Keep
your eyes open!...
July 31, 2015
(John 3:16) For
God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son: that
whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life
everlasting.
SAINT IGNATIUS:
God our Lord would have us look to the Giver and love Him more than His
gift, keeping Him always before our eyes, in our hearts, and in our
thoughts.
AUDIO SANCTO: Renewing the Face of the Earth
LINK: A Simple View An Exposition of the Catholic Christian Universe- On Balance by Jim J. McCrea
BLOG: The Gospel in a Nutshell by Dom Gérard Calvet OSB*
ONE DAY, as we were asking a Carmelite sister to tell us how she made
her prayer, her heart to heart with the Lord, she responded that, for
thirty-five years, one phrase of the Gospel was enough for her, and she
returned to it without ceasing. It seemed to her that drawing on
another source would be to be unfaithful to her particular vocation, or
at least to the attraction which the Lord had given to her for her time
of mental prayer. It is very true that the interior life, more than a
response to passing impulses, is chiefly an effort to persevere in the
direction of a continuous line flowing form the first grace.
The phrase that our Carmelite was taking in this way was drawn from the
Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,
so that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal
life” (Jn 3:16). The whole doctrine of salvation is contained in these
few words: the divine paternity, the redemptive Incarnation, the role
of faith, the drama of reprobation and the perspective of eternal
happiness. The ancients gave a name to this verse of the Gospel of
Saint John: they called it Evangelium in nuce, the Gospel in a
nutshell. Let’s read it slowly and lets pause over each word so that we
draw out the sap. This is perhaps the surest way to approach the great
mystery of the Incarnation, this essential mystery, source of all the
others, by which God touches the world. Lets try!
God so loved the world… Everything flows from the Trinity. Everything
that is divine, everything that comes down from God and leads man to
God can only be an outflowing of the love of the Trinity: God so loved
the world... There is a great consolation and sweetness in this
profession of faith in divine charity. It is something that makes the
fear and the news of the worst catastrophes [1] lose their strength,
like smoke that is blown away by the wind. So is there bad news? Can it
be as bad as renouncing Love?
One can say that the race of saints has for two thousand years been
working and plowing this field and have only been drawing the
consequences of this essential good news, invoked so often: Deus
caritas est. God is love. But according to a logic which made the
ancient Greeks mock, it was necessary, so that this love express
itself, so that it pour itself out on man, that God send His Son. This
is the second part of our phrase.
... that he gave His only Son...
Here is what the poor inhabitants of this earth couldn’t imagine or
conceive. Neither did they even dream of it in their myths and fables:
Heaven crossing the frontiers of this earth, the angels singing the
glory of God above the stable, a world transfigured by the unspeakable
presence of a Divine Person, One of the Trinity, Unus de Trinitate,
will say the Fathers, who learns to walk, to read and to write, a
God-Man who plays, who cries, who sings, living the same life as his
human brothers and sisters, born of a woman, bent under the Law,
working and suffering, dying as the offering of a propitiatory
sacrifice. Unimaginable: rising from the dead and sharing with human
beings the gift of the Spirit, making his brothers and sisters members
of His Body, sanctifying though faith and the sacraments, and through
living a new life. This is what we call the redemptive Incarnation and
it makes faithful hearts sing a song of thanksgiving until the end of
time. Nothing strikes us more insistently than Saint John speaking of
this unfathomed mystery: “That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon
and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was
made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you”
(1 Jn 1,1-3). It seems that the Apostle stays dazzled by the great
miracle and that he never ceased to be amazed with joy and enthusiasm
by remembering it.
... so that whoever believes in Him may not perish... Here for us
to see is the great virtue of Faith placed at the centre of this
affirmation, between the proclamation of God who loves the human race
and each one of us and the announcement of the promises of eternity. To
believe, to invest in and build one’s life on the word of God, God whom
we will never see here below: this is not just the price and pledge of
salvation. It is already to enter into the life of God: The one who
beleives in the Son of God has the testimony of God in him (I John
5:4). The believer carries inside an inner awareness which is the
living sign of his or her belonging to God. The Holy Spirit gives
testimony in our own spirits that we are sons of God (Rm 8:16). Maybe
more than visible victories, this is the victory over the world: This
is the victory over the world, our faith (I Jn 5:4). There are so many
statements about the first of the theological virtues. No opinion, no
merely human belief can overcome such a divine certitude. It helps and
upholds the soul of a Carmelite during her two hours of daily mental
prayer; it supports the patience of the persecuted and the courage of
the martyrs faced with the great trial.
Pay attention to this brief expression of St. John: “...will not
perish...” suggests the essential evil from which the faith delivers
us, the terrible end which is damnation. In his brilliant Mémorial
Blaise Pascal says of this: May I never be separated from from You!
Only souls of prayer and meditation can begin to understand the idea of
the cost of separation from God and from eternal life; they alone taste
ahead of time the goods of eternity, because through the mist and fog
of our exile, and the obscure night of faith, they mysteriously
embrace, in advance, the One who contains in Himself the totality of
all future joys. It is truly where our meditation reaches its
conclusion.
...but have eternal life... What is eternal life? “This is eternal
life, that they know You, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ” (Jn
17:3). Eternal life means the soul in the state of grace, passing from
the regime of faith to the regime of vision. It is the bird inside the
egg in the state of a chick, and suddenly appearing free, in the
fulness of Heaven. The soul which has entered into eternal life
blossoms in Paradise. She is born of God. Mustn’t we sacrifice
everything right now? Which of us wouldn’t want to have a foretaste of
something of what God has promised in eternity? Ah! How much our poor
hope would be revived! How we would find ourselves more fully grown, if
a little of the light of glory which has been promised to us would
light up our vision and transform us interiorly!
And that is exactly what Saint Paul peacefully explains to the
Corinthians, when he describes to them this nobility and this new
liberty which belongs to the Christian who lives by and according to
the Holy Spirit, “because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty [2]. And all of us, with faces uncovered, reflect like a mirror
the glory of the Lord, we are transformed in this same image, going
from glory to glory [3], from and through the Lord who is the Spirit”
(II Cor 3:17).
