To pick up a straw from the ground through obedience is more meritorious than to preach, to fast, to use the discipline to blood, and to make long prayers, of one's own will. - Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez
A Cistercian monk, having gathered up a few crumbs at the close of a meal, had not had time to eat them as the signal for leaving the table was given and grace was said. He was unwilling to waste them, but his rule forbade him to eat anything except at the regular repasts. He therefore went to his Superior, and kneeling, asked what he should do. But when at his Superior's command he opened his hand to show him the crumbs, they were changed into precious gems.
- text taken from A Year with the Saints, composed by an unknown Italian, translated by a member of the Order of Mercy; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Archdiocese of New York, New York, 21 January 1891