Venerable Bruno Lanteri (1759-1830) lived in troubled times, but he tirelessly encouraged men and women to approach God with confidence in His mercy. Great numbers who approached Ven. Lanteri found new strength through his message of mercy. His writings and letters of spiritual direction continue to reach new hearts through this powerful message.
Ven. Lanteri’s counsels of mercy have been translated into both Spanish and French. Click below to view them in your preferred language.
Download a brochure of selected counsels of mercy from Ven. Lanteri’s writings in English or read them on the page below.
“I urge you to begin each day, leaving the past to the mercy of the Lord, and the future to his Divine Providence. Do not let yourself be troubled by anything, not even by your own failings, taking care to overcome them immediately by an act of love of God.”
“If I should fall a thousand times a day, a thousand times a day I will begin again, with new awareness of my weakness, promising God, with a peaceful heart, to amend my life. I will never think of God as if he were of our condition and grows weary of our wavering, weakness, and negligence. Rather, I will think of what is truly characteristic of him and what he prizes most highly, that is, his goodness and mercy, knowing that he is a loving Father who understands our weakness, is patient with us, and forgives us.”
“Above all, I recommend with all my heart that you guard against discouragement, disturbance, and sadness. Seek always to keep your poor heart in peace, and encourage it, and always to serve God with holy joy.”
“Be of good heart, because the Lord is with you, and he loves you.”
“Therefore, be of good courage. Let your heart be joyful, give yourself as completely as you can to God, banish any doubts, and tell God that you never wish consciously to do anything that would displease him. For the rest, do not be troubled. God is with you and will help you, and will not let you fall.”
“Keep constantly before you these two proposals that I urge you to renew often and with a holy persistence: first, never to offend God knowingly, and, second, if you should fall, never to persevere in this with your will, but, with humility and courage, to rise immediately and begin again, firmly convinced that God forgives you in the instant itself that with humility and trust you ask his forgiveness.”
“We can never hope too much. The one who hopes for everything, obtains everything.”
“It is very important that we understand deeply how good God is, and not measure him by our own limitations or think that he tires of our wavering, weakness, and negligence. Our God is not such. Let us think of him as he truly is, filled with goodness, mercy, and compassion, and let us know him as the loving Father he is, who raises us when we have fallen, who never tires of forgiving us, and to whom we give great joy and honor when we seek forgiveness.”
“Remember to lift up your heart often to God, but gently and with peace.”
“Fidelity to my spiritual resolutions, peace of heart, joy, love of my neighbor, compassion for the weakness of others, goodness, patience, forbearance, warmth, openness to others in all that is not offensive to God, this is the character I seek and that I will continually ask of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Mary.”
“I have asked the Lord to give you great courage and firm hope in God.” Say then with boldness, “Now I begin,” and go forward constantly in God’s service. Do not look back so often, because one who looks back cannot run. And do not be content to begin only for this year. Begin every day, because it is for every day, even for every hour of the day, that the Lord taught us to say in the Our Father, Forgive us our trespasses, and Give us this day our daily bread.”
“In this especially you must grow in strength, in resolving to seek always to have an unshakeable hope, whatever may happen and however weak you may seem to yourself; because on our part, the basis of hope is our very weakness, and on God’s part, his mercy, which is simply his heartfelt compassion for our weakness.”
“Be on guard against discouragement and lack of trust. Strive to do well all that you do, but do this with respect for your humanity, without striving for an impossible perfection, focusing simply on the day at hand. Remember that ‘The just man falls seven times a day,’ and so you will find blessing in beginning not only every day, but every hour.”
“Do not let yourself be troubled by anything, not even by your own failings, taking care to overcome them immediately by an act of love of God.”
“Holiness does not consist in never failing, but in rising immediately, recognizing our weakness and asking God’s forgiveness, and in doing this with peace of heart, without letting ourselves be troubled.”
“Keep far from you the spirit of sadness and melancholy. Show yourself joyful even when you do not feel so because of physical problems. At such times more than ever, guard against closing in on yourself and turn your thoughts to Paradise, because it is yours.”
“We should always keep before our eyes this saying of the Holy Spirit, ‘Think of God in a spirit of goodness’ [Wisdom 1:1]. Consequently, we should seek to attain sentiments worthy of God first in ourselves so as to inspire them also in others, and reach the goal of loving him and bringing all to love him.”
“I will plan the activities of my day so that I may more surely do the will of God and give him glory in all that I do: not different things, but the same things done differently; not doing things simply out of habit, but out of love.”
“Of myself I can do nothing good, but I can do all things in God.”
“I beg of you to wage continual warfare against negative moods, and never fail to begin again.”
“I wish you every true good, and I am consoled in seeing you ever more dedicated to the glory of God, since, in this world, there is no purpose greater than this, and none more consoling.”
“Oh, what a great thing it is, and how consoling, to serve as an instrument to glorify God!”