It is better to be the child of God than king of the world. - St. Aloysius Gonzaga
Friday, May 31, 2019
“The field of battle between God and Satan is the human soul. This is where it takes place every moment of our lives. The soul must give free access to our Lord and be completely fortified by Him with every kind of weapon; His light must illuminate it to fight the darkness of error; it must put on Jesus Christ, His truth and justice, the shield of faith, the word of God to overcome such powerful enemies. To put on Jesus Christ we must die to ourselves.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Today, in the course of a long conversation, the Lord said to me, How very much I desire the salvation of souls! My dearest secretary, write that I want to pour out My divine life into human souls and sanctify them, if only they were willing to accept My grace. The greatest sinners would achieve great sanctity, if only they would trust in My mercy. The very inner depths of My being are filled to overflowing with mercy, and it is being poured out upon all I have created. My delight is to act in a human soul and to fill it with My mercy and to justify it. My kingdom on earth is My life in the human soul. Write, My secretary, that I Myself am the spiritual guide of souls – and I guide them indirectly through the priest, and lead each one to sanctity by a road known to Me alone. WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA. (Diary, 1784)
“At the very moment when a tree turns against Him and becomes a cross, when iron turns against Him and becomes nails, when roses turn against Him and become thorns, when men turn against Him and become executioners, He lets fall from His lips for the first time in the history of the world a prayer for enemies: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23:34)” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Rainbow of Sorrow)
Thursday, May 30, 2019
“That which I fear is not the Commune of Paris - no - that which I fear is liberal Catholicism. . . I have said so more than forty times, and I repeat it to you now, through the love that I bear you. The real scourge of France is Liberal Catholicism, which endeavors to unite two principles as repugnant to each other as fire and water.” Pope Bl. Pius IX (1792 - 1878)
"Know this, My daughter: if you strive for perfection you will sanctify many souls; and if you do not strive for sanctity, by the same token, many souls will remain imperfect. Know that their perfection will depend on your perfection, and the greater part of the responsibility for these souls will fall on you." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1165)
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
“I can’t stop praying for poor sinners who are on the road to hell. If they come to die in that state, they will be lost for all eternity. What a pity! We have to pray for sinners! Praying for sinners is the most beautiful and useful of prayers because the just are on the way to heaven, the souls of purgatory are sure to enter there, but the poor sinners will be lost forever. All devotions are good but there is no better one than such prayer for sinners."
“What souls we can convert by our prayers. The one who saves a soul from hell saves this soul and his own as well.”
“One can offer himself as a victim for 8-15 days for the conversion of sinners. One can suffer cold, heat, deprive oneself of looking at something, go visit someone who would appreciate it, make a novena, attend daily Mass for this intention in places where it is possible. Not only would one contribute to God’s glory by this holy practice of praying for sinners, but one would obtain an abundance of grace.”
“I am only content when I’m praying for sinners. The good God has made me see how much he loves that I pray for poor sinners. … I don’t know if it were really a voice I heard or a dream, but, whatever it was, it woke me up and told me that to save a soul in the state of sin is more pleasing to God than all sacrifices. For that reason, I do all my resolutions for penance.” - St. John Vianney
“What souls we can convert by our prayers. The one who saves a soul from hell saves this soul and his own as well.”
“One can offer himself as a victim for 8-15 days for the conversion of sinners. One can suffer cold, heat, deprive oneself of looking at something, go visit someone who would appreciate it, make a novena, attend daily Mass for this intention in places where it is possible. Not only would one contribute to God’s glory by this holy practice of praying for sinners, but one would obtain an abundance of grace.”
“I am only content when I’m praying for sinners. The good God has made me see how much he loves that I pray for poor sinners. … I don’t know if it were really a voice I heard or a dream, but, whatever it was, it woke me up and told me that to save a soul in the state of sin is more pleasing to God than all sacrifices. For that reason, I do all my resolutions for penance.” - St. John Vianney
Practice self-observation. And if you want to benefit yourself and your fellow men, look at your own faults and not those of others. The Lord tells us "Judge not, that ye be not judged," condemn not that ye be not condemned. And the Apostle Paul says: "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant -St, Arsenios of Paros
"Today, the Lord came to me and said, My daughter, help Me to save souls. You will go to a dying sinner, and you will continue to recite the Chaplet, and in this way you will obtain for him trust in My mercy, for he is already in despair."
