31 October 2022
Whatever religious practice or observance it leads to, any teaching or
discipline that fosters a stronger love of God and, through God, of our
neighbours, is most acceptable to God for that reason. This love is the reason
why things should be or not be, why they should remain the same or be changed.
This love should be the reason why things are and the end to which all things
are directed. For nothing can be considered wrong that is truly directed
towards and according to that love. Without such love we cannot be pleasing to
God, and without it we cannot achieve anything at all.
Isaac of Stella (12th
Century)
Inner Peace
30 October 2022
Just as a city is not built in a day, do not think that you can achieve, in a day, this peace, this interior calm, because it is within you that a home must be built for God, while you yourself become his temple. And it is the Lord himself who must handle the construction. Without him your work would not exist.
Jacques Philippe
Just as a city is not built in a day, do not think that you can achieve, in a day, this peace, this interior calm, because it is within you that a home must be built for God, while you yourself become his temple. And it is the Lord himself who must handle the construction. Without him your work would not exist.
Jacques Philippe
On Silence
29 October 2022
Even amid the “busy-ness” and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self. And in discovering our true self, we discover the particular vocation which God has given us for the building up of his Church and the redemption of our world.
Pope Benedict XVI
Even amid the “busy-ness” and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self. And in discovering our true self, we discover the particular vocation which God has given us for the building up of his Church and the redemption of our world.
Pope Benedict XVI
Walk in Jesus
28 October 2022
“Walk in Jesus Christ, rooted in Him, built up on Him strengthened in faith and growing in Him in thanksgiving.” (Col 2:6-7) Yes, little child of my heart and soul, walk in Jesus Christ: you need this broad road, for you were not made for the narrow paths of here below! Be rooted in Him. This implies being uprooted from self, or doing everything as if you were, by denying self each time you meet it. Be built up on Him, high above everything that is passing, there where everything is pure, everything is luminous.Saint Elizabeth of the Blessed Trinity
In the Image of God
27 October 2022
To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name. If, therefore, I do anything or think anything or say anything or know anything that is not purely for the love of God, it cannot give me peace, or rest, or fulfillment, or joy. To find love I must enter into the sanctuary where it is hidden, which is the mystery of God.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name. If, therefore, I do anything or think anything or say anything or know anything that is not purely for the love of God, it cannot give me peace, or rest, or fulfillment, or joy. To find love I must enter into the sanctuary where it is hidden, which is the mystery of God.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Hope in the Lord
26 October 2022
We can hope. We are precisely the ones that Jesus came to save, for we are being lost. Yes, without Him we are perishing at every moment. We can hope, for whatever we may be guilty of, Jesus wants to save us. The more sinful we are, the closer to death, the deeper our state of despair for our body and our soul, the more it can be said that Jesus wants to save us, for He came to save what was about to be lost. We must never be discouraged, but always hope. We are on the edge of a gulf, we are about to sink…we are sinking. We are just the ones Jesus came to save. He wants to save us because we are sinking. He is infinitely good and infinitely powerful. To the very last, as long as there is a breath of life left, all can hope in Him.
Blessed Charles De Foucauld
We can hope. We are precisely the ones that Jesus came to save, for we are being lost. Yes, without Him we are perishing at every moment. We can hope, for whatever we may be guilty of, Jesus wants to save us. The more sinful we are, the closer to death, the deeper our state of despair for our body and our soul, the more it can be said that Jesus wants to save us, for He came to save what was about to be lost. We must never be discouraged, but always hope. We are on the edge of a gulf, we are about to sink…we are sinking. We are just the ones Jesus came to save. He wants to save us because we are sinking. He is infinitely good and infinitely powerful. To the very last, as long as there is a breath of life left, all can hope in Him.
Blessed Charles De Foucauld
In the Lord's Presence
24 October 2022
Our best plan is to place ourselves in the Lord’s presence, meditate upon His mercy and grace and upon our lowliness, and leave Him to give us what He wills…He knows best what is good for us.
Saint Teresa of Ávila
Our best plan is to place ourselves in the Lord’s presence, meditate upon His mercy and grace and upon our lowliness, and leave Him to give us what He wills…He knows best what is good for us.
