On Love

It's odd, but this time what I went through was a double thing, two strands twisted together of black and gold. There was the bad thing, fear and darkness pressing in, and there was the glad singing of love, the "Yes I will" that is my song. I had not known before that love is obedience. You want to love, and you can't, and all the time love is not some marvelous thing that you feel but some hard thing that you do. And this way is easier because with God's help you can command your will when you can't command your feelings. With us, feelings seem to be important, but He doesn't appear to agree with us. 

~from The Scent of Water,

by Elizabeth Goudge

The Price....

"Soul-pain is the price of conversions.........

.....If you want to win souls for Christ, you must be willing to endure the anguish for sin that sinners do not experience, in order to win at least ultimately the grace of repentance for them.

You may have to go through the agonies of delayed hopes for many hearts, and even seeming failure at the end, for someone whose soul has been your deep concern.

But your sincere devotion to bring a soul to Christ will not be in vain. God knows the secret  workings of his grace in souls."

~Fr. Lawrence Lovasik

in The Hidden Power of Kindness

True Humility

"If you are filled with a sincere reverence for everything pertaining to God and your neighbor, you will not appropriate to yourself more than is your due. This is true humility."

~Fr. Lawrence Lovasik

in The Hidden Power of Kindness

The Truth

"....the truth of our lives depends on the measure of our conformity with the concept of us that exists in the mind of God. Not with other people's concept of what we are, nor with our own concept of what we would like to be, but simply with the type proposed by God."

~Dom Hubert Van Zeller, O.S.B.

On Prayer

"Have no preconceived ideas as to how you ought to be praying. Content yourselves with trying to express, however inarticulately, your love of God."

~Dom Hubert Van Zeller, O.S.B.

in We Live With Our Eyes Open

"Still from a humble soul,

an obedient will,

the prayer must come that wins thee."

~Judith 9, 16

On Housekeeping

"My idea of housekeeping is to sweep the room with a glance."

~Erma Bombeck

;)

"And Do Thou,

while thou hast life, think ever upon God,

nor lend thyself to any sinful design,

nor leave the commandments of the Lord our God unfulfilled."

~Tobias  4, 6

Dispel the Night......

"Dispel the night

And show Thy face;

And bid us hail

The dawn of grace."

~from the Advent Hymn, 

"O Come Divine Messiah."

On Courage

"Courage and a man's part, that is what I ask of thee; no room for fear and shrinking back, when the Lord thy God is at thy side wherever thou goest."

~Josue 1:9

Reason and Charity

"Satisfy your demand for reason always but remember that charity is beyond reason, and that God can be known through charity."

~Flannery O'Connor

Things Which are not Seen

"While we look not at the things which are seen,

but at the things which are not seen.

 For the things which are seen, are temporal;

but the things which are not seen, are eternal."

~II Corinthians, 4, 18

Feast of St. Patrick

"I arise today

Through the strength of heaven:

Light of sun, 

Radiance of moon,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning

Swiftness of wind,

Depth of sea,

Stability of earth,

Firmness of rock.

I arise today

Through God's strength to pilot me:

God's might to uphold me, 

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's host to save me

From snares of devils,

From temptation of vices,

From everyone who wishes me ill

Afar and anear

Alone and in a multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils:

Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul;

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of Pagandom,

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, 

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today through a mighty strength,

The invocation of the Trinity:

Through belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of Creation."

~St. Patrick's Breastplate 

Feast Day Quote

"....a heart that wishes for Him alone,

finds Him everywhere."

~St.  Margaret Mary



Feast Day Quote....

" Learn to suffer something for Jesus Christ without letting others perceive it."

~St. Teresa of Avila

Feast of St. Francis

"You are my God.

Teach me to do your will."

~St Francis of Assisi

Traditional Feast of St. Vincent de Paul

"It is only by feeling your love that the poor will forgive you for the gifts of bread."

~St. Vincent de Paul

On Recreation

"Recreation is not being idle; it is easing the wearied part by change of occupation. To re-create strength, rest. To create mind, repose. To re-create cheerfulness, hope in God, or change the object of one's attention to some more elevated and worthy of thought."

~Simmons

On Spiritual Life

"God does not want our spiritual life to be a constant stress, uneasy, foggy, stormy. He loves peace and joy and spiritual gaiety. We often offend other people without meaning to do so. But God knows us through and through and understands what we mean. We never offend Him unless we want to offend Him."

~Fr. Lasance

Jam Today

 

"Come, you look rather better now!" she said, after altering most of the pins. "But really you should have a lady's maid!"

"I'm sure I'll take you with pleasure!" the Queen said. "Two-pence a week, and jam every other day."

Alice couldn't help laughing as she said, "I don't want you to hire me ~and I don't care for jam."

"It's very good jam," said the Queen.

"Well, I don't want any today, at any rate,"

"You couldn't have it if you did want it," the Queen said. "The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday ~but never jam today."

"It must come sometimes to 'jam today,'" Alice objected.

"No, it can't,"said the Queen. "It's jam every other day; today isn't any other day, you know."

~from Through The Looking Glass,

by Lewis Carroll