Suddenly, I found myself in a strange cottage where an elderly man was dying amidst great torments. All about the bed was a multitude of demons and the family, who were crying. When I began to pray, the spirits of darkness fled, with hissing and threats directed at me. The soul became calm and, filled with trust, rested in the Lord.
At the same moment, I found myself again in my own room. How this happens... I do not know." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1797 & 1798)
Suddenly, I found myself in a strange cottage where an elderly man was dying amidst great torments. All about the bed was a multitude of demons and the family, who were crying. When I began to pray, the spirits of darkness fled, with hissing and threats directed at me. The soul became calm and, filled with trust, rested in the Lord.
At the same moment, I found myself again in my own room. How this happens... I do not know." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1797 & 1798)
“God will not do what we can very well do for ourselves; he will not make a harvest grow without our planting the seed. But there must be the preparation for God’s help through the asking, the seeking, and the knocking. Millions of favors are hanging from Heaven on silken cords-prayer is the sword that will cut them.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lift up Your Heart)
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
“Science, my son, for all its greatness is nevertheless a small thing; and less than nothing compared to the formidable mystery of the Divinity. You must take another road. Cleanse your heart of every earthly passion, humble yourself in the dust and pray! In this way you will certainly find God, who will give you peace and serenity in this life and eternal beatitude in the next.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
“There was room for the rich; there was room for those who were clothed in soft garments…But when finally the scrolls of history are completed down to the last word of time, the saddest lines of all will be: ‘There was no room in the inn.’ The inn was the gathering place of public opinion, the focal point of the world’s moods, the rendezvous of the worldly, the rallying place of the popular and the successful. But there’s no room in the place where the world gathers. The stable is the place for outcasts, the ignored, and the forgotten. The world might have expected the Son of God to be born in an inn; a stable would certainly be the last place in the world where one would look for Him. The lesson is: divinity is always where you least expect to find it. So the Son of God-Made-Man is invited to enter into His own world through a back door.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Bishop Sheen Catechism)
Monday, May 27, 2019
“Instead of afflicting yourselves at our separation, and My going to the Father, you ought, if you truly love Me, to testify your affection, by a faithful observance of My commandments. Behold, this is the best proof you can give Me of your attachment: better far than any exterior sign of grief and tenderness.” — St. John Chrysostom
“Science my son, for all its greatness is nevertheless a small thing; and less than nothing compared to the formidable mystery of the Divinity. You must take another road. Cleanse your heart of every earthly passion, humble yourself in the dust and pray! In this way you will certainly find God, who will give you peace and serenity in this life and eternal beatitude in the next.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Jesus: My daughter, do you think you have written enough about My mercy? What you have written is but a drop compared to the ocean. I am Love and Mercy Itself. There is no misery that could be a match for My mercy, neither will misery exhaust it, because as it is being granted – it increases. The soul that trusts in My mercy is most fortunate, because I Myself take care of it WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA. (Diary, 1273)
“Some things in life are too beautiful to be forgotten. These things may be what men do in this world; they may even be their manner of passing from it. For example, almost every country has instituted a memorial day to recall the supreme sacrifice its patriots have made in defense of country and civilization. Because life was the most precious thing they could give, the living cannot forget their gift. They themselves could not ask for any such memorial, nor could they institute it, that was left to their survivors.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (This is the Mass)
Sunday, May 26, 2019
"And so now with all those who see the Blessed Sacrament, sanctified by Our Lord's words on the altar, through the hands of the priest, in the form of bread and wine: if they do not see and believe, as the spirit and the Divine nature demand that it is truly the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, they stand condemned. For it is the Most High who bears witness to it. He says, ‘This is My Body, and the Blood of the New Testament’ (Mk, 14, 22-24) and, ‘He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, has life everlasting.’” - (Jn. 6, 55) - from the writings of St. Francis of Assisi on The Blessed Sacrament
