Category: QUOTES on HEAVEN

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOMINICAN OP, OUR Cross, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 4 May – ‘…The only true stairway to Paradis …’

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Quote/s of the Day – 4 May – The Feast of St Monica (322-387) Mother of St Augustine – 1 Timothy 5:3-10, Luke 7:11-16

“Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight.
I do not know what there is now for me to do
or why I am still here,
all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.”

Saint Monica,
on the conversion
of St Augustine

“Our Lord and Saviour lifted up His Voice
and said with incomparable majesty:
“Let all men know that Grace comes after tribulation.
Let them know that without the burden of afflictions,
it is impossible to reach the height of Gace.
Let them know,
that the gifts of Grace increase,
as the struggles increase.
Let men take care not to stray and be deceived.
This is the only true stairway to Paradise
and without the cross,
they can find no road to climb to Heaven.”

St Rose of Lima (1586-1617)

Late Have I Loved Thee!
By St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

Late have I loved Thee,
Beauty ever ancient and ever new,
late have I loved Thee!
Lo, Thou were within
but I outside,
seeking there for Thee
and upon the shapely things
Thou hast made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.
Thou wast with me
but I was tnot with Thee.
They held me back far from Thee,
those things which would have no being,
were they not in Thee.
Thou called, shouted,
broke through my deafness.
Thou flared, blazed,
banished my blindness.
Thou lavished Thy fragrance,
I gasped
and now I pant for Thee.
I tasted Thee
and now I hunger and thirst.
Thou touched me
and I burned for Thy peace.
Amen

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, DOCTORS of the Church, Hail MARY!, JESUIT SJ, MARIAN Antiphons, MARIAN PRAYERS, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Quote/s of the Day – 27 April – St Peter Canisius

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Quote/s of the Day – 27 April – St Peter Canisius SJ (1521-1597) Confessor, Doctor of the Church

This 16th Century Saint, known as the second Apostle of Germany, followed in the giant footsteps of St Boniface, who evangelised Germany a thousand years earlier. He was also active at the Council of Trent and wrote much on the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The first half of the Hail Mary, of course, comes from Scripture.
What many Catholics do not know, is that the second half of this Catholic prayer is due to the intervention of St Peter Canisius at the Council of Trent. St Peter began adding onto the scriptural part of the Hail Mary the second half of this familiar prayer:
“Holy Mary Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now, and at the hour of our death.”
It was the Fathers of Trent who officially accepted this addition and included it in their famous Catechism of the Council of Trent in 1566.

“For the sake of obtaining that eternal life,
no works of piety,
ought to seem too difficult to a true believer,
no toil too heavy,
no pain too bitter,
no time spent in labour and suffering,
too long or too wearisome.
For, if nothing is sweeter, or more desirable,
than this present life which is so full of calamities,
how much more desirable,
must that other life be deemed
which is so far removed from all sense of evil,
or fear of it, which will, in every conceivable way,
always abound in the unspeakable
and unending joys, delight and happiness of Heaven.”

St Peter Canisius SJ (1521-1597)
Confessor, Doctor of the Church

Posted in QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem, The LAST THINGS

Thought for the Day – 24 April – On Heaven – CONCLUSION

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Thought for the Day – 24 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FR MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC .

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

CONCLUSION

Let us all, my dear reader, courageously and cheerfully do all, undertake all, sacrifice all that we may gain the ineffable happiness of Heaven, for we never can purchase Heaven at too dear a price.
Let us not be disheartened at the difficulties on our road, for, after all, it is not so difficult to merit Heaven. Were we to do for Heaven half as much as people do to earn a living, to acquire a little wealth, power or fame, or to enjoy life, we would be sure of securing a high place among the Saints.

All we have to do to gain Heaven is to keep the Commandments of God and of His Church, to bear our little crosses, to discharge the obligations of our state of life, to overcome temptation and although this is above our natural strength, we nevertheless. can count on the Grace of God, if we pray earnestly for it and with God’s help, everything will become comparatively easy, for, as St Paul says: “I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth me” (Phil iv. 13).
Earnest, persistent prayer will secure Heaven.

I now, dear reader, address to you the words the mother of the Machabees addressed to her youngest son, a mere boy, when he was about to be tortured to death, as his six brothers had been before him: “My son, I beg thee to look up to Heaven.”
Look up to Heaven everyday, especially in time of trial and temptation.
Heaven is well worth every suffering and every sacrifice and every combat required of us and even a thousand times more!

Life is short; it is trials, it is sufferings, it is labours, it is combats, it is crosses too are short and transitory but Heaven and its joys, are inconceivable, satiating every desire of the heart and neverending!

“ Our present momentary and light tribulations, worketh above measure exceedingly, an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor iv. 17).

May God in His Mercy grant this happy end to the writer of this book and all into whose hands it may fall!

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, QUOTES on HEAVEN, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem, The LAST THINGS

Thought for the Day – 23 April – On the Number of the Saved 3

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Thought for the Day – 23 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FR MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

IV:3 On the Number of the Saved

… What object in life have the great majority of mankind?
What is it they strive after and crave for?

They desire to be rich, to be prosperous, to live in luxury and to be praised by their fellowmen. Nobody considers this to be a sin.
And yet Our Lord declares that everlasting death will be the doom of such persons and He denounces them in forcible language.

From these and similar passages which abound in Holy Scripture, thou seest that God is more strict than thou dost imagine and, it is a more easy matter to lose thy soul than thou perhaps thinkest. Wherefore do not any longer live so heedlessly but work out thy salvation with fear and trembling, as the Apostle exhorts thee.
The Saints did so at all times, having the fear of God’s judgements ever be fore their eyes.
The Godless, on the contrary, are ever wont to say, as many do at the present day: God is merciful, He will not condemn us so lightly to eternal damnation.
But remember what is said in Holy Scripture: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven and add not sin to sin. And say not, The Mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy upon the multitude of my sins. For mercy and wrath come quickly from Him and His wrath looketh upon sinners” (Ecclus v. 5-7).

We also find St Catharine of Siena saying: “O unhappy sinners, do not rely upon the greatness of God’s Mercy; believe me, the more you provoke the anger of this merciful God by willful sin, the deeper you will be cast into the abyss of perdition.”

It is undoubtedly true that we ought to place our trust in God’s Mercy but what the nature of our confidence should be, we are taught by St Gregory.
He says: “Let him who does all that he can, rely firmly upon the Mercy of God. But for him who does not do all that lies within his power to rely upon the Mercy of God would be simple presumption.”
To each and all of us the Apostle Peter says: “Labour the more, that by good works you may make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet.i. 10).

Several of the Fathers of the Church consider that from the fact that at the time of the deluge only eight persons were saved, at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
only four namely, Lot, his wife and his two daughters escaped with their lives and of the six hundred thousand able men who departed out of Egypt, not more than two reached the Promised Land, the others all dying in the desert, it may be concluded that the number of the Elect amongst Christians will be proportionately small.
This agrees with what St John Chrysostom said on one occasion when he was preaching in the City of Antioch: “What think you, my hearers, how many of the inhabitants of this City may perhaps be saved? What I am about to say is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated City with its thousands of inhabitants, not a hundred will be saved; I even doubt whether there will be as many as that. For what indifference we see amongst the aged, what wickedness amongst the young, what impiety amongst all classes of people.”

Such words as these may well make us tremble.
We should hesitate to believe them, did they not come from the lips of so great a Saint and Father of the Church.
And if it is true that in the first five centuries, when the zeal and devotion of Christians was much more fervent than it is now, so small a number attained everlasting salvation, what will it be in our own day, when crime and vice prevail to so fearful an extent?

Since it is impossible for anyone to deny, or even to doubt that the number of the Elect is small in proportion to that of the reprobate, I beseech thee, O Christian reader, exert thyself to the utmost to accomplish the work of thy salvation.
Thou knowest what an awful thing it is to be damned eternally!

