31 December 2020

The New Year

The whole year will be fortunate for you, not if you are drunk on the new-moon [New Year’ Day], but if both on the new-moon [January 1st], and each day, you do those things approved by God. For days come wicked and good, not from their own nature; for a day differs nothing from another day, but from our zeal and sluggishness. If you perform righteousness, then the day becomes good to you; if you perform sin, then it will be evil and full of retribution. If you contemplate these things, and are so disposed, you will consider the whole year favorable, performing prayers and charity every day; but if you are careless of virtue for yourself, and you entrust the contentment of your soul to beginnings of months and numbers of days, you will be desolate of everything good unto yourself.

                    St John Chrysostom

30 December 2020

Servant of God

To be a servant of God means to be charitable towards one’s neighbors, to have an unshakeable determination in the superior part of your soul to obey the will of God, to trust in God with a very humble humility and simplicity, and to lift oneself up as often as one falls, to endure with all your abjections and to quietly put up with others in their imperfections.

             Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

29 December 2020

Seeing Yourself

If you want to learn something that will really help you, learn to see yourself as God sees you and not as you see yourself in the distorted mirror of your own self-importance.

                 Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

28 December 2020

Our Worst Enemies

There is no doubt that at times we ourselves can be our own worst enemies. Maybe it’s because our self-love makes us see little mosquitoes as if they were elephants, or perhaps it might be that we lack submission to the will of God. I do know that this happens when we neglect prayer, mortification, and humility, but if we ask Our Lord for these virtues, we will receive them. I want you to be happy, at peace in all circumstances of your life, offering Our Lord your sorrows and your joys because everything comes from His loving hand for the good of our souls.

               Blessed Luisitia Josefa (1866-1937)

 26 December 2020

On Love

In loving your neighbor and caring for him you are on a journey. Where are you traveling if not to the Lord God, to him whom we should love with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind? We have not yet reached his presence, but we have our neighbor at our side. Support, then, this companion of your pilgrimage if you want to come into the presence of the one with whom you desire to remain forever.

                      Saint Augustine

25 December 2020

Birth of Our Lord and Saviour

On all days and at all times, dearly beloved, does the birth of our Lord and Saviour from the Virgin-mother occur to the thoughts of the faithful, who meditate on divine things, that the mind may be aroused to the acknowledgment of its Maker, and whether it be occupied in the groans of supplication, or in the shouting of praise, or in the offering of sacrifice, may employ its spiritual insight on nothing more frequently and more trustingly than on the fact that God the Son of God, begotten of the co-eternal Father, was also born by a human birth. But this Nativity which is to be adored in heaven and on earth is suggested to us by no day more than this when, with the early light still shedding its rays on nature, there is borne in upon our senses the brightness of this wondrous mystery. For the angel Gabriel's converse with the astonished Mary and her conception by the Holy Ghost as wondrously promised as believed, seem to recur not only to the memory but to the very eyes. For today the Maker of the world was born of a Virgin's womb, and He, who made all natures, became Son of her, whom He created. Today the Word of God appeared clothed in flesh, and That which had never been visible to human eyes began to be tangible to our hands as well. Today the shepherds learned from angels' voices that the Saviour was born in the substance of our flesh and soul; and today the form of the Gospel message was pre-arranged by the leaders of the Lord's flocks, so that we too may say with the army of the heavenly host: Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace to men of good will.

            Leo the Great

 24 December 2020

Taking Small Steps

By taking one small step at a time, and by not thinking that in one big step we are going to get any place, we can walk straight to the Kingdom of Heaven — and there is no reason for any of us to fall away from that.

                   Seraphim Rose (1934-1982)

23 December 2020

On Baggage 

Get rid of everything that does not contribute to the health of your soul or lift your spirit up to God.

                      Saint Hildegarde of Bingen (1098-1179)

22 December 2020

On Anger  

It is better not to allow anger, however just and reasonable, to enter at all, than to admit it in ever so slight a degree; once admitted, it will not be easily expelled, for, though at first but a small plant, it will immediately grow into a large tree.

                   Saint Augustine

21 December 2020

Parting with One’s Self  

Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot.

                   Saint Gregory the Great

20 December 2020

Noticing Other People Failings 

The sharper you are at noticing other people’s failings, the more apt will you be to overlook your own.

                      Saint Ignatius of Loyola

19 December 2020

On Praising God

Our thoughts in this present life should turn on the praise of God, because it is in praising God that we shall rejoice for ever in the life to come; and no one can be ready for the next life unless he trains himself for it now. So we praise God during our earthly life, and at the same time we make our petitions to him. Our praise is expressed with joy, our petitions with yearning. We have been promised something we do not yet possess, and because the promise was made by one who keeps his word, we trust him and are glad; but insofar as possession is delayed, we can only long and yearn for it. It is good for us to persevere in longing until we receive what was promised, and yearning is over; then praise alone will remain.

             Saint Augustine (354-430)

18 December 2020

Meditating On Holy Scripture

It is good to read the testimonies of Scripture; it is good to seek the Lord our God in them. As for me, however, I have already made so much of Scripture my own that I have more than enough to meditate on and turn over in my mind. I need no more… I know Christ, the poor crucified One.

            Saint Francis of Assisi

17 December 2020

Parousia

Advent is both a beginning and an end, an alpha and an omega of the church’s year of grace.  Too often considered merely a season of preparation for the annual commemoration of Christ’s birth, this rich and many-layered season is actually designed to prepare the Christian for the glorious possibilities of the parousia.  It is a season of longing expectation—“Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

          William G. Storey

 16 December 2020

Contemplative Prayer

Everyone is capable of inward contemplative prayer, and it is a terrible shame that almost all people have it in their heads not to do it.  We are all called to this prayer as we are all called to eternal life.  Contemplative prayer is nothing more than heartfelt affection and love.  What is necessary is to love God and to focus on him.  Saint Paul orders us to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)  Our Lord says, “And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch.” (Mark 13:33-37)  Everyone can, therefore, perform contemplative prayer and must do so.  But I understand that not everyone can meditate, and very few are ready for it.  Therefore, it is not this type of contemplative prayer that God asks of us or that is desirable for you.

                  Jean Guyon (1648-1717)

15 December 2020

Suffering is a …

A praise of Glory is a soul of silence that remains like a lyre under the mysterious touch of the Holy Spirit so that He may draw from it divine harmonies; it knows that suffering is a string that produces still more beautiful sounds; so it loves to see this string on its instrument that it may more delightfully move the heart of God.

        Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)

12 December 2020

Good Deeds

A good deed is never lost. He who sows courtesy, reaps friendship; he who plants kindness, gathers love; pleasure bestowed upon a grateful mind was never sterile, but generally gratitude begets reward.

                Saint Basil the Great (329-379)

11 December 2020

Sign of the Cross

By the signing of the holy and life-giving cross, devils and various scourges are driven away. For it is without price and without cost and praises him who can say it. The holy fathers have, by their words, transmitted to us, and even to the unbelieving heretics, how the two raised fingers and the single hand reveal Christ our God in His dual nature but single substance. The right hand proclaims His immeasurable strength, His sitting on the right hand of the Father, and His coming down unto us from Heaven. Again, by the movement of the hands to our right the enemies of God will be driven out, as the Lord triumphs over the Devil with His inconquerable power, rendering him dismal and weak.

             Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373 A.D.)

 10 December 2020

On the Eucharist

It is a great mistake to believe that the Lord’s Supper is profaned by being celebrated often. If it were a mobilization of human feelings or a beautiful spectacle, then we had all reasons to rarely celebrate it, because all stirring up of human feelings and all spectacles are boring in the long run.

But Holy Communion is something completely different. It is God’s dealing with the soul, something that we need continually and that will increasingly become a blessing to us the more often it happens. God’s work never becomes boring, and His holiness does not decrease as the years pass by.

              Bo Giertz

9 December 2020

On Prayer

If we do not fill our mind with prayer, it will fill itself with anxieties, worries, temptations, resentments, and unwelcome memories.

                      Scott Hahn (1957-

8 December 2020

Christ Our Foundation

Let each of us accept the truth of the following statement and try to make it our most fundamental principle: Christ’s teaching will never let us down, while worldly wisdom always will. Christ Himself said that this sort of wisdom was like a house with nothing but sand as its foundation, while His own was like a building with solid rock as its foundation.

              Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)

7 December 2020

Rest in God

Empty that which is to be filled. Consider that God wants to fill you up with honey. But if you are already full of vinegar, where will you put the honey? What was in the vessel must be emptied out, the vessel itself must be washed out and made clean and scoured, hard work though it may be, so that it may be made for something else, whatever it may be.

                     Saint Augustine

6 December 2020

Trails and Affliction

I pray God may open your eyes and let you see what hidden treasures he bestows on us in the trials from which the world thinks only to flee. Shame turns into honor when we seek God’s glory. Present affliction become the source of heavenly glory. To those who suffer wounds in fighting his battles God opens his arms in loving, tender friendship. That is why he (Christ) tells us that if we want to join him, we shall travel the way he took. It is surely not right that the Son of God should go his way on the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way of worldly honor: “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant greater than his master.”

           Saint John of Avila (1500-1569)

5 December 2020

Temptation

There is no man who will not be grieved at the time of his chastisement; and there is not man who will not endure a bitter time, when he must drink the poison of temptations. Without them, it is not possible to obtain a strong will. When he has often experienced the help of God in temptations, a man also obtains strong faith.

             Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)

4 December 2020

The Glory of the Lord

Beauty is the word that shall be our first. Beauty is the last thing which the thinking intellect dares to approach, since only it dances as an uncontained splendor around the double constellation of the true and the good and their inseparable relation to one another. Beauty is the disinterested one, without which the ancient world refused to understand itself, a word which both imperceptibly and yet unmistakably has bid farewell to our new world, a world of interests, leaving it to its own avarice and sadness. No longer loved or fostered by religion, beauty is lifted from its face as a mask, and its absence exposes features on that face which threaten to become incomprehensible to man. We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past — whether he admits it or not — can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.

                       Hans Urs von Balthasar

3 December 2020

The People of Advent

Advent is the time for rousing. Man is shaken to the very depths, so that he may wake up to the truth of himself. The primary condition for a fruitful and rewarding Advent is renunciation, surrender. Man must let go of all his mistaken dreams, his conceited poses and arrogant gestures, all the pretenses with which he hopes to deceive himself and others. If he fails to do this stark reality may take hold of him and rouse him forcibly in a way that will entail both anxiety and suffering.

                   Alfred Delp, SJ

2 December 2020

Advent Calendar

He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.

He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.

He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.

               Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

1 December 2020

Counting on God

We count on God’s mercy for our past mistakes, on God’s love for our present needs, on God’s sovereignty for our future.

                Saint Augustine