If our hearts are fixed

“All are born with the Light of Christ, a guiding influence which permits each person to recognize right from wrong. What we do with that light and how we respond to those promptings to live righteously is part of the test of mortality.”

Boyd K. Packer

“Forgiveness is a personal attribute, not just a decision we make from time to time when we feel we should.  To have a forgiving heart is to see the world in a different light. It is to forsake the tendency to judge, condemn, exclude, or hate any human soul.  A forgiving heart seeks to love and to be patient with imperfection. The forgiving heart understands that we are all in need of the atonement of Jesus Christ.”

Roderick J. Linton

“How godlike a quality is mercy. It cannot be legislated. It must come from the heart. It must be stirred up from within. It is part of the endowment each of us receives as a son or daughter of God and partaker of a divine birthright. I plead for an effort among all of us to give greater expression and wider latitude to this instinct which lies within us. I am convinced that there comes a time, possibly many times, within our lives when we might cry out for mercy on the part of others. How can we expect it unless we have been merciful ourselves?”

Gordon B. Hinckley

“In the most personal of his parables, the Savior identified himself fully with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, sick, and imprisoned. I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: … I was a stranger, and ye took me in.’ So many are burdened with earthly care, the stain of sin, poverty, pain, disability, loneliness, bereavement, rejection. The promise of Christ’s mercy is sure and certain to those who find him and trust him. He who stilled the winds and waves can bring peace to the sinner and to the suffering saint. And we as his agents are not alone to declare his word, but to represent him in doing unto the least of his brethren that which he himself would do were he now here.”

Marion D. Hanks

“Love is the essence of the gospel and the guiding light for a Christlike life.

It not only teaches us to look upward but also to look around us.”

Hans B. Ringger

“Hope is light. It is a light within us that pierces the darkness of doubt and discouragement and taps into the light of all creation even the Savior…Christ is the true hope that is in all men.

John H. Groberg

“The light of Christ is easier to discern at Christmastime, when we are more likely to pray to know what God would have us do and more likely to read in the scriptures and so more apt to be on the Lord’s errand. When we forgive and feel forgiveness, when we are lifting the hands that hang down, we are being lifted ourselves as we move toward the Source of the light.”

Henry B. Eyring

“… If our hearts are fixed with proper intent upon serving God and keeping His commandments, what will be the fruits of it? What will be the result? … Men will be full of the spirit of forgiveness, of charity, of mercy, of love unfeigned. They will not seek occasion against each other; nor will they take advantage of the weak, the unwary, or the ignorant; but they will regard the rights of the ignorant, of the weak, of those who are dependent and at their mercy, as they do their very own; they will hold the liberties of their fellow-men as sacred as their own liberties; they will prize the virtue, honor and integrity of their neighbors and brothers just as they would appreciate and prize and hold sacred their own.”

Joseph F. Smith

“Therefore, let us exercise charity and forgiveness, love and mercy, one towards another; and go out of your way to help those that are in distress, so that the widow’s voice shall not ascend to God in complaint against the people for the lack of food, or raiment, or shelter. See to it that the orphan is not without a home in the midst of this people, nor without food or raiment, or chance to improve his mind. See to it that charity pervades all your actions and dwells in your hearts, inspiring you to look after the poor and afflicted, comforting those that are in prison, if they need comforting, and ministering unto those that are sick; for he that giveth a cup of cold water to a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.”

Joseph F. Smith

“He [the Savior] receives each act of mercy to one of the least as one done to Himself. And in return He defies hopelessness, weariness, despair, and meaninglessness on our behalf.”

Chieko N. Okazaki