Posted in franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SANCTITY

Quote/s of the Day – 23 April – The Wisdom of Blessed Giles of Assisi

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Quote/s of the Day – 23 April – On the Feast Day of Blessed Giles of Assisi OFM (c1190-1262) Friar and Missionary of the Order of Friars Minor, Friend and the 3rd follower of St Francis.

A Brother said to Brother Giles:
“ Father, I have seen other men who received from God
the grace of devotion and of tears in their prayers
and I cannot feel in myself any such grace,
when I go to worship God.”
To whom Brother Giles answered:
“My Brother, I counsel thee to persevere humbly
and faithfully in thy prayers;
for the fruits of the earth cannot be had without toil
and labour applied beforehand
and even after we have laboured,
the desired fruit does not follow immediately
but only in its season, when the fullness of time has come.”

“Happiness is to do bodily labour
for the love of the Most High
and not to take any lesser wages than Paradise,
for the good work one does.”

“If thou wouldst see well, pluck out thine eyes and be blind;
if thou wouldst hear well, be deaf
and if thou wouldst speak well, become dumb;
if thou wouldst advance, stand still
and advance with thy mind;
if thou wouldst work well, cut off thy hands
and work with thy heart;
if thou wouldst love much, hate thyself;
if thou wouldst live well, mortify thyself;
if thou wouldst gain much and be rich,
first lose all and become poor
and if thou wouldst enjoy peace, afflict thyself
and be ever in fear and suspect thine own self;
if thou wouldst be exalted and have great honour,
humble and abase thyself;
if thou wouldst be held in great reverence, despise thyself
and do reverence to him who reviles thee;
if thou wouldst that it should be well with thee,
suffer all evil things and if thou wouldst be blessed,
desire that all should speak ill of thee
and if thou wouldst have true and eternal rest,
then toil and suffer and desire to have every temporal affliction.
O what great wisdom it is to know how to do
and to work out these things.”

Blessed Giles of Assisi (c1190-1262)

Posted in QUOTES on HEAVEN, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem

Thought for the Day – 20 April – On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven 4: The Beatific Vision

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Thought for the Day – 20 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FR MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC .

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

III.4 On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven: The Beatific Vision

There is no greater happiness upon earth than to love and be loved in return and the more tender, pure and ardent this love be, the greater the joy and delight it affords us.

Now, the love of Heaven, the love of the Redeemed for God and for each other, is the most tender, the most pure, the most ardent affection, an affection infinite and boundless; consequently it is a source of immense delight and happiness unspeakable.
May the God of all Grace make us partakers of this love and we shall then know, by experience, that of which words fail to convey an idea.
No-one will be privileged to partake in this love, unless here below, he lives in the love of God and dies in His Friendship.
Let us, therefore, strive to increase within ourselves, this Divine Charity, in order that we may be admitted hereafter into the full enjoyment of His Love.

The Beatific Vision of the Divine Countenance is a joy above all joys, a delight far surpassing all the Celestial pleasures of which we have spoken.
Without this, all other joys would lose their savour, they would be changed to bitterness.

On one occasion, when the devil was speaking by the mouth of a person who was possessed, he said: “If the whole Heavens were a sheet of parchment, if the whole ocean were ink, if every blade of grass were pens and every man on earth a scribe, it would not suffice to describe the intense, immeasurable delight which the Vision of God affords to the blessed.”
And at another time he said that if God would but vouchsafe to grant him the privilege of beholding His Divine Countenance for a few moments, he would, if it were possible, gladly bear in his own person, all the torments of Hell until the Day of Judgement.

This teaches us that if a man spent his whole life in works of most severe penance and, after his death were permitted only for one instant to gaze on the Face of God, he would have received an ample recompense for all his mortifications.

Now, consider how transcendent must be the bliss which the Saints derive from the contemplation, the enjoyment, the possession of the Supreme God!
If to gaze on the Divine Countenance for one passing moment is a joy beyond all that which a life of pleasure offers to the worldling, what rapture will it be to gaze for evermore, with undimmed eyes, on His Infinite Beauty, what rapture to call this Supreme Good one’s own, for all eternity!

God is a being in Whom all that is most admirable and desirable exists in the highest degree.
In Him is all that which is most attracts and fascinating to us; clemency, beauty, justice, compassion, wisdom, majesty, every sweet and sublime attribute in its fullest perfection.
From God proceeds all Grace, all we need for our spiritual and temporal welfare, all the happiness, the joy, the repose, the consolation, all the benefits and blessings which His creatures enjoy in Heaven and on earth.
And when the Redeemed enter upon the contemplation of this Infinite Good, upon the possession of this source of all that is to be loved and admired and longed for, their joy will indeed be full.
What unspeakable delight it will afford them to understand the Mystery of the Incarnation, the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist!

What unspeakable delight it will be to them to comprehend how God can be invisible Himself,and yet, see everything; how He can Himself be unmoved and yet the source of all motion; how He can be Himself immutable and yet the Author of all change.
These and many other Mysteries will be made clear to the blessed in the Light of God and this fount of knowledge will not be exhausted to all eternity.
The more they know God, the more will their desire to know Him better increase and of this knowledge there will be no limit and no defect.

Thus they will ever hunger and yet be perfectly satisfied; this rich treasury will ever be open to them and never will they exhaust all the wealth it contains.

Meditate frequently upon this subject, O reader and excite within thy soul an earnest desire to enjoy God forever and ever.

Posted in GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on HEAVEN, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem

Thought for the Day – 19 April – On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven 3

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Thought for the Day – 19 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FR MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

III.3 On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven

Thirdly, the will of each one of the blessed will be crowned with felicity and kindled with the love of God and of the blessed, in whose company he is.

The noblest pleasures a man can enjoy come from his will.
A man is happy when all succeeds with him according to his wishes; when he acquires and possesses all that which his heart can desire; when he is generally esteemed and praised by his fellow-men; when he loves and is loved, by the object of his affections.
This and much more besides, is the portion of the
blessed but in the highest degree and in the greatest possible perfection.

The Love of God for them and, their love of Him, is so profound, they are enflamed and consumed, with Divine Charity, their will resembles a live coal, glowing with light and heat, until it is absorbed by the fire of which it is a part.
So it is with the Saints in Heaven; imbued with Divine Charity, they burn and shine in the Light of God and
reflect His Image more and more.
St John says: “We know that when He shall appear we shall be like to Him because we shall see Him as He is” (i John iii. 2).

In the Love of God and in union with Him, they find such ineffable delight that, inebriated by the sweetness of Divine Charity, they lose themselves in Him!

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on TRUTH, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 19 April – ‘ … These pastures are the spiritual joys of Heaven. … ‘John 10:14

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One Minute Reflection – 19 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Easter II – 1 Peter 2:21-25 – John 10:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“I am the Good Shepherd and I know Mine and Mine know Me.”- John 10:14

REFLECTION – “I am the good shepherd. I know My Own—by which I mean, I love them—and My Own know Me. In plain words – those who love Me are willing to follow Me, for anyone who does not love the Truth, has not yet come to know it.

My dear brethren, you have heard the test we shepherds have to undergo. Turn now to consider, how these words of our Lord, imply a test for yourselves too. Ask yourselves whether you belong to His flock, whether you know Him, whether the Light of His Truth shines in your minds. I assure you that it is not by faith that you will come to know Him but, by love, not by mere conviction but, by action. John the Evangelist is my authority, for this statement. He tells us that anyone who claims to know God, without keeping His commandments, is a liar.

Consequently, the Lord immediately adds: ‘As the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down My life for My sheep.‘ Clearly, He means that laying down His life for His sheep, gives evidence of His knowledge of the Father and the Father’s knowledge of Him. In other words, by the love with which He dies for His sheep, He shows, how greatly He loves His Father.

