Category: QUOTES on CHARITY

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The SIGN of the CROSS

Thought for the Day – 2 August – Charity in Our Actions

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Thought for the Day – 2 August – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity in Our Actions

We have seen that charity must influence all our actions if they are to be meritorious in the sight of God. However, this does not mean that the conscious motive of promoting God’s glory must be present in our every thought but, we should aim for this end. The Saints always had God before their eyes. Their every movement and every act, however trifling, was done with the intention to please Him. Ordinary Christians can attain this only after long years practicing a close union with God. They must begin by offering up their actions to Him from time to time and by renewing the offering as often as they can. Am I striving to do this? Am I advancing in this practice of charity?

One thing we must always remember. We must always offer our actions to God when we rise in the morning. We should make the Sign of the Cross, repeat some little ejaculation consecrating the day to God. Here is an example.
“O my God, I offer Thee all my actions, thoughts, words, deeds and sufferings of this day in union with those of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I say this little prayer intending that it will last throughout the day, even though I may forget it.
I will also pray that all I do may be influenced by it.

This single offering can scarcely continue to have any controlling power over our actions, unless it is renewed. Its influence fades away. We not only forget it but we also become so absorbed in our various occupations that we are in danger of ceasing to do them, in any sense, for God. It is necessary to renew the intention to do all for God and, to renew it frequently.
Do I renew my intentions at Holy Mass, when I say grace at meals, when the Angelus rings or the clock strikes, at mid-day and in the evening, and at other times?

Posted in 7 GIFTS of the HOLY GHOST: Wisdom, Understanding, Prudence, Strength, Knowledge, Piety, Fear, CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, FEBRUARY - THE BLESSED TRINITY (Traditional), I BELIEVE!, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The HOLY GHOST, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY

Thought for the Day – 1 August – The Spirit of Charity

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Thought for the Day – 1 August – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

The Spirit of Charity

The spirit of charity is none other than the Holy Spirit of God, the Third Person of the Ever-Blessed Trinity. He not only is the Spirit of Charity but Charity itself. The personal Love of the Eternal Father for His Co-Equal Son is identical with the Holy Ghost, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. All these Persons are consubstantial and co-equal, united together by Infinite Love. This Infinite Love is itself One of the Divine Persons. Adore this Mystery and pray for the humble faith which believes what it cannot comprehend.

It is from and through the Holy Ghost that the Charity of God is imparted to us. The Charity of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost. When we receive the gift of supernatural charity, we also receive, into our hearts, the Holy Spirit Himself, Who is actually present with us. His presence produces all the graces which flow from His seven-fold gifts.
Reflect on the exceeding honour we thus enjoy and pray that you may never grieve the Holy Ghost by your want of charity.

Charity is also mentioned as the first and foremost of the fruits which the Holy Spirit causes to ripen in our hearts.
“The fruits of the Spirit are charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, and chastity.” (Galatians 5:22,23) All these fruits are but the effects of charity. Charity brings joy because it unites us to God. It brings peace because it prevents our will from rebelling against His.
Pray that the Holy Ghost may impart these fruits of His presence to you; above all, the charity whence the rest proceed.

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on Love of Self, QUOTES on MERIT, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN

Thought for the Day – 25 July – The All-Importance of Charity

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Thought for the Day – 25 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

The All-Importance of Charity

“If I have not charity, I am nothing.”
These are the words of Holy Scripture inspired by God Himself.
Unless we are united to God by the habit of supernatural charity, unless we love Him before all else, for His Own sake, with a supreme and unselfish love, we are not children of God but aliens.
Unless we do these things, we have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven, we can earn no merit before God and, all that we do, has no beauty in His Sight. All our actions, however noble and generous, do not really please Him, or deserve grace in this life ,or glory in the next.

Moreover, unless there is at least an initial element of charity in our actions, they will not help us in any way on the road to Heaven.
Acts of faith and hope, although they maybe performed by one who has not perfect charity, contain an unformed and rudimentary element of charity.
They are the germ or bud from which charity may afterwards spring and, in this way, they lead to charity. In themselves, faith and hope gain no merit, unless they are the actions of one who already has charity in his heart.

Even if we have the habit of charity and are in a state of grace, our actions are not meritorious before God, unless they are done from a motive of charity.
Charity must in some way influence faith and hope, if not with a present thought of God, yet, with the golden light of our love for Him lighting them up. Without this, they may count for nothing, or at most, merit only a natural reward. If I give money purely out of natural compassion and pity, I gain a temporal but not, an eternal reward.
How careful I must be to offer to God each act of charity to men!

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL

Thought for the Day – 24 July – Charity and Self-love

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Thought for the Day – 24 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity and Self-love

If charity really promotes our highest interests and, even in its most disinterested form, ministers to our good, how is it that it is so often compared with self-love?
When we speak of self-love, we do not mean the true love of self which is identical with charity. We mean the love of our lower self. We mean the choice of some immediate good instead of the far higher and nobler good which we shall secure by sacrifice of the lower good. Self-love is the love of the child for the unwholesome sweets which it knows will produce sickness on the morrow.
How often my self-love has led me to grasp at the passing enjoyment instead of the solid happiness, I should have gained, by renouncing it.

Self-love does a still more mischievous work.
It leads us to thrust ourselves into a position we know is a false one, in order to gratify our desire for independence and for liberty. Self-love hates subjection and is thus diametrically opposed to charity which loves to be subject.
Self-love hates the lowest place or humble work and yearns after notoriety or prominence.
Charity appreciates the nothingness of self and desires that God should be all in all!

Self-love, again, cannot endure any sort of reproof or correction. It rebels against those things and longs to revenge itself. It is thus, no true love of self, for he who really loves himself, or rather, who finds his highest happiness in preferring God to self, welcomes anything which tends to lower self and to make God the exclusive object of his love.
Thus, in hating self, he loves self with a true self-love and will reach charity.
Is this my relationship to self?

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The HOLY GHOST, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 24 July – ‘ … Let us love the one who is near us, so that we may be able to attain, the love of the One, Who is above us! …’

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One Minute Reflection – 24 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – St Christina of Bolsena (3rd Century) Virgin Martyr – Ecclesiasticus Sir 44:25-27; 45:2-4; 45:6-9; John 15:12-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“This is My commandment that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love than this no man hath that a man lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:12-13

REFLECTION – “We cannot truly love God without loving our neighbour, nor can we truly love our neighbour without loving God. This is why … the Holy Ghost was given a second time to the disciples. First He was given by the Lord while He was still dwelling on earth and later, while He was watching over us in Heaven (Jn 20:22; Acts 2). He was given to us on earth, that we may love our neighbours; from Heaven, that we may love God. Why first on earth and later from Heaven – except for the reason given us openly by John: “How can anyone, who does not love his brother, whom he sees love God Whom he does not see?”

So let us love our neighbours, my friends, let us love the one who is near us, so that we may be able to attain, the love of the One, Who is above us! Let our hearts reflect on what our neighbours hold up to God, so that we may be found completely worthy, to rejoice in God with them. Then shall we reach the happiness of the heavenly multitude, the happiness of which, we have received an assurance from the Holy Spirit. Let us move forward toward that goal, where we shall be happy without end, with all our love. There is the holy community of heavenly citizens, there is the sure and solemn observance, there untroubled rest, there the true peace which is no longer dependent on us but given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 14:27).” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church (Excerpt Sermons on the Gospel No 30).

PRAYER – O God, Who among the other miracles of Thy power have bestowed the victory of martyrdom even upon the weaker sex, graciously grant that we, who commemorate the anniversary of the death of blessed Christina, Your Virgin and Martyr, may come to Thee by the path of her example.Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, ON the SAINTS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, St PAUL!

Thought for the Day – 23 July – The Disinterestedness of Charity

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Thought for the Day – 23 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

The Disinterestedness of Charity

Charity is a love of God for His Own sake.
In its perfection, it banishes self altogether.
It does not turn the mind to self or to that which self desires. It thinks only of God, His greatness and His goodness. It seeks to promote His honour and His glory, simply for the sake of promoting the honour and glory of One so infinitely worthy of our love and homage, quite independently of any reward or gain which is to accrue to ourselves thereby.
Is this the nature of my love of God?

Yet, if “charity begins at home” and we, necessarily as rational beings, seek that which is good for ourselves, how is this disinterested love possible?
It is possible because, those who possess it, find their highest and purest happiness in this forgetfulness of self. In their very neglect of the interests of self, they are actually procuring, for themselves, the greatest of all rewards — the joy which comes of loving and serving God, simply and solely, for His Own sake.

Do those who have this charity in their hearts seek, at the same time, the eternal blessedness of Heaven?
Some Saints (like Moses and Saint Paul), in an ecstasy of love, protested that they would willingly forfeit the prospect of their own eternal happiness, if by doing so, they could promote the glory and honour of God!
They did not mean thereby, to relinquish the hope of Heaven but, that their Heaven was formed in this highest love and any happiness, save this, was as nothing in their eyes.
The highest charity indeed, includes a longing after the Beatific Vision but this is secondary to the absorbing love of God simply for His Own sake and, as He alone is so, worthy of our love.

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD

Thought for the Day – 22 July – Charity, a Supreme Love

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Thought for the Day – 22 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, a Supreme Love

Charity does not exist within the soul of anyone who does not love God above all things. If some created being has the first place in our heart and God only the second, then, we are the enemies, not the friends of God. He must have all our heart or none!
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart and thy whole soul.”
If, any person or thing, hinders this supreme love for God, we must avoid it at any cost. If this is impossible, we must pray earnestly that we may never fall into the terrible misfortune of loving the creature more than the Creator, Who is God, blessed forever.

This, however, does not mean that we must have a stronger feeling of love for God than for some loved object upon earth. We cannot always control our feelings. We are creatures of sense and our senses and imagination have great power over us.
Nor does it mean that the love of God is to swallow up the love of created things. This is impossible.
Nor, again, does it mean, there must be no possible circumstances which we can imagine, wherein we could not promise to choose God, however violent the temptation might be.
It simply means that, as I am now and under the present circumstances, I would give up anything rather than mortally offend God.

This supreme love of God includes a conviction that God is our best friend and, therefore, He will never ask of us what is beyond our power. He will provide an escape from every temptation, however violent.
Hence, I will have no fear about the future. God will never ask of me what He does not give me strength to perform!

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, ON the SAINTS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FREEDOM, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior)

Thought for the Day – 21 July – Charity, a Love of Choice

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Thought for the Day – 21 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, a Love of Choice

Although God chooses out of the world, those on whom He sets His love and for whom, He destines the rich gifts of grace and glory, yet He never forces their will. He draws them to Himself with the cords of love,but, it is in their power to resist. All men choose deliberately, at some period of their lives, between the love of God and the love of self.
Our homage to God must be a voluntary homage and our love, must be a voluntary love. We must choose God in spite of the difficulties and objections which are raised by our lower nature.
Have I made this choice? Moreover, do I make it in all the details of my life?

It seems logical that every sane man should choose Him, Who contains all perfections, in an Infinite degree. rather than any of the miserable trifles which do not satisfy and will soon pass away.
Yet, how few there are who make a full and complete choice of God!
The Prophet complains (Jeremiah 2:13), “They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living water and have digged themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which can hold no water.”
Do I not, alas, everyday, choose some passing indulgence, although I know I should please God more and earn His love, if I denied it to myself?

Our Lord tells His Apostles, “You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you.” Therefore, God has chosen us, rather than us Him. He chose to give us grace and carried it through to the end, before we made the choice to prevent it. It was more His than ours. This is true of all vocations, great or small, when we have, through God’s mercy chosen Him, rather than yielded to natural inclination.
O my God, choose me ever and grant that I may ever choose Thee!

Posted in "Follow Me", LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 18 July – St Camillus de Lellis

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Quote/s of the Day – 18 July – St Camillus de Lellis MI (1550-1614) “The Giant of Charity,” Confessor, Priest and Founder the Order of the Ministers of the Sick, or simply as the “Camillians”

“Because, without doubt, within a few days,
I will go to another life,
given that I am most grave
because of my long infirmities …
it appears to me that I would fail in my duty,
if, before this life ends, I did not tell you,
with all simplicity and rectitude,
what I have heard and hear in myself,
about our holy Order, so that everyone
may walk with the rectitude and faithfulness
which God wants of us.
He asks us, that we do not bury
the very valuable talent which God has placed
in our hands, so that we may achieve holiness
in life and then, in eternal glory.
There is also another reason –
speaking in conscience and in truth,
one can almost say that this Foundation
was done in a miraculous way,
with a view to the glory of His Divine Majesty
and of such a great good for the souls
and bodies of our neighbours …”
~Letter from his deathbed~

MORE:
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St Camillus de Lellis MI (1550-1614)

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 18 July – ‘ … Such is the nature of charity. …’

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One Minute Reflection – 18 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – St Camillus de Lellis MI (1550-1614) Confessor, Priest and Founder, “The Giant of Charity.” – 1 John 3:13-18, John 15:12-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“This is My commandment that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love than this no man hath that a man lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:12-13

REFLECTION – “The more we are united to our neighbour, the more we are united to God. So that you may understand the meaning of this saying, I am going to give you an picture, taken from the Fathers – imagine a circle drawn on the ground that is to say, a line drawn into a round shape, with a compass, having a centre. We refer to the middle of the circle as being the exact centre. Now, give your attention to what I am saying. Imagine that this circle is the world, its centre is God and each radius represents different ways or kinds of lifestyle. When the saints, desiring to draw near to God, move towards the middle of the circle, then to the degree to which they penetrate further into its interior, they draw closer to each other, even as they draw closer to God. The closer they draw to God, the closer they draw to each other and the closer they draw to each other, the closer they draw to God.

From this you will understand that the same thing applies conversely, when we turn away from God to withdraw outside the circle – then it becomes obvious that, the more we withdraw from God, the more we withdraw from each other and, the more we withdraw from each other, the more we also withdraw from God.

Such is the nature of charity. To the extent that we stand outside and do not love God, to the same extent, each one of us stands apart, with regard to their neighbour. But, if we love God, then, insofar as we come closer to God, through our love for Him, we also participate in love of neighbour to the same extent. And insofar as we are united to our neighbour, we are equally so to God.” – St Dorotheus of Gaza (c505-c565) Abbot, Father of the Church (Instructions VI, 76-78).

PRAYER – O God, Who endowed St Camillus with a special gift of charity for the help of souls struggling in their final agony, pour upon us, we beseech Thee, by his merits, the spirit of Thy love, so that at the hour of our death, we may be found worthy to overcome the enemy and attain the heavenly crown. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on SACRILEGE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION

Thought for the Day – 16 July – Charity, a Love of Benevolence

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Thought for the Day – 16 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, a Love of Benevolence

By love of complacency, we take personal pleasure in the good of our friend, by love of benevolence, we desire to see that good increased.
The benevolence of charity consists in an ever-present desire that the glory of God, may be promoted by all men who live upon the earth, that His Kingdom may spread, that the number of the Saints may receive continual additions and that sinners may be converted to Him.
This is the chief wish of our hearts and it is ever-present in our minds – that the interests of God will be advanced everywhere.

This love of benevolence includes too, a feeling of grief and sorrow, whenever we hear of anything which is an insult to God’s honour or which diminishes His eternal glory. All the sins of men cause pain, to those in whose hearts supernatural charity is present. All sacrileges, impieties, or forgetfulness of God which they witness, hurts them and causes them to suffer. Above all, they are compassionate to the Sacred Sufferings of Jesus and the Agony, of Body and Mind which our sins caused Him.

Charity, moreover, requires that we shall not be satisfied with a mere feeling of goodwill. Our benevolence must be a practical one. We must do our part to add to God’s glory. In proportion to our charity, will be our devotion of every act and word and thought, to the glory of God. When Saint Paul said, ‘Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,’ he was but inculcating a precept of charity.
What do I do to promote God’s glory?
Alas, how much less than I ought!

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN

Thought for the Day – 15 July – Charity, a Love of Complacency

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Thought for the Day – 15 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, a Love of Complacency

Charity is also a love, distinguished by the complacency or pleasure which it takes in the welfare of whomever is its object. Let us apply this to the supernatural charity which has God for its object.

Charity takes pleasure in thinking of God’s Infinite perfections. It rejoices in His unapproachable Majesty. The continual joy of the Angels in Heaven and of the Church on earth is:

Gloria in Excelsis Deo.
Charity rejoices in His Infinite holiness; Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth; in His Power, His Wisdom and His Eternity.
Does my heart rejoice in the thought of God’s Power and Glory and in my complete subjection to Him?

Charity also thinks with complacency of the homage paid to God by Angels and by men.
It thinks of the honour He derives from the holiness of the Saints, from the Immaculate purity of His Holy Mother, from the obedience of the Son of God to His Eternal Father and, from the Sacrifice on Calvary, whereby the world was made once more, the Kingdom of God and filled with tens of thousands of saints.
For all this, do I render thanks to God and rejoice in the glory He derives therefrom.
I thank Thee, O my God, that Thou hast on earth, so many faithful servants who give glory to Thy Name.

Charity, moreover, rejoices exceedingly in the honour done to God, whenever a sinner is reconciled to Him. The Angels rejoice over the sinner doing penance, not so much for his own sake, as because God’s Kingdom is thereby enlarged and His glory increased.
So, too, we ought to rejoice in the conversion of every sinner and all the more because we are sinners. As sinners, we can appreciate better, the injury done to God by sin and the honour He receives when sin is blotted out and the sinner is reconciled to Him.
Do I rejoice in the conversion of sinners and recognise that conversion has increased God’s Kingdom and His glory?

Posted in CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FRIENDSHIP, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD

Thought for the Day – 14 July – Charity, a Love of Friendship

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Thought for the Day – 14 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, a Love of Friendship

Charity is primarily a love for God and a love of friendship which is the highest kind of love.
All true friendship implies that the love exists on both sides. Men are not friends unless each of them possesses and recognises the love of the other.
If we are really the friends of God, we shall recognise His Love and find, in all which happens to us, a proof of His Love and Friendship, not complaining nor wishing He had acted otherwise but, being fully convinced that He never does anything, nor permits anything which is not intended for our good.
Until we do this, our friendship is an imperfect one.

Friendship also requires that we declare our love to God. He knows if we have declared our love for Him and the exact degree in which it is present in our hearts. However, He likes to listen to our assurance of the love we bear Him. Our love is prone to wax cold unless it finds expression in words and, it is a pleasure to those who are close friends, to share their mutual sentiments of friendship. God does not spare, in His written Word, to give us the strongest assurances of His undying love to man.
Do we in return, assure Him of our grateful love for Him, the best and dearest Friend we have in Heaven or on earth?!

Whatever words we use, they cannot surpass God’s Messages of Love to us. He says, ‘if a woman can forget the son of her womb, He will not forget us‘ (Isaias 49:1). He says ‘He loves us so dearly that He spared not even His own Son but delivered Him up for us‘ (Romans 8:32) and, therefore, can ‘refuse us nothing for which we ask.’ (John 16:23,24)
What have we to say to Him, as a counterpart of loving words like these?

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on CHASTITY, QUOTES on CREATION, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on VIRTUE, The HEART

Quote/s of the Day – 14 July – St Bonaventure

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Quote/s of the Day – 14 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – St Bonaventure OFM (1221-1274) Seraphic Doctor of the Church

“As “pride is the beginning of all sin,”
(Eccl. 10:15)
so humility is the foundation of all virtue.
Learn to be really humble and not,
as the hypocrite, humble merely in appearance.”

“When we pray,
the voice of the heart
must be heard ,
more than that proceeding
from the mouth.”

“The best perfection of a religious man,
is to do common things,
in a perfect manner.
A constant fidelity, in small things,
is a great and heroic virtue.”

“Every creature is a Divine Word
because it proclaims God.”

“Chastity without charity
is a lamp without oil.”

“In beautiful things
St Francis saw Beauty itself
and through His vestiges
imprinted on creation,
he followed his Beloved everywhere,
making, from all things,
a ladder, by which he could climb up
and embrace Him, Who is utterly desirable.”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/07/14/quote-s-of-the-day-14-july-st-bonaventure-2/

St Bonaventure OFM (1221-1274)
Seraphic Doctor of the Church

Posted in "Follow Me", CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, GOD ALONE!, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, THEOLOGICAL

Thought for the Day – 13 July – The Definition of Charity ‘What is Charity?’

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Thought for the Day – 13 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
Today we begin a new seriest with Fr Clarke having completed “Patience.” I believe we still have a week or so of “Humility” to complete.

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

The Definition of Charity
What is Charity?

Charity is an infused virtue, by which we love God for His own sake and above all things and our neighbour as ourselves, for the love of God.
It is the best gift which God Himself can give, the gift compared to which, all other gifts are insignificant and worthless. It is the end and aim, the perfection and the crown of the Christian life. If we possess it, we have all things; if we possess it not, we have nothing; we are miserable and wretched and poor and blind and naked before God.
Pray that God may teach you to know and to love His Divine gift.

Charity is called an infused virtue, because we can only obtain it, if God shall please to pour it into our soul. No amount of practice can make it ours. No natural benevolence will develop into charity, unless God adds that supernatural character which alone can render it pleasing in His sight and meritorious of eternal life.
We must carefully distinguish natural from supernatural charity and we must beware of being satisfied with the former.

Charity is one of the virtues called “Christian virtues,” inasmuch, as their model and type, is the Life of Christ upon earth because, they unite us to Christ and make us like unto Him.
It is true that charity is, in itself, pre-eminently the Christian virtue and when Saint Paul says, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14), he refers alone to the virtue of charity, with which we must be clothed, if we are to be the servants and followers of our Lord. Can I say I am clothed with charity, so all around me see it? Do they not too often detect in me, a lamentable want of this virtue?

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 7 July – ‘ … If you say you abide in Christ, you ought to walk as He walked. … ‘

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 7 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Saint Cyril (827-869) and Saint Methodius (826-885) “Apostles to the Slavs,” Sibling Brother Bishops, Confessors – Romans 6:19-23; Matthew 7:15-21 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“By their fruits you shall know them.”- Matthew 7:16

REFLECTION – “Do you believe in Christ? Do the works of Christ, so that your faith may live; love will animate your faith, deed will reveal it … If you say you abide in Christ, you ought to walk as He walked. But if you seek your own glory, envy the successful, slander the absent, take revenge on those who injure you, this Christ did not do. You profess to know God, yet reject Him by your deeds! … “Such a one honours Me with his lips but his heart is far from Me” (Is 29:13; Mt 15:8)…

You see then that right faith, will not make a man righteous, unless it is enlivened by love. Someone, who has no love, has no means of loving the Bride, Christ’s Church. But, on the other hand, deeds, however righteous, cannot make the heart righteous, without faith. Who would call a person righteous, who does not please God? But “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6). And God, cannot please the one, who is not pleasing to Him; for if God is pleasing to someone that person cannot displease God. Furthermore, if God is not pleasing to that person, neither is His Bride, the Church. How then can he be righteous, who loves neither God nor God’s Church, to whom is said: “The righteous love you”? (Sg 1,3 Vg.).

If, therefore, neither faith without good works, nor good works without faith, suffice for a man’s righteousness, we, my brothers, who believe in Christ, should strive to ensure that our behaviour and desires are righteous. Let us raise up both our hearts and hands, to God that our whole being maybe righteous, our righteous faith being revealed in our righteous actions. So, we shall be lovers of the Bride, the Church and loved by the Bridegroom Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God, blessed forever!” – St Bernard (1091-1153) Cistercian, Father and Ddoctor of the Church (24th sermon on the Song of Songs).

PRAYER – Look forgivingly on Thy flock, Eternal Shepherd and keep it in Thy constant protection, by the intercession of the blessed brothers, Cyril and Methodius, who, by the power of the Holy Ghost were moved to bring the light of the Gospel to a hostile and divided people. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, GOD ALONE!, JESUIT SJ, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on STRENGTH, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on WORK/LABOUR, QUOTES on WORRY/ANXIETY, SELF-DISTRUST, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 26 June – ‘ … Do not worry … but entrust to Divine Providence … ‘

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One Minute Reflection – 26 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Saint John and Saint Paul of Rome (Died c362) Martyrs – Ecclesiasticus 44:10-15, Luke 12:1-8 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Yes, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore, do not be afraid, you are of more value than many sparrows.” – Luke 12:6-7

REFLECTION – “It seems to me you ought to resolve to carry out peacefully what you can. Do not worry about all the rest but entrust to Divine Providence that which you are unable to accomplish on your own. What is pleasing to God ,is the reasonable care and attention we give, to accomplishing well, whatever business we must undertake through duty. What is not pleasing to God, is anxiety and disquiet of mind. The Lord wants our limitations and weaknesses, to find their support in His Strength; He wants us to hope that His Goodness will complete and perfect the imperfectness of our means.

Those who take on numerous responsibilities, even with an upright an d pure intention, must resolve to do simply what lies within their power … If it is necessary to set certain things aside, arm yourselves with patience and do not think that God expects of us what we are unable to do. He does not want a man to distress himself on account of his limitations … there is no need to tire ourselves out excessively. More, if we have laboured to do our best, we can abandon all the rest to Him ,Who has the power to accomplish whatever He will.

May the Divine Goodness always be pleased to communicate His Light of Wisdom to us, so that we may clearly see and firmly accomplish, His good pleasure, for ourselves and for others … so that we may accept from His Hand, whatever He sends us, taking due note of what is the most important – patience, humility, obedience and charity!” – St Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Priest, Founder of the Society of Jesus (Letter of 17 November 1555)

PRAYER – We beseech Thee, Almighty God that on this feast-day, we may have the double joy of celebrating blessed John and Paul, true brothers ,who obtained eternal glory through one Faith and one Martyrdom. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

All praise, honour and glory to the divine HEART of JESUS. – Indulgence 50 Days, Once a day. Raccolta 168 Pope Leo XIII, 14 June 1901.

Posted in CATECHESIS, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on POVERTY, QUOTES on the POOR, SACRED HEART ASPIRATIONS, SAINT of the DAY, St Francis de Sales, St PAUL!, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 25 June– Shall receive a hundredfold … Matthew 19:29

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One Minute Reflection – 25 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – St William (1085-1142) Abbot – Ecclesiasticus 45:1-6; Matthew 19:27-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“… Shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.” – Matthew 19:29

REFLECTION – “The possessions which we have, are not our own: God has given them to us to cultivate and He wishes us to render them fruitful and profitable … Always deprive yourself, therefore, of some part of your means, giving them to the poor with a willing heart … It is true that God will return it to you, not only in the next world but also in this, for there is nothing which makes a person prosper, in temporal matters, so much, as almsgiving. But until such time as God shall repay it, you will always be impoverished to that extent. Oh! how holy and rich is the impoverishment which is caused by almsgiving.

Love the poor and poverty, for by this love you will become truly poor, since, as Scripture says: “We become like the things that we love” (cf Hos 9:10). Love makes those who love, equal to one another: “Who is weak and I am not weak?” says St Paul (2 Cor 11:29). He might have said: “Who is poor, with whom I am not poor?” For love made him become, such as those whom he loved. If, then, you love the poor, you will be truly participating in their poverty and poor like them. Now, if you love the poor, be often among them; be pleased to see them in your house and to visit them in theirs; associate willingly with them; be glad that they are near you in the Churches, in the streets and elsewhere. Be poor in speech with them, speaking to them as their equal but be rich in deed, giving them of your goods, as one who possesses more abundantly.

Will you do even more? … Become a servant of the poor; go to serve them … with your own hands … and at your own expense. This service has more glory in it than a throne!” – St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church (Introduction to the devout life, Part three Ch 15).

PRAYER – O God, Who made Thy Saints an example and a help for our weakness, grant us, as we walk the path of salvation, so to venerate the virtues of the blessed Abbot William that we may obtain his intercession and follow in his footsteps. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

“JESUS, meek and humble of HEART, make my heart like unto Thine.” – 300 Days, EVERYTIME. (Unless otherwise stated, e.g., “once a day,” a partial Indulgence may be gained any number of times in succession.) St Pope Pius X, 15 September 1905.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, JESUIT SJ, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 21 June – Three loves, two commandments

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One Minute Reflection – 21 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – St Aloysius de Gonzaga SJ (1568-1591) Confessor – Ecclesiasticus 31:8-11, Matthew 22:29-40 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.” – Matthew 22:40

REFLECTION – “God does not ask many things of you, for charity alone fulfills the whole Law. But that love is double – love of God and love of the neighbour… When God tells you to love your neighbour, He does not tell you to love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Rather, He tells you to love your neighbour as yourself. Thus, love God with all that you are because He is greater than you are; love your neighbour as yourself because he is what you are…

Thus, our love has three objects. But why are there only two commandments? I will tell you – God did not consider it necessary to commit you to loving yourself, since there is no-one who does not love himself. But many people lose themselves because they love themselves in a bad way. By telling you to love God, with all that you are, God gave you a rule according to which you must love yourself. Without doubt, you want to love yourself? So love God with all that you are. For it is in Him that you will find yourself and avoid losing yourself in yourself… Therefore, the rule according to which you must love yourself is given to you – love the One Who is greater than you and you will love yourself!” – St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace of the Church (Sermon on the Letter of St James).

PRAYER – O God, bestower of heavenly gifts, Who in the angelic youth Aloysius joined wondrous innocence of life to an equally wondrous love of penance; grant, by his merits and prayers, that we who have not followed him in his innocence may imitate him in his penance. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

DIVINE Heart of JESUS, convert sinners,
save the dying, set free the holy souls in Purgatory.
Indulgence 300 Days Everytime –
St Pius X, 11 September, 1907

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CATECHESIS, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, St Francis de Sales, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 19 June – ‘ … This oil – some exceedingly great thing … ‘

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Quote/s of the Day – 19 June – 2 Corinthians 10:17-18, 11:1-2; Matthew 25:1-13 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“But the wise took oil
in their vessels”
Matthew 25:4

“It is some great thing,
some exceedingly great thing
that this oil signifies.
… “If I speak with the tongue of mortals
and of angels but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
This is charity.
It is “that way above the rest,” which is,
with good reason, signified by the oil.
For oil swims above all liquids.
If you keep the usual order, it will be uppermost,
if you change the order, it will be uppermost.
“Charity never fails!”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

“Give me grace,
to amend my life
and to have an eye to mine end,
without grudge of death,
which, to them,
who die in You,
good Lord,
is the gate of a wealthy life.”

St Thomas More (1478-1535)
Martyr

“Love consists,
not in feeling great things
but, in having great detachment
and in suffering for the Beloved.”

St John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Doctor Mysticus

“To love our neighbour, in charity,
is to love God, in man.”

(Treatise on the Love of God Book 10 Chapter 11)

“We should always love our neighbour,
as in the breast of Christ”

(The Spirit of St François de Sales II, 1)

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, JESUIT SJ, PATRONAGE - OF CHASTITY, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on KINDNESS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 16 June – Fishers of men and St John Francis Régis

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Quote/s of the Day – 16 June – St John Francis Régis SJ (1597-1640) Priest, Confessor, Missionary –The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
– Romans 8:18-23; Luke 5:1-11 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

St John Francis Regis Quotes HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/06/16/quote-s-of-the-day-16-june-st-john-francis-regis-sj-1597-1640/

“I shall reflect the image of God
in that I feed on love;
grow certain on faith and hope;
strengthen myself, on the virtue of patience;
grow tranquil by humility;
grow beautiful by chastity;
am sober by abstention;
am made happy by tranquillity
and am ready for death,
by practising hospitality.”

ACW – Ancient Christian Writer
Incomplete Work on Matthew
(Homily 40)

“O my Lord, what a price Thou paid
to ransom my useless service! …
What a way Thou has, full of love,
of gentleness and of kindness,
to win back and submit this rebellious servant,
by triumphing over evil through good,
by confounding my pride with Thy humility,
by filling this ungrateful person,
with Thy kindness!
This! This is howThy Wisdom triumphed!”

Blessed Guerric of Igny (c1080-1157)
Cistercian Abbot

“Fear not, henceforth you shall catch men.”
Luke 5:10

“At Thy Word I will lower the nets.”
It is at the command of divine grace
and supernatural inspiration that the nets
of preaching are to be spread out.
Otherwise, the preacher wastes his time in lowering
the lines of his words.
People’s faith is won, not by carefully composed speeches
but the grace of a divine vocation…
O fruitful humility!
When those who so far have not caught a thing,
put their trust in Christ’s Word,
they catch a great number of fish…”

St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
Doctor of the Church

“Humility and charity
are the two master chords –
one, the lowest;
the other, the highest;
all the others are dependent on them.
Therefore, it is necessary, above all.
to maintain ourselves in these two virtues,
for observe well,
that the preservation of the whole edifice
depends on the foundation and the roof!”

St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)

Posted in PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on ANGER, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on KINDNESS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 13 June – On Complaining

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Thought for the Day – 13 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

On Complaining

  1. When anything pains or annoys us, it is a natural impulse to relieve our feelings by telling our griefs to others, partly from a hope of sympathy, partly because it is a great relief to express our vexation or our sorrow. Such complaints are rarely made without sin!
    It is scarcely possible to speak of what we have suffered, without some breach of the law of charity.
    We must strive to exercise the virtue of patience and stop the rising words in which we are about to pour forth the story of our wrongs.
  2. The effort of keeping silent in such a case soon brings its reward. The pain after a time diminishes, whereas to have expanded upon it, would have made us feel more bitterly than before. Those who know that we have suffered are edified by our silence. Our wrong-doer is often won over by our meekness. Peace comes into our heart.
    Do I suppress for Christ’s sake and to imitate His patience, unkind words rising to my lips? When I have done so, do I not find that patience brings its own reward?
  3. Yet, this does not mean that I am always to bury my griefs in my own heart. Sometimes I cannot do so; out they will come in spite of my efforts. Sometimes it is almost a duty to tell our story to some kind and sympathetic friend; half of our troubles disappear or are sensibly diminished in the mere act of telling.
    But, we must choose one, whom we can trust and respect. We must be careful not to speak bitterly or to abuse others by way of airing our feelings. We must try to excuse others and must tell our story simply and with all charity.
    Do I observe this rule when I am pouring my troubles into the ear of some friend or adviser?
Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, FATHERS of the Church, franciscan OFM, I BELIEVE!, Lady POVERTY, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, OUR Cross, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on EVANGELISATION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on POVERTY, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SELF-DISTRUST, The HOLY CROSS, The WORD, Thomas a Kempis

Quote/s of the Day – 11 June – ‘ … What we are to do and what we have to hope for… ‘

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Quote/s of the Day – 11 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Feast of St Barnabas the Apostle, Martyr, The “Son of Encouragement” – Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3; Matthew 10:16-22.– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Behold I send you as sheep
in the midst of wolves.
Be, therefore, wise as serpents
and simple as doves. ”

Matthew – 10:16

“Go into the whole world
and preach the Gospel
to every creature.”
Mark 16:15

“You have heard what the Lord said
to His disciples after the Resurrection.
He sent them out to preach the Gospel
and they did so.
Listen: “Through all the earth their voice resounds
and to the ends of the world, their message” (Ps 18[19],5).
Step by step, the Gospel has reached even to us
and the ends of the earth.
In a few words the Lord, addressing Himself
to His disciples, set out what we are to do
and what we have to hope for.
Just as you have heard, He said:
“Whoever believes and is Baptised will be saved.”
He asks for our faith and offers us salvation.
What He offers us, is so precious
that what He asks of us, is as nothing.”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

“All the brothers should strive to follow
the humility and the poverty of our Lord Jesus Christ …
And they must rejoice when they live among people
who are considered to be of little worth
and who are looked down upon,
among the poor and the powerless,
the sick and the lepers and the beggars by the wayside.
And when it may be necessary,
let them go to seek alms.
And they should not be ashamed
but rather recall that our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the living and all-powerful God …
was a poor man and a transient and lived on alms,
He and the Blessed Virgin and His disciples.”

St Francis of Assisi (c1181-1226)

(Earlier Rule, #8-9).

“If you truly wish to help
the soul of your neighbour,
you should firstly approach God
with all your heart.
Ask Him simply,
to fill you with charity,
the greatest of all virtues.”

St Vincent Ferrer OP (1350-1419)

“If you wish to enter into life,
keep My commandments.
If you will know the truth,
believe in Me.
If you will be perfect,
sell all.
If you will be My disciple,
deny yourself.
If you will possess the blessed life,
despise this present life.
If you will be exalted in Heaven,
humble yourself on earth.
If you wish to reign with Me,
carry the Cross with Me.
For only the servants of the Cross
find the life of blessedness
and of true Light.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

The Imitation of Christ Chapter 56

Posted in QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, The WILL of GOD

Quote/s of the Day – 1 June – St Angelica de Merici

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Quote/s of the Day – 1 June – St Angelica de Merici (1474-1540)

“Reflect that in reality
you have a greater need to serve [the poor],
than they have of your service.”

“Strive to be faithful
to that which God has called you.”

“Consider that, the devil does not sleep
but seeks our ruin, in a thousand ways.”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/06/01/quote-s-of-the-day-1-june-st-angelica-de-merici/

St Angelica de Merici (1474-1540) Virgin

Posted in QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD

Indulgenced Pentecost Novena, Day Three

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Indulgenced Pentecost Novena to the Holy Ghost for the Seven Gifts – 12 May

THIRD DAY

Foreword and Indulgences CLICK HERE : Foreword

Thou, of all consolers best,
Visiting the troubled breast,
Dost refreshing peace bestow.

The Gift of Piety

The gift of Piety begets in our hearts, a filial affection for God as our most loving Father. It inspires us to love and respect, for His sake.
persons and things consecrated to Him, as well as those, who are vested with His authority,
His Blessed Mother and the Saints, the Church and its visible Head,
our parents and superiors, our country and its rulers.
He who is filled with the gift of Piety, finds the practice of his religion,
not a burdensome duty but, a delightful service.
Where there is love, there is no labour.

Prayer

Come, O Blessed Spirit of Piety,
possess my heart.
Enkindle therein, such a love for God,
that I may find satisfaction
only in His service
and for His sake,
lovingly submit
to all legitimate authority.
Amen.

Our Father and Hail Mary – ONCE.
Glory be to the Father – SEVEN TIMES.

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
To be recited daily during the Novena

On my knees,
I, before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses,
offer myself, soul and body to Thee, Eternal Spirit of God.
I adore the brightness of Thy Purity,
the unerring keenness of Thy Justice
and the might of Thy Love.
Thou art the Strength and Light of my soul.
In Thee, I live and move and am.
I desire never to grieve Thee
by unfaithfulness to grace
and I pray with all my heart to be kept
from the smallest sin against Thee.
Mercifully guard my every thought
and grant that I may always watch for Thy Light,
listen to Thine Voice
and follow Thy gracious inspirations.
I cling to Thee and give myself to Thee and ask Thee,
by Thy compassion, to watch over me in my weakness.
Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus,
looking at His Five Wounds
and trusting in His Precious Blood
and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart,
I implore Thee, Adorable Spirit,
Helper of my infirmity,
to keep me in Thy grace
that I may never sin against Thee.
Give me grace O Holy Spirit,
Spirit of the Father and of the Son,
to say to Thee, always and everywhere,
“Speak Lord for Thine servant hears.”
Amen.

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the JUDGE, DOCTORS of the Church, JESUIT SJ, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on JUDGING, QUOTES on JUSTICE, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The GOOD SHEPherd Prayers

Our Morning Offering – 16 April – Guide Me Lord By St Albert the Great

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Our Morning Offering – 16 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament”

Guide Me Lord
By St Albert the Great (1200-1280)
Doctor of the Church

O Lord Jesus Christ,
Who seeks those who stray
and receives them when returning,
make me approach Thee
through the frequent hearing of Thy Word,
lest I sin against my neighbour,
by the blindness of human judgement,
through the austerity of false justice,
through comparing his inferior status,
through too much trust in my merits
or through ignorance of the Divine Judgement.
Guide me to search diligently,
each corner of my conscience,
lest the flesh dominate the spirit!
Amen

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, St PAUL!, The GOOD SHEPHERD

Quote/s of the Day – 15 April – ‘Our Shepherd,Who guides everything from Heaven above …’

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Quote/s of the Day – 15 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Ferial Day – 1 Peter 2:21-25; John 10:11-16– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“I am the Good Shepherd,
I know My Own
and My Own know Me.”

John 10:14

“He cries out, saying:
See, I am with you all the days of this age.
He is Himself the Shepherd,
the High Priest,
the Way and the Door
and has become all things at once for us.”

St Athanasius (297-373)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“So Saul was led to Ananias –
the ravaging wolf is led to the sheep.
But the Shepherd,
Who guides everything from Heaven above,
reassures him…
“Do not fear, I will show him
what he will have to suffer, for My Name’s sake”
(Acts 9:16).
What wonder is this!
The wolf is led, a captive, to the sheep…
The Lamb who died for the sheep,
teaches it not to be afraid any more!”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“With good reason Christ declares:
I am the Good Shepherd,
I seek out the lost sheep,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal (Ez 34:16).
I have seen the flock of mankind
struck down by sickness;
I have witnessed my lambs
wander about where demons dwell;
I have seen my flock ravaged by wolves.
All this I have seen
and have not witnessed it from on high.
That is why I took hold of the withered hand,
gripped by pain, as if by a wolf;
I have unbound those whom fever had bound;
I taught him to see,
whose eyes had been shut from his mother’s womb;
I brought Lazarus out from the tomb
where he had lain for four days (Mk 3:5; 1:31; Jn 9; 11).
For I am the Good Shepherd
and the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”

Basil of Seleucia (Died 448)
Bishop of Seleucia

(Oratio 26)

“The measure of love,
is to love without measure.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The HEART, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 12 April – Who is he who overcomes the world?

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Quote/s of the Day – 12 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Ferial Day – Friday in the Second Week of Easter – 1 John 5:4-10; John 20:19-31 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Who is he who overcomes the world?
but he who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God.”

1 John 5:5

“He wants you to become
a living force for all mankind,
lights shining in the world.
You are to be radiant lights
as you stand beside Christ,
the Great Light,
bathed in the glory of Him
who is the Light of Heaven.”

St Gregory Nazianzen (330-390)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“The very prince of the universe, is man;
the crowning point of man, is his heart;
of the heart, is love
and the perfection of love, is charity.
That is why the love of God is the goal,
the crowning point,
the be-all and end-all of the universe.”

(Treatise on the Love of God, Book 10, Chapter 1)

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity

“If we live good lives, hoping for a Heavenly reward
and guided by the action of the Holy Spirit,
dwelling within us, we shall possess this spiritual joy.
Once we possess it, it will be erased, neither by temptation,
nor by suffering, nor by persecution,
as long as our faith remains firm and steadfast.
The sincere Christian accepts pleasure
and pain with equal readiness
because he places everything in God’s hands.
… We must try, at least, to achieve that spirit
of complete resignation to God’s will
which is always rewarded by peace of soul!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in "Follow Me", DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOMINICAN OP, GOD ALONE!, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on EVANGELISATION, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on MISSION, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on TEMPTATION

Quote/s of the Day – 5 April – St Vincent Ferrer

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Quote/s of the Day – 5 April – St Vincent Ferrer OP (1350-1419) Confessor, called “The Angel of the Apocalypse” and of “The Last Judgement” and the “Mouthpiece of God.”

“If you truly wish to help
the soul of your neighbour,
you should firstly approach God
with all your heart.
Ask Him simply,
to fill you with charity,
the greatest of all virtues.”

“When troubled by temptations,
raise up your heart and soul to God,
humbly beseeching Him
to turn them to His greater glory
and to your salvation,
supporting the temptations
as long as it shall please Him
and imploring Him, to grant you grace,
never to offend Him.”

“Regard yourself as more vile
and miserable in the sight of God
because of your faults,
than any sinner whatever,
no matter what his sins. . .
and consider closely that any grace,
or inclination to good or desire of virtue,
you may have, is not of yourself
but of the sole mercy of Christ.”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/05/quote-s-of-the-day-5-april-st-vincent-ferrer-2/

St Vincent Ferrer OP (1350-1419)

Posted in QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on POVERTY, QUOTES on VIRTUE, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 3 April– How to Avail Ourselves of Occasions for the Exercise of a Single Virtue

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Thought for the Day – 3 April– The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

“None shall be crowned who has not fought well.” 2 Tim 2: 5

XXXIX: … How to Avail Ourselves of Occasions
for the Exercise of a Single Virtue

“We have already seen that it is more profitable to exercise ourselves, for a time, in a single virtue than in many at once and that, we should use, with this view, the occasions we meet with, however diverse they may be.
Now learn how to accomplish this, with tolerable success.

It may happen that in the same day, or even in the same hour, we are approved for something in which we have done well, or blamed on some other account; we may be harshly refused some favour we have asked, it maybe a mere trifle; we may be unjustly suspected; or, we may be called upon to endure some bodily pain, or some petty annoyance, such as a dish badly cooked; or some more heavy affliction and more difficult to be borne, may befall us, such as this wretched life is full of!

Although, in the variety of these or similar occurrences, we may perform various acts of virtue, yet, if we would keep to the rule laid down, we shall continue to exercise ourselves in acts wholly conformable to the virtue we have at the time in hand; as for example:

+++If, when these occasions present themselves, we are exercising ourselves in patience, we shall endure them all willingly and with a joyful heart.

+++If our exercise be of humility, we shall, in all these little crosses, acknowledge ourselves to be deserving of every possible ill.

+++If of obedience, we shall submit ourselves at once to the Almighty Hand of God, as well as, to all created things, whether rational or even inanimate which may have caused us these annoyances and this, to please Him because He has so willed it.

+++If of poverty, we shall be well content to be stripped and robbed of all earthly consolations, whether great or small.

+++If of charity, we shall produce acts of love towards our neighbour as the instrument of good to us and towards our Lord God, as the first and loving cause whence these annoyances proceed, or by Whom they are permitted for our spiritual exercise and improvement.

From what has been said of the various accidents which may befall us daily, we may also learn how, during a single trial of long duration, such as sickness or other like affliction, we may yet continue to produce acts of that virtue in which we are at the time exercising ourselves.

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli