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Thursday, April 14, 2022
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
St. Rose of Lima: No Other Way!
Apart from the cross
there is no other ladder by which
we may get to heaven.
St. Rose of Lima
there is no other ladder by which
we may get to heaven.
St. Rose of Lima
Thursday, April 7, 2022
St. John Paul the Great: Jesus and the Sick
Jesus did not only treat and heal the sick, but he was also a
tireless promoter of health through his saving presence, teaching and
action. His love for man was expressed in relationships full of
humanity, which led him to understand, to show compassion and bring
comfort, harmoniously combining tenderness and strength. He was moved by
the beauty of nature, he was sensitive to human suffering, he fought
evil and injustice. He faced the negative aspects of this experience
courageously and, fully aware of the implications, communicated the
certainty of a new world. In him, the human condition showed its face
redeemed and the deepest human aspirations found fulfillment.
He wants to communicate this harmonious fullness of life to people
today. His saving action not only aims to meet the needs of human
people, victims of their own limits and errors, but to sustain their
efforts for total self-fulfillment. He opens the prospect of divine life
to man: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
Called to continue Jesus’ mission, the Church must seek to promote a full and ordered life for everyone.
- St. John Paul the Great
World Day of the Sick 2000
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Thursday, March 31, 2022
Elisabeth Leseur: The Power of Suffering
Lord, make us realize that by simply suffering for Jesus’ sake and by bearing “in the body the death of Jesus” [2 Corinthians 4: 10], we can often do more for him and for others than we can by being active. It is very hard to understand this, so please make us realize that our very helplessness can be of great use to others, if we suffer it with and for Jesus. Our suffering works mysteriously, first in ourselves by a kind of renewal and also in others who are perhaps far away, without our ever knowing what we are accomplishing. Christ on the cross has perhaps done more for humanity than Christ speaking and acting in Galilee or Jerusalem. Suffering creates life. It transforms everything it touches. Help us to understand this through Christ, our Lord.
- Elisabeth Leseur
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Thursday, March 24, 2022
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Friday, February 18, 2022
Thursday, December 9, 2021
St. Vincent de Paul: Humility
The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not not at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.
~St. Vincent de Paul
Pope Pius VIII
"The salvation of the people principally depends on good pastors. Nothing contributes more to the ruin of souls than impious, weak, or uninformed clerics."
~ Pope Pius XIII
Trials and Tribulations
Trials and tribulations offer us a chance to make reparation for our past faults and sins. On such occasions the Lord comes to us like a physician to heal the wounds left by our sins. Tribulation is the divine medicine.
~ St. Augustine of Hippo
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Sunday, June 13, 2021
St. John Chrysostom: Prayers of Saints
The
prayers of the saints have mighty power to help our need...
let us
call upon them, for they can be bolder of speech in death than
when
they lived.
-
St. John Chrysostom
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Friday, June 11, 2021
St. John Paul II: May your suffering become redeeming love
At this moment I would like to express the deep sympathy that I feel for each of you, and all my understanding for the sickness you carry in your body and your spirit; I would like to speak with you one by one to instill in you comfort and encouragement.
Your life as handicapped persons constitutes a great trial; it is a trial for you above all, but also for your parents, for those who love you, and for those who wonder why this infirmity?
In fact, your ordeal is also a mystery.
The Lord does not ask us to close our eyes in the face of infirmity. It is very real, and we must have a clear knowledge of it. He asks us to look more deeply, to believe that in these suffering bodies beats not only human life with all its dignity and its rights but also, by virtue of baptism, the divine life, the marvelous life of the children of God. If to the external eyes of men you appear weak and infirm, before God you are great and luminous in your existence.
There is yet another important reality that Jesus reveals to us.
In human society, powerful, cultivated people occupy the positions of authority and are more visible; in the Kingdom of God, on the other hand, the opposite happens - the first and the greatest, Jesus tells us, are the children, the weak, the poor, the suffering. The ways of God are disturbing to mankind. St. Paul says: "God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."
This truth, which leaves us bewildered, becomes comprehensible if we look at the example of Jesus. Jesus was not content with revealing to us the mystery of suffering. He gave us the most convincing answer by taking our weaknesses upon himself, becoming the Man of sorrow who is acquainted with suffering.
When we ask God, then: Why must this innocent suffer? God in turn, asks us a question: Do you not see me in your brother who suffers? And what will you do for me and for him?
- St. John Paul II
Sunday, February 7, 2021
John Paul II: Your Suffering Elevates the World
John Paul II: Your Suffering Elevates the World
I call on you to entrust your anguish to God the Father and to Christ, through Mary; to ask of Him - more than resignation, and even more than courage for your struggle - the grace of love and hope. Look at the Cross of Christ with faith: although it is the instrument of immense suffering, it is above all the sign of immense love, and the open door to Resurrection, which is the ultimate response of the God of love to His chosen Son.