Again He says: ‘My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me,and I give them eternal life.’ Shortly before this He had declared – ‘If anyone enters the sheepfold through Me, he shall be saved, he shall go freely in and out and shall find good pasture.‘ He will enter into a life of faith; from faith, he will go out to vision, from belief to contemplation and will graze in the good pastures of everlasting life.

So our Lord’s sheep will finally reach their grazing ground, where all who follow Him in simplicity of heart, will feed on the green pastures of eternity. These pastures are the spiritual joys of Heaven. There, the elect look upon the Face of God with unclouded vision and feast at the banquet of life, forever more.

Beloved brothers, let us set out for these pastures ,where we shall keep joyful festival with so many of our fellow citizens. May the thought of their happiness urge us on! Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith and long eagerly for what Heaven has in store for us. To love thus, is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination, is not deterred by the roughness of the road which leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveller who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going.” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his Sermon 14).

PRAYER – Grant us, Thy servants, O Lord God, we beseech Thee, to enjoy lasting health of mind and body and by the intercession of glorious and blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may we be delivered from present sorrow and partake of the fullness of eternal happiness. Through the same 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 QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on JOY, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem

Thought for the Day – 18 April – On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven 2

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Thought for the Day – 18 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FR MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC .

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

III.2 On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven

Secondly, inasfar as their memory is concerned, the blessed will also find fullness of joy in Heaven, for it will, like the understanding, be enlightened by God and all the events of their past life, will be as fresh and as distinct to their remembrance, as if they beheld them inscribed on tablets before their eyes.

Then they perceive by what a marvellous way, God led them to their eternal goal, how mercifully He pardoned their transgressions, how He succoured them in the hour of temptation and how He made all things work together for their good.

This retrospect will arouse in the heart of each one, the holiest gratitude towards God and, oft-times they will give expression to it thus:
O my God, Whom I love above all things, how great are the gifts and graces Thou hast bestowed upon me, how generous Thou hast been towards me, how often Thou hast rescued me from the danger of falling into sin, how mercifully Thou hast preserved me from eternal damnation and how wonderfully Thou hast guided me in the way of salvation! How can I sufficiently praise and magnify Thine Infinite Bounty? How can I sufficiently thank Thee and adore Thee for the benefits Thou hast lavished upon me?

Posted in QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem

Thought for the Day – 17 April – On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven

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Thought for the Day – 17 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FR MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

III. On the Spiritual Joys of Heaven

WITH regard to the spiritual joys of the Redeemed in Heaven, they are in such great abundance that in speaking of them, one does not know where to begin or where to end!
Think of the spiritual consolations granted to eminent servants of God in this world.
We know concerning some Saints that their life on earth was more akin to the Angels than of men, so frequently were they favoured with ecstasies, visions, interior lights and Divine consolations of all kinds.
And yet, all these favours were but as a drop out of the boundless ocean of Celestial Sweetness.
What rapture it will be for holy souls in Heaven to drink from the fountainhead and draw freely from the inexhaustible Source of all felicity!

All the powers of the mind, the understanding, the memory, the will, the imagination, every thought, every desire, the whole intellectual being, elevated and perfected by God Himself, will be fully satisfied and will add to and heighten the joys of the soul.

With the understanding the blessed will behold all created things in the Light of God and thoroughly penetrate the secrets of nature.
It is recorded of King Solomon that “God gave to Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, as the sand that is on the seashore. And the wisdom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the Orientals and of the Egyptians and he was wiser than all men.
He also spoke three thousand parables and his poems were a thousand and five. And he treated about trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon unto the hyssop which cometh out of the wall and he discoursed of beasts and of fowls and of creeping things and of fishes. And they came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon and from all the Kings of the earth, who heard of his wisdom“ (3 Kings iv. 29-34).

We have never heard of wisdom equal to this, nor can we cease to wonder at the wide range and astuteness of this great King’s understanding.
Yet compared with the wisdom of the least of the Saints in Heaven, it ranks no higher than does the knowledge possessed by a child of 3 years old, beside the erudition and wisdom of the most learned of men.

For all the operations of nature, all the powers of the universe are open and revealed to the least of the Saints in Heaven.
Nothing is hidden or mysterious in his eyes. He knows all that the Holy Trinity has accomplished from all eternity, in how marvellous a manner the Heavens and the earth were created out of nothing, how wisely all has been ordered and maintained from the beginning to the end of time. He knows how the Son of God was begotten of the Father before all ages; he knows how the Holy Ghost proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son.

He knows how Christ was born of an earthly Mother without violation of her virginity; he knows all Our Lord accomplished and suffered throughout His whole Life and how each Saint and Servant of God lived for God and laboured in His service.

All which is mysterious and incomprehensible to us in the Holy Scriptures, the Mysteries of our Religion and of nature, he understands without a moment’s reflection.

Hadst thou been on earth but a simple, illiterate peasant, on thy entrance into Heaven thy eyes would be opened and thou wouldst see clearly and understand all things perfectly.
What joy, what happiness this knowledge and clear insight will be to thee.
What grateful thankfulness thou wilt render to God forever and ever!

Posted in QUOTES on HEAVEN, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem

Thought for the Day – 16 April – On the Joys of Heaven 2

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 16 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FATHER MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC .

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

II:2 On the Joys of Heaven

… In fact, what can be wanting to the glorified body in Heaven?
It is in the enjoyment of perpetual health, perpetual rest, perpetual happiness, so that in the super-abundance of joy and satisfaction, it can scarce realise how enviable is its condition.

Finally, the Redeemed will take very great pleasure in beholding one another, in conversing with one another, in kindly exchanges and friendly communication.
Think how beautiful a sight it will be, to see hundreds of thousands of beings in all the splendour of their glorified state. If on earth we esteem it a pleasure to look upon a handsome face, we can appreciate, in some slight degree, what it will be in Heaven, the lowliest of whose inhabitants is possessed of a beauty far exceeding the personal attractions of any mortal man.

Moreover, the Redeemed are united together by the bond of mutual charity, for they love one another more dearly than the most affectionate of brothers and sisters. If they have never met on earth, yet they know one another better than if they had been brought up together.
Each one will know the incidents of his earthly career.

Each one will be able to see into the other’s heart, and know how great is the affection he feels for him.
Each one will rejoice in the other’s glory as much as if it were his own and the lowliest in the Kingdom of Heaven exults, as much in the glory of the highest as the latter can possibly do.
This was explained to St Augustine by St John the Baptist in a vision. “Know,” he said to him, “on account of the inexpressible charity which the blessed have towards one another, each takes no less pleasure in the exaltation of another than if it were his own. Nay, more, he who is greater, wishes that the lower were equal to him and even more honoured than himself; for in his triumph he, too, would triumph.
In like manner, those who are in a lowly place rejoice in the glory of those who are in the highest place; they do not envy them, far from it.
They would not desire the high position if the others had it not; they would rather give them a part of their own glory, were this possible. ”

Hence it may be seen, the Saints take pleasure in the splendour wherewith their fellows are crowned and entertain for each and all of them, a heartfelt affection. More especially do they love one who has, by word or example, helped them on their way to Heaven; to such a one they know not how they can sufficiently testify their gratitude.

Each one will also feel a particular affection for the Saint whom he chose as his Patron upon earth and whom he honoured with a special devotion and this affection will be reciprocated by the object of it.
Those who stood in this relationship to one another, will meet together more often; they will converse on holy subjects and mutually relate their experiences on earth, telling how marvellously the providence of God saved them from eternal perdition.
In a word, the pleasures afforded to the Redeemed by this intercourse, will be innumerable and they will do everything in their power to gratify and show kindness to one another.

