30 November 2020

Practice Constant Recollection

There is a practice that is most powerful in keeping us united with God. That practice is the constant recollection of His presence.

                     Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

29 November 2020

Word and Deed

Good example is the most efficacious apostolate. You must be as lighted lanterns and shine like brilliant chandeliers. By your good example and your words, animate others to know and love God.

         Saint Mary Joseph Rosello (1811-1880)

28 November 2020

Confession of Sins

When holy teachers give us instruction during the confession of our sins, they are touching the wounds of our hearts with their tongues. When they free us from our sins by speaking to us, it is as if they are restoring our health by touching our wounds.

                  Gregory the Great

27 November 2020

The Story of Jesus

The story of Jesus is to be proclaimed and celebrated. Some will hear and rejoice, some will remain indifferent, some will become hostile. The story of Jesus will not always be accepted, but it must be told.

           Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)

26 November 2020

Why Bread and Wine

Why did Our Blessed Lord use bread and wine as the elements of this Memorial? First of all, because no two substances in nature better symbolize unity than bread and wine. As bread is made from a multiplicity of grains of wheat, and wine is made from a multiplicity of grapes, so the many who believe are one in Christ. Second, no two substances in nature have to suffer more to become what they are than bread and wine. Wheat has to pass through the rigors of winter, be ground beneath the Calvary of a mill, and then subjected to purging fire before it can become bread. Grapes in their turn must be subjected to the Gethsemane of a wine press and have their life crushed from them to become wine. Thus, do they symbolize the Passion and Sufferings of Christ, and the condition of Salvation, for Our Lord said unless we die to ourselves we cannot live in Him. A third reason is that there are no two substances in nature which have more traditionally nourished man [and woman] than bread and wine. In bringing these elements to the altar, men [and women] are equivalently bringing themselves. When bread and wine are taken or consumed, they are changed into [one’]s body and blood. But when [Jesus] took bread and wine, He changed them into Himself.

                Fulton J. Sheen

25 November 2020

Upright of Heart

Upright of heart is he whose thought does not turn away either to excess or to lack, but is directed only to the mean of virtue.

                    Saint Basil the Great (329-379)

24 November 2020

The Spiritual Life

The designs of God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the operation of God and the gift of His grace are all one and the same thing in the spiritual life. It is God working in the soul to make it like unto Himself. Perfection is neither more nor less than the faithful co-operation of the soul with this work of God, and is begun, grows, and is consummated in the soul unperceived and in secret.

                 Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)