We know that this present life is eternal life already begun, but we
don’t really believe it. We know that visible things are only for a
time, and that the invisible are eternal, but we don’t live like that.
How little preachers speak of the invisible and eternal realities! How
rare are those who speak of the joys of paradise! And even so, through
all the beauties and all the kindness of this earth, will we have a
thirst for something else?
*Founder and First Abbot of Sainte Madeleine du Barroux. From an article first published in Itinéraires.
[Translated by Fr. Paul J. McDonald]
_______
Notes:
1.“The just man (who is inhabited and transformed by holy charity), has
no fear of evil news.” Psalm 112, which goes on to say, “with a firm
heart he trusts in the Lord. With a steadfast heart he will not
fear...” Translator
2.“If the Son of man sets you free, you are free indeed.” Tr.
3. St. Paul is talking about the Christian life on this earth ! Tr.
DYNAMIC CATHOLIC:
God values freedom so much that he gives you the freedom to reject him.
Without freedom there is no love, because we can only ever love to the
extent that we are free.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
37. He also said, 'Humility is the ground on which the Lord ordered the sacrifice to be offered.'
July 28, 2015
(2Pe 3:3-7) Knowing
this first: That in the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers,
walking after their own lusts, Saying: Where is his promise or his
coming? For since the time that the fathers slept, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they are
wilfully ignorant of: That the heavens were before, and the earth out
of water and through water, consisting by the word of God: Whereby the
world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the
heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
the ungodly men.
HEADLINE: Boy Scouts of America ends ban on gay leaders
FATHER BROOM'S BLOG: Do We Live in the Age of Slavery Right Now???
THE VORTEX BY MICHAEL VORIS: The Last Days
The Roman civilization in the West lasted almost 1000 years, partly as
a republic and partly as an empire. Roman culture dominated the
known world and impressed itself so deeply on the Mediterranean world
that even now, 1500 years after it collapsed, it still echoes
throughout Western culture in art, law, architecture.
The point is that to have grown up as a Roman, to have come to
manhood in this culture, must have made a young man feel in some sense
like he was a master of the universe. Rome ruled the world, and to
be a Roman, especially as a young man growing up in that milieu, must
have been heady.
Generation after generation of young men inherited from their fathers
the built-in assumption that Rome ruled the world and always would —
that Roman life was indomitable. The Roman legions defeated every
foe; the gods of Rome were worshipped in every corner of the empire;
the whole world even spoke the same language of the caesars.
And then one day, after centuries of rule, rumors started circulating
that barbarians were raiding and pillaging the next town — that the
legions had been defeated, and their town was next. And the next
morning, the young men, the young proud men, the heirs of the greatest
civilization known to mankind, woke up to the barbarian hordes
marauding through their streets.
They were witnesses to the end of their civilization — these young men,
expecting to continue to be the masters of the universe as their
fathers had been and their fathers had been, and all the way back
for centuries. Now, it was all over. As young boys they had
dreamed the Roman dream, even begun to live it. Now, the dream was over.
They would be the first generation of young Roman men in centuries
whose lives would not be like the lives of all those earlier
generations. Their fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers
had been born and lived and died under Roman rule, living the Roman
dream. This would not be the case for them. Nothing would ever be
the same again. The future their fathers had envisioned and worked to
make real would never exist for them.
When a civilization comes to an end, there is always some generation of
young men — the generation of young men — who are present to
the final curtain. This has happened many times in history.
Various young men have been the witnesses to the end.
And here’s the point of all this: Young American males today
are now in the same position — the cadre of young men who are not
allowed to dream the dream. Yours is the first generation of young
American men who will not be able to secure the American dream; your
economic future is fading as every economist is predicting.
Your psychological and emotional and spiritual well-being are so deeply
threatened, in fact already damaged, that there is no way to reverse
this calamity — no earthly means. Put frankly, your life, for the
first of a number of generations in America, will not be like all the
others before you.
If you are around 30 or younger, you will have to face the music, fair
or not, that the world is not the same world it was when your fathers
were your age, and as a result you won't be able to live like they did,
won't be able to have the expectations of just some peaceful uneventful
future as previous generations did. The world has changed, which
means your lives will have changed. You will have to face situations
that your fathers never had to face, that your grandfathers couldn't
have imagined.
If you are a faithful Catholic, you will need to re-build the world, or
your children will have to after a period of persecution. If you are
not a faithful Catholic, you will perish.
These are the last days of this civilization — and that means that boys will have to become men very fast.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
36. He also said, 'A brother asked Alonius, "What is humility?" The
hermit said, "to be lower than brute beasts and to know that they are
not condemned."'
July 24, 2015
(Exo 20:13) Thou shalt not kill.
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT:
Marriage, family and the raising of children with a strong faith —
these things are under great pressure today from the surrounding
culture. The future in Philadelphia and worldwide will have big
challenges for anyone serious about being Christian. It will need a new
generation of disciples formed by joy and perseverance. The family is
where new life begins: new life for the world; new life for the nation;
new life for the Church. It’s where we learn love and patience, and how
to work with others in peace.
CATHOLIC REVIEW: Abortion’s 'Zong Massacre'
In eighteenth-century England, many good Christian people ignored the
inhumane treatment of slaves. Slavery was far away. It did not involve
them. They were too busy.
Then in 1781, an overcrowded slave ship, named the Zong, veered off
course, and began to run low on water. The crew reviewed the insurance
policy, which stated that no reimbursement would be dispensed if slaves
died of natural causes on the ship or on shore, but a claim could be
made if cargo was thrown overboard to save the other cargo. Since
slaves were considered cargo, the crew decided to jettison 133 slaves
overbroad, letting them drown in the ocean below. In a sad twist, the
ship arrived at port with 430 gallons of water to spare.
The owners of the ship then decided to make an insurance claim against
the lost cargo, which were the murdered slaves. A lengthy legal case
arose from the claim, and soon abolitionists caught news of the
incident. They began to use the story in their literature in order to
stir the English population out of their apathy.
How could you sit there and do nothing when innocent people were being
killed? How could Christians not care that slaves were thrown overboard
for money? The Zong massacre opened the veil covering the horridness of
the slave trade, and allowed people to get a glimpse of its inhumanity.
