Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with Him, familiarly and with confidence and love, as to the dearest and most loving of friends. Speak to Him often of your business, your plans, your troubles, your fears - of everything that concerns you. Converse with Him confidently and frankly; for God is not wont to speak to a soul that does not speak to Him.
Alphonsus LiguoriHe who suffers in patience, surfers less and saves his soul. He who suffers impatiently, suffers more and loses his soul.
Alphonsus LiguoriMary being destined to negotiate peace between God and man, it was not proper that she should be an accomplice in the disobedience of Adam.
Alphonsus LiguoriJesus is the mediator of justice; Mary obtains for us grace; for, as St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Germanus, St. Antoninus, and others say, it is the will of God to dispense through the hands of Mary whatever graces he is pleased to bestow upon us. With God, the prayers of the saints are the prayers of His friends, but the prayers of Mary are the prayers of His mother.
Alphonsus Liguori