May you offer this handicap of yours together with Christ, and enter into redemption: for your salvation, for the progress of the whole Church, for the graces of conversion that our world needs! Remain faithful to prayer. Try to remain open to others, without turning in on yourselves. Others have a lot to gain from your experience as sick people and as believers. Often, your ordeal has enabled you to acquire an outlook on existence and what is truly valuable, and gain a new degree of patience, of courage, of solidarity, of serenity at the prospect of death - in contrast with the anxiety of those around you - and a mysterious union with God. To all this you can bear witness, making manifest the promise of Jesus: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Even in the silence of prayer, and confined to your bed, you are in communion with the whole world, in order to take part in redemption: your prayer and your offering elevate the world.
~ Pope St. John Paul II
Belgium
May 21, 1985
St. Clare of Assisi Wisdom
We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.
If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing.
Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather
it means becoming the image of the beloved,
an image disclosed through transformation. This means
we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others.
St. Clare of Assisi
If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing.
Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather
it means becoming the image of the beloved,
an image disclosed through transformation. This means
we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others.
St. Clare of Assisi
St. Bonaventure: Voice of the Heart
When we pray, the voice of the heart
must be heard more
than that proceeding from the mouth.
St. Bonaventure
must be heard more
than that proceeding from the mouth.
St. Bonaventure
St. Maximilian Kolbe: Queen Even Of God's Heart
Prayer is powerful beyond limits when we turn to the Immaculata
who is queen even of God's heart.
St. Maximilian Kolbe
who is queen even of God's heart.
St. Maximilian Kolbe
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Sunday, September 16, 2018
Eucharistic Adoration As Spiritual Weapon
Listen: There are two things the Devil is deathly afraid of: fervent Communions and frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
Do you want Our Lord to grant you many graces? Visit him often.
Do you want Him to grant you only a few? Visit Him only seldom.
Do you want the Devil to attack you? Rarely visit the Blessed Sacrament.
Do you want the Devil to flee from you? Visit Jesus often.
Do you want to overcome the Devil? Take refuge at Jesus’ feet.
Do you want to overcome the Devil? Take refuge at Jesus’ feet.
Do you want to be overcome by the Devil? Give up visiting Jesus.
Visiting the Blessed Sacrament is essential, my dear boys, if you want to overcome the Devil. Therefore, make frequent visits to Jesus. If you do that, the Devil will never prevail against you.
- St. John Bosco
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St. John Bosco
Sunday, July 15, 2018
St. Alphonsus Liguori: Today
Today God invites you to do good;
do it therefore today.
Tomorrow you may not have time, or
God may no longer call you to do it.
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
do it therefore today.
Tomorrow you may not have time, or
God may no longer call you to do it.
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
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Thursday, January 25, 2018
St. Therese of Lisieux: A Source of Merit!
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Tuesday, January 23, 2018
St. Therese of Lisieux: Furnace of Love
I cherish the hope
that one day Thou wilt swoop down upon me and carry me up until I am
lost, a willing victim, in the fiery heart of the furnace of Love.
-St. Therese of Lisieux
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
St. Augustine: The Truth!
People hate the truth
for the sake of whatever it is they love more than the truth.
They love truth when it shines warmly upon them
and hate it
when it rebukes them.
St. Augustine of Hippo
for the sake of whatever it is they love more than the truth.
They love truth when it shines warmly upon them
and hate it
when it rebukes them.
St. Augustine of Hippo
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St. Gemma Galgani: If You Really Want to Love
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St. Vincent de Paul: Why Trials and Afflictions?
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Our Lady and the Three Dresses
Many
centuries ago, three young nuns lived together in a convent. Day after
day, they took their meals together, they went to chapel together, and
they prayed and sang together.
One
day, their priest-confessor advised them that, as a preparation for the
feast of the purification of Mary, they should recite the whole Rosary
every day for forty days. The three nuns obediently complied.
On the night before that holy feast day, the Heavenly Mother appeared
to the three nuns as they gathered in the choir. To the first of these
three sisters she handed a rich garment, embroidered with gold. Holy
Mary thanked her and blessed her.
She then handed to the second nun a much simpler garment, and also
thanked her. Noticing the difference in the two garments, the second
sister asked, "Oh Lady, why have you brought my sister a richer
garment?" Mary Most Holy lovingly replied, "Because she has clothed me
more richly with her prayers than you have done."
Mary then approached the third nun with a canvas garment. Being an
observant young lady, this sister at once asked pardon for the
half-hearted way in which she had prayed her rosaries.
A full year had passed when all three fervently prepared for the same
feast, each saying her Rosary with great devotion. On the evening
preceding the festival, Mary appeared to them in glory, and said to
them: "Be prepared, for tomorrow you shall come to paradise."
The following morning dawned, full of promise. Each nun wondered if
this would be her last day in this vale of tears. When evening came,
would they retire to their modest cells once more, or did Holy Mary have
something else in store for them?
The sisters related to their confessor what had occurred, and
received communion in the morning. At the hour of compline (evening
prayers) they saw again the most holy Virgin, who came to take them with
her. Amid the songs of angels, one after the other sweetly expired.
From the Glories of Mary, by St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
Sunday, January 14, 2018
St. Pio of Pietrelcina: We Must Not Stop!
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St. Hilary of Poitiers: No Matter How Sinful
No matter how sinful one may have been,
if he has devotion to Mary,
it is impossible that he be lost.
St. Hilary of Poitiers
if he has devotion to Mary,
it is impossible that he be lost.
St. Hilary of Poitiers
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