The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the timidity or rather the cowardice of the faithful.
Interpretation
Timidity among the faithful hinders the Church's mission.
Pope Pius X emphasizes that the major barrier to the Church's ability to fulfill its mission and influence society is not external opposition, but rather a lack of courage among its members. This cowardice prevents faithful individuals from actively participating or standing up for their beliefs, ultimately limiting the Church's impact in the world.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the Church's role in social justice, one might use this quote to encourage parishioners to act boldly.
It is an error to believe that Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and to all men, but rather that He inaugurated a religious movement adapted, or to be adapted, to different times and different places.
Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven.
Let the storm rage and the sky darken - not for that shall we be dismayed. If we trust as we should in Mary, we shall recognize in her, the Virgin Most Powerful "who with virginal foot did crush the head of the serpent.
The Rosary is the most beautiful and the most rich in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God...and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.
Our Apostolic Mandate requires from Us that We watch over the purity of the Faith and the integrity of Catholic discipline. It requires from Us that We protect the faithful from evil and error; especially so when evil and error are presented in dynamic language which, concealing vague notions and ambiguous expressions with emotional and high-sounding words, is likely to set ablaze the hearts of men in pursuit of ideals which, whilst attractive, are nonetheless nefarious.
Nothing would please us more than to see our beloved children form the habit of reading the Gospels - not merely from time to time, but every day.
What's the difference? How can people be so inconsistent? Why is it that free immigration was a good thing before 1914 and free immigration is a bad thing today? Well, there is a sense in which that answer is right. There's a sense in which free immigration, in the same sense as we had it before 1914 is not possible today. Why not?
Our life is a creation of our mind.
He that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are not so well governed as they ought to be shall never want attentive and favorable hearers.
Reason is a supple nymph, and slippery as a fish by nature. She had as leave give her kiss to an absurdity any day, as to syllogistic truth. The absurdity may turn out truer.
Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material environment brutally imposed on him, but by a conscience superior to his own, the superiority of which he feels. Because the greater, better part of his existence transcends the body, he escapes the body's yoke, but is subject to that of society.
Men make their own history but not in circumstances of their own choosing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.