“I confess in the first place, that for me it is a great misfortune to be unable to express and pour out this ever-active volcano which burns me up, and which Jesus has placed in this very small heart. It can all be summed up as follows: I am consumed by love for God and love for my neighbor.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
After Holy Communion, I heard these words:- You see what you are of yourself, but do not be frightened at this. If I were to reveal to you the whole misery that you are, you would die of terror. However, be aware of what you are. Because you are such great misery, I have revealed to you the whole ocean of My mercy. I seek and desire souls like yours, but they are few. Your great trust in Me forces Me to continuously grant you graces. You have great and incomprehensible rights over My Heart, for you are a daughter of complete trust. You would not have been able to bear the magnitude of the love which I have for you if I had revealed it to you fully here on earth. I often give you a glimpse of it, but know that this is only an exceptional grace from Me. My love and mercy knows no bounds. WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA. (Diary, 718)
“But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble servants and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.” - Saint Louis de Montfort
“If Christ is the Prince of Peace then how do we reconcile these other seemingly contradictory words of Our Lord: ‘Do not think that I come to send peace upon earth, I came not to send peace, but the sword’ and ‘Think you, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no but separation.’ The explanation of these apparent contradictions is to be found in the words he addressed to his apostles the night of the Last Supper in which he made an important distinction between two kinds of peace: ‘My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, do I give unto you’ and ‘These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress, but have confidence, I have overcome the world.’ There is a difference, then, between His Peace and the peace of the world. It is evident from these words that Our Lord offers a peace and a consolation that He alone can confer, a peace that comes from the right ordering of conscience, from justice, charity, love of God and love of neighbor.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Cross and the Beatitudes)
Saturday, May 25, 2019
"'My little children, your hearts, are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun." St. John Vianney
"If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy" WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary, 1317)
“Paul had to begin with the Cross and then retrace his steps backward to Calvary. To him and to his people, the prophetic connection between suffering and glory were repugnant. The Jew and the Greek both had a horror of death, to the Greek there was a physical aversion; to the Jew it was a moral shame. And yet the glorified Christ began Paul’s conversion with the Cross – at that very point where all national characteristics were assailed. He had to see Christ repersecuted, recrucified, renailed. And when he asked who it was who questioned, there flashed the vision: ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting’” Archbishop Fulton Sheen
"In ancient times, our forefathers sowed the seeds of the wheat of faith in that field which is the Church. It would be quite unjust and improper if we, their descendents, gathered, instead of the genuine truth of wheat, the false tares of error. On the contrary, it is logically correct that the beginning and the end be in agreement, that we reap from the planting of the wheat of doctrine the harvest of the wheat of dogma. In this way, none of the Characteristics of the seed is changed, although something evolved in the course of time from those first seeds and has now expanded under careful cultivation. What may be added is merely appearance, beauty, and distinction, but the proper nature of each kind remains." St. Vincent of Lerins
A praise of glory is a soul of silence that remains like a lyre under the mysterious touch of the Holy Spirit so that He may draw from it divine harmonies; it knows that suffering is a string that produces still more beautiful sounds; so it loves to see this string on its instrument that it may more delightfully move the Heart of its God. - St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Heaven in Faith, Day 10, Second Prayer (excerpt)
Heaven in Faith, Day 10, Second Prayer (excerpt)
“You have released us, O Lord, from the fear of death. You have made the end of life here on earth a beginning of true life for us. ... You redeemed us from the curse and from sin, having become both on our behalf. You have crushed the heads of the serpent who had seized man in his jaws because of the abyss of our disobedience. You have opened up for us a path to the resurrection, having broken down the gates of hell and reduced to impotence the one who had power over deaths. You have given to those who fear You a visible token, the sign of the holy cross, for the destruction of the adversary and for the protection of our life.” — St. Macrina the Younger
"My daughter, know that My Heart is mercy itself. From this sea of mercy, graces flow out upon the whole world. No soul that has approached Me has ever gone away unconsoled. All misery gets buried in the depths of My mercy, and every saving and sanctifying grace flows from this fountain...". WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTNA (Diary, 1777).
