virginity to Christ. While she became extremely popular among Catholics, including St. John Vianney who attributed all his miracles to her intercession, her cultus became controversial in the 20th century due to questions about historical authenticity. In 1961, her feast day was removed from the Roman calendar, though private devotion to her continues. This makes her case particularly interesting as an example of how popular devotion and official recognition can sometimes diverge in Catholic tradition, though I should note that some of these historical details may be imprecise since this is a complex historical case.

Prayers & Devotions

Intercession of the Saints