"THE venerable Benedict being one day in his cell, the boy Placidus, one of his religious* went out to fetch water from the lake, but when dipping his pitcher into the water, not taking sufficient heed, his body followed the vase and he fell into the lake. The waves immediately bore him out from the land as far as the usual flight of an arrow. The saint, who was in his cell, knew the sad accident at the very instant, and at once calling Maurus, his disciple, said to him: ''Brother Maurus, run with all speed ; the boy who went to fetch water fell into the lake and has been already carried out a long distance."
[Saint Benedict of Nursia; V-VI Century AD; Nursia, Kingdom of Italy/Mons Casinus, Eastern Roman Empire; aged 67; Father of Western Monasticism ~ Order of Saint Benedict, Patron of Europe, Rule of Saint Benedict, Saint Benedict Medal] “Chapter VII ~ Of Maurus' walking on the water. THE venerable Benedict being one day in his cell, the boy Placidus, one of his religious* went out to fetch water from the lake, but when dipping his pitcher into the water, not taking sufficient heed, his body followed the vase and he fell into the lake. The waves immediately bore him out from the land as far as the usual flight of an arrow. The saint, who was in his cell, knew the sad accident at the very instant, and at once calling Maurus, his disciple, said to him: ''Brother Maurus, run with all speed ; the boy who went to fetch water fell into the lake and has been already carried out a long distance." A thing wonderful and unheard of since that instance of the Apostle Peter! Maurus having asked and …More
"Act through Mary 48. 3. We must never go to our Lord except through Mary, using her intercession and good standing with him. We must never be without her when praying to Jesus."
[Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort – XVII-XVIII Century AD; Montfort-sur-Meu, France/Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, France; aged 43, Total consecration to Jesus through Mary] “Chapter 3 ~ The interior constituents of this consecration and its spirit To Jesus through Mary 43. I have already said that this devotion consists in performing all our actions with Mary, in Mary, through Mary, and for Mary. 44. It is not enough to give ourselves just once as a slave to Jesus through Mary; nor is it enough to renew that consecration once a month or once a week. That alone would make it just a passing devotion and would not raise the soul to the level of holiness which it is capable of reaching. It is easy to enrol in a confraternity; easy to undertake this devotion, and say every day the few vocal prayers prescribed. The chief difficulty is to enter into its spirit, which requires an interior dependence on Mary, and effectively becoming her slave and the slave of Jesus through her. I have met …More
"Answer to the third question. ”As to why animals do not have a rational intellect as humans do, I answer you: All things, whatsoever have been created, are for the use of humankind, either for their needs and upkeep or for their formation and correction or for their comfort and humiliation. If brute beasts had a human intellect, they would surely cause trouble to men, and would be of harm rather than of benefit. Therefore, in order that all things might be subject to humankind, for whose sake all things were made, and in order that all things might fear them but that they might fear none but me, their God, for this reason a rational intellect was not given to animals.”
[Saint Bridget of Sweden – XIV Century AD; Uppland, Sweden/Rome, Papal States; Patron Saint of Europe, Widow, Mystic, Spiritual Writer] “Interrogation 9 First question. After this was said, the monk appeared on his rung as before saying: ”O Judge, I ask you: Why do you seem unfair in your gifts and graces in that you gave preference to Mary your Mother before every creature and exalted her above the angels?” Second question. ”Why did you give to the angels a spirit without a body and the state of heavenly joy, while to humankind you gave a spirit in an earthly vessel, a tearful birth, a toilsome life and a painful death?” Third question. ”Why did you give humankind a rational intellect and sense, but did not give reason to the animals?” Fourth question. ”Why did you give life to animals and not to other insensate creatures?” Fifth question. ”Why is there not light at night as during day?” Answer to the first question. The Judge answered: ”Friend, in my deity are contained all …More
"Chapter 20 Aristides a most eloquent Athenian philosopher, and a disciple of Christ while yet retaining his philosopher's garb, presented a work to Hadrian at the same time that Quadratus presented his. The work contained a systematic statement of our doctrine, that is, an Apology for the Christians, which is still extant and is regarded by philologians as a monument to his genius."