“You are not unaware of the fact that I desire to die and to love God; either death or love, given that life without this love is worse than death. Oh my daughters, help me! I am dying and in agony at all times. Everything seems to be a dream to me, and I don't know where I am wandering. Dear God! when will the time come when I, too, can sing: ‘This is my rest, oh God, forever’” ? St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Friday, May 24, 2019
"A nation always gets the kind of politicians it deserves. If a time ever comes when the religious Jews, Protestants and Catholics ever have to suffer under a totalitarian state, which would deny to them the right to worship God according to the light of their conscience, it will be because for years they thought it made no difference what kind of people represented them in Congress, and because they abandoned the spiritual in the realm of the temporal." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Catholic Hour)
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Today, the Lord has been teaching me, once again, how I am to approach the Sacrament of Penance, "My daughter, just as you prepare in My presence, so also you make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyse what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of, - open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light". WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1725)
“After Jesus Christ's ascension to Heaven, Mary longed continually with burning desire to be reunited with Him. To be without her divine Son was a very harsh exile. Those years of separation from Him were for her a most slow and painful martyrdom of love that consumed her slowly.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
“Let anyone who comes to you go away feeling better and happier. Everyone should see goodness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile. Joy shows from the eyes. It appears when we speak and walk. It cannot be kept closed inside us. It reacts outside. Joy is very infectious.” - St Teresa of Calcutta
“After Jesus Christ's ascension to Heaven, Mary longed continually with burning desire to be reunited with Him. To be without her divine Son was a very harsh exile. Those years of separation from Him were for her a most slow and painful martyrdom of love that consumed her slowly.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
“Heaven is a city on a hill, hence we cannot coast into it; we have to climb. Those who are too lazy to mount can miss its capture as well as the evil who refuse to seek it. Let no one think he can be totally indifferent to God in this life and suddenly develop a capacity for Him at the moment of death. Where will the capacity for heaven come from if we have neglected it on earth?” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Seven Capital Sins)
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
“A treasure is secure so long as it remains concealed; but when once disclosed, and laid open to every bold invader, it is presently rifled; so virtue is safe so long as secret, but, if rashly exposed, it but too often evaporates into smoke. By humility, and contempt of the world, the soul, like an eagle, soars on high, above all transitory things, and tramples on the backs of lions and dragons.” St. Syncletica
“Father, today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows: say something to me.
Answer: ‘Our Lady of Sorrows loves us. She gave birth to us in suffering and love. May you never forget Our Lady of Sorrows and may her sufferings be engraved in your heart: may she inflame your heart with love for herself and her Son.’” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Answer: ‘Our Lady of Sorrows loves us. She gave birth to us in suffering and love. May you never forget Our Lady of Sorrows and may her sufferings be engraved in your heart: may she inflame your heart with love for herself and her Son.’” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
“The communist “saint” preach bastard brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, and sacrifice themselves on picket lines for the sake of economic ideals. They have secularized the Beatitudes, at every step they say that the low shall become the high; the last shall be first; the overlooked shall be the preferred; the poor shall be rich; the scored shall be reverenced; that old truth shall be the error, and man shall be reborn. They have perverted truth and the Gospel; they have turned the announcement into their re-announcement; they have taken the Pentecostal fires and made them burn downward instead of upward; they have made this world all important.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Monday, May 20, 2019
“O Mary, you understood the gift of God; you never lost a particle of it. You were so pure, so luminous, that you seemed to be light itself: Speculum justitiae, mirror of justice. Your life was so simple, so lost in God, that there is scarcely anything to say about it. Virgo fidelis: the faithful Virgin, ‘who kept all things in her heart.’” St Elizabeth of the Trinity
"Jesus has remained in the Sacred Host for us so as to stay by our side, to sustain us, to guide us. And love can only be repaid with love. How could we not turn to the Blessed Sacrament each day, even if it is only for a few minutes, to bring him our greetings and our love as children and as brothers?” - St. Josemaria, Furrow, 686
“What tongue could worthily describe Mary's triumphant entry into heaven? If the triumphs prepared here below arouse such admiration and great enthusiasm that they attract many people to contemplate them, what can be said of the triumph prepared by God Himself for his Mother?” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