Saint Teresa of Ávila
Living Quietly
20 October 2022
Just as grass does not grow at all on a well-traveled road, even if you sow seed on the road, because the ground is trampled down, so it is with us: Live quietly, apart from things, and you will see plants growing that you had no knowledge of because they were within you and you were trampling them down.
The Desert Fathers
Just as grass does not grow at all on a well-traveled road, even if you sow seed on the road, because the ground is trampled down, so it is with us: Live quietly, apart from things, and you will see plants growing that you had no knowledge of because they were within you and you were trampling them down.
The Desert Fathers
On Holy Scripture
19 October 2022
Scriptural readings such as those from the prophets were viewed not as reminiscences from the past but as a living message for the present.
Saint Justin Martyr
Scriptural readings such as those from the prophets were viewed not as reminiscences from the past but as a living message for the present.
Saint Justin Martyr
On Pride
16 October 2022
Pride does not allow the soul to set out on the path of faith. Here is my advice to the unbeliever: let him say, “Lord, if you exist, then illumine me, and I will serve you with all my heart and soul.” And for this humble thought and readiness to serve God, the Lord will immediately illumine him… And then your soul will sense the Lord; she will sense that the Lord has forgiven her, and loves her, and you will know this from experience, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will be a witness in your soul of your salvation, and you will want to cry out to the whole world: “The Lord loves us so much!”
Saint Silouan the Athonite
Pride does not allow the soul to set out on the path of faith. Here is my advice to the unbeliever: let him say, “Lord, if you exist, then illumine me, and I will serve you with all my heart and soul.” And for this humble thought and readiness to serve God, the Lord will immediately illumine him… And then your soul will sense the Lord; she will sense that the Lord has forgiven her, and loves her, and you will know this from experience, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will be a witness in your soul of your salvation, and you will want to cry out to the whole world: “The Lord loves us so much!”
Saint Silouan the Athonite
Each Day
14 October 2022
When you arise it on each day, make a fresh start in every virtue and commandment of God with greatest patience, with fear and long-suffering, and the love of God, with all spiritual and physical fervor, and with much humiliation.
The Desert Fathers
When you arise it on each day, make a fresh start in every virtue and commandment of God with greatest patience, with fear and long-suffering, and the love of God, with all spiritual and physical fervor, and with much humiliation.
The Desert Fathers
On Prayer
13 October 2022
If the heart does not pray, the tongue works in vain.
Saint Thomas of Cori
If the heart does not pray, the tongue works in vain.
Saint Thomas of Cori
On Fasting
12 October 2022
Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.
Saint Augustine
Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.
Saint Augustine
God's Word
11 October 2022
Lord, who can comprehend even one of your words? We lose more of it than we grasp, like those who drink from a living spring. For God’s word offers different facets according to the capacity of the listener, and the Lord has portrayed his message in many colors, so that whoever gazes upon it can see in it what suits him. Within it he has buried manifold treasures, so that each of us might grow rich in seeking them out.
Saint Ephrem of Syria
Lord, who can comprehend even one of your words? We lose more of it than we grasp, like those who drink from a living spring. For God’s word offers different facets according to the capacity of the listener, and the Lord has portrayed his message in many colors, so that whoever gazes upon it can see in it what suits him. Within it he has buried manifold treasures, so that each of us might grow rich in seeking them out.
Saint Ephrem of Syria
On Adversity
10 October 2022
See that you are not suddenly saddened by the adversities of this world, for you do not know the good they bring, being ordained in the judgments of God for the everlasting joy of the elect.
Saint John of the Cross
See that you are not suddenly saddened by the adversities of this world, for you do not know the good they bring, being ordained in the judgments of God for the everlasting joy of the elect.
Saint John of the Cross
On Prayer
8 October 2022
It is of paramount importance— we must repeat this— for contemplation to become prayer. The worshiper must reach out to the living God, must become aware of His holy presence, must seek out His holy countenance and enter into His heart. Contemplation should become a real dialogue in which man’s I faces its true Thou, which is God.
Roman Guardini
It is of paramount importance— we must repeat this— for contemplation to become prayer. The worshiper must reach out to the living God, must become aware of His holy presence, must seek out His holy countenance and enter into His heart. Contemplation should become a real dialogue in which man’s I faces its true Thou, which is God.
Roman Guardini
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)