[Saint Jerome – IV-V Century AD; Stridon, Roman Empire/Bethlehem, Palaestina Prima; aged 75-78, Translation of the Bible into Latin – Vulgate; Doctor of the Church] “Chapter 17 Polycarp disciple of the apostle John and by him ordained bishop of Smyrna was chief of all Asia, where he saw and had as teachers some of the apostles and of those who had seen the Lord. He, on account of certain questions concerning the day of the Passover, went to Rome in the time of the emperor Antoninus Pius while Anicetus ruled the church in that city. There he led back to the faith many of the believers who had been deceived through the persuasion of Marcion and Valentinus, and when Marcion met him by chance and said Do you know us he replied, I know the firstborn of the devil. Afterwards during the reign of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus in the fourth persecution after Nero, in the presence of the proconsul holding court at Smyrna and all the people crying out against him in the Amphitheater …More
"3. And He that sat upon the throne was, to look upon, like a jasper and a sardine stone. Upon the throne he says that he saw the likeness of a jasper and a sardine stone. The jasper is of the colour of water, the sardine of fire. These two are thence manifested to be placed as judgments upon God's tribunal until the consummation of the world, of which judgments one is already completed in the deluge of water, and the other shall be completed by fire."
[Saint Victorinus – III-IV Century AD; Roman Greece/Pettau, Roman Greece; Spiritual Writer; Martyr under Diocletian] “From the Fourth Chapter 1. After this, I beheld, and, lo, a door was opened in heaven. The new testament is announced as an open door in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, saying, Come up hither. Since the door is shown to be opened, it is manifest that previously it had been closed to men. And it was sufficiently and fully laid open when Christ ascended with His body to the Father into heaven. Moreover, the first voice which he had heard when he says that it spoke with him, without contradiction condemns those who say that one spoke in the prophets, another in the Gospel; since it is rather He Himself who comes, that is the same who spoke in the prophets. For John was of the circumcision, and all that people which had heard the announcement of the Old Testament was edified with his word. That very same voice, said …More
"13. The last proposition of Helvidius was this, and it is what he wished to show when he treated of the first-born, that brethren of the Lord are mentioned in the Gospels. For example, Matthew 12:46 Behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him. And elsewhere, John 2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren. And again, John 7:3-4 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judæa, that your disciples also may behold the works which you do. For no man does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, manifest yourself to the world. And John adds, John 7:5 For even his brethren did not believe in him. Mark also and Matthew, And coming into his own country he taught them in their synagogues, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom, and mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren …More
[Saint Jerome – IV-V Century AD; Stridon, Roman Empire/Bethlehem, Palaestina Prima; Translation of the Bible into Latin – Vulgate; Doctor of the Church] “10. If you are so contentious, your own thoughts shall now prove your master. You must not allow any time to intervene between delivery and intercourse. You must not say, If a woman conceive seed and bear a man child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the separation of her sickness shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days. She shall touch no hallowed thing, and so forth. On your showing, Joseph must at once approach, her, and be subject to Jeremiah's Jeremiah 5:8 reproof, They were as mad horses in respect of women: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. Otherwise, how can the words stand good, he knew her not, till she had brought forth a son, if he waits after the time of another …More
"7. And what is the use of all this, says one, when the heaven indeed, and sun, and moon, and the band of stars, and all the rest keep much good order, but our affairs are full of confusion and disorder. What kind of confusion, O man, and disorder? A certain one, says he, is rich, and overbearing, He is rapacious and covetous, he drains the substance of the poor day by day, and suffers no terrible affliction. Another lives in forbearance, self-restraint, and uprightness, and is adorned with all other good qualities, and is chastened with poverty and disease, and extremely terrible afflictions. Are these then the matters which offend you? Yes, these, says he. If then you see both of the rapacious, many chastened, and of those living virtuously, yea some even enjoying countless goods, why do you not abandon your opinion, and be content with the Almighty? Because it is this very thing which offends me more."
[Saint John Chrysostom – IV-V Century AD; Antioch, Roman Empire/Comana, Eastern Roman Empire; aged 59-60, Archbishop; Church Father; Doctor of the Church; "golden-mouthed"] “6. Fearing these things for them who reproach God, I speak now, in order that they may not kick against the pricks, and cover their own feet with blood, that they may not throw stones to heaven, and receive wounds on their own head. But I have somewhat else far beyond this to say. For omitting to ask (I say this by way of concession) if God took from us to our profit, I only say this; that if He took what had been given, not even thus, could anyone be able to reproach Him. For He was Lord of his own. Among men indeed, when they entrust us with money, and lend us silver, we give them our thanks for the time during which they lent it, we are not indignant at the time at which they take back their own. And shall we reproach God who wishes to take back his own? Indeed now is this not the extreme of folly? Yea the great …More
"AND so you may perceive that the Divine Nature eternally works according to the Persons, and is eternally idle and wayless according to the simplicity of Its essence. All therefore that God has chosen and laid hold of with eternal personal love, has already been essentially and fruitively possessed of Him in unity with essential love. For the Divine Persons are enfolded within the Unity in a mutual embrace in an eternal contentment, in abysmal active love. And this is perpetually renewed in the lifegiving life of the Trinity;"
[BLESSED JAN VAN RUYSBROEK – XIII-XIV Century AD; Ruisbroek, Holy Roman Empire/ Groenendael, Holy Roman Empire; aged 87-88, Mystic, Spiritual Writer, Doctor Divinus Ecstaticus] “Chapter X ~ OF THE MUTUAL CONTENTMENT OF THE DIVINE PERSONS, AND THE MUTUAL CONTENTMENT BETWEEN GOD AND GOOD MEN AND so you may perceive that the Divine Nature eternally works according to the Persons, and is eternally idle and wayless according to the simplicity of Its essence. All therefore that God has chosen and laid hold of with eternal personal love, has already been essentially and fruitively possessed of Him in unity with essential love. For the Divine Persons are enfolded within the Unity in a mutual embrace in an eternal contentment, in abysmal active love. And this is perpetually renewed in the lifegiving life of the Trinity; for here there takes place a perpetual new birth in new knowledge new contentment and new outbreathing; in a new embrace with new torrents of Eternal Love. In this contentment …More
"But from that very hour in which, with God's help, he can overcome his selfhood—that is to say when he is so detached from himself that he is able to leave in the keeping of God everything of which he has need—behold, through doing this he is so well pleasing to God that God bestows upon him His grace. And, through grace, he feels true love: and love casts out doubt and fear, and fills the man with hope and trust, and thus he becomes a faithful servant, and means and loves God in all that he does. Behold, this is the difference between the faithful servant and the hireling.”
[BLESSED JAN VAN RUYSBROEK – XIII-XIV Century AD; Ruisbroek, Holy Roman Empire/ Groenendael, Holy Roman Empire; Mystic, Spiritual Writer, Doctor Divinus Ecstaticus] “Chapter VI ~ OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HIRELINGS AND THE FAITHFUL SERVANTS OF GOD NOW you may mark this: that some men receive the gifts of God as hirelings, but others as faithful servants of God; and these differ one from another in all inward works, that is, in love and intention, in feeling and in every exercise of the inward life. Now understand this well: all those who love themselves so inordinately that they will not serve God, save for their own profit and because of their own reward, these separate themselves from God, and dwell in bondage and in their own selfhood; for they seek, and aim at, their own, in all that they do. And therefore, with all their prayers and with all their good works, they seek after temporal things, or may be strive after eternal things for their own benefit and for their own profit.…More
"These then were Christ's inward virtues: humility, charity, and patient endurance. These three virtues Christ our Bridegroom practised all His life, and He died with them, and paid our debt according to justice. And of His generosity He has opened His side. From there flow out the rivers of well-being and the sacraments of bliss."
[BLESSED JAN VAN RUYSBROEK – XIII-XIV Century AD; Ruisbroek, Holy Roman Empire/ Groenendael, Holy Roman Empire; Mystic, Spiritual Writer, Doctor Divinus Ecstaticus] “Chapter V ~ OF PATIENT ENDURANCE The third point is patient endurance. We should mark this point carefully, for it adorned Christ our Bridegroom all His life. For His sufferings began very early, as soon as He was born; they began with poverty and cold. Then He was circumcised and shed His blood; He was driven to a strange country; He served the lord Joseph and His mother; He suffered hunger and thirst, shame and contempt, the vile words and works of the Jews. He fasted, He watched, and He was tempted by the devil. He was subject to all men; He wandered from country to country, from town to town, with much labour and great zeal, that He might preach the Gospel. At last He was taken prisoner by the Jews, who were His enemies, though He was their friend. He was betrayed, mocked and insulted, scourged and buffeted, and …More
"Upon his return, the most ample promises of obedience were made, but never fulfilled. So the saint again abandoned his rebellious flock, and went to preach the Gospel to the idolaters of Hungary. His success here, however, was not proportionate to his zeal ; and the Bohemians continuing as obstinate as ever, he again re turned to his monastery at Rome."
[St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori – XVII-XVIII Century AD; Marianella, Kingdom of Naples/Pagani. Kingdom of Naples; spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, theologian; Bishop; Doctor of the Church] The Feast Day ~ April 23 “ST. ADALBERT was born in Bohemia, of noble parent age, about the middle of the tenth century. His father, a Slavonian, sent him to study at Magdeburg, under the care of the Archbishop Adalbert ; who placed him in a school, under the direction of a holy monk, named Odericus, where the pupils, by serious attention to their studies, and most exemplary morals, edified one another. Adalbert, having remained nine years in this school, made considerable progress in human sciences, but still more in the science of the saints ; for whatever time was allowed for recreation, he spent in holy prayer, in relieving the poor, and visiting the sick. Having made a copious collection of books, consisting chiefly of the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church …More
"St. Joseph could not entirely conceal his grief: thus he often found himself pensive, sad, and in reverie. Pre-occupied by his sorrows, he sometimes spoke to his spouse with more harshness than formerly. But this was neither from indignation nor vengeance, for he had no such thought—it was merely the effect inseparable from a wounded heart. Our most prudent Lady, on her part, changed nothing in her sweet - manners; on the contrary, she took greater pains than ever to comfort her spouse. She served him at table, or offered him a seat. Without doubt, this painful season was one of those which most exercised not only St. Joseph but our blessed Lady. Our incomparable queen offered continual supplications for her spouse to the Most High, that He would vouchsafe to regard and console him. In order better to understand the profound humility and the sublime wisdom of the august Mary in these circumstances, it should be understood that the Lord had not commanded her to keep the secret of the …More
[Venerable Mary of Agreda – XVII Century AD; Agreda, Spain; Mystic; Writer; ‘Blue Nun’] “Chapter III ~ 8T. JOSEPH DISCOVERS THAT MARY IS ABOUT TO BECOME A MOTHER, WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO PENETRATE THE MYSTERY. HE ENDURES GREAT SUFFERINGS ON THIS ACCOUNT. Saint Joseph persevered in his supplications and united with them many other affections and prayers. He thought there must be in all this some mystery, but his humility hindered him from being assured on this point. All the reasons that presented themselves in favor of the holiness of our most sweet Lady, contributed only to persuade him that she had committed no fault. At the same time the saint never thought of her being the mother of the Messiah, for he could not have believed himself worthy to be her spouse. Sometimes he suspended his suspicions, at others appearances augmented them. Sometimes he was overwhelmed by agitation; sometimes in an aching calm, without power to resolve or to believe anything. He could neither vanquish his …More
"I saw now that the angel touched or anointed Joachim’s forehead with the tip of his thumb and forefinger, and that he gave him a shining morsel to eat and a luminous liquid to drink from a gleaming little chalice which he held between two fingers. It was of the shape of the chalice at the Last Supper, but without a foot. It seemed to me, too, that this food which he put in his mouth took the form of a little shining ear of corn and a little shining cluster of grapes, and I understood that thereafter every impurity and every sinful desire left Joachim. Thereupon I saw that the angel imparted to Joachim the highest and holiest fruit of the blessing given by God to Abraham, and culminating, through Joseph, in the holy thing within the Ark of the Covenant, in the presence of God among His people."
[Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich – XVIII-XIX Century AD; Flamschen, Holy Roman Empire/Dulmen, German Confederation; Mystic; Stigmatist, Writer] “2.4 ~ JOACHIM RECEIVES THE BLESSING FROM THE ARK OF THE COVENANT. I saw now that the angel touched or anointed Joachim’s forehead with the tip of his thumb and forefinger, and that he gave him a shining morsel to eat and a luminous liquid to drink from a gleaming little chalice which he held between two fingers. It was of the shape of the chalice at the Last Supper, but without a foot. It seemed to me, too, that this food which he put in his mouth took the form of a little shining ear of corn and a little shining cluster of grapes, and I understood that thereafter every impurity and every sinful desire left Joachim. Thereupon I saw that the angel imparted to Joachim the highest and holiest fruit of the blessing given by God to Abraham, and culminating, through Joseph, in the holy thing within the Ark of the Covenant, in the presence of God …More
"Chapter XVI A certain woman used to repeat the words “ Hail Mary ! ” always with great devotion. And, having to carry food to her husband in the field, because there was no one to whom she could entrust her child, she began by saying devoutly her prayer “ Hail, Mary,” and so forth, and committed her son to the Blessed Virgin in these words : “ I have no one to put in charge over my child except thee.” And so left the boy and went to her husband in the field. But in the meantime a fire broke out in the next house and, hearing an outcry, they ran from the field to the house and found it burnt down. Grieving more for the boy than for the house and the loss of their goods the mother cried out : “ O Blessed Virgin, to thee I entrusted my son.” And they searched for the child and they found him entirely unhurt."
Chapter XVI A certain woman used to repeat the words “ Hail Mary ! ” always with great devotion. And, having to carry food to her husband in the field, because there was no one to whom she could entrust her child, she began by saying devoutly her prayer “ Hail, Mary,” and so forth, and committed her son to the Blessed Virgin in these words : “ I have no one to put in charge over my child except thee.” And so left the boy and went to her husband in the field. But in the meantime a fire broke out in the next house and, hearing an outcry, they ran from the field to the house and found it burnt down. Grieving more for the boy than for the house and the loss of their goods the mother cried out : “ O Blessed Virgin, to thee I entrusted my son.” And they searched for the child and they found him entirely unhurt. Chapter XVII There is a famous place called Speyer on the Rhine where an image of the Mother of God is worshipped, which on three occasions spoke to St Bernard. Whilst his mother …More
"67. “When he balanced the foundation of the earth, I was with him forming all things.” The works ad extra are common to the three divine Persons, for They are one God, one wisdom, one power; therefore it was unavoidably necessary, that the Word, in whom according to the Divinity all things are made, should be in union with the Father in making them. But here more is meant, for also the incarnate Word was already present together with his most holy Mother in the divine Will."
[Mary of Agreda – XVII Century AD; Agreda, Spain/ Agreda, Spain; ‘Lady in Blue’; Abess; Writer; Mystic] “61. And if man, as says the same psalm, was crowned with glory and was constituted above all the works of the hand of the Lord, it was because the God-man, his Chief, had merited both this crown, and also that, which is borne by the angels. The same psalm adds, that, after having made man a little less than the angels, He placed him over the works of his hands: yet these very angels were works of his hands. Thus David spoke to the whole human race, when he said: God made man a little less than the angels; but although man was inferior in his nature, one Man is found who is of superior make and is set over these same angels, who were works of the hand of God. This superiority is in the order of grace, not only as far as His Divinity united to the humanity is concerned, but also in regard to the humanity itself in so far as grace was conferred by the hypostatic union. In a proportionate …More
"He /Saint Vincent Ferrer/ always prepared for preaching by prayer. Once, however, when a person of high rank was to be present at his sermon, he neglected prayer for study. The nobleman was not particularly struck by the discourse which had been thus carefully worked up; but coming again to hear the Saint, unknown to the latter, the second sermon made a deep impression on his soul. When St. Vincent heard of the difference, he remarked that in the first sermon it was Vincent who had preached, but in the second, Jesus Christ."
April 1 ~ ST. HUGH, BISHOP IT was the happiness of this Saint to receive from his cradle the strongest impressions of piety by the example and care of his illustrious and holy parents. He was born at Chateau-neuf, in the territory of Valence in Dauphine, in 1053. His father, Odilo, who served his country in an honorable post in the army, labored, by all the means in his power, to make his soldiers faithful servants of their Creator, and by severe punishments to restrain vice. By the advice of his son, St. Hugh, he afterwards became a Carthusian monk, and died at the age of a hundred, having received extreme unction and the viaticum from the hands of his son. Our Saint likewise assisted, in Tier last moments, his mother, who had for many years, under his direction, served God in her own house, by prayer, fasting, and plenteous alms-deeds. Hugh, from the cradle, appeared to be a child of benediction. He went through his studies with great applause, and having chosen to serve God in an …More
"For she /Saint Monica/, when the day of her dissolution was at hand, had no thought for the sumptuous covering of her body, or the embalming of it, nor had she any desire of a line monument, nor was Solicitous about her sepulchre in her own country : none of these things did she recommend to us ; but only desired that we should make a remembrance of her at Thy altar, at which she had constantly attended without one day's intermission, from whence she knew was dispensed that Holy Victim by which was cancelled that handwriting that was against us (Coloss. 11.), by which that enemy was triumphed over who reckoneth up our sins and secketh what he may lay to our charge, but findeth nothing in Him through whom we conquer."
[Saint Catharine of Genoa – XV-XVI Century AD; Genoa, Republic of Genoa/ Genoa, Republic of Genoa; Aged 62-63; mystic, known for her work among the sick and the poor] Verses from Imitation ~ Thomas A Kempis Trust not in thy friends and neighbors, and put not oft thy soul's welfare till the future ; for men will forget thee sooner than thou thinkest. It is better to provide now in time and send some good before thee than to trust to the assistance of others after death. If thou art not solicitous for thyself now, who will be solicitous for thee hereafter. Did'st thou also well ponder in thy heart the future pains of hell or Purgatory, methinks thou would'st bear willingly labor and sorrow and fear no kind of austerity. Who will remember thee when thou art dead ? and who will pray for thee ? Now thy labor is profitable, thy tears are acceptable, thy groans are heard, thy sorrow is satisfying and purifieth the soul. The patient man hath a great and wholesome purgatory. Better is it to …More
"Broken Goblet and Running Barrel On their way through Provence they stopped to rest at one of the towns, in the house of a pious woman. She, being anxious to pay her weary guests as much respect as she possibly could, borrowed a splendid cut glass goblet from one of her neighbors for them to drink their wine out of. Unfortunately the companion of the saint, wanting to examine it more closely, took it up in his hand and broke it. This was not the only mishap. The kind hostess, thinking only of the comfort of her guests, forgot to turn the tap of the barrel when she went to draw their wine, and on returning to the cellar found it had all run out. The saint, seeing how distressed she was by these misadventures, bowed his head in prayer, and to the great astonishment of the good woman, who was silently watching him, she saw the broken pieces of the goblet unite together, leaving no mark of breakage. Full of hope, she ran to the cellar, and to her great joy, the barrel, which before the …More
[St. Anthony of Padua XII-XIII Century AD; Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal/Padua, Holy Roman Empire; (aged 35); powerful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick; canonized less than a year after his death; Doctor of the Church] 9 ~ St. Saint Anthony Consoler of persecuted Women St. Anthony always took a great interest in women in- distress, or persecuted, and they therefore look on him as their special protector. Among those who, owing to the sanctity of the Franciscans, held them in great veneration and aided them in their daily wants, was a lady who suffered much from a jealous and irritable husband. One evening, after finishing some work and making some purchases for the Brothers, finding it too late to take them to the monastery that night, she took them home with her. This so greatly roused the anger and jealousy of her husband that, not content with loading her with reproaches, he pulled almost all her hair off her head. The poor …More
"II ~ How the abbot Sisois taught a brother that the desire of vengeance separates a man from God. There was a certain brother who had suffered an injury at the hands of another. Coming to the abbot Sisois, he explained the wrong which he had suffered, and then said, "My father, I desire to be avenged." The old man begged him to leave his avenging in the hands of God, but he persisted, saying, "I cannot rest until I have well avenged myself." Then Sisois said to him, "Since your mind is altogether made up with regard to this matter, I need not reason with you. Let us, however, pray together." Thus saying, he arose and began to pray in these words: "O God, Thou art no longer needful to us. We do not require Thy care of us. We ourselves are willing, yea, and are able to avenge ourselves." As soon as the brother, who had desired vengeance, heard these words, he fell at the old mass feet and begged for pardon. "As for him with whom I was angry," he said, "I shall not in any way contend …More
Chapter IV ~ How We Ought to Return Good for Evil Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. —St. Matt. v. 44. "My friend," said the bishop, "before you go take your candlesticks." He went to the mantlepiece, fetched the two candlesticks, and handed them to Jean Valjean. "Now," said the bishop, "go in peace, Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. I have bought your soul of you." —Victor Hugo, Les Miserables. WE can pass quite naturally from the consideration of what the hermits taught about dying to the world to the stories which illustrate the ideal of returning good for evil. Indeed, when we think of death to the world, as evidenced by the patient endurance of wrong, the passing over to the thought of returning good for such evil is so gradual that it is hard sometimes to decide under which heading to place some particular story or exhortation. Yet there seems to be a real …More
"Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by St. Gertrude the Great O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life, Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary. O my adorable and loving Savior, consume my heart with the burning fire with which Yours is aflamed. Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Your love. Let my heart be united with Yours. Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things. May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions."
“Prayer to St. Raphael ~ Sancte Raphael ~ (God has healed) Vouchsafe, O Lord God, to send unto our assistance Saint Raphael the Archangel: and may he, who, we believe, evermore standeth before the throne of Thy majesty, offer unto Thee our humble petitions to be blessed by Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Dirigere dignare, Domine Deus, in adiutorium nostrum, sanctum Raphaelem Archangelum; et quem tuae maiestati semper assistere credimus, tibi nostras exiguas preces benedicendas assignet. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Prayer to St. Raphael, Archangel Glorious archangel, St. Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court, illustrious by thy gifts of wisdom and grace, guide of travelers by land and sea, consoler of the unfortunate and refuge of sinners, I entreat thee to help me in all my needs and in all the trials of this life, as you did once assist the young Tobias in his journeying. And since you art the "physician of God," I humbly pray thee to heal my soul of its many infirmities and my …More