"Do not fear, My little child, you are not alone. Fight bravely, because My arm is supporting you; fight for the salvation of souls, exhorting them to trust in My mercy, as that is your task in this life and in the life to come. After these words, I received a deeper understanding of Divine Mercy. Only that soul who wants it will be damned, for God condemns no one." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1452)
“The Church which Christ founded has not only preserved the Word He spoke, and the wonders he wrought; it has also taken Him seriously when He said: “Do this for a commemoration of me.” Hence the Mass is to us the crowning act of Christian worship. A pulpit in which the words of our Lord are repeated does not unite us to Him; a choir in which sweet sentiments are sung brings us no closer to His Cross than to His garments. A temple without an altar of sacrifice is non-existent among primitive peoples, and is meaningless among Christians. And so in the Catholic Church the altar, and not the pulpit or the choir or the organ, is the center of worship, for there is reenacted the memorial of His Passion. Its value does not depend on him who says it, or on him who hears it; it depends on Him who is the One High Priest and Victim, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Calvary and the Mass)
Sunday, May 19, 2019
“We must not drift away from the humble works, because these are the works nobody will do. It is never too small. We are so small we look at things in a small way. But God, being Almighty, sees everything great. Therefore, even if you write a letter for a blind man or you just go sit and listen, or you take the mail for him, or you visit somebody or bring a flower to somebody—small things—or wash clothes for somebody, or clean the house. Very humble work, that is where you and I must be. For there are many people who can do big things. But there are very few people who will do the small things.” —Saint Teresa of Calcutta
“Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven. There are others: innocence, but that is for little children; penance, but we are afraid of it; generous endurance of trials of life, but when they come we weep and ask to be. The surest, easiest, shortest way is the Eucharist.” — Pope St. Pius X
Saturday, May 18, 2019
1. O living flame of love
That tenderly wounds my soul
In its deepest center! Since
Now you are not oppressive,
Now consummate! if it be your will:
Tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!
2. O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
That tastes of eternal life
And pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.
3. O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
The deep caverns of feeling,
Once obscure and blind,
Now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
Both warmth and light to their Beloved.
4. How gently and lovingly
You wake in my heart,
Where in secret you dwell alone;
And in your sweet breathing,
Filled with good and glory,
How tenderly You swell my heart with love.
St. John of the Cross
That tenderly wounds my soul
In its deepest center! Since
Now you are not oppressive,
Now consummate! if it be your will:
Tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!
2. O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
That tastes of eternal life
And pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.
3. O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
The deep caverns of feeling,
Once obscure and blind,
Now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
Both warmth and light to their Beloved.
4. How gently and lovingly
You wake in my heart,
Where in secret you dwell alone;
And in your sweet breathing,
Filled with good and glory,
How tenderly You swell my heart with love.
St. John of the Cross
“The story of every human life begins with birth and ends with death. In the person of Christ, however, it was his death that was first and his life that was last. The Scripture describes him as the Lamb slain as it were, from the beginning of the world. He was slain in intention by the first sin and rebellion against God. It was not so much that His birth cast a shadow on His life and thus led to his death; it was rather that the Cross was first, and cast its shadow back to His birth.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life of Christ)
Friday, May 17, 2019
Oh, how much I am hurt by a soul's distrust! Such a soul professes that I am Holy and Just, but does not believe that I am Mercy and does not trust in My Goodness. Even the devils glorify My Justice but do not believe in My Goodness. My Heart rejoices in this title of Mercy. WORDS OF JESUS TO ST FAUSTINA (Diary, 300)
“Christianity challenged the belief that the worship men owed to Caesar was total and complete; it affirmed that man had a soul and hence was not obligated to the political in the totality of his being. But the emperors, in claiming divinity, sentenced hundreds of thousands of Christians to death, for there was only one lord to them, which was Caesar.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)
Thursday, May 16, 2019
“My son, you do not know the effects of obedience. Well, for a yes, for a single yes, "be it done unto me according to Your word," to do God's will, Mary became the mother of the Most High, professing herself to be his handmaid and keeping her virginity which was so dear to God and herself. Thanks to this yes pronounced by Mary Most Holy, the world obtained salvation and humanity was redeemed. Let us always do God's will and always say yes to the Lord.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
"During prayer, I heard these words: My daughter, let your heart be filled with joy. I, the Lord, am with you. Fear nothing. You are in My Heart. At that moment, I knew the great majesty of God, and I understood that nothing could be compared with one single perception of God. Outward greatness dwindles like a speck of dust before one act of a deeper knowledge of God." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1133
“There are in the sight of God only two classes of people; the once-born and the twice-born; those who are born of woman, and those who are born of the spirit of God. The first are just men; the second are children of God; the first are humanists, the second are Christians; the first are of the world, the second are of the kingdom of God.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Mystical Body of Christ)
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Once the Lord said to me, Act like a beggar who does not back away when he gets more alms [than he asked for], but offers thanks the more fervently. You too should not back away and say that you are not worthy of receiving greater graces when I give them to you. I know you are unworthy, but rejoice all the more and take as many treasures from My Heart as you can carry, for then you will please Me more. And I will tell you one more thing: Take these graces not only for yourself, but also for others; that is, encourage the souls with whom you come in contact to trust in My infinite mercy. Oh, how I love those souls who have complete confidence in Me. I will do everything for them.
WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary, 294)
WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary, 294)
“If the bringing of children into the world is today an economic burden, it is because the social system is inadequate; and not because God’s law is wrong. Therefore the State should remove the causes of that burden. The human must not be limited and controlled to fit the economic, but the economic must be expanded to fit the human.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Philosophies at War)
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
“It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God. Without God people only succeed in bringing out the worst in one another. Lovers who have nothing else to do but love each other soon find there is nothing else. Without a central loyalty life is unfinished.” (Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, Seven Words of Jesus and Mary)
“Remember what took place in the heart of our heavenly Mother at the foot of the Cross. She was turned to stone before her crucified Son, due to the excessive suffering, but you cannot say she was abandoned. On the contrary, she was never loved more than at that moment when she suffered and couldn't even cry.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Monday, May 13, 2019
“‘Oh, my children,’ Mary seems to say to us with these words, ‘when the enemy assails you, lift your eyes to me and behold me and take courage; for in me, who defends you, you will behold, at the same time, your victory.’” (As quoted by St. Alphonsus in “The Glories of Mary” Section II, “How Powerful is Mary in Protecting Those Who Invoke Her in Temptations of the Devil.”)
“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.” - Sister Lucia dos Santos of Fatima
“The revelation of Fatima is a reminder that we live in a moral universe, that evil is self-defeating, that good is self-preserving; that the basic trouble of the world are not in politics or economics but in our hearts and our souls, and that spiritual regeneration is the condition of social amelioration.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Sunday, May 12, 2019
I saw the Lord Jesus, who said, "My daughter, you gave Me greater pleasure by rendering Me that service than if you had prayed for a long time". I answered, But it was not to You, Jesus, but to that patient that I rendered this service. And the Lord answered me,"Yes, My daughter, but whatever you do for your neighbour, you do for Me". WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1029)
My dear Christians, are we not astonished at what the saints have suffered, at the patience which they exhibited in all this suffering, at the longing which they showed for crosses and sufferings? And we--we complain when we have to suffer a little! We bear with impatience the slightest adversity sent to us from God. Let us remember that "through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God," and let us bear the little suffering which God sends us with patience and submission, so that we may by this, like the saints, obtain the everlasting joys of heaven." - St. John Vianney
“From day to day, from moment to moment, she increased so much this twofold plenitude that she attained an immense and inconceivable degree of grace. So much so, that the Almighty made her the sole custodian of his treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces. She can now ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses. She can lead them along the narrow path to heaven and guide them through the narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, scepter and crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere the fruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree that bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears that Son.” - Saint Louis Marie de Montfort
“Most of us love a non-self, or something extrinsic and apart from our inner life; but a mother's love during the time she is a flesh-and-blood ciborium is not for a non-self but for one that is her very self, a perfect example of charity and love which hardly perceives a separation. Motherhood then becomes a kind of priesthood. She brings God to man by preparing the flesh in which the soul will be implanted; she brings man to God in offering the child back again to the Creator.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life is Worth Living)
Saturday, May 11, 2019
“Give your intentions in prayer to God, Who knows everyone, even before our birth. And do not ask that everything will be according to your will, because a man does not know what is profitable for him. But say to God: 'Let Thy will be done!' For He does everything for our benefit.” — St. Gennadius of Constantinople
"May 1, [1938]. This evening, Jesus said to me, My daughter, do you need anything? I answered, "O my Love, when I have You I have everything." And the Lord answered, If souls would put themselves completely in My care, I myself would undertake the task of sanctifying them, and I would lavish even greater graces on them. There are souls who thwart My efforts, but I have not given up on them; as often as they turn to Me, I hurry to their aid, shielding them with My Mercy, and I give them the first place in My compassionate Heart." WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary,1682)
As often as the Lord commanded something of me in prayer and my confessor told me to do otherwise, the Lord returned and told me；to obey my confessor; afterward His majesty would change the confessor's mind, and he would agree with the Lord's command. St Teresa of Jesus of Avila The Book of Her Life - chapter 26 : 5
Friday, May 10, 2019
At the moment I am reading some very beautiful pages in our blessed Father Saint John of the Cross on the transformation of the soul in the three Divine Persons. Monsieur l’Abbé, to what an abyss of glory we are called! Oh! I understand the silence, the recollection of the saints who could no longer leave their contemplation; thus God could lead them to the divine summits where union is made perfect between Him and the soul who has become His bride, in the mystical sense of the word. Our blessed Father says that then the Holy Spirit raises it to so wonderful a height that He makes it capable of producing in God the same spiration of love that the Father produces in the Son and the Son in the Father, the spiration that is the Holy Spirit Himself!
To think that God calls us by our vocation to live in this holy light! What an adorable mystery of charity! I would like to respond to it by living on earth as the Blessed Virgin did, “keeping all these things in my heart,” burying myself, so to speak, in the depths of my soul to lose myself in the Trinity who dwells in it in order to transform me into itself. Then my motto, “my luminous ideal,” as you said, will be accomplished: it will really be Elizabeth of the Trinity! - - Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity. (Letter 185 to Abbé Chevignard 28 November 1903
“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: Good and Evil, Sin and Love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?” - St. Maximilian Kolbe
"Charity may be compared to gold, the most precious of all metals, which adorns and beautifies everything that is richest upon earth. Charity is the ornament and adornment of all other virtues. The least little action accompanied with meekness and humility and charity of heart, is of more value and far surpasses anything that we can imagine."
"If I should ask, what is Charity? the answer is , it is a virtue that comes to us from heaven, by which we love God with our whole heart, and our neighbor as ourselves, for the love of God." St. John Vianney, Sermon on Charity
"If I should ask, what is Charity? the answer is , it is a virtue that comes to us from heaven, by which we love God with our whole heart, and our neighbor as ourselves, for the love of God." St. John Vianney, Sermon on Charity
"It should be of no concern to you how anyone else acts; you are to be My living reflection, through love and mercy". I answered, Lord, but they often take advantage of my goodness. "That makes no difference, My daughter. That is no concern of yours. As for you, be always merciful toward other people, and especially toward sinners" WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary 1446)
“Mary's life too is ‘hid with Christ in God’ through faith. For faith is contact with the mystery of God. Every day Mary is in constant contact with the ineffable mystery of God made man, a mystery that surpasses everything revealed in the Old Covenant. From the moment of the Annunciation, the mind of the Virgin Mother has been initiated into the radical ‘newness’ of God's self-revelation and has been made aware of the mystery. She is the first of those ‘little ones’ of whom Jesus will say one day: ‘Father, you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes.’ For ‘no one knows the Son except the Father.’ Yet she does not know him as the Father does.” - Pope St. John Paul II
"On the Sunday after the Resurrection, early in the morning, seven men were out fishing in a boat. One of those men, Peter, three times had denied the Divine Master. Three times he was asked if he loved, twice in a very sacrificial way, and the other in a human way. When all three questions were answered in the affirmative, there came the command to feed lambs, sheep, and firstlings of the flock. In other words, love is the condition of service. We are knit to the Fountain of love by true affection, which is based upon the consciousness of our falls, our weaknesses, and also our reception of his forgiving mercy. Then we shall have the qualities that fit us in the impulse to serve and help our fellow human beings." Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Footprints in a Darkened Forest)
Thursday, May 9, 2019
"Ave Crux, spes unica! (Hail O Cross, our only hope!) May this acclamation … remain ever on our lips, for the Cross is a mystery of life and death. The Cross has become for the Church a 'tree of life'. For this reason we proclaim that life has triumphed over death." - Pope St. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Gregis
"My daughter, in this meditation, consider the love of neighbour.