O God of All Mercies!
who would not desire to enter into this Land
of eternal peace, where are joys
beyond all which mortal man can conceive,
joys so many and so manifold,
so wondrous and so sweet!
Sometimes, the pleasures of this world
have such a fascination for a man,
he cannot renounce them,
even though he sees Hell open before him.
And yet those pleasures are less than nothing
in comparison to the joys of Heaven;
in fact, all the joys one can picture
or desire for oneself, cannot equal the least
and the lowest of the joys which will be ours
for all eternity!

O my God, how unspeakable will be
the bliss of Heaven! May it be my happy lot to share
in that felicity!
Urged by this desire, I will give Thee no rest,
everyday I will implore Thee to take me to Thyself.
I will detach my heart from this world,
I will entirely renounce all earthly pleasures;
all my aspirations, all my affections
shall be fixed upon the heavenly treasures
and I will hold myself ready everyday
to leave this earthly scene.
The sooner death comes to fetch me hence,
the more welcome will it be,
for I shall leave this land of exile
and enter into my true country.
God grant that so it may be!
Amen

Posted in "Follow Me", CARMELITES, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, In the PRESENCE of GOD, Of PILGRIMS, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on FRIENDSHIP, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, St Francis de Sales, The LAMB of GOD, The WILL of GOD, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 16 April – Take God for your Spouse and Friend …

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Quote/s of the Day – 16 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Ferial Day – Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter – 1 John 5:4-10; John 20:19-31 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“My Lord and my God.”

John 20:28

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I Am meek and humble of heart
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For My yoke is easy and My burden light.”

Matthew 11:29-30

“If we wish to make any progress
in the service of God,
we must begin everyday of our life,
with new eagerness.
We must keep ourselves,
in the presence of God,
as much as possible
and have no other view or end,
in all our actions
but the Divine honour.”

St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584)

“Take God for your Spouse and Friend
and walk with Him continually
and you will not sin and will learn to love
and the things you must do
will work out prosperously for you.”

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

“You will begin to taste, even in this life,
a foretaste of eternal life,
for the principal beatitude of the soul in Heaven,
is to be confirmed forever in the Will of the Father.
Thus, it tastes the divine sweetness.
But it will never taste it in Heaven,
if it is not clothed with it on earth,
where we are pilgrims and travellers.
When it is clothed with it, it tastes God
by Grace in its troubles; its memory will be full
of the Blood of the Lamb without blemish;
its mind will be opened and contemplate
the ineffable love that God has made known
in the Wisdom of His Son and the love it finds,
in the Holy Spirit’s goodness, casts out self-love
and love for created things, to love only God.
So do not be afraid … but suffer with joy,
so as to conform yourself to the Will of God.””

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD is LOVE, I BELIEVE!, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THE WORLD, St Francis de Sales, The HOLY GHOST, The WILL of GOD, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 15 April – Who is he who overcomes the world?

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Quote/s of the Day – 15 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Wednesday after the Octave of Easter – Ferial Day – 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 QUOTES on HEAVEN

Thought for the Day – 14 April – Concerning the Size of Heaven (b)

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Thought for the Day – 14 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FATHER MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC .

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

1.2 Concerning the Size of Heaven:

(b) Who shall describe the majesty and glory of these heavenly mansions? If the Kings and Princes of this world build grand and costly palaces for themselves, what must be the splendour and beauty of the Celestial City which the King of kings has built for Himself and those who love Him and are His friends?
Hear what St John says concerning this City: “An Angel showed me the Holy City Jerusalem, having the glory of God. The light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal. The City itself was of pure gold, like unto glass and the foundations of the wall of the City were adorned with all manner of precious stones” (Apoc xxi. u, 18, 19).

Speaking of the size of the City, the same Apostle writes : “The Angel who spoke with me had a measure of a reed of gold, to measure the City and the Gates thereof and the wall. And the City lieth in a four-square and the length thereof is as great as the breadth and he measured the City with the golden reed for twelve thousand furlongs and the height and the breadth thereof, are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred forty-four cubits, the measure of a man and used by the Angel.”

A furlong is two hundred and twenty yards and eight furlongs make a mile. It must be observed that the Angel did not measure the circumference of the City, but only the length of the wall which was twelve thousand furlongs. When this is multiplied by four, it gives forty-eight thousand furlongs, as the circumference of the City, that is equivalent to six thousand miles. To people a City of this size many thousand millions of inhabitants would be needed.

From the information given by St John, who tells us that the length, the breadth, and the height of the City are equal, we form some idea of the imposing height of this Celestial structure. This City does not constitute the whole of the Heavenly Jerusalem, it is the special dwelling place of the most high God, wherein the sacred humanity of Christ abides, together with many companies of Angels and of the most eminent Saints.
For besides this august City, there are others innumerable in the heavenly plains, wherein the Redeemed dwell in the society of Angels.
The more good which a Saint has achieved on earth, the grander is the residence assigned him in Heaven.
These palaces and mansions are transparent as crystal and built of precious stones of the costliest kind.
And we may add on the authority of a learned theologian that the blessed hold intercourse with one another and meet together to laud and magnify the Omnipotence of the Most High, Who prepared for them such glorious abodes and join in extolling His Wisdom and His Love.

Dost thou not, O my soul, feel an intense longing to behold this Heavenly City, and, what is more, to dwell therein for evermore?
We esteem it a pleasure to visit a fine city, renowned for its architectural and other attractions and many are the travellers who journey all over the world to see foreign towns and feast their eyes on their beauty.
What are these cities of earth in comparison with the Celestial Cities?
Could we but look into it for a few moments only, what wondrous things we should behold!
We should assuredly exclaim, in the words of King David: “How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. Blessed are they who dwell in Thy House, O Lord; they shall praise Thee forever and ever. For better is one day in Thy Courts above thousands; I have chosen to be an abject in the House of my God rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners” (Ps Ixxxiii.).

If we may venture to speak of the interior of the Celestial realm, we may assume that the vast, immeasurable space of Heaven does not only contain these Heavenly Cities but, much more besides, all of which enhances the delights of that blissful land. For as Kings and Princes on earth, have gardens and pleasure grounds laid out beside their palaces, where they amuse themselves in the summer season, so, many theologians assert, there are Heavenly Paradises which afford increased delight to the blessed.

For not only the souls of the saved but their glorified bodies too, will be conducted by the Angels of God into Heaven after the Day of JudgEment.

St Augustine, St Anselm and many other Saints do not hesitate to maintain, there are, in Heaven, real trees, real fruits and real flowers, indescribably attractive and delightful to the sight, taste, smell and touch, different from anything we can imagine!

In the revelations of the Saints mention, is made of the gardens in Heaven and the flowers which blossom there and we know it is recorded in the legend of St Dorothea, that she sent to Theophilus by the hands of an Angel, a basket of flowers culled in the gardens of the Celestial Paradise, of such surpassing beauty that the sight of them led him to become a Christian and lay down his life for the Faith of Christ.

We also read in the life of St Didacus that on coming to himself after a trance into which he fell shortly before his death, he cried aloud “O what flowers there are in Paradise! what flowers there are in Paradise!”
Similar incidents are frequently to be met with in the legends of the Saints.

Consider how delightful it will be for the happy ones who are saved, to wander in the Celestial gardens and contemplate those fair flowers. How pleasing the lovely blossoms are to the eye, how delicious is the fragrance they exhale! Of a truth, if a man were to obtain possession of a single one of these heavenly flowers, it would produce the same effect as on Theophilus. He would be spoiled for all the beauty of earth and would strive with his whole soul after the perfect beauty of Heaven.

Meditate often, therefore, upon the things of Heaven; raise thine eyes and thy heart to the bright firmament above and awaken within thy heart,by this or other means, a keen desire to behold the mansions of the Eternal Fatherand to dwell in them forevermore.