Recently, two videos (here and here)
have been made public showing high ranking officials in Planned
Parenthood discussing the sale of aborted babies. The dialogue is
stomach-turning and heart-wrenching in the way these individuals
discuss babies as a commodity for exchange. Most people were shocked
and disgusted at the videos, but the abortion industry has tried to
fight back. Planned Parenthood has called the videos dishonestly edited
and claimed the tissue was donated not sold. Cecile Richards, President
of Planned Parenthood, even apologized for the tone of the individual
in the video.
The outrage is not about the tone of the individual in the video! It is
not about the delivery of the content. It is not even about the
trafficking of body parts. The videos pulls back the screen surrounding
abortion, and show us its ugliness. It is the dismembering of little
human lives, and that can longer be denied. That is the cause of the
outrage. Americans can longer sit on the sidelines, and do nothing.
The outrage of the Zong massacre led to the formation of the Abolition
Society, which in turn led to the outlawing of the slave trade, and
then slavery itself. Likewise, these videos could be the catalyst to
defund Planned Parenthood, and then start the process to end abortion
for good.
EXPOSED: Meet the 38 Companies That Donate Directly to Planned Parenthood
REPORT: Planned Parenthood gets over $500 million annually in public funds. Here's where it goes.
RELATED
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Dismembering Babies Profits Slaughterhouses
EDITORIAL: ‘What has happened to America?’
On Nov. 13, 1965, Conchita, (One of the seers of Garabandal) had a long
conversation with the Lady of Garabandal and Albrecht Weber, a German
author of a book on Garabandal, asked Conchita some of the Lady’s
comments. Conchita spoke to the author and told him this: “Can you
imagine how somebody could kill children in the womb without thereby
killing the mother?”
The author spontaneously answered, “No! What gave you that idea,
Conchita?” “Well, the blessed Mother spoke about this, and she let me
know that this will happen with the overflowing of the chalice.” (In
her second message of June 18, 1965, the Virgin said, “Before the cup
was filling up. Now it is flowing over,”)
It disturbed Conchita very much because she hadn’t understood at all
how this killing could be effected, and nobody had been able to make
her understand it at all. Conchita would soon learn enough about
abortion because it was legalized even in her native country.
Just recently, people in charge of planned parenting are now
“illegally” selling (hearts, lungs, kidneys, muscles etc.) body parts
of aborted fetuses to those who need them. This should enrage people
beyond belief.
If we can kill aborted babies, maybe the time will come when those who
need body parts may kill older healthy people for their body parts.
This sounds like a nightmare, but with what has been happening in
America today, this scenario might happen.
In the web site — garabandal2017.com — read the message of Akita and
what Sister Sasagawa was given on Oct. 13, 1973, about the
chastisement, and you can understand that the chastisement will occur
in our lifetime.
When the availability of abortion and other offenses against God
becomes normal, everyday occurrence, then society is on the road to
perdition and the moral fiber of the nation begins to collapse — that’s
when the chastisement will appear.
The selling of body parts of an aborted baby will bring about the
chastisement sooner than people realize. In the third statement that
Sister Sasagawa quoted, it gives Christians a remedy — the Rosary and
The Sign of the Son to stop the chastisement.
We need more than saying the Rosary; we need to eliminate the liberal
politicians who have destroyed America for political gain and heaven
help these United States because the chastisement is inevitable. What
has happened to America? Where are the politicians who see this as a
horrific injustice? Is it possible for the voters to make America great
again? I wonder?
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
34. He also said, 'The tools of the soul are these: to cast oneself
down in God's sight; not to lift oneself up; and to put self-will
behind one.'
July 23, 2015
(Pro 22:7) The rich ruleth over the poor: and the borrower is servant to him that lendeth.
THE TABLET: Archbishops accuse Tsipras of 'mishandling' crisis
The head of Greece’s Catholic Church has accused the Socialist-led
Government of Alexis Tsipras of mishandling the current crisis, as
European Union ministers announced a new rescue plan in return for
far-reaching reforms.
“The harsh reality we cannot ignore is that Greece cannot get anywhere
without the European Union,” said the Bishops’ Conference president,
Archbishop Frangiskos Papamanolis of Syros and Santorini. “But I have
to say with regret that the past six months have been a waste of time,
since our Government hasn’t understood the situation. Tsipras inherited
a very bad situation. But he also won the election with promises he
could not keep.”
The archbishop spoke as EU leaders announced a new 86- billion-euro
(£60bn) bailout to save Greece’s faltering economy in return for new
spending cuts and higher taxes, despite the rejection of further
austerity in a 5 July national referendum. He told Italy’s Servizio
Informazione Religiosa news service that Greece needed to “regain
confidence”, adding that a government of national unity could be
helpful if political parties “put aside their special interests”.
Meanwhile, another archbishop told The Tablet the worsening crisis had
“severely hampered” the Catholic Church’s pastoral work, making it
unable to pay taxes, maintain its buildings or provide services for
migrants and refugees, adding that Greece's predominant Orthodox Church
was still shunning minority denominations.
“As a formation of the left, Tsipras’s governing Syriza party is less
tied to the Orthodox Church than its right-wing predecessor - but its
stance towards Churches has been ambivalent and we haven't seen any
concrete improvements,” Archbishop Sevastianos Rossolatos of Athens
said in a Tablet interview. “Although it promised to be more objective
towards minorities when it won power last January, it’s since been too
preoccupied with the economic crisis to take steps to ensure equality.
Meanwhile, Orthodox clergy are all paid by the state, whereas Catholic
priests and bishops get nothing, and the Orthodox maintain a hostile
attitude and view any ecumenism as a danger.”
REPORT: Greece's hard-pressed Catholics keep up hopes for better times
SKY NEWS: Greece: Unwanted Children Abandoned In Crisis
ANALYSIS OF GREEK FINANCIAL CRISIS
STRATFOR: An Empire Strikes Back: Germany and the Greek Crisis
STRATFOR: The Greek Vote and the EU Miscalculation
AINA.ORG: Germany, Greece and the New World Order
OPINION: Greece — The One Biggest Lie You Are Being Told By The Media
EXCERPT: The Greek Orthodox Bishop Who Stood Up to the Nazis (WW2)
On March 23, 1943, during the Nazi occupation of Greece, the Greek
Orthodox Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Damaskinos, signed his
name on a letter addressed to the collaborationist Prime Minister K.
Logothetopoulos. The letter, composed by the poet Angelos Sikelianos,
was a courageous defense of the Greek Jews who were being rounded up
and it was signed by other prominent Greek citizens. “The Greek people
were rightfully surprised and deeply grieved to learn that the German
Occupation Authorities have already started to put into effect a
program of gradual deportation of the Greek Jewish community of
Salonika to places beyond our national borders, and that the first
groups of deportees are already on their way to Poland,” the archbishop
wrote. “The grief of the Greek people is particularly deep … ” When the
Germans continued with the deportations, Damaskinos called the police
chief of Athens, Angelos Evert, to his office and told him, “I have
taken up my cross. I spoke to the Lord, and made up my mind to save as
many Jewish souls as possible.”
When General Jürgen Stroop, an S.S. officer and police official for
Greece, found out about the letter, he threatened to shoot Damaskinos.
The archbishop — evoking the fate of fellow hierarchs who had run afoul
of the Ottomans — told the German officer that “according to the
traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, our prelates are hung and not
shot. Please respect our traditions!” Damaskinos was undeterred.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
33. A brother asked Poemen, 'How ought I to behave in my cell in the
place where I live?' He answered, 'Be as prudent as a stranger; and
wherever you are, do not expect your words to be taken seriously when
you speak, and you will find peace.'
July 21, 2015
(Exo 14:13-14) And
Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand, and see the great wonders of
the Lord, which he will do this day; for the Egyptians, whom you see
now, you shall see no more for ever. The Lord will fight for you, and
you shall hold your peace.
MSGR. CHARLES POPE: Do Not Be Afraid, For Evil Cannot Withstand the Power of Jesus
FR. DWIGHT LONGENECKER: The Smoke of Satan…
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA BHLA: *The Devil-Your Greatest Enemy!* by the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P.
A recent TV mystery thriller presented a most absorbing story of a
talented artist who made a contract with the devil and wound up by
losing his soul. It was good in making the devil very real, but
poor in making the artist too powerless. For there are two mistakes
commonly made regarding the devil-to underrate his abilities, or to
overestimate his powers.
Of one thing we can be sure-the devil exists! He is brilliant, though
completely misguided, genius. He has angelic knowledge and a profound
insight into your weaknesses. He is a shrewd, and talented director
using every possible trick to achieve his end-to drag you into the pits
of hell forever. He is your enemy and he hates you-just as he hates God!
In any total warfare the first aim of prudent strategy must be to know
your enemy, his strength and weaknesses, and the strategy he'll pursue.
This is true, above all, in the warfare of life. To be blind to the
existence, the deceits, and the cunning of the devil is like an ostrich
burying its head in the sand-you're going to get your wings clipped!
The greatest success of the devil in this age has been to convince a
lot of people that he doesn't exist-that he belongs in the same
category as goblins and fairies. He laughs at this stupidity as he goes
underground where he can do his dirty work unobserved and undetected.
Here this fifth columnist works untiringly to undermine the work of God
in your soul.
If some make themselves an easy prey to the devil by denying his
reality, others may go to the other extreme and blame everything on
him...even the things they do on their own.
Let us not forget that the world and the flesh are also an abundant
source of temptation. And while the devil does use these for his own
ends, some people are push-overs even before the devil appears on the
scene.
But let us consider the strategy that the devil uses on good people who
are sincerely striving to love and serve God. In general, he tries to
blow them up with pride and then cast them down by discouragement. He
does everything in his power to stimulate their desire to dominate, to
rule, to be esteemed, all of which are contrary to the humility and
simplicity preached by our Lord.
He encourages what appear as virtues, but what are really mockeries of
true virtue. The devil may inspire mortification, for example, but only
of the "showy" variety-especially where it can be observed by others.
Never does he encourage self-denial of our will, our judgment, or our
opinions. Yet, our Lord told us to deny ourselves.
The devil tempts us to a show of piety and pious practices where it can
be seen and esteemed. He very cleverly teaches a hundred and one ways
of drawing attention to one's self-tempting one to be an exhibitionist
either in dress or actions. He gets otherwise good women to wear styles
that not only sin against modesty, but also against charity by the
temptations they cause others.
He tries to attract a spiritual person to the sensational and the
extraordinary, hoping there-by to distract him from the essential
though hidden means of sanctification. He encourages a false humility
that is proud of appearing humble and depreciating itself publicly.
The devil stirs up a false hope in our souls by making us depend more
on our good works than on the saving mercy of God. He tempts us to sin
and then tells us to give up. He wants us to be impatient with
ourselves and our failings just to make us vexed, confused, and
overanxious in general. He shows his face in a bitter and critical zeal that is opposed to true charity.
Of another thing be sure-you can beat him down and you can do it every
time. But you can't do it alone! That would be like trying to take on
an armored division with your bare hands! You need humility to make you
depend on the grace of God. You need prayer to make the strength of God
your own.
You need spiritual help of the sacraments to keep up your defenses. You
need the help of that Victress of all God's battles-Mary, the Mother of
God. Above all, you need Christ, her divine Son who destroyed the power
of Satan forever on a hill called Calvary. You need, finally, contempt
for the devil. For while he is very real and very powerful, he is still
powerless when you use well these weapons of God. So, use them well-and
often!
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
32. Poemen said, 'We ought always to be absorbing humility and the fear of God, as our nostrils breathe air in and out.'
July 16, 2015
(1Ki 18:36-39) And
when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias, the prophet, came
near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, shew this
day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that
according to thy commandment I have done all these things. Dear me, O
Lord, hear me: that this people may learn that thou art the Lord God,
and that thou hast turned their heart again. Then the fire of the Lord
fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the
dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the
people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord, he
is God; the Lord, he is God.
ICN: Mary's Habit, Carmel's Way by Fr Damian Cassidy, O.Carm
I wonder what you were thinking when you dressed this morning. Had you
already laid out your clothes for the day? Did certain expectations
dictate your choices? The simple fact is that how we dress can say a
lot about who we are, what we do, how seriously we take life and its
tasks. I have clear memories of one Christmas, when a child, having
received a soldier's outfit as a present and I can remember, to this
day, the sense of pride and purpose that those play clothes invested me
with.
I also wonder whether, as you dressed you might have put on your
clothes over two squares of brown cloth that make up the Carmelite
Brown Scapular. Millions of Catholic Christians around the world wear
this garment but may be unaware of its story or symbolism. Tradition
has handed on to us the story of St Simon Stock. Simon was an
Englishman and one of the early leaders of the Carmelite Order. Indeed,
it was Simon who led the Order through the time of transition when the
hermits who had found a natural home in the hills of Mount Carmel found
themselves in a different reality in the Europe of the thirteenth
century and who were called to respond to the needs of the Church by
living their life in the midst of the people, especially the poor and
the marginalised.
Tradition tells us that Simon, a man who by his vocation was dedicated
to God in a life of prayer and service, had a special devotion to Our
Lady. From the earliest times Carmelites have felt a kinship to Mary,
the Mother of Jesus. She has a special place in our communities as the
mother of the house. Around her we gather in service of her Son. The
scapular as worn by Carmelites is seen as marked by this relationship
of prayer and service. This part of our habit that was originally an
apron, becomes for us a sign of commitment for those who seek to labour
in the Lord's vineyard.
One of the ways that emerged for people to associate themselves with
the work and spirituality of a particular group within the Church was
to wear a token of the religious habit. Originally for those who sought
a kinship with Carmel, the white cloak was the thing that set us apart.
Bur slowly the Brown Scapular began to capture the imagination of the
people. I also see a relationship with the Tallit, or prayer shawl,
worn by orthodox Jews. For the Jewish people the Tallit is a garment
that manifests the relationship they have with God. When at prayer,
they cover themselves with the Tallit, a symbol of the intimacy of God
covering them with his love. During the day a small Shawl is worn, like
our scapular, that they can see and touch as a reminder that they
belong to God, that they have been chosen by him. Those who wear the
scapular are people who seek to live out their relationship with God
through prayer and the service of God's people.
This year sees the 750th anniversary of the death of St Simon Stock in
Bordeaux in 1265. Upon his death people prayed for favours from him.
Soon his body was brought to the Cathedral in Bordeaux where a chapel
is dedicated to him. In 1951 the Archbishop of Bordeaux brought his
cranium back to Simon's old home at Aylesford, and since then the relic
has rested in the chapel dedicated to his memory. To the Carmelite
friars who live and work in Aylesford the relics are a reminder of the
beautiful truth of our vocation; that we are to be people seeking a
vital and intimate relationship with the God who brought us into being
and this relationship is to be lived out in the service of others.
A great preacher of the life lived by St. Simon Stock was Fr Malachy
Lynch, who was the first prior of Aylesford since the reformation. Fr.
Malachy would refer to those who wear the Brown Scapular as the "use me
today apostolate". Those who wear this simple garment make a statement
in this scrap of clothing. I belong to God and, with him, I want to be
of service to his people.
So what are you wearing today? What does your dress say about you to
others? How does what you wear affect your attitude to life and its
cares? Today I will put on my habit and go out to those pilgrims who
will come to our Lady's Shrine at Aylesford. I will do so in the
knowledge that millions across this good earth will do the same and
touch the lives of the people that they will meet in the course of
their work and play. And the world is better for it.
ZENIT: Brown Scapular: a "Silent Devotion"- Carmelite Recounts Mary's Promise to St. Simon Stock
A Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel For a Special Need
O most beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of
Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me
in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein
that you are my Mother.
O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth, I humbly beseech
you from the bottom of my heart, to succor me in this my necessity.
There are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein that you
are my Mother.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us that have recourse to thee. (3 times)
Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. (3 times)
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
28. Mathois said, 'The nearer a man comes to God, the more he sees
himself to be a sinner. Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord and knew
himself to be wretched and unclean (Is. 6:5).'
July 15, 2015
(Psa 83:1-4) A
canticle of a psalm for Asaph. (83:2) O God, who shall be like to thee?
hold not thy peace, neither be thou still, O God. (83:3) For lo, thy
enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee have lifted up the
head. (83:4) They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people,
and have consulted against thy saints. (83:5) They have said: Come and
let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation: and let the name of
Israel be remembered no more.
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN:
“Russia welcomes the decision reached today in Vienna
on settling the situation around Iran’s nuclear program and
the approvals of the P5+1 group and Iran on their overall
action plan. We are sure that the world today breathed a sigh
of relief.”
SYRIAN LEADER BASHAR ASSAD:
“We are quite assured that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue,
with greater momentum, supporting the just issues of peoples and
working for peace and stability to prevail in the region and the world.”
HEADLINE: Kerry, Zarif named candidates for 2016 Nobel Peace Prize
CATHOLIC NEW YORK: Vatican Welcomes Iran’s Historic Nuclear Deal
The Holy See welcomed Iran’s historic nuclear deal and expressed hopes
that more future breakthroughs be on the horizon on other issues.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said that “the
agreement on the Iranian nuclear program is viewed in a positive light
by the Holy See.”
“It constitutes an important outcome of the negotiations carried out so
far, although continued efforts and commitment on the part of all
involved will be necessary in order for it to bear fruit,” he said in a
written statement in response to reporters’ questions July 14.
“It is hoped that those fruits will not be limited to the field of
nuclear program, but may indeed extend further,” he said, without
specifying what other areas of progress the Vatican hoped to see.
Under the new deal, decades-long sanctions by the United States,
European Union and the United Nations eventually would be lifted in
exchange for an agreement by Iran to restrict its nuclear program to
peaceful purposes.
The negotiations involved Iran and what is often referred to as the
“P5+1,” or the five permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United
States—plus Germany.
The U.S. Congress and Iranian authorities would still need to review the agreement.
In January and in April, Pope Francis had expressed hopes that
negotiations would end in an agreement. In his Easter message April 5,
he said he hoped preliminary talks then under way would “be a
definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world.”
OVERVIEW: Highlights of the Iran nuclear deal
ANALYSIS: Iran nuclear deal much worse than experts predicted
OPINION: Iran Nuclear Deal Represents a 21st Century Munich Agreement
RELATED HEADLINES
Iran crowned as top regional, nuclear-threshold power. Win for Obama, fiasco for Netanyahu
Menendez: Deal 'doesn't end Iran’s nuclear program — it preserves it'
Iran deal: Arab world's cautious reaction reflects deep fault lines
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
23. John of the Thebaid said, 'Above all a monk should be humble. For
this is the Saviour's first commandment, "Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3).'
July 13, 2015
(Luk 2:19) But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
POPE FRANCIS:
Mary is the woman of faith; she is the Mother of the Church; she
believed. Her life testifies that God does not deceive us, or
abandon his people, even in moments or situations when it might seem
that he is not there. Mary was the first of her Son’s disciples
and in moments of difficulty she kept alive the hope of the apostles.
ALETEIA: Pope Francis and "The Mother Wound"- The crisis in the family and the Marian cure was at the heart of the pope’s message as he visited Ecuador
MEDITATION: The Divine Motherhood of Mary Our Mother by Thomas M. Fahy
CHRISTIAN POST: Former Evangelical Megachurch Leader Ulf Ekman Who Converted to Catholicism Reveals Virgin Mary Led Him to Catholic Church
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA A MOMENT WITH MARY: Despite so many reminders from you, O Virgin Mary
Immaculate Virgin, Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, unmarried
Bride of the Holy Spirit, you have shown over the centuries a special
attention for France, eldest “Daughter of the Church.” For the last two
centuries of revolutions, your apparitions have increased. Today we are
at the culmination of a tragedy announced in La Salette (in the French
Alps in 1846), which is the apostasy of this country.
Atheism has become a widespread belief supporting laws opposed to the
truth of the Gospel but also to natural law. There are protests, but a
sort of paralysis has overcome the political sphere.
The underlying reason for this lethargy is the abandonment of the
practice of prayer, which has now become habitual in some believers
despite so many reminders from you and the teachings of the Church. And
this is occurring at the same time that the Muslims, in ever greater
numbers, are showing the kind of outward reverence to God that the
baptized have forgotten.
Virgin Mary, hear our plea. Everything is possible with God's grace but
it solicits our freedom as creatures made in His image and likeness. O
Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.
Father Patrick de Laubier
Excerpts from the Meditation of December 19, 2014
VIA A MOMENT WITH MARY: Every seven years they are taken out of the gold reliquary
For over 660 years, people have come on pilgrimage to Aachen, Germany
to venerate four relics preserved in its cathedral since the time of
Charlemagne.
Historical records show that Emperor Charlemagne received a gift of
relics from Jerusalem around the year 800 AD. Since 1349, these relics
have been presented to the faithful in Europe and around the world
every seven years, and for that purpose, they are taken out of the
golden reliquary of the Virgin Mary in the Aachen Cathedral for a
period of ten days.
These relics are pieces of ancient fabrics described as:
- The dress worn by Mary on the night of Jesus’ birth
- Jesus' swaddling clothes with which Mary protected the Child
- The sheet that wrapped the head of Saint John the Baptist after his beheading
- The loincloth worn by Jesus on the cross
RELATED: The Marienschrein at Aachen Cathedral: Reliquary of the Cloak of the Virgin Mary
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
22. He also said, 'Humility and the fear of God surpass all the other
virtues.' 'The gateway is humility: our predecessors suffered much and
therefore entered heaven joyfully.'
July 9, 2015
(Mat 19:4-5) Who
answering, said to them: Have ye not read, that he who made man from
the beginning, made them male and female? And he said: For this cause
shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and
they two shall be in one flesh.
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT:
To repeat what the Church believes and has been said many times before:
Christians have a privileged calling to respect the God-given dignity
of all persons, including those with same-sex attraction. That’s
fundamental to Christian love and justice. We are accountable to
God for the way we treat others. But Christians also have a duty
to think clearly, and to live, teach and work for the truth about the
nature of human sexuality, the purpose of marriage and the integrity of
the family. We cannot ignore or turn away from what the Church teaches
on these matters without separating ourselves from Jesus Christ himself.
FIRST THINGS: WHY GAY MARRIAGE IS NOT LIKE DIVORCE by Dominic Legge, O.P.
FIRST THINGS: FENCING THE ALTAR by Edward Peters
VIDEO HOMILY: Bishop Gracida Homily
INTERFAX RELIGION: U.S. decision to legalize same-sex "marriages" godless, sinful - Russian Church
Moscow, June 29, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church has appealed to
all Russian advocates of the American model of governance, asking them
to think twice about the consequences of the United States' decision to
legalize same-sex "marriages".
"The people who are into 'democracy the American way' and trying to
reconcile it with traditional values need to think hard after this
decision," the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society
Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told Interfax-Religion.
He pointed out to the kind of values that one is "trying to bring along with the U.S. social and political model."
"You might not be told that they want to force you to adopt such a
godless and sinful thing as same-sex marriages. Remember: in reality
they want to take your right to live according to the faith, take your
soul, take your opportunity to build the life of your society and your
state according to the eternal and invariable God-given moral laws,"
the priest said.
He said the thing he was most concerned about in this particular case
is that the U.S. government is trying "to impose its anti-natural and
post-human view on marriage on other countries."
The Russian Church representative recalled that one of these days U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who spoke on behalf of the
majority of judges who made these decisions, said that same-sex couples
were seeking to achieve same legal attitudes towards their union as
heterosexual ones. The judge also claimed that the nature of marriage
consists in the following: two people together can obtain freedoms, in
particular, the freedom of expression, privacy and spirituality,
regardless of their sexual orientation.
"Such attitude towards marriage is more than surprising. Marriage is
not just a legal construct, it is not just a place where one exercises
legal rights," the priest said.
He pointed out that "marriage has a certain nature, it is created by
God, primarily, not as a legal space for the exercise of rights but a
place where man and woman in the union of love give life to children
and bring them up."
"Marriage is a constant created by God and laid down in the human
nature. And as the Orthodox commentator Sergey Khudiyev rightly put it,
trying to change it with a legal decision is the same as trying to
change the laws of nature with such a decision," the priest said.
RELATED NEWS HEADLINES
County court clerks rebel against same-sex marriage ruling
Firing of teacher in same-sex marriage roils Catholic school
Entire County Clerk Office Resigns over Same-Sex Marriage
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
19. Theophilus of holy memory, the bishop of Alexandria, once went to
the mount of Nitria, and a hermit of Nitria came to see him. The bishop
said, 'What have you discovered in your life, abba?' The hermit
answered, 'To blame myself unceasingly.' The bishop said,That is the
only way to follow.'
July 7, 2015
(Amo 3:6-8) Shall
the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there
be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done? For the Lord God doth
nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The
lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall
not prophesy?
MEDITATIONS ON THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
MARK MALLETT: The Hour of Lawlessness
MYSTICS OF THE CHURCH: The Great Storm Is Coming Upon Us
BLOG: Those who live in the Spirit will never be at home in the world, and indeed the world will hate them
PROPHETIC NOVENA FOR OUR TIMES: O Jesus I Surrender Myself to You
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA RON ROLHEISER, OMI: EXCERPT TURNING OUR EYES TOWARD HEAVEN
It’s not easy to be centred,
rooted, secure in who we are, able to give the world our best. More
commonly, we find ourselves adrift, unsure of ourselves, with most
of what’s best in us still frustrated, buried, waiting for a better
day. Too many things, it seems, conspire against us living out what’s
truest and best inside us.
We’d like to be grounded, be
ourselves, have a clear direction in life, be free of compulsions, and
live out more our dignity, goodness, and creativity; but too many
things push us the opposite way. Ideology, anger, bitterness,
envy, restlessness, confusion, moral compromise, and the simple
need to get by, all pull us down and we end up giving into various
compensations (as substitutes for what we really want) and
thus quietly despair of ever carrying our dignity, talents, and
solitude at any high level.
Why does it happen? The fault is
with prayer, or lack of it. We cannot stay steady in a churning sea
without a good anchor, cannot avoid giving into compensation
unless what’s highest in us is given enough expression, and cannot
deal with the issues of finitude unless we have some transcendent
focus. Unless we are anchored in something beyond the here and now
there is a good chance that we will drown in the present moment.
Jesus models the kind of prayer we
need to cope with a world that goes mad at times and with a heart prone
to drink in that madness. The gospels describe Jesus praying in
different ways, but sometimes they simply say: “He turned his eyes
towards heaven!” The same expression is used of other great
faith-figures – Stephen, Paul, the early martyrs – and it’s used of
them at those times when the forces of madness are precisely
threatening to kill them. When the world around them is going mad, they
“turn their eyes towards heaven.” The phrase hasn’t been lost on
artists.
Virtually every painting of someone
being martyred has this motif, the martyr has his or her eyes lifted up
towards heaven, in contrast to the eyes of the executioners and
onlookers which are cast downwards in hatred, envy, and
group-think or in the blank stare of mindlessness.
Jesus lifted his eyes towards
heaven and that freed him of hatred, envy, group-think, and
mindlessness. What does this mean? How did he turn his eyes
towards heaven?
What made Jesus different (and what
makes any prayerful person different) is not intellectual insight,
superior willpower, less fiery emotions, or monastic withdrawal from
the temptations of the world.
Prayer is not a question of
insight, of being smarter than anyone else; nor of will, of being
stronger than anyone else; nor of emotional restraint or sexual
aloofness, of being less passionate than anyone else; nor of
withdrawal, of being less exposed to temptation than anyone
else. Prayer is a question of unity and surrender, of uniting
one’s will with someone else and surrendering one’s will to that other.
Prayer is the desire to be in union with someone, especially in
union with that other’s will.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
18. Poemen said, 'Moses asked the monk Zacharias, who was dying, 'What
can you see?" He said, "Nothing better than being silent, abba." Moses
said, "Indeed, my son, keep silent. At the moment of his death
Isidore looked up to heaven, and said, "Rejoice, my son Zacharias, for
the gates of the kingdom of heaven are opened to you."'
July 3, 2015
(Mat 9:36-38) And
seeing the multitudes, he had compassion on them: because they were
distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. Then he saith
to his disciples, The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are
few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth
labourers into his harvest.
COURAGEOUS PRIEST: The Extraordinary Value of the Priesthood by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
EXCERPT CATHOLIC ONLINE HOMILY: On the First Solemn Mass of a Newly Ordained Catholic Priest
Preaching at the opening of St. Bernard's Seminary in Olton in 1873,
six years before becoming a cardinal, Blessed John Henry Newman spoke
of that present moment as "these perilous times." He explained to
the seminarians why he used such dire language:
"I know that all times are perilous, and that in every time serious and
anxious minds, alive to the honour of God and the needs of man, are apt
to consider no times so perilous as their own. At all times the enemy
of souls assaults with fury the Church which is their true Mother, and
at least threatens and frightens when he fails in doing mischief. And
all times have their special trials which others have not."
"And so far I will admit that there were certain specific dangers to
Christians at certain other times, which do not exist in this time.
Doubtless, but still admitting this, still I think that the trials
which lie before us are such as would appal and make dizzy even such
courageous hearts as St. Athanasius, St. Gregory I, or St. Gregory VII.
And they would confess that dark as the prospect of their own day was
to them severally, ours has a darkness different in kind from any that
has been before it."
And what made for such a perilous situation?
Newman explained:
"The special peril of the time before us is the spread of that plague
of infidelity, that the Apostles and our Lord Himself have predicted as
the worst calamity of the last times of the Church. And at least a
shadow, a typical image of the last times is coming over the world. I
do not mean to presume to say that this is the last time, but that it
has had the evil prerogative of being like that more terrible season,
when it is said that the elect themselves will be in danger of falling
away."
"This applies to all Christians in the world, but it concerns me at
this moment, speaking to you, my dear Brethren, who are being educated
for our own priesthood, to see how it is likely to be fulfilled in this
country."
And finally, in the spirit of "forewarned is forearmed," the
ever-prescient Newman issued a clarion call to vigilance to those
future priests:
"My Brethren, you are coming into a world, if present appearances do
not deceive, such as priests never came into before, that is, so far
forth as you do go into it, so far as you go beyond your flocks, and so
far as those flocks may be in great danger as under the influence of
the prevailing epidemic."
No doubt, many ecclesiastics at that event must have thought: "What's
the old gent's problem? Why put such a damper on this grand
celebration?" Well, consider what the American convert-author
Walker Percy said to seminarians in Louisiana 110 years later:
"Never in history has modern man been in greater need of you. never has
there been such loneliness in the midst of crowds, never such hunger in
the face of satiation. Never has there been a more fertile ground for
the seed and the harvest the Lord spoke of."
"All that is needed is a bearer of the Good News who speaks it with
such authenticity that it can penetrate the most exhausted hearing,
revive the most jaded language. With you lies the future and the hope.
You and the Church you serve may be only a remnant, but it will be a
saving remnant."
RELATED
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Catholic priests spread thin as numbers dwindle
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
17. Moses said to brother Zacharias, 'Tell me what to do.' At
these words Zacharias threw himself at his feet, saying, 'Why ask me,
abba?' The hermit said, 'I tell you, my son Zacharias, I saw the
Holy Spirit coming upon you, and so I cannot avoid asking you.'
Then Zacharias took his cowl from his head, and put it beneath
his feet and stamped on it, and said, 'Unless a man stamps upon self
like that, he cannot be a monk.'
July 2, 2015
(Mat 6:9-10) Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.
EBOOK: The Crown and Completion of All Sanctity
An introduction to the revelations on the Gift of Living in the Divine
Will to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, using only moratorium-free
material
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA Rev. Joseph Leo Iannuzzi: New Q&A posted on website: www.LTDW.org
Question: The Church teaches that during the Mass “all generations of
Christians are united with Christ’s offering”. Since the Mass has been
celebrated for the past 2,000 years and during this time all
generations were united to Christ’s offering, how can one assert that
with the gift of Living in the Divine Will one has a “new” ability to
influence all human generations (of the past, present and future)?
Response: The statement you cite is a paraphrase of the Catholic
Catechism that states as follows: “The Church which is the Body of
Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself
is offered whole and entire. She unites herself to his intercession
with the Father for all men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ
becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the
faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with
those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new
value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for
all generations of Christians to be united with his offering” (CCC,
1368). (continued PDF link)
VIA Frank Rega: Our Lord's Words to Luisa Piccarreta
From the Church-approved volume six of her spiritual "Diary," the Book
of Heaven. Imprimatur of Archbishop Joseph Leo and Nihil Obstat of (now
Saint) Fr. Annibale Di Francia.
____________________________________________________________________________________
"My daughter, when the soul does all of her actions for the sole
purpose of loving Me, and wants no other recompense for her work but my
love alone, she walks always in daylight - it is never nighttime for
her."
"My daughter, true love forgets himself, and lives of the interests, of
the pains, and of everything that belongs to the beloved."
"Indeed, there is no beauty that equals suffering for the love of God alone."
"My daughter, in the Creation I gave my image to the soul; in the Incarnation I gave my Divinity, divinizing humanity."
"Therefore, hold peace as your greatest treasure if you cherish being united with Me."
"Oh, how difficult it is to enjoy pleasures, to dress luxuriously on
the outside, and to despise those things internally! On the
contrary, the opposite occurs - that is, one loves in his interior, and
enjoys, what surrounds him externally."
"My daughter, my Life manifests Itself in the creatures through words,
through works, and through sufferings, but what manifests It more
clearly are the sufferings."
"The Life of God in the soul is Hope, and the more you hope, the more
Divine Life you contain within yourself. Therefore, hope -- hope
always."
"In fact, if the soul lets herself be dominated by the cross, the cross
destroys three evil kingdoms in her, which are the world, the devil and
the flesh, and it constitutes in her three more good Kingdoms: the
Spiritual, the Divine and the Eternal Kingdom."
"Not only this, but since the other things had been created for man,
and man for God alone and for His Delight, as a consequence he was not
only to encompass all creation within himself, but he was to surpass it
to the point of receiving the image of the Supreme Majesty within
himself."
"How much attention it takes so as not to let material things enter
inside, if by necessity she has to deal with them! You, my
daughter, be attentive; otherwise, if I see anything which is not
divine in you, I will not make Myself seen anymore."
"Stability alone is what reveals the progress of Divine Life within the
soul, because, since God is immutable, one who possesses Him shares in
His immutability in good."
"Daughter, let everything in you be sealed by love. If you think,
you must only think of love; if you speak, if your work, if you
palpitate, if you desire . . . If even just one desire which is
not love comes out of you, restrict it within yourself, convert it into
love, and then give it the freedom to go out."
"Everything, everything should be enclosed in one single word:
'Love.' If the soul does not enclose everything in this, it can
be said that she does not know a thing about loving Me, and according
to how much the soul loves Me, so do I expand the gift of suffering."
"In fact, the mind nourishes itself with what it thinks, and by looking
at God alone, of the things down here, she looks only at those that God
wants, not bothering about anything else, and so she remains always in
God."
"The weight of any action, be it even an indifferent one, increases
according to the dose of love it contains, because I do not look at the
work, but at the intensity of love that the working contains."
"Indeed that of the soul which pleases me most is perseverance, because
perseverance is seal of eternal life and development of divine life."
"This is the order of my Providence, of my Justice and of my Love -
that in each era I must have at least one with whom I might share all
goods, and that the creature must give Me everything she owes Me as
creature. . . This is precisely why I choose victim souls.
. . During the time of My Passion I had my dearest Mother who,
while I shared all my pains and all my goods with her, was most
attentive as creature, on gathering within herself everything that
creatures were to do for Me. Therefore in her I found all my
satisfaction and all the gratitude, the thanksgiving, the praise, the
reparation, the correspondence which I was to find in everyone else."
To learn more about the mystic Luisa Piccarreta, click Here.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
16. Serapion said, 'I have afflicted my body far more than my son Zacharias, but I cannot equal his humility or his silence.'
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