Is your love for your neighbour guided by My love?
Do you pray for your enemies?
Do you wish well to those who have, in one way or another, caused you sorrow or offended you?
Know that whatever good you do to any soul, I accept it as if you had done it to Me".
WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary, 1768)
Is your love for your neighbour guided by My love?
Do you pray for your enemies?
Do you wish well to those who have, in one way or another, caused you sorrow or offended you?
Know that whatever good you do to any soul, I accept it as if you had done it to Me".
WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary, 1768)
“Once the Catholic accepts the eternal truths of Christ, he is free to accept all the nonessential beliefs he pleases. He can be a monarchist or a republican; he can live solitary and alone on a pillar like Simon, or he can busy himself on the streets of Paris like a Vincent de Paul; he can accept Einstein or reject him; he can believe in the gold standard or the silver standard; he can play cards and dance, or he can abstain from them; he can drink moderately or he can be prohibitionist. He is like a man living on a great island in the sea on which he may roam and exercise his freedom in a thousand and one games, but only on condition that he obey the only law that is posted there: Do not jump over the walls.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Communism and the Conscience of the West)
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
“The rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christ-centered prayer. It has all the depth of the gospel message in its entirety. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb…” (Pope St. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae)
"If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy" WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary, 1317)
“If Jesus manifests Himself, thank Him; and if He hides Himself thank Him also; it is all a game of love. May the clement and pious Virgin continue to obtain for you from the ineffable goodness of the Lord the strength to sustain till the end the many proofs of charity He gives you. I hope you will die with Jesus on the Cross; and say in Him “‘Consummatum est.’” St Pio of Pietrelcina
Monday, May 6, 2019
"Write this for the many souls who are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul" WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary,1317)
“Give your intentions in prayer to God, Who knows everyone, even before our birth. And do not ask that everything will be according to your will, because a man does not know what is profitable for him. But say to God: 'Let Thy will be done!' For He does everything for our benefit.” — St. Gennadius of Constantinople
“The Greek origin of the word patience suggests two ideas: one continuance, the other submission. Combined, they mean submissive waiting; a frame of mind which is willing to wait because it knows it thus serves God and his holy purposes. A person who believes in nothing beyond this world is very impatient, because he has only a limited time in which to satisfy his wants. Patience is not something one is born with; it is something that is achieved. Sight is a gift of nature, but seeing has to be won. So it is with self-possession and patience; such a virtue is developed by resistance and control. There are many who excuse themselves, saying that if they were in other circumstances they would be much more patient. It makes little difference where we are; it all depends on what we are thinking about. What happens to us in not so important, but rather how we react to what happens. Tribulation tries the soul, and in the strong it develops patience, and patience, in its turn, hope.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Way to Inner Peace)
Sunday, May 5, 2019
After a cordial meeting with the dear Mothers, I went into the small chapel for a moment. Suddenly God's presence filled my soul, and I heard these words, "My daughter, I desire that your heart be formed after the model of My merciful Heart. You must be completely imbued with My mercy". WORDS OF JESUS TO ST. FAUSTINA (Diary,167)
“Whoever does not meditate, is like someone who never looks in the mirror before going out, doesn't bother to see if he's tidy, and may go out dirty without knowing it. The person who meditates and turns his mind to God, who is the mirror of his soul, seeks to know his faults, tries to correct them, moderates his impulses, and puts his conscience in order.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina
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