O God, Who hast enriched the Heavenly Jerusalem with such beauty in order that we, poor children of earth, might have a greater longing to behold it, I beseech Thee, inflame my heart with an ardent affection and longing for the Celestial Abode which Thou hast prepared for us.
For blessed are they, O Lord, who dwell in Thy House, they shall enjoy consummate felicity forevermore and forevermore, they will praise the Power, the Wisdom, the Bounty of our God.
Would that I were worthy to be associated with that sinless company, to behold that fair City, to become one of its happy denizens. Grant me this Grace, O God, I pray Thee; let me not be excluded from the number of Thine Elect.

O blessed Saints of God, you who dwell within the Courts of the Heavenly Jerusalem, I humbly entreat you to intercede for me that in His Infinite Clemency the God of Mercy may grant me so to live, that I may be found worthy to be admitted to your blissful company.
Hear the prayers of Thy Saints, O most compassionate God and through the Merits of Jesus Christ, give me a share in that inheritance which He purchased for us with His Precious Blood.
May the things of this world lose all value in my eyes and do Thou make my heart to glow with the burning desire to behold Thee and the City Thou hast built, the Heavenly Jerusalem. Amen.

Posted in QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem

Thought for the Day – 13 April – Concerning the Size of Heaven

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Thought for the Day – 13 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FATHER MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC .

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (New York 5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

1.2 Concerning the Size of Heaven:

(a) All we know is that it is immeasurable, inconceivable, incomprehensible!

A learned man, speaking on this subject, says : “If God were to make every grain of sand into a new world, all these innumerable spheres would not fill the immensity of Heaven.”
St Bernard too says, we are warranted in the belief that everyone of the saved will have a place and an inheritance of no narrow limits assigned him in the Celestial Country.

How immeasurably vast in extent must Heaven then be! Well may the Prophet Baruch exclaim: “O Israel, how great is the House of God and how vast is the place of His possession. It is great and hath no end; it is high and immense” (Baruch iii. 24, 25).

We can readily believe this, for we have before our eyes the boundless realms of space. But of the nature of the Infinite realms of Heaven, we know nothing and yet, we can to some extent, picture them in our imagination. It would be against common sense to think that these vast celestial domains are empty and bare, that the great Artificer, to whom the creation of worlds is a very little thing, would leave them unbeautified and unadorned.

If Princes and Lords fill every space and leave no corner in their palaces or their grounds unembellished and unadorned, shall we suppose that the great King of Heaven would permit His Regal Palace, His Celestial Paradise, to be lacking in magnificence and in beauty? What would there be to delight the senses of the Saints, if Heaven were a large empty space? What enjoyment, except the Beatific Vision of God, would there be for them, if they stood all together in a barren plain, like sheep in a penfold? Are we not justified in believing that there are splendid and spacious mansions in Heaven constructed of incorruptible materials?

Nay more, a learned expositor of Holy Scripture considers it probable that by the wondrous skill and wisdom of the great Creator, these fair palaces and dwellings are of varied form and size, some being lower, others higher, some more richly adorned than others. Towering above all and surpassing all in grandeur and magnificence, the Palace of the great King, Jesus Christ stands pre-eminent and next in splendour and dignity ranks the abode of our Sovereign Lady, the Queen of Heaven. Then come the twelve palaces of the Twelve Apostles which are so rich and beautiful that Heaven itself marvels at their magnificence.
Besides these are mansions and dwellings innumerable which render the heavenly Jerusalem indescribably imposing and attractive. These splendid abodes were created when Heaven itself was made and destined to be the dwellings of the redeemed.

The Church teaches us, in the Office for Martyrs that each one of the Elect will have his own place in the Kingdom of Heaven. … “I will give to My Saints an appointed place in the Kingdom of My Father.”
And the Royal Psalmist says: “The Saints shall rejoice in glory; they shall be joyful in their beds” (Ps cxlix. 5).

We have also Christ’s Own Words: “Make unto you friends of the mammon, of iniquity that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings” that is to say, spend what you have over and above on works of charity and benevolence that these may prove as friends to you, who will obtain for you admittance into the eternal and Celestial dwellings (Luke xvi. 9).

Again : “In My Father’s House there are many mansions.”
Hence it may be inferred that each one of the redeemed has his separate abode in Heaven. For as a just and prudent father divides his real and personal property amongst his children, assigning to each one his particular share, so our Heavenly Father apportions to each of His Elect a part of His Celestial Treasures, both visible and invisible, giving to each one more or less, according to the amount he deserves to receive.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on the FAMILY, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 13 April – ‘ … In the Kingdom these relationships are transcended …’

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One Minute Reflection – 13 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – St Hermenegild (Died 585) Martyr, Confessor – Wisdom 5:1-5; Luke 14:26-33 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“If anyone comes to Me, without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” – Luke 14:26

REFLECTION – “On another occasion, the Lord says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children and brothers and sisters and even his own soul, cannot be my disciple.” As a rule, this is more upsetting to the mind of new Christians, who are eager to begin at once, to live in accordance with the precepts of Christ. To those who do not fully grasp its meaning, it would seem contradictory …. He has condescended to call His disciples to the eternal Kingdom. He also called them brothers. In the Kingdom these relationships are transcended because, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor freeman but Christ, is all things and in all.” The Lord says, “For in the resurrection, they will neither be married nor marry but will be as the Angels of God in Heaven.”

Whoever wishes to prepare himself now, for the life of that Kingdom, must not hate people but those earthly relationships, through which the present life is sustained, the temporary life that begins at birth and ends with death. Whoever does not hate this necessity, does not yet love that other life, in which there will be no condition of birth and death, the condition which makes marriages natural on earth.” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Father, Doctor of Grace (Sermon on the Mount,15).

PRAYER – O God, Who didst teach Thy blessed Martyr Hermenegild to choose a heavenly, rather than an earthly crown, grant, we beseech Thee, that we, like him, may so pass through temporal things that we finally miss not those which are eternal. Through esus 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, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, THE 4 LAST THINGS : HEAVEN By Fr Martin von Cochem, The LAST THINGS

Thought for the Day – 12 April – On the Nature of Heaven

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Thought for the Day – 12 April – During this Season of Alleluias and Joy, we will consider Fr von Cochem’s Reflections upon our Heavenly Homeland.

Excerpts from THE FOUR LAST THINGS —- DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN
FATHER MARTIN VON COCHEM (1625-1712) OSFC .

Nihil Obstat: Thomas L Kinkead, Censor Liborium
Imprimatur: Michael Augustine — Archbishop of New York (5 Oct 1899)

PART IV
ON HEAVEN

I.1 On the Nature of Heaven:

WE must not, as some do, picture Heaven to ourselves as a purely spiritual realm. For Heaven is a definite place, where not only God and the Angels are but where Christ is also in His Sacred Humanity and Our Lady with her human body. There too, all the blessed will dwell with their glorified bodies after the Last Judgement.

If Heaven is a definite locality, it must accordingly be a visible, not a spiritual Kingdom; for a place must, in its nature be to some extent conformable to those who abide in it.

Besides, we know that after the Last Judgement the Saints will behold Heaven with their bodily eyes and consequently it must be a visible Kingdom. We are ignorant of what the material structure of Heaven will be composed, we know only that it will be something infinitely superior to and more costly than, the matter of which the other spheres, the sun, the moon and other heavenly bodies, are formed.

For since God has created Heaven for Himself and for His Elect, He has made it so beautiful and so glorious that the blessed will never tire of the contemplation of its splendours for all eternity!

Yet, I repeat, it is not within the power of the writer to describe, nor within that of the reader, to comprehend, of what Heaven is actually composed of. Something may perhaps be learned concerning this from what St Teresa writes. Speaking of herself, she says :
“The Blessed Mother of God gave me a jewel and hung around my neck, a superb golden chain, to which a Cross of priceless value was attached. Both the gold and the precious stones thus given to me, are so unlike those which we have here in this world that no comparison can be instituted between them. They are beautiful beyond anything which can be conceived and the matter whereof they are composed, is beyond our knowledge. For what we call gold and precious stones, beside them appear dark and lustreless as charcoal! ”

From these words we may form some idea of the beauty, the rarity, the costly nature of the stones wherewith the walls of Heaven are built. We gather from them that the Light of Heaven is so dazzling as not only to eclipse the sun and stars but to cause all earthly brightness to appear as darkness. We have besides every reason to believe that in the Light of Heaven, all the colours of the rainbow are seen to flash, giving an indescribable charm to the eyes of the blessed. Moreover, the bodies of the redeemed are resplendent with light and the more Saintly their life on earth has been, the more brilliantly do they shine in Heaven.

