"Be watchful that nothing in your use be damaged or spoiled." - St. Vincent de Paul - Heavenly Father, create in me a careful spirit that I may treat with respect whatever is mine to use, because ultimately it belongs to the poor.

"Sloth begets sin in the soul and disease in the body." - St. Louise de Marillac - Lord, never let my own ease or selfishness come before fulfillment of my obligations to family or to you.

"Grace has its moments. Let us abandon ourselves to the providence of God and be very careful not to run ahead of it." - St. Vincent de Paul - Lord, I want to make every moment of the present count. Create in me a great sensitiveness to your grace working in others...

"Without prayer, I should be of little service." - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton - Before beginning my work today, I will take a few moments to reflect and listen to you speaking within me.

"I hope Our Lord will give you a share in the patience He practiced, not only in enduring fatigue but in seeing Himself abandoned by many who began to follow Him, even by the apostles, through no fault of His but because of their heedlessness." - St. Vincent de Paul -...

"You will be judged not on efficiency and success, though these must be sought for, but on love; and your professional work must be the channel through which you express your love." - Rev. Joseph Jamet, C.M. - Lord, your ways are not my ways. Sometimes I find myself...

"Aid the sick in a constructive way and call upon their cooperation." - St. Vincent de Paul - Sometimes sick people fail to cooperate because they are afraid or disturbed by their lack of control over their situation. Help me, Lord, to be a sensitive listener so I can...

"True charity, in our century, consists less in giving relief than in understanding and sustaining the effort for liberation which is agitating the classes and the minority groups." - Mother Suzanne Guillemin, D.C. - O God, purify me of all my personal prejudices....

"God accepts the undertakings of one who presents things frankly just as they are." - St. Vincent de Paul - Lord, I want to be open and honest in everything I do or say. Teach me to be truthful without subterfuge, neither embellishing nor minimizing the facts as I see...

"When in charity we feel we must give some spiritual counsel, we must never be so egotistical as to expect a hungry man, or one distracted by worry over the rent to listen to our words about God until we have helped to relieve his misery." - Bl. Frederic Ozanam -...