31 August 2022
If you hate something, refrain from doing it to anybody else. Do you
hate it when somebody speaks ill of you? Then speak no ill of any person. Do
you hate it when somebody makes false accusations against you? Then do not
accuse anybody falsely. Do you hate it if somebody sets you at naught or
insults you or makes off with what is yours or [does] whatever is like that?
Then do nothing of that sort to another. For the person who can keep this
saying, it will suffice for his salvation.
The Desert Fathers
Finding God
30 August 2022
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
Pedro Arrupe (1907-1991)
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
Pedro Arrupe (1907-1991)
On God's Will
29 August 2022
Be resigned to the will of God in all things; make frequent acts of submission; regard with the eye of faith all interior and exterior troubles as coming from God; do not think of the future – that is, of its misfortunes, its trials, and other occurrences which the imagination may conjure up, but dispel them in the will of God.
Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
Be resigned to the will of God in all things; make frequent acts of submission; regard with the eye of faith all interior and exterior troubles as coming from God; do not think of the future – that is, of its misfortunes, its trials, and other occurrences which the imagination may conjure up, but dispel them in the will of God.
Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
Trust God
28 August 2022
How good it is to trust God! Turn to Him often, as children look to their father and mother in their needs.
Saint Louise de Marrilac
How good it is to trust God! Turn to Him often, as children look to their father and mother in their needs.
Saint Louise de Marrilac
Overcoming Temptations
27 August 2022
Temptations are overcome by three words: Credo! Spero! Amo! I believe, I hope, I love.
Blessed Anthony Grassi (1592–1671)
Temptations are overcome by three words: Credo! Spero! Amo! I believe, I hope, I love.
Blessed Anthony Grassi (1592–1671)
On Prayer
26 August 2022
We should not trust every word we hear or every feeling in our hearts; rather, we should bring such matters before God and carefully ponder them at our leisure.
Thomas à Kempis
We should not trust every word we hear or every feeling in our hearts; rather, we should bring such matters before God and carefully ponder them at our leisure.
Thomas à Kempis
On Love
25 August 2022
Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Dismiss All Anger
24 August 2022
Dismiss all anger and look into yourself a little. Remember that he of whom you are speaking is your brother, and, as he is in the way of salvation, God can make him a Saint, in spite of his present weakness.
Saint Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)
Dismiss all anger and look into yourself a little. Remember that he of whom you are speaking is your brother, and, as he is in the way of salvation, God can make him a Saint, in spite of his present weakness.
Saint Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)
On God's Peace
23 August 2022
If a man truly loves God, and has no will but to do God’s will, the whole force of the river Rhine may run at him, and will not disturb him nor break his peace. If we find outward things a danger and disturbance, it comes from our appropriating to ourselves what is God’s.
Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)
If a man truly loves God, and has no will but to do God’s will, the whole force of the river Rhine may run at him, and will not disturb him nor break his peace. If we find outward things a danger and disturbance, it comes from our appropriating to ourselves what is God’s.
Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)
Yearning For God
22 August 2022
It is part of our human nature to desire God, and it is part of God’s nature to desire us. We can never stop yearning for God until we are possessed by God in the fullness of love.
Saint Julian of Norwich (1342–1416)
It is part of our human nature to desire God, and it is part of God’s nature to desire us. We can never stop yearning for God until we are possessed by God in the fullness of love.
Saint Julian of Norwich (1342–1416)
Preaching of the Church
21 August 2022
The preaching of the Church truly continues without change and is everywhere the same. It has the testimony of the Prophets and Apostles and all their disciples.
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
The preaching of the Church truly continues without change and is everywhere the same. It has the testimony of the Prophets and Apostles and all their disciples.
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
Coram Deo
19 August 2022
Be patient in tribulation, watchful in prayer, strenuous in labors, modest in speech, grave in manners, and grateful for benefits, because for all these things God has prepared for you an eternal kingdom.
Saint Francis of Assisi
Be patient in tribulation, watchful in prayer, strenuous in labors, modest in speech, grave in manners, and grateful for benefits, because for all these things God has prepared for you an eternal kingdom.
Saint Francis of Assisi
Confidence In God
17 August 2022
My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings.
Saint Isaac Jogues (1607-1646)
My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings.
Saint Isaac Jogues (1607-1646)
The Rosary
16 August 2022
The Rosary is my favorite prayer. A marvelous prayer! Marvelous in its simplicity and its depth. In the prayer we repeat many times the words that the Virgin Mary heard from the Archangel, and from her kinswoman Elizabeth.
Saint John Paul (1920-2005)
The Rosary is my favorite prayer. A marvelous prayer! Marvelous in its simplicity and its depth. In the prayer we repeat many times the words that the Virgin Mary heard from the Archangel, and from her kinswoman Elizabeth.
Saint John Paul (1920-2005)
On Prayer
14 August 2022
When prayer becomes too self-centered, even if it is centered upon noble and holy desires, if the focus of our prayer is I, me, or my, we are going to be in difficulty.
Armand M. Nigro, S.J.
When prayer becomes too self-centered, even if it is centered upon noble and holy desires, if the focus of our prayer is I, me, or my, we are going to be in difficulty.
Armand M. Nigro, S.J.
Turning Away From Impurity
13 August 2022
Be extremely prompt in turning away from all that leads and lures to impurity, for this evil… by small beginnings, progresses to great mischief. It is always easier to avoid than to cure this.
Saint Francis de Sales
Be extremely prompt in turning away from all that leads and lures to impurity, for this evil… by small beginnings, progresses to great mischief. It is always easier to avoid than to cure this.
Saint Francis de Sales
On Prayer
12 August 2022
Let him who does not pray expect nothing whatsoever from God — neither salvation nor renewal no direction nor grace. Rather, he is consigned to the whims and fancy of his own mind, the will of his own ego, and the direction of his own thinking. He is like one who has rejected the intervention of the Lord Jesus in his life, like one who hides himself from the Spirit of God. A man who does not pray is one who is content with his own condition. He wishes to remain as he is and not be changed, renewed or saved. His life unconsciously changes from bad to worse. He recedes spiritually day after day. The ties that bind him to the earth and to the flesh increase without his awareness. His ego remains the source of all his desires and ambitions.
Matthew the Poor (1919-2006)
Let him who does not pray expect nothing whatsoever from God — neither salvation nor renewal no direction nor grace. Rather, he is consigned to the whims and fancy of his own mind, the will of his own ego, and the direction of his own thinking. He is like one who has rejected the intervention of the Lord Jesus in his life, like one who hides himself from the Spirit of God. A man who does not pray is one who is content with his own condition. He wishes to remain as he is and not be changed, renewed or saved. His life unconsciously changes from bad to worse. He recedes spiritually day after day. The ties that bind him to the earth and to the flesh increase without his awareness. His ego remains the source of all his desires and ambitions.
Matthew the Poor (1919-2006)
Cultivate One Desire
11 August 2022
Even the holiest desires, whether they refer to the salvation of souls or the needs of the Church, which are very great, should be consumed in the fire of the love of God, whence they proceed, and await God’s time for their fulfillment. Meanwhile cultivate one only desire, the most perfect of all; that is, to please God more and more, and to nourish yourself with His will.
Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
Even the holiest desires, whether they refer to the salvation of souls or the needs of the Church, which are very great, should be consumed in the fire of the love of God, whence they proceed, and await God’s time for their fulfillment. Meanwhile cultivate one only desire, the most perfect of all; that is, to please God more and more, and to nourish yourself with His will.
Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
On Love
10 August 2022
Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
On Prayer
9 August 2022
For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God. And since it usually seems to be a quite one-sided affair, prayer simply means talking to God. This idea is enough to create great frustrations. If I present a problem, I expect a solution; if I formulate a question, I expect an answer; if I ask for guidance, I expect a response. And when it seems, increasingly, that I am talking into the dark, it is not so strange that I soon begin to suspect that my dialogue with God is in fact a monologue. Then I may begin to ask myself: To whom am I really speaking, God or myself? The crisis of our prayer life is that our mind may be filled with ideas of God while our heart remains far from him.
Henri Nouwen
For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God. And since it usually seems to be a quite one-sided affair, prayer simply means talking to God. This idea is enough to create great frustrations. If I present a problem, I expect a solution; if I formulate a question, I expect an answer; if I ask for guidance, I expect a response. And when it seems, increasingly, that I am talking into the dark, it is not so strange that I soon begin to suspect that my dialogue with God is in fact a monologue. Then I may begin to ask myself: To whom am I really speaking, God or myself? The crisis of our prayer life is that our mind may be filled with ideas of God while our heart remains far from him.
Henri Nouwen
On Temptation
8 August 2022
If temptation comes upon you in the place where you are living, do not to abandon the place where temptation came upon you; otherwise, no matter where you go, you will be confronted there by that from which you are fleeing. So wait patiently until the temptation is past so that there be no scandal attached to your withdrawal and that your departure does not occasion any offense to those who are living in the place.
The Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
If temptation comes upon you in the place where you are living, do not to abandon the place where temptation came upon you; otherwise, no matter where you go, you will be confronted there by that from which you are fleeing. So wait patiently until the temptation is past so that there be no scandal attached to your withdrawal and that your departure does not occasion any offense to those who are living in the place.
The Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
Wrong is Wrong
7 August 2022
Wrong is wrong even if everybody is doing it, and right is right even if nobody is doing it.
Saint Augustine
Wrong is wrong even if everybody is doing it, and right is right even if nobody is doing it.
Saint Augustine
Be A Success
5 August 2022
I will be a success if when I stand at the beginning of eternity, God remembers my life on earth with a smile.
Donald X. Burt (1929-2014)
I will be a success if when I stand at the beginning of eternity, God remembers my life on earth with a smile.
Donald X. Burt (1929-2014)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)