What must be the glory of that celestial firmament, glittering with the radiance of many thousand stars! Nothing is more pleasing to the eye than light ; how brilliant, how beautiful must the light of Heaven be since, compared with it, the sun s bright rays are but darkness.

How the redeemed must delight in the contemplation of this clear and dazzling brightness!

O my God, grant me grace that on earth I may love the Light and eschew the works of darkness, in order that I may attain to the contemplation of the Eternal and Perpetual Light! Amen

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, POETRY, Quote on SELF-ABANDONMENT, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, Quotes Self-Oblation, The HEART, The HOLY CROSS

Quote of the Day – 3 April – GOOD FRIDAY The Word of the Cross (Christ,What am I to Give Thee for my life?)

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Quote of the Day – 3 April – Good Friday – The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

GOOD FRIDAY
The Word of the Cross
(Christ,What am I to Give Thee for my life?)

St Paulinus of Nola (c 354-431)
Father of the Church

“Look on thy God, Christ hidden in our flesh.
A bitter word, the Cross and bitter sight –
Hard rind without, to hold the Heart of Heaven.
Yet, sweet it is, for God upon that tree
Did offer up His Life upon that rood –
My Life hung, that my Life might stand in God.
Christ, what am I to give Thee for my life?
Unless, take from Thy Hands, the cup they hold,
To cleanse me with the precious draught of death.
What shall I do? My body to be burned?
Make myself vile? The debt is not paid out yet.
Whate’er I do, it is but I and Thou,
And still do I come short, still must Thou pay
My debts, O Christ, for debts Thyself had’st none.
What love may balance Thine? My Lord was found
In fashion like a slave that so His slave
Might find himself in fashion like his Lord.
Think you the bargain’s hard, to have exchanged
The transient for the eternal, to have sold,
Earth to buy Heaven? More dearly God bought me!”

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2026, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), Thomas Aquinas

Monday in Holy Week – 30 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – It is Necessary that We be Wholly Clean

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Monday in Holy Week – 30 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Monday in Holy Week
It is Necessary that We be Wholly Clean

“If I wash thee not, thou shaft have no part with me”
John xiii. 8

  1. “If I wash thee not, thou shaft have no part with me” (John xiii. 8).
    No-one can be made a sharer in the inheritance of eternity, a co-heir with Christ, unless he is spiritually cleansed, for in the Apocalypse it is so stated.
    “There shall not enter into it anything defiled” (Apoc xxi. 27) and in the Psalms we read, “Lord who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle?” (Ps xiv.) Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord; or who shall stand in His holy place?
    The innocent in hands and clean of heart (Ps xxiii. 3, 4).

It is, therefore, as though Our Lord said, If I wash thee not, thou shalt not be cleansed and if thou art not cleansed, thou shalt have no part with me.

  1. Simon Peter saith to Him: “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head” (John xiii. 9).
    Peter, utterly stricken, offers his whole self to be washed, so confounded is he with love and with fear.
    We read, in fact, in the book called The Journeying of Clement that Peter used to be so overcome by the Physical Presence of Our Lord Whom he had most fervently loved that whenever, after Our Lord’s Ascension, the memory of that dearest Presence and most holy company came to him, he used so to melt into tears that his cheeks seemed all worn out with them.

We can consider three parts in man’s body, the head, which is the highest, the feet, which are the lowest part, and the hands which lie in-between.
In the interior man, i.e. in the soul, there are likewise three parts.
Corresponding to the head – there is the higher reason, the power by means of which the soul clings to God.
For the hands – there is the lower reason, by which the soul operates in good works.
For the feet –there are the senses and the feelings and desires arising from them.
Now Our Lord knew the disciples to be clean, as far as the head was concerned, for He knew they were joined to God by faith and by charity.
He knew their hands also were clean, for He knew their good works.
But as to their feet, He knew that the disciples were still somewhat entangled in those inclinations of earthly things which are derived from the life of the senses.

Peter, alarmed by Our Lord s warning (v. 8), not only consented that his feet should be washed but begged that his hands and his head should be washed too.

Lord, he said, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.
As though to say, “I know not whether hands and head need to be washed. For I am not conscious myself of anything, yet am I not hereby justified (i Cor iv. 4). Therefore, I am ready not only for my feet to be washed that is, those inclinations which arise out of the life of my senses but also my hands, that is, my works and my head too, that is, my higher reason.”

  1. “Jesus saith to him: He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet but is clean wholly. And you are clean” (John xiii. 10).
    Origen, commenting on this text, says that the Apostles were clean but needed to be yet cleaner. For reason should ever desire gifts which are better still, should ever set itself to achieve the very heights of virtue, should aspire to shine with the brightness of justice itself. “He who is holy, let him be sanctified still” (Apoc xxii. 11).

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, In the PRESENCE of GOD, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SIN, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 26 March – ‘Forgiven … Because she has loved much …’ Luke 7:47

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Quote/s of the Day – 26 March – Thursday in Passion Week –Ferial Day – Daniel 3:25, 34-45 – Luke 7:36-50 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“She began to bathe His feet with her tears
and wiped them with the hair of her head
and kissed His feet
and anointed them with ointment.”

Luke 7:38

“Wherefore I say to you,
her sins, many as they are,
shall be forgiven her
because she has loved much.
But he, to whom little is forgiven,
loves little.”

Luke 7:47

“A servant of the Lord
stands bodily before men
but mentally,
he is knocking at the Gates of Heaven.
with prayer.”

St John Climacus (c 525-606)
Father of the Church

“For, just as water extinguishes a fire,
just so, does charity blot out our sins.”

St John of God (1495-1550)

“ I shall spend every moment loving.
One who loves, does not notice her trials;
or perhaps, more accurately,
she is able to love them.
I shall do everything for Heaven, my true home.
There, I shall find my Mother,
in all the splendour of her glory.
I shall delight with her
in the joy of Jesus Himself,
in perfect safety.”

St Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENT 2026, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on MORTAL SIN, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on SIN, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Thomas Aquinas

Passion Monday – 23 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – The Passion of Christ is a Remedy Against Sin

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Passion Monday – 23 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Passion Monday
The Passion of Christ is a Remedy Against Sin

“Having confidence in entering into the Holies by the Blood of Christ”
Heb x. 19

We find in the Passion of Christ a remedy against all the evils which we incur through sin.
Now, these evils are five in number.
(i) We ourselves become unclean.
When a man commits any sin, he soils his soul, for just as virtue is the beauty of the soul, so sin is a stain upon it.
“How happen it, O Israel that thou art in thy enemies land? Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead” (Baruch iii. 10, 11).
The Passion of Christ takes away this stain.
For Christ, by His Passion, made of His Blood a bath wherein He might wash sinners.
The soul is washed with the Blood of Christ in Baptism, for it is from the Blood of Christ, the Sacrament draws its Power of giving New Life.
When, therefore, one who is Baptised soils himself again by sin, he insults Christ and sins more deeply than before!

(ii) We offend God.
As the man who is fleshly-minded loves what is beautiful to the flesh, so God Loves spiritual beauty, the beauty of the soul.
When the soul’s beauty is defiled by sin, God is offended and holds the offender in hatred.
But the Passion of Christ takes away this hatred, for it does what man himself could not possibly do, namely, it makes full satisfaction to God for the sin.
The Love and Obedience of Christ, was greater than the sin and rebellion of Adam.

(iii) We ourselves are weakened.
Man believes that, once he has committed the sin, he will be able to keep from sin for the future.
Experience shows, however, that which really happens is quite the otherwise.
The effect of the first sin is to weaken the sinner and make him still more inclined to sin.
Sin dominates man more and more and man, left to himself, whatever his powers, places himself in such a state, he cannot arise from this state of sin.
Like a man who has thrown himself into a well, there he must lie, unless he is drawn up by Divine Power.
After the sin of Adam then, our human nature was weaker, it had lost its perfection and men were more prone to sin.
But Christ, although He did not utterly make an end of this weakness, nevertheless, greatly lessened it.
Man is so strengthened by the Passion of Christ and the effect of Adam’s sin is so weakened, man is no longer dominated by sin.
Assisted by the Grace of God, given him in the Sacraments which derive their Power from the Passion of Christ, man is now able to make an effort and so arise from his sins.
Before the Passion of Christ, there were few who lived without mortal sin but since the Passion, many have lived and do live without it.

(iv) Liability to the punishment earned by sin.
This, the Justice of God demanded, namely – for each sin the sinner should be punished, the penalty to be measured according to the sin.
Whence, since mortal sin is infinitely wicked, seeing that it is a sin against what is Infinitely Good, i.e., God Whose commands the sin despises, the punishment due by mortal sin is infinite too.
But by His Passion, Christ took away from us this penalty, for He endured it Himself.
“Who, His own self bore our sins, that is the punishment due to us for our sins, in His Body upon the tree”(i Pet ii. 24).
So great was the power and value of the Passion of Christ that it was sufficient to expiate all the sins of all the world, calculated in millions though they be.
This is the reason why Baptism frees the baptised from all their sins and why the Priest can forgive sin.
This is why the man who more and more fashions his life in conformity with the Passion of Christ and makes himself like to Christ in His Passion, attains an ever fuller pardon and ever greater Graces.

(v) Banishment from the Kingdom.
Subjects who offend the king are sent into exile.
So too, man was expelled from Paradise.
Adam, having sinned, was straightaway ejected and the Gates barred against him.
But, by His Passion, Christ opened those Gates and called back the exiles from banishment.
As the Side of Christ opened to the soldier’s lance, the Gates of Heaven opened to man and as Christ’s Blood flowed, the stain was washed away, God was appeased, our weakness strengthened, reparatiion made for our sins and the exiles were recalled.

Thus it was that Our Lord said immediately to the repentant thief, “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise” (Luke xxiii. 43).
Such a thing was never before said to any man, not to Adam nor to Abraham, nor even to David.
But This Day, the day on which the Gate is opened, the thief does but ask and he finds.
“Having confidence in entering into the Holies by the Blood of Christ” (Heb x. 19).

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on HEAVEN, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

LAETARE – The 4th SUNDAY of Lent –15 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Christ, by His Passion, Opened the Gates of Heaven

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LAETARE – The 4th SUNDAY of Lent –15 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor of the Church

The Fourth (LAETARE) Sunday
Christ, by His Passion, Opened, the Gates of Heaven

“We have a confidence in the entering into the holies by the Blood of Christ.”
Hebrews x. 19.

The closing of a gate is an obstacle hindering men’s entrance.
Now men are hindered by sin, from entrance to the Heavenly Kingdom, for Isaias says, “It shall be called the holy way, the unclean shall not pass over it”(Is xxxv. 8).

Now the sin which hinders man’s entrance into Heaven,is of two kinds.
There is, first of all, the sin of our first parents.
By this sin, access to the Kingdom of Heaven was barred to man.
We read in Genesis (iii. 24) that after the sin of our first parents God placed before the paradise of pleasure, Cherubim and a flaming sword, turning every way, to protect the way of the tree of life.
The other kind of hindrance arises from the sins of each individual, the sins each man commits by his own particular action.

By the Passion of Christ, we are freed not only from the sin common to all human nature and this both as to the sin and as to its appointed penalty, since Christ Pays the Price on our behalf but too, we are delivered from our personal sins if we are numbered among those who are linked to the Passion by faith, by charity and by the Sacraments of the Faith.
Thus, it is that through the Passion of Christ the Gates of Heaven are thrown open to us.
And hence, St Paul says that Christ, being a High Priest of the good things to come, by His Own Blood entered once into the holies, having obtained a redemption which is eternal (Heb ix. 11).

And this was foreshadowed in the Old Testament, where we read (Num xxxv. 25, 28), the Man-slayer shall abide there, that is, in the City of Refuge, until the Death of the High Priest, Who is anointe with holy oil. And after He is Dead, then shall the Man-slayer return to His own cCuntry.

The holy fathers who (before the coming of Christ) wrought works of justice earned their entrance into Heaven through faith in the Passion of Christ, as is written, “The saints, by faith, conquered kingdoms, wrought justice” (Heb xi. 33).
By faith, too, it was that individuals were cleansed from the sins they had individually committed.
But faith or goodness, no matter who the person was who possessed them, was not enough to be able to move the hindrance created by the guilty state of the whole human creation.
This hindrance was only removed at the Price of the Blood of Christ.
And, therefore, before the Passion of Christ, no-one could enter the Heavenly Kingdom, to obtain that eternal happiness which consists in the full enjoyment of God.

Christ by His Passion Merited for us, an entrance into Heaven, and removed what stood in our way.
By His Ascension, however, He, as it were, put mankind in possession of Heaven.
And, therefore, it is that He ascended, opening the way before them.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2026, Of BEGGARS, the POOR, against POVERTY, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on GREED, WEALTH, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the POOR, The HEART, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 5 March – ‘ … Give earth and receive Heaven! …’

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Quote/s of the Day – 5 March – Ferial Day – Thursday of the Second Week in Lent – Jeremias 17:5-10 – Luke 16:19-31 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“There was a rich man,
who was clothed in purple
and fine linen
and who feasted sumptuously everyday.
And at his gate lay a poor man,
named Lazarus…”

Luke 16:19–20

“Amen I say to you,
as long as you did NOT do it
for one of these least ones,
you did NOT do it for Me.”

Matthew 25:45

“Give of your earthly goods
and receive eternal ones;
give earth and receive Heaven!”

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

“What is a man’s treasure
but the heaping up of profits
and the fruit of his toil?
For, whatever a man sows,
this too will he reap and each man’s gain,
matches his toil and where delight
and enjoyment are found,
there the heart’s desire is attached.
Now, there are many kinds of wealth
and a variety of grounds for rejoicing –
every man’s treasure is that, which he desires.
If it is based on earthly ambitions,
its acquisition makes men not blessed but wretched.
… By distributing what might be superfluous
to support the poor, they are amassing
imperishable riches, so that what they have
discreetly given, cannot be subject to loss.
They have properly placed those riches,
where their heart is – it is a most blessed thing,
to work to increase such riches,
rather than to fear that they may pass away.”

St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
ather and Doctor of the Church

“If thou wouldst see well, pluck out thine eyes and be blind;
if thou wouldst hear well, be deaf
and if thou wouldst speak well, become dumb;
if thou wouldst advance, stand still
and advance with thy mind;
if thou wouldst work well, cut off thy hands
and work with thy heart;
if thou wouldst love much, hate thyself;
if thou wouldst live well, mortify thyself;
if thou wouldst gain much and be rich,
first lose all and become poor
and if thou wouldst enjoy peace, afflict thyself
and be ever in fear and suspect thine own self;
if thou wouldst be exalted and have great honour,
humble and abase thyself;
if thou wouldst be held in great reverence, despise thyself
and do reverence to him who reviles thee;
if thou wouldst that it should be well with thee,
suffer all evil things and if thou wouldst be blessed,
desire that all should speak ill of thee
and if thou wouldst have true and eternal rest,
then toil and suffer and desire to have every temporal affliction.
O what great wisdom it is to know how to do
and to work out these things.”

Blessed Giles of Assisi (c1190-1262)

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PURITY

Our Morning Offering – 2 March – Lord Jesus, Think on Me By St Synesius

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Our Morning Offering – 2 March – Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Lord Jesus, Think on Me
By St Synesius of Cyrene (375-430)
Bishop of Ptolemais, Father

Lord Jesus, think on me
and purge away my sin,
from earth-born passions set me free,
and make me pure within.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
With care and woe oppressed,
let me Thy loving servant be
and taste Thy promised rest.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
nor let me go astray,
through darkness and perplexity
point Thou the heav’nly way.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
that, when the flood is past,
I may eternal brightness see
and share Thy joy at last.
Amen

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The O ANTIPHONS

Quote/s of the Day – 28 December – “O Clavis David”

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Quote/s of the Day – 28 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Feast of the Holy Innocents

“O Clavis David”

“ O Key of David and Sceptre of the house of Israel,
Who openest and no man shutteth
and shuttest and no man openeth;
Ccome and deliver from the prisonhouse,
the captive who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

“The Key and the Sceptre, are the symbols of supreme authority; they indicate the sway which the Saviour is to hold over His faithful people and the right which He alone possesses of opening the Gate of Heaven to the children of men and of extending to them the golden sceptre of His mercy and forgiving love.
To me, O Key of David, unworthy though I am, open in Thy Mercy the Door of Heaven; stretch forth to me, all undeserving, the sceptre of Thy favour and Thy love.”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 27 December – “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow Me.” – John 21:22

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One Minute Reflection – 27 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – St John, the Apostle and Evangelist, the Beloved – St John the Apostle and Evangelist – Ecclesiasticus 15:1-6 – John 21:19-24 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow Me.” – John 21:22

REFLECTION – “The Church knows of two lives advocated and recommended by God . One in faith, the other in vision; one in our pilgrimage through time, the other in the abode of eternity; one in working, the other in repose; one on the way, the other in our homeland; one in the labour of action, the other in the reward of contemplation. … The first is represented by the Apostle Peter, the second, by John. The first wholly takes place here below, until the end of the world and then comes to an end. The second only reaches its fulfilment after the world’s end; in the world to come, it will never end.

“What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow Me” …. Let your action follow Me, perfect and modelled on the example of My Passion; let the contemplation which has begun, remain until My return: I will perfect it when I come again. For this persevering fervour which stands firm to the death, is a following of Christ and this knowledge, which will then be manifested in fullness, remains until the return of Christ. Here, in the country of mortal men, we must undergo the afflictions of this world; there, we shall contemplate the Lord’s blessings, in the land of the living (Ps 26:13). …

So let no-one divide one from the other of these two, glorious Apostles, for both are contained in what Peter symbolises and both, will be in what John represents.” – St Augustine (354-320) Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermons on Saint John’s Gospel No 124: 5-7).

PRAYER – O Lord, graciously shed light upon Thy Church, so that, enlightened by the teachings of blessed John, ThyApostle and Evangelist, she may gain YThy everlasting rewards.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 "Follow Me", ADVENT QUOTES, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, GOD ALONE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SIMPLICITY, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The DIVINE INFANT, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 23 December – What Jesus Wants From Us

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Thought for the Day – 23 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

A Christmas Novena VIII
What Jesus Wants From Us

“Unless you turn and become like little children,” the Infant Jess says to us, “you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 18:2).
He wishes us to be humble, simple and innocent, like children.
As we grow older, unfortunately, many of us become proud, complicated and vain.
We lose the honest candour of childhood

Worldly pretentiousness cannot possibly appeal to Jesus, since He, Who is truly great, chose to become a tiny Infant.
He wishes us to renounce the self-important airs and the intricate methods which we employ, in order to conceal the truth, to disguise our lack of virtue and to assume the appearances of learning and of authority, regardless of the fact that the highest achievement of which we are capable, is to be humble, the most necessary knowledge of all, is to know Jesus Crucified and the best kind of authority, is the ability to control our passions and to subject ourselves to the will of God.

It is, in this sense, that we must become little children before God and before man.
Then Jesus Christ will love us and will grant us His favours.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in "Follow Me", ADVENT QUOTES, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 21 December – Prepare the way of the Lord …

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Quote/s of the Day – 21 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Advent IV – 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 – Luke 3:1-6 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight His paths.”

Luke 3:4

“As the prodigal son,
I will return to my Father’s house
and I will be welcomed back home.
I shall do the same, as he did –
will the Father not grant my prayer too?
O forgiving Father, here I am at Thy door
and I knock, open to me, let me enter,
so that I may not ruin myself, go away and die!
Thou made me Thy heir
and I neglected my inheritance
and squandered my goods –
from now on, may I be as a mercenary
and as a servant to Thee.”

St Jacob of Sarug (c451-521)
Bishop, Theologian, Poet, Writer, Father

“ … Yet only grant me repentance here below
That I may make reparation for my sins, …
That these tears may extinguish the blazing furnace
With its burning flames. …

And, instead of acting like the merciless,
Set merciful compassion within me,
That, by showing mercy to the poor,
I may obtain Your mercy.”

St Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173)
Armenian Bishop

“By the practice of prayer,
we can construct an impregnable citadel,
in which we shall be securely protected
against all the snares of the enemy.”

St Lawrence Justinian (1381-1455)

“For the sake of obtaining that eternal life,
no works of piety,
ought to seem too difficult to a true believer,
no toil too heavy,
no pain too bitter,
no time spent in labour and suffering,
too long or too wearisome.
For, if nothing is sweeter, or more desirable,
than this present life which is so full of calamities,
how much more desirable,
must that other life be deemed
which is so far removed from all sense of evil,
or fear of it, which will, in every conceivable way,
always abound in the unspeakable
and unending joys, delight and happiness of Heaven.”

St Peter Canisius SJ (1521-1597)
Confessor, Doctor of the Church

Posted in ADVENT, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, GOD ALONE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The DIVINE INFANT

Thought for the Day – 18 December – The Cradle of the Divine Infant Jesus

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Thought for the Day – 18 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

A Christmas Novena III
The Cradle of the Divine Infant Jesus

“Perhaps I still preserve a strong attachment to sin and fall badly from time to time.
What is the main motivating power in my life?
Perhaps, I am motivated by self-interest and am attracted by pleasure, ease and worldly glory.
How little I have learned from the example of Our Lord in the manger.

Let us remember, that the man who looks only for worldly success, cannot find Heaven!
He will wind up bitter and disillusioned, whereas the man who seeks Jesus Christ, will eventually enjoy the peace and happiness which God alone can give.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/18/thought-for-the-day-18-december-a-christmas-novena-the-cradle-of-the-divine-infant-jesus/

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HUMAN DIGNITY, QUOTES on THE WORLD, St Francis de Sales, The BEATITUDES, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 11 December – ‘Let us keep our eyes unceasingly fixed upon the Divine Ideal …’

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Quote/s of the Day – 11 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Sirach 44:16-27; 45:3-20; Matthew 25:14-23 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“ Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Matthew 25:21

“Blessed are you poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours …”

Luke 6:20

“Let us keep our eyes unceasingly
fixed upon the Divine Ideal;
let us work to realise, within ourselves,
the perfection to which God wishes us to reach,
in order to imitate His Divine Son.”

Columba Marmion (1858-1923)
Abbot

“Christ acts like a loving mother.
To induce us to follow Him,
He gives us Himself as an example
and promises us a reward in His kingdom.”

St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
Evangelical Doctor

“Do not fix your longings on anything
which you do not possess;
do not let your heart rest in that which you have;
do not grieve overmuch,
at the losses which may happen to you –
and then, you may reasonably believe
that although rich in fact,
you are not so in affection
but that you are poor in spirit
and, therefore, blessed,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is yours.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis