Category: QUOTES on SIN

Posted in GOOD RESOLUTIONS, INGRATITUDE, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES for the NEW YEAR, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on Lukewarmness, QUOTES on MEDIOCRITY, QUOTES on MORTAL SIN, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 31 December – The Last Day of the Year

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 31 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Last Day of the Year

“Now that the year is almost over, cast your mind back to the good resolutions which you made at the beginning of it.
Have you put these resolutions into effect?
Has there been any improvement in your spiritual life during these twelve months, or must you confess, that it has deteriorated?
How often have you committed sin, perhaps even grave sin, during the year?
When God appealed to you to perform some good action, how often did you refuse Him?

Your future outlook is very dark if your life has developed into a gradual descent towards evil.
Anyday, God could grow tired of your ingratitude and obstinacy and send death to end your infidelity.
Then you would almost certainly, be damned forever.
If you have surrendered to spiritual languor and mediocrity, therefore, it is time for you to stir yourself.
It is time to become more generous with God, to display a greater spirit of self-sacrifice in responding to His appeals and to form further resolutions.

Virtue cannot co-exist with spiritual tepidity, which leads inevitably, towards sin.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/31/thought-for-the-day-31-december-the-last-day-of-the-year/
ABOVE IS PART TWO
PART THREE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/31/thought-for-the-day-31-december-the-last-day-of-the-year-3/

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, CONFESSION, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY COMMUNION, QUOTES on SACRILEGE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SIN, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, VENIAL SIN

Quote/s of the Day – 11 December – ‘Make ready then the vessel of your soul …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 11 December – Advent Preparation and Penance

“Make ready then the vessel of your soul
that you may become a son of God
and an heir of God
and joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17);
if, indeed, you are preparing yourself
that you may receive;
if you are drawing near in faith
that you may be made faithful;
if of set purpose,
you are putting off the old man!”

St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“If they, must regard themselves
as useless servants, who have done all their duty,
what must I do, who have done
so small a part of what I ought to have done?”

St Andrew Avellino CR (1521–1608)

“What better penance
can a heart do
which commits faults,
than to submit
to a continual abnegation
of self-will?”

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

“What hope would you entertain
of the recovery of the man, who,
instead of taking the medicine prescribed by his physician, drank a cup of poison instead?
God! What can the Sacrament of Penance be
to those who conceal their sins but a deadly poison
which adds to their guilt, the malice of Sacrilege?
What, then, does the sinner do, when he conceals
his sins in Confession?
He tramples underfoot, the Blood of Jesus Christ.
And should he afterwards receive the Holy Communion
in a state of sin, he is, according to St Chrysostom,
as guilty as if he threw the Consecrated Host into a sink …
Accursed shame! how many poor souls
do you bring to hell?
… Unhappy souls! they think only of the shame
of confessing their sins and do not reflect
that, if they conceal them, they shall be
certainly damned!”

St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

“Unfortunately, our only return for God’s
continual favours, has been negligence,
ingratitude and sin!
Since it is an offence against God,
Who is infinitely good and amiable,
even venial sin cannot properly be atoned for
by the merits of all the Angels
and of all the Saints of Heaven.
Therefore, it was necessary for the Son of God,
made Man, to offer Himself
as a Victim of Expiation, on our behalf.
Remembering His Infinite Merits,
we should humbly ask God –
‘forgive us our debts.‘ that is, our many sins
and failings and, whatever punishment is owing to us,
for every sin demands some expiation,
either in this life or in the next!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, CONFESSION/PENANCE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 10 December – “It is time now for us to rise from sleep!”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 10 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Within the Octave – Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 11:2-10 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“For this is He of Whom it is written:
Behold. I send My Angel before My face,
who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.”

Matthew 11:10

“It is time now for us to rise from sleep!”

St Benedict (c 480-547)

“Penance is a needful thing to the sinner,
who desires to recover health of his soul.
And, in doing penance, there be three things
to be considered:
serious compunction of heart,
confession of mouth
and satisfaction by deed.”

St John Fisher (1469-1535)
Martyr

“Lord, forgive this great sinner.
Give me time to do penance.
No more world, no more sins!”

St Camillus de Lellis MI (1550-1614)

“Our business is, to gain heaven;
everything else, is a sheer waste of time.”

St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, HOW to PRAY at ALL TIMES, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 13 Noivember – Pray After a Fault

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 13 Noivember – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“How to Pray at All Times”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

Pray After a Fault
Excerpt from Chapter Three:IV

“Another mark of confidence, highly pleasing to our most loving God, is this – that when you have committed any fault, you are not ashamed to go at once to Him and seek His pardon. Consider that God is so willing to pardon sinners that He laments their perdition, when they depart far from Him and live lives dead to His grace.

… He promises to receive a soul who has forsaken Him, if only the soul returns to His arms … If you come to Me and repent, though your soul be dyed deep crimson with crime, by My grace it shall be made white as snow.

… Attend, especially, devout soul, to what is commonly taught by masters of the spiritual life, who recommend you to have recourse immediately to God after you have fallen, although you should repeat the fall a hundred times in the day.
Having done this, do not be disturbed.
If you remain discouraged and troubled because of the fault committed, you will scarcely speak to God; your confidence will grow less; your desire to love God will grow cold and you will make little or no advancement in the way of the Lord.
On the other hand, by having immediate recourse to God, asking His pardon and promising amendment for the future, your very faults will help you to advance in Divine love. Between friends, who sincerely love one another, it sometimes happens that when one offends the other and then. humbles himself and asks pardon, their friendship becomes stronger than ever.
Do you act in like manner with regard to God – let your faults and falls, only strengthen the bonds of love which unite you to Him.”

Posted in CHRIST the JUDGE, JESUIT SJ, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on MORTAL SIN, QUOTES on SIN, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 13 November – St Stanislaus Kostka

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 13 November – St Stanislaus Kostka SJ (1550-1568) Jesuit Novice

“Think of the joy the soul will feel
in its escape from the prison of this body.
So long has it lived in perpetual exile,
expelled from its own heavenly home.
How much greater its uncontainable joy
and complete satisfaction,
when it arrives in its own Country
to enjoy the Vision of God,
with the Angels and the blessed.”

“I am so ashamed and confused
because I see how many have been lost
on account of a single mortal sin
and, how many times,
I have deserved eternal damnation.”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/11/13/quote-s-of-the-day-13-november-st-stanislaus-kostka-s/

St Stanislaus Kostka SJ (1550-1568)

Posted in DOCTRINE, PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 28 October – CONSIDERATION XXVI, Of the Pain of Hell

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 28 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XXVI

Of the Pain of Hell
“And these shall go into everlasting punishment.”
(Matt xxv: 46)

FIRST POINT:
THE sinner, when he sins, commits two evils – he leaves God, the highest Good and, he turns to the creature. “For My people have committed two evils – they have forsaken Me. the Fountain of Living Waters and hewed cisterns, broken cisterns which can hold no water.” (Jer ii: 13). Since then, the sinner turns to the creature, with a loathing of God – by those very creatures –he shall be justly tormented in hell, by the fire and by demons, this forms the pain of the senses. But since his greatest guilt,in which the sin consists, lies in his turning away from God, so the chief punishment … will be the pain of loss, that is, the pain of having lost God.

Let us consider, in the first place, the pain of the senses.
It is an Article of Faith that there is a hell.
This prison is reserved in the middle of the earth, for the punishment of the rebels against God.
What is this hell? It is a place of torments.
“This place of torment,” (Luke xvi: 28), as the condemned glutton called hell. A place of torments, where all the senses and the powers of the condemned, will each have their especial torment and, in proportion, as one sense has especially offended God, so also will be its peculiar punishment.
“That wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also,shall he be punished.” (Wisd xi: 16).
“As much as she hath glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her because, she saith in her heart, I sit a queen and am no widow and sorrow I shall not see.” (Apoc xviii: 7)

The sight will be tormented with darkness.
“The land of darkness and the shadow of death.” (Job x: 21). What compassion should we feel for a poor man who remained shut up in a dark pit for the remainder of his life, for forty or fifty years! Hell is a pit, shut in on every side, in which no ray of the sun or any other light will ever enter. “Man …. shall never see light.” (Ps xlix: 20).
The fire which enlightens on earth, in hell, will be altogether dark.
“The Voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.” (Ps xxix: 7) Which expression St Basil explains, of the Lord dividing the fire from the light, so that it will suffice to burn only and not to illuminate; or as Albert the Great expresses it: “He will divide the glowing from the heat.” The very smoke which leaves this fire, will form that “ blackness of darkness,” which St Jude says is reserved forever for the wicked. ( Jude 13).
St Thomas Aquinas says, there will be reserved for the wicked, light, “as much as suffices for men to see those things which torment them.” They will see in that glimmer of light, the ugliness of the other reprobates and of the demons, who, to frighten them the more, will assume horrible forms.

The sense of smell too, will be tormented.
What torment would it be, to be shut up in a room with a putrid corpse!?
“Their stench shall come out of their carcases.” (Isa xxxiv: 3).
The lost will have to remain in the midst of so many millions of lost nes, alive as to pain but corpses by the odour which they emit.

But some foolish one may say: “If I go to hell, I shall not be alone.” Wretched one! By how many more there are in hell, by so much more will they suffer!
As St Thomas Aquinas says: “There the society of the wretched, will not lessen but increase, the misery” they will suffer all the more, I say, from the smell, the cries, the confinement since in hell, they will be upon each other like sheep are penned together in the winter. “They live in hell like sheep.” (Ps xlix: 14).
Nay more, they will be as grapes, pressed under the press of the wrath of God. “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath ofAlmighty God.” (Apoc xix: 5). They shall have from this also, the pain of permanence. “They shall be as still as a stone.” (Exod xv: 1 6). Thus the lost, as they fall into hell at the last day, so will they remain without ever changing their place and be unable to move, either foot or hand, whilst God shall be God.

The sense of hearing will be tormented with the ceaseless howling and wailing of those poor desperate ones. The demons will make continual dins. “A dreadful sound is in his ears.” (Job xv: 21). What pain this, when one wishes to sleep, to hear the continual moaning of the sick, the barking of a dog, or the crying of an infant? Unhappy lost ones! who are condemned to ever hear, for all eternity, the groans and cries of those who are tortured.

The appetite too, will be tormented by hunger; the lost ones will experience a rabid hunger, “grin like a dog …. and grudge if they be not satisfied.” (Ps lix: 14, 15).
But they shall not have a crumb of bread.
The thirst will be so great that all the water of the sea would not suffice for it, nevertheless, they shall not have one drop!
The rich man asked for one drop but this he has not yet had it and. will never have it never ever!

Affections andPrayers

Ah, my Lord, behold at Thy Feet one who has made small account, both of Thy grace and of Thy chastisements. Poor me, if Thou, my Jesus, hadst not had pity upon me, for how many years should I have been in that fearful furnace, where truly are now burning so many like myself.
Oh, my Redeemer, how is it, that whilst thinking upon this I do not burn with Thy love?
How shall I ever be able to think of offending Thee anew. Oh, may it never be, my Jesus Christ; grant me rather to die a thousand deaths. … Thou hast delivered me from the ruin of my many sins and with so great love, Thou hast called me to love Thee. Ah, grant now. that this time which Thou hast given me, I may spend wholly for Thee.

How would the lost desire one day, nay, one hour of the time which Thou hast granted to me and I, what shall I do? Shall I continue to spend it on things which displease Thee? No, my Jesus! do not allow this by the merits of that Blood which hitherto has delivered me from hell.
I love Thee, O Highest Good and because I love Thee, I repent of having offended Thee.
I desire to offend Thee no more but ever to love Thee. Grant that I may obtain the gift of perseverance and of Thy holy love.

Posted in PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL

Thought for the Day – 25 October – CONSIDERATION XXIII, The Delusions infused by the Devil into the Mind of the Sinner

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 25 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XXIII

The Delusions infused by the Devil
in the Mind of the Sinner
“That they mav recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil.”
(2 Tim ii: 26)

FIRST POINT:
LET us picture to ourselves some young person once fallen into grievous sin but who now, has confessed it and has regained the Divine grace. The devil again tempts such a one to fall, he resists but already he wavers because of the delusions which the enemy puts into his mind. I say to such: “Young man, tell me what thou dost wish to do?
Art thou willing to lose the grace of God which thou hast
regained and which is worth more than all the world, in order to obtain that miserable satisfaction? Dost thou wish to write the sentence of thy eternal death to condemn thyself to burn forever in hell?” Thou sayest, No, I do not wish to condemn myself, I wish to be saved; if I commit this sin I will confess it afterwards.

This is the first delusion which the devil presents to you. Thou sayest that afterwards thou wilt confess it? But, in the meanwhile, thou art losing thy soul. Tell me, whether, if thou hadst a jewel in thy hand which was worth a very large sum of money, wouldst thou throw it into the river saying: “Presently I will search carefully,and then I shall hope to find it again?” but thou hast in thy hand that most beautiful jewel – thy soul which Jesus Christ has bought with His Blood and thou art willingly throwing it into hell! for by sinning thou art already condemned according to the present justice and thus casting it away, thou art saying, I hope to regain it by confessing.

But if thou shouldst not regain it? For in order to regain it,
a true repentance is necessary which is the gift of God. And if God should not grant this repentance? And if death should come and deprive thee of the time for confession?
Thou sayest that thou wilt not allow a week to pass without
confession. But who promises thee this week? Thou sayest
that thou wilt confess to-morrow. But who promises thee tomorrow?

St Augustine writes thus – God has not promised to give thee to-morrow, perhaps He will give it to thee and perhaps He will refuse to give it to thee; even as He has denied it to so many, who at night have gone to bed alive and in the morning have been found dead. How many, indeed, in the act itself of sin, has the Lord struck dead and sent to everlasting punishment? And if He should do the same with thee, how couldst thou amend thy eternal ruin? Know, that because of this mistake, in saying: “Afterwards I will confess,” the devil has borne many thousands of Christian souls to hell. … All, when they sin, sin in the hope of confessing their sin and thus, have so many miserable ones been condemned and now they can no longer remedy their condemnation.

But thou sayest: “I am not strong enough to resist that temptation” this is the second delusion of the devil who tries to make thee feel that thou hast not strength to resist the present passion.
Firstly, we must understand that God, as the Apostle tells us, is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted beyond that which we are able. (l Cor x: 13).
Moreover, I ask thee, if now thou art not strong enough to resist, how canst thou gain strength afterwards? Afterwards, the enemy will not cease to tempt thee to commit other sins and then, he will be much stronger against thee and thou wilt be much weaker. If, therefore, now thou art not strong enough to extinguish that flame, how wilt thou be able to do so, when the flame is much greater Thou sayest that God will give thee His help. But God already gives His assistance to thee; why, therefore, with His Grace canst thou not resist? Perhaps thou art hoping that God will increase His aid and His graces, after thou hast increased thy sins!? But if now thou requirest greater assistance and strength, why not ask God to grant them to thee? Perhaps thou art doubting God’s faithfulness, when He promised to give thee all that thou need: “Ask, and it shall be given thee.” (Matt vii: 7).
God cannot fail; fly to Him; He will give thee that strength which is necessary for thee to resist.

Ancient Fathers have declared that “God does not command things impossible to be performed but, by commanding, bids thee both do what thou can and to pray for what thou cannot do and He helps you to do it.”

Affections andPrayers

Therefore, my God, is it because Thou hast been so good to me that I have been so ungrateful to Thee?
We have, as it were, been battling each other – I, in flying from Thee and Thou, in seeking me; Thou in doing me good and I, in doing evil against Thee.
Ah, my Lord, if there were no other reason, the goodness alone which Thou hast shown me, ought to have inspired me with love for Thee; for after I have increased my sins, Thou hast increased Thy Graces. And, whenever have I deserved the Light which Thou art giving to me?
My Lord, I thank Thee with all my heart and I hope
to come to Heaven, there to thank Thee for that Light through all eternity. I hope, through Thy Blood, to be saved and I hope it with certainty because Thou hast shown so many mercies to me.

In the meantime I hope Thou wilt grant me strength. never more to betray Thee. … I have offended Thee often enough.
In the life that remains to me I wish to love Thee. And how can I help loving a God, Who, after having died for me, has borne with me with so much patience, notwithstanding the many insults I have offered to Him?
O God of my soul, I repent with all my heart; would that I could die of grief. But if during the past, I have turned from Thee, now do I love Thee beyond every thing, much more than I love myself.

Eternal Father, through the merits of Jesus Christ, succour a miserable sinner who wishes to love Thee.

Posted in PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 24 October – CONSIDERATION XXII, The Habit of Sin

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 24 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XXII

The Habit of Sin
“When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt.”
(Prov xviiu: 3)

FIRST POINT:
ONE of the greatest evils which the sin of Adam caused us, is the wicked inclination to sin. This made the Apostle weep when he found himself impelled, by concupiscence, towards those same sins which he detested. “But I see another law in my members …. bringing me into captivity to the law of sin.” (Rom vii: 23).

And, therefore, it happens with us that being infected by this concupiscence and with so many enemies who urge us onto evil, we find it so difficult to reach the blessed country without sin. Now, such being our frailty, I ask, what would you say of a traveller who would have to cross the sea in a storm in a shattered boat and yet, should wish to load it with a weight which, even were the boat a strong one and there were no storm, would be enough to send it to the
bottom? What would you predict concerning the life of such an one?
Now, we say the same of the habitual sinner, who, having to pass over the sea of this life – a sea which is very tempestuous and, where many are lost in a weak and shattered boat, which is our flesh and to which we are united, is willing to weigh it down with habitual sins! For in this habitual sinner, it is very difficult to be saved because the evil habit darkens the mind and hardens the heart and by doing so, easily renders him obstinate, even to death.

In the first place, the evil habit produces blindness. And why is it that the Saints ever beg God to give them Light and why do they fear lest they should become the greatest sinners in the world? It is because they know that if, for one moment, they were to lose the Light, they might commit any wickedness. How is it that so many Christians have been willing to live in sin, until they have, at last, condemned themselves? “Their own malice blinded them.” (Wisd ii: 21).
Sin has deprived them of sight and so, they have become lost. Each sin produces blindness, so when the sin increases, so does the blindness increase. God is our Light; the more,, therefore, the soul withdraws itself from God, the more does its darkness increase. … As the light of the sun cannot enter in a vessel filled with earth, so the Divine Light cannot enter a heart filled with vices. And, therefore, it is that we see many relaxed sinners lose this Light,
and go on from sin to sin and never again think of amending their ways.

These miserable sinners have fallen into that dark pit, where they can do nothing but sin, speak only of sin, think only of sin and, at last, they scarcely recognise the evil in sin.
St Augustine observes, that “the habit itself of evil, does not suffer sinners to see the evil which they do.” So they live as if they no longer believed in a God, a paradise, a hell, or an eternity.
And, behold, for that sin which, at one time, caused them to feel great horror, through the evil habit, no longer causes them to feel it.
… “Observe,” says St Gregory, “with what ease a bit of straw is moved by the slightest puff of wind” even thus do we often see some, who, before they fell, once resisted, … and strove against the temptations but after the sin, became habitual, they yielded to every temptation and every occasion of sin presented to them. And, wherefore? Because the evil habit has deprived them of Light.

St Anselm tells us that the devil acts with many sinners, like anyone who holds a bird tied by a string, who allows it to fly but directly it flies he pulls it back again to earth. Even so, as the Saint observes, does it happen with habitual sinners: “Entangled by a bad habit, they are held by the enemy; flying, they are cast down into the same vice.” … As St Chrysostom observes: “Habit is a difficult thing which sometimes compels those,. who are unwilling, to do what is wrong.” Yes, because, according to St Augustine, the bad habit at last becomes a sure necessity! And St Bernardine also adds: “Habit is changed into nature” for, as it is necessary for man to breathe, even so to habitual sinners who are made the slaves of sin, it seems necessary to sin.
… These wretched ones will open their eyes in hell, when there will be no longer any good in opening them, except to weep more bitterly over their folly.

Affections andPrayers

My God, Thou hast indeed favoured me with Thy blessings in blessing me more than others and I have clearly, by my offences, displeased Thee more than any other.

Oh sorrowful Heart of my Redeemer, Who upon the Cross wast afflicted and tormented when beholding my sins, give me, through Thy merits, a living knowledge and grief for my sins.
Ah, my Jesus, I am full of wickedness but Thou art Omnipotent; truly canst Thou fill me with Thy holy Love. Therefore, in Thee do I trust Thou Who art good and of Infinite Mercy. I repent, O Sovereign Good, for having offended Thee.

Oh, would that I had died, rather than have given Thee this offence. I have been forgetful of Thee but Thou hast never been forgetful of me. I can see it through that Light which Thou dost now grant me. Since, therefore, Thou dost grant me that Light, grant me too, the strength to be faithful to Thee.
… In Thee, O my Jesus, do I hope never more to be confounded in sin and deprived of Thine Grace.

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, BAPTISM, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, LENT, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ANGELS, QUOTES on SIN, St PAUL!, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 24 October – ‘ … Once washed in the saving waters … ‘

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 24 October – “The Month of the Most Holy Rosary and of the Angels” – Feast of St Raphael the Archangel – Tobias 12:7-15; John 5:1-4 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered, waiting for the moving of the water (by the Angel). ” – John 5:3

REFLECTION – “We read in the Old Testament that in the times of Noah, since all humankind had been won by sin, Heaven’s floodgates opened and rain poured down for forty days … This was a symbol – it was less about a flood than about a Baptism. For it was indeed a Baptism which bore away the misdeeds of the sinners and spared the uprightness of Noah. And so today, just as it was then, our Lord has given Lent to us, so that the skies may open for the same number of days, to inundate us with the floods of Divine Mercy. Once washed in the saving waters of Baptism, this Sacrament enlightens us and, just as formerly, its waters bear away the evil of our sins and confirm the uprightness of our virtues.

Today’s situation is just the same as in Noah’s time. Baptism is flood to sinners and Consecration for the faithful. In Baptism, the Lord rescues justice and destroys injustice. We can see this in the example of one and the same man – before he was cleansed by the spiritual commands, the Apostle Paul was a persecutor and blasphemer (1 Tm 1:13). But once he had been bathed with the Heavenly rain of Baptism, the blasphemer died, the persecutor died, Saul died. Then the Apostle, the just man, Paul came to life… Anyone who lives Lent in a religious manner and observes the Lord’s decrees, will see sin die in himself and grace come to life… such as these die as sinners and live as righteous persons.” – St Maximus of Turin (Died c420) Bishop of Turin, Father of the Church (Sermon for Lent).

PRAYER – O God, Who gave blessed Raphael the Archangel as a traveling companion to Your servant Tobias, grant us, Your servants, ever to be protected by his guardianship and by his help.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 PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 22 October – CONSIDERATION XX, The Folly of the Sinner

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 22 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XX

The Folly of the Sinner
“The wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.”
(i Cor iii: 19).

FIRST POINT:
THE Venerable John of Avila would divide the world into two prisons, one for those who do not believe, the other for those who believe and yet, live in sin, far from God, to whom belonged the prison of fools.

The great misery and disgrace of those unhappy ones is, that they deem themselves to be wise and prudent, whilst they are the most stupid and foolish and, what is worst of all, is that the number of these is innumerable. Some are mad for the honours, others for the pleasures and the defilements of this world. And these, then, dare to call the Saints fools, who despise the goods of this world in order that they may gain eternal salvation and the True Good, which is God. They call it foolishness to accept insults and to pardon injuries; foolishness to deprive themselves of the pleasures of the senses and to embrace mortifications; to renounce honours and riche, and to love solitude and a life both humble and hidden. But they do not observe, that their wisdom is called foolishness by the Apostle: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.”” (i Cor iii: 19) .

Ah, one day they will truly confess their folly but when? When there will be no further remedy and they will say in despair: “We fools esteemed their life madness and their end without honour.” (Wisd v: 4),
Wretched that we have been, we counted folly, the life of the Saints but now, we know that we have been the fools. “Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God and their lot is among the Saints.” (Wisd v: 5). Behold, they are now collected into the happy number of the children of God which will be an eternal one, which will make them blessed forever and we shall be placed amongst the slaves of the devil, condemned to burn in a pit of torment for all eternity.
The lost will continue their lamentation, “We have erred from the way of truth and the Light of justice hath not shione unto us.” (Wisd v: 6).

… What folly, then, for a worthless gain, for a little vapour, for a brief delight, to lose the favour of Go. What does not a subject do, to obtain the favour of his prince?
O God, for one miserable gratification to lose the Highest Good which is God! to lose Heaven, to lose even peace in this life by granting an entrance of sin into the soul, by which its remorse will ever torment it and condemn it voluntarily to eternal misery.

Would you catch at that forbidden pleasure if, by touching it, you were afterwards to have your hand burnt, or to be enclosed within a sepulchre for a year? Would you commit that sin, if it cost you the loss of a large sum of money? And after you know and believe,that by sinning, you forfeit Heaven and God and will be forever condemned to the fire, will you still sin!?

Affections and Prayers

O God of my soul, what should I have been at this moment if Thou had not shown to me so many mercies? I should have been in hell, in the place of fools; as I have been.

I thank Thee, O Lord and I pray Thee, not to abandon me in my blindness; I deserve to be deprived of Thy light but I see that Thy favour has not forsaken me. I feel that it calls me with tenderness, wishing me to ask for pardon of Thee and to hope for great things from Thee, notwithstanding the great offences I have committed against Thee. Yes, my Saviour, I hope to be accepted by Thee as a son. I am, indeed, not worthy thus to be called because so often I have insulted Thee to Thy Face.

“Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee and am not worthy to be called Thy son.” But I know Thou searchest out the lost sheep and Thy consolation is to embrace Thy lost children.
My dear Father, I repent, I cast myself at and I embrace Thy Feet and I will not go if Thou dost not pardon and bless me. I love Thee, O my Father, I love Thee with all my heart. Do not allow me to be separated from Thee again; deprive me of all things, save of Thy love.

Posted in PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 20 October – CONSIDERATION XVIII, Of the Number of Sins

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 20 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XVIII

Of the Number of Sins
“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore, the heart of the sons of men
is fully set in them to do evil.”
(Eccles viii: 11)

FIRST POINT:
IF God were to chastise offences, immediately, He would not be nsulted as He is now but because the Lord delays His punishment and waits, sinners take courage to further offend Him.

We must understand, that although God waits and endures, He will not wait and suffer forever. It is the opinion of many of the holy Fathers that, as God has determined for each man, the days of his life, the state of his health, the talents He wills to bestow upon him “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, number and weight” (Wisd xi: 21) so has He determined for each one, the number of sins which He will pardon which, being fulfilled, He pardons no more!
St Augustine says: “We should remember that, for a certain time, the long-suffering of God bears with each one of us but when this time is completed, no pardon is reserved for him.”
St Eusebius of Caesarea also says that “God waits up to a certain number and afterwards, leaves the sinner.”

This opinion of the Fathers is supported by Holy Scripture.
In one place it says that the Lord delayed the ruin of the Amorites. “For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” (Gen xv: 16). In another, “I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel.” (Hos i: 6). Again, “Because all those men …. have tempted Me now these ten times. … Surely
they shall not see the land which I swore unto their fathers.”
(Num xiv: 22, 23). In another place Job says: “My transgression is sealed up in a bag.” (Job xiv: 17).

Sinners keep no account of their sins but God does, strictly, that He may punish when the harvest is ripe that is, when the number is completed. …
Sinner, you should fear, for the sins which have been forgiven you, for if you add another sin, it may be that the new sin with those already pardoned, will complete the number and then, there will remain no more mercy for you and this Holy Scripture plainly declares: “The Lord patiently expecteth that when the day of judgement shall arrive, He may punish them in the fulness of their sins.”
(2 Mace vi: 14) .
So that God waits until the day in which the measure of sins is full and then, He punishes.
Of this delayed punishment, there are many examples in Holy Scripture and especially in the case of Saul, who was forsaken by God for his last disobedience and who prayed that Samuel would intercede for him, saying: “I prav thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord.” (i Sam xv: 25). But Samuel answered: “I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee.” (Ib xv: 26). …

Oh, to how many miserable sinners does it not happen that they live for many years in their sins but when their number is fiull, they are seized by death and are sent to hell! “They spend their days in wealth and in a moment, go down to the grave.” (Job xxi: 13).

Affections andr.Prayers

Oh, my God, I thank Thee; how many, for fewer sins than mine are now in hell and for them there is no more pardon or hope! Whilst I am still living, … I have, if I desire it, the hope of pardon and of Heaven. Yes, my God, I desire pardon. I repent, above every other sin, that of having offended Thee because I have offended Thy Infinite Goodness.

Eternal Father, “Look upon the Face of Thine Anointed.” (Ps Ixxxiv: 9). Look upon that Son, Who died upon that Cross for me. By His merits, have pity upon me.
I promise to choose death rather than to offend Thee more. I may justly fear, thinking upon the sins that I have committed and the graces which Thou hast bestowed upon me, that should I add another sin, my measure would be full and I should be condemned.
Oh, help me by Thy grace – from Thee I look for light and strength to be faithful to Thee and if ever Thou seest that I should again offend Thee, let me die in this moment, in which I trust that I an in Thy grace.
I love Thee, my God, above all things and I fear more than death itself, to find myself agaiagain out of Thy grace ; in mercy gran, this may never be.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 19 October – CONSIDERATION XVII, Of the House of Divine Mercy

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 19 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XVII

Of the House of Divine Mercy
“Not knowing that the goodness of God
leadeth thee to repentance?”
(Rom ii: 4)

FIRST POINT:
WE read in the parable in St Matthew xiii that the tares, having grown in a field together with the corn, the servants wished to pluck them up.
“Wilt Thou then that we go and gather them up ?”
But the Master answered: “Nay; …. Let them both grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them.”
From this parable we learn the patience which the Lord shows to sinners and also, the severity which He shows to those who are obstinate.

St Augustine observes, the devil deceives men in two ways,
“By despair and by hope!”
After the sinner has committed the sin, he tempts him to despair, through fear of the Divine Justice but before the sin is committed, he tempts the sinner to commit it, by telling him of the Divine Mercy.
Therefore, the Saint warns everyone, by saying: “After sin, hope for mercy; before sin, fear justice.”
Yes, because he who makes use of mercy to offend God, does not deserve mercy.
Mercy is shown to him who fears God, not to him who makes use of it so as not to fear God. He who offends justice, observes Abulensis, can fly to mercy but he who offends the same mercy, to whom can he fly?

It is but seldom a sinner is found so hopeless, as to wish to be condemned. Sinners are willing to sin but they are not willing
to give up the hope of being saved. They commit sin and
say to themselves, God is merciful; I will commit this sin and
afterwards confess it. Behold, says St Augustine, this is how
sinnersspeak: “God is good, I will do what pleaseth me” but
O God, how many, who are now in hell, have said the same!

… The mercy of God is Infinite but the acts of this mercy are finite. God is merciful but He is also just. … As St Augustine observes, God never fails in His promises, neither does He fail in His threats!
Take care, says St Chrysostom, when the devil but not God, promises thee Divine Mercy, that thou mayest commit sin.
Woe, add St Augustine, to him who hopes, so that he may sin: “ Woe to that perverse hope.” Oh ! exclaims the Saint, how many there are, whom this vain hope has deceived and caused to be lost!

… In short, although God endures, for some time, yet He will not endure forever. If God were to suffer sin forever, no-one would be lost but it is the general opinion, that the greater part, even of Christians are lost.
“For wide is the gate and broad is the way, which leadeth to destructio, and many there be, who go in thereat.” (Matt vii:13). …

Affections and Prayers

Ah, my God, I have been one of those who offended The,
notwithstanding Thou wast good to me. Lord, wait for me,
do not abandon me because I hope, Thy grace helping me,
never more to provoke Thee to abandon me.
I repent, O Thou
Infinite Goodness, for having offended Thee and for, having
thus abused Thy patience. I thank Thee that Thou hast
waited for me until now. From this day forward, I will never
more abuse Thee as I have done, in the time that .is past. Thou hast borne with me so long that Thou mightest one day see me made a lover of Thy Goodness.
That that day be already come, is my hope.

I love Thee more than anything and I prize Thy grace
more than all the kingdoms of the world; rather than lose it, I would lose my life, if it were possible to do so, many times over,
My God, for the love of Jesus Christ, give me holy perseverance until death, with Thy most holy love. Never allow me to betray Thee any more, neither to cease to love Thee.

Posted in PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on MORTAL SIN, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 17 October – CONSIDERATION XV, On the Evil of Deadly Sin

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 17 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XV

On the Evil of Deadly Sin
“I have nourished and brought up children
and they have rebelled against me.”
(Isa 1:2)

FIRST POINT: “”
WHAT does he do who commits a deadly sin?
He insults God, he dishonours God, he embitters God.

In the first place, by the deadly sin he commits, he insults God.
As St Thomas observes, the malice of an injury is measured
according to the person who does it and the person who receives it. It is very wicked to insult a peasant but it is worse to insult a nobleman and still much worse, to insult a king.
Who is God ? He is the King of kings: “Lord of lords and King of kings.” (Apoc xvii: 14).
God is of Infinite Majesty, with respect to Whom, all the princes of the earth, the Saints and the Angels in Heaven, are less than a grain of dust.
Nay, says Isaiah, compared with the greatness of God all creatures are as the smallest things, even as though they had never been: “All nations before Him are as nothing.” (Isa xl:17).

Even such is God and who is man? St. Bernard answers,
even a sack of worms and food for worms, who, in a short time, will be devoured by worms: “Miserable and poor and blind and naked.” (Apoc iii: 17).
Man is a miserable worm who can do nothing; he is blind and can see nothing and poor and naked and has nothing. And this miserable worm dares to insult God!

… The Angelic Doctor is right when he says: “the sin of man contains a malice almost infinite.
Sin has a certain infinity of malice from the infinity of the Divine Majesty.”
Nay, St Augustine calls sin absolutely an “infinite evil!”
Therefore it is, that if all men, and all Angels, were to offer themselves to die and to annihilation, they would not be able to make satisfaction for one single sin!

God punishes deadly sin with the great punishment of hell but, however much God punishes the sinner, all theologians agree that God punishes it “Citra condignnm” that is, with less punishment than deadly sin deserves.
And what punishment can be great enough for a worm who tries to set himself against his Lord? God is Lord of all, because He has created all things.
And in fact, all creatures obey God: “The winds and the sea obey Him” (Matt viii: 27).
“Fire and hail, snow and vapours, wind and storm, fulfilling His word.” (Ps cxlviii: 8).

But what does man do when he sins?
He says to God, Lord, I do not wish to serve Thee …
“Who is the Lord that I should obey His Voice ….. I know not the Lord.” (Exod v: 2).
Even thus does the sinner say: “Lord, I know Thee not ; I wish to do what pleases me.”
In short, he despises God and turns away from Him and, it is indeed committing a deadly sin, to turn away from God. “A turning away from the unchangeable good,” as St Thomas observes.

Of this does the Lord complain.
… Thou hast been ungrateful, says God, thou hast left Me, since I would never have left thee, thou hast turned away from Me.
God has declared that He hates sin, therefore, He cannot do otherwise than hate him who sins: “For the ungodly and his ungodliness, are both alike, hateful unto God.” (Wisd xiv: 9). When man sins, he is bold enough to declare himself the enemy of God. “He stretcheth out his hand against God and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.” (Job xv: 25).
… And when the sinner consents to sin, he stretches out his hand against God. He stretches out his neck, that is to say, pride and flies in the Face of God; he arms himself with a thick shield, with ignorance! and says: “What have I done ? what harm is there in the sin I have committed? God is merciful; He pardons sinners.”
O my God, keep me from such boldness and blindness!

Affections andPrayers

Behold, O my God, at Thy Feet the rebellious one; the bold
one, who has had the boldness to insult Thee so many times
and to turn away from Thee but now I seek for mercy from
Thee.
For Thou hast said: “Call unto Me and I will answer thee.” (Jer xxxiii: 3).
I know that hell is a fitting punishment for me but Thou knowest that I feel very sorry for having offended Thee, O Thou Infinite Goodness, more sorry than if I had lost everything I possess and my life even.
Ah, my
Lord, pardon me and never let me offend Thee more. Thou
hast waited for me, so that I may forever bless Thy mercy and
love Thee. Yes, I do bless and love Thee and hope because of.
the merits of Jesus Christ, never more to be separated from Thy Love. … Ah, take me entirely into Thy possession, my soul, my body,
my powers, my senses, my will and my liberty.
… Thou Who art my only good, my only adorable One, be also my only love. Give me zeal in loving Thee.
1 hope for it from Thee, O Thou, Who art Omnipotent.

Posted in PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 24 September – CONSIDERATION X – How We Must Prepare for Death

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 24 September – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION X

How We Must Prepare for Death
“Prepare to meet thy God.”
(Amos iv.:12)

FIRST POINT:
ALL confess that they must die and die but once and that there is nothing of greater consequence than this; for our eternal happiness, or our eternal unhappiness, depends upon the moment of death.
We all know a happy or an unhappy death depends upon the life we have led. And yet, how is it, nearly all Christians live as if they would never have to die and, as if dying a happy or an unhappy death, could be of little importance?

Truly we lead a wicked life because we think not upon death. “In all thy works remember thy last end and thou shalt never sin.” (Ecclus vii: 40).
We must be persuaded that the hour of death is not the proper time to set our accounts in order, nor to make the great concern of our eternal salvation secure. The wise ones of this world, in worldly matters, take every precaution at the proper time towards obtaining that gain, that post, that matrimonial alliance; when the health of their body is concerned, they lose no time before applying the needful remedies. What would you say of anyone who, having undertaken an academic contest, would defer preparing himself for it until the time had arrived?
Would not that general indeed be mad, who should wait until besieged, to lay in stores of provisions and arms?
Would not that pilot be mad, who should forget to provide himself with cable and anchors, until the time of the tempest?

That Christian is even in this state, to whom the hour of death arrives before his conscience is made clean in the sight of God.
“When your fear cometh as desolation … then shall they call upon Me but I will not answer, therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of their own way.” (Prov i: 27, 28, 31).
The time of death is a time of tempest and confusion; then will
sinners call upon God to help them but only for fear of hell, to
which they see themselves so near and without a sincere conversion and, therefore, God will not hear them.
Therefore, also, very justly, they shall then reap the fruits of their evil life! Alas for them, it will not be enough to take the Sacraments.
It is necessary to die hating sin and loving God beyond all things but how can he hate forbidden pleasures, who, until that time, has loved them, so much? and how can he love God beyond all things, who, until that time, has loved the creature more than God?
The Lord called those virgins foolish and, indeed, they were so, who wished to prepare their lamps when the bridegroom was nigh.

A sudden death is dreaded by all because there is then no time to settle our accounts. All confess that the Saints were indeed wise because they prepared for death before it came.
And what are we doing? Do we wish to find ourselves in danger of being obliged to prepare for death when death is already near? therefore, now is the time in which we must do that which we shall wish we had done, when death is nigh.
Oh, what anguish will the memory of the time we have lost, and even more, the time that has been badly spent, then cause us – a time given by God to make ourselves worthy,but a time that is past and will never return!
What anguish will it then give us to hear: “Thou canst be no longer steward.”
There will be no more time for repentance, to frequent the
Sacraments, to hear sermons and to pray. What will be done, will be done. We shall then require a sounder mind, a quieter time, to make our confession as it should be made, in order to resolve many points of grave scruple and thus to ease our conscience but, “time will be no longer.”

Affections andPrayers

Ah, my God, if I had died during one of those nights, of which Thou knowest, where now should I have been?
I thank Thee for having waited for me and I also thank Thee for all those moments which would have been spent in everlasting punishment from that time when I first offended Thee.

Ah, give me Thy Light and make me to understand the great wrong I have done Thee, by willingly losing Thy grace which Thou hast merited for me, in sacrificing Thyself upon the Cross for me.
Ah, my Jesus, pardon me, for I repent with my whole heart, above every other evil, of having despised Thy Infinite Goodness. I hope that Thou hast already pardoned me. Ah, help me, O my Saviour, so that I may never lose Thee more.

Ah, my Lord, if again I should offend Thee as I used to do, after having received so many lights and graces from Thee, should I not deserve a special place of torment? Ah, through the merits of that Blood which Thou hast shed through love of me, never permit this. Give me holy perseverance, give me Thy Love.
I love Thee, O my Sovereign Good and I wish never to cease to love Thee, even until my death.
My God, have mercy upon me for the love of Jesus Christ.

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on SIN, The INCARNATION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 24 September – “ … You made open the way of the Tree of Life. ,,, ”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 24 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – Our Lady of Ransom – Ecclesiasticus 24:14-16; Luke 11:27-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Blessed is the womb that bore Thee ” – Luke 11:27

REFLECTION – “Once indeed, God ejected the mortals and first parents of the human race from the paradise of Eden, when they had drunk deeply from the wine of disobedience and had become so affected by the hangover of sin, through the intoxication of that transgression which led to the sleepiness of the mind’s eye. …

Then Adam and Eve, the founders of our race, exclaimed with a loud voice in great rejoicing: “Blessed are you, O daughter, who bore for us the penalties of the commands that had been broken. When you had gained a mortal body from us, you gave birth to a covering of immortality for us. You repaid us ,so that it might be well with us, since you received birth from our loins. From beyond the grave, you have called us back to our ancient seat: we closed paradise for ourselves but you made open the way of the Tree of Life. Through our actions, sadness came forth from happiness; through you, even more joyful things have returned, from sorrow. In what possible way could you be acceptable to death, O Immaculate one? You are the bridge of life and the ladder to Heaven; you are a boat over the sea of death, reaching to immortality.”

But the woman herself, as she did not shrink from the truth, said: “Into Your hands, my Son, I commend my spirit. Receive this soul which is dear to You, which You have preserved free from any sin. I hand over my body, not to the earth but to You. Take me to Yourself, that where You are, You, the Child of my womb, so there I also may be Your companion. I am hastening to You, Who have often come to me on this side of that long distance.”

When she had said this, she heard in reply: “Come to My rest, My blessed Mother: arise, come, My Beloved, most blessed among all women. Behold, the winter is ended. You are all fair, My Beloved and there is no spot of stain found in you: the odour of your ointments are more precious than all other aromas.” – St John Damascene (675-749) Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his Homily 9: On the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

PRAYER – O God, Who for the deliverance of Christians from the power of the pagans, graciously willed to enrich Thy Church by a new religious offspring through the most glorious Mother of Thy Son; grant, we beseech Thee, that by the merits and intercession of her, whom we piously venerate, as the founder of so great a work, we may be delivered from all our sins and from the captivity of the devil. 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).

Please Go to: Https://Paypal.Me/Anastpaul
Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 21 September – CONSIDERATION IX, The Peace Felt by a Just Man When Dying

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 21 September – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION IX

The Peace Felt by a Just Man When Dying
“The souls of the just are in the Hands of God
and the torment of death, shall not touch them.
In the sight of the unwise, they seemed to die,
…. but they are at peace.”
(Wisd iii: 1-3)

FIRST POINT:
“The souls of the just are in the Hand of God.”
If God holds the souls of the just in His Hand, who is it that can pluck them out of it? It is true that hell never ceases to tempt and to insult the Saints, even when they are dying but God never ceases to assist them and, when, as St Ambrose observes, His faithful servants are placed in more danger, then. does He give them more assistance.

When the servant of Elisha saw the City surrounded by enemies, he was affrighted but the Saint encouraged him, saying: “Fear not, for they who be with us, are more than they who be with them.” (2 Kings vi: 16). And Elisha then prayed and the young man’s eyes were opened and he saw an army of Angels sent by God to defend them!
The devil will indeed come to tempt the dying man but his Guardian Angel will also come to comfort him. St Michael, who is appointed by God to defend His faithful servants in this their last combat with hell but, above all, Jesus Christ will come to keep this His penitent and innocent sheep, for whose salvation He once gave up His life. He will give thy soul that confidence and strength which, in such a combat, it will stand in need of, so that He will exclaim with all courage: “Lord, be Thou my helper.” (Ps xxx: 10).

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear?” (Ps xxvii: I) God, as Origen observes, cares much more about our eternal salvation than the devil does about our eternal ruin because, God Loves us much more than the devil hates us.
God is faithful, observes the Apostle and will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able (i Cor x: 13).
But you will say: “Many Saints have died in great fear concerning their eternal salvation.” I answer, few are the examples of those who, having led a holy life, have afterwards died in great fear.

Belluacensis observes, the Lord permits this in some Saints, in order to purge them when dying from some defect. Besides, do we not read that almost all God’s servants have died with a smile upon their lips?
To all, the Divine Judgment gives fear of death but where sinners pass from fear to desperation, the Saints pass to assurance.
St Antoninus narrates that St Bernard, being ill, was tempted to fear but, thinking upon the merits of Jesus Christ, he dismissed every fear, saying: “My merits are Thy Wounds.”
St Hilarion at first was afraid but later he said, rejoicing: “Go forth, my soul, of what art thou afraid? For well nigh seventy years thou hast served Christ and dost thou now fear death?” As if he wished to say, my soul, what dost thou fear after having served a God Who is faithful and
Who will never abandon him, who has been faithful to Him in life?

Father Joseph Scamacca being asked if he felt he was dying with confidence, answered: “What! have I been serving Mahomet all my life that I should now doubt the goodness of my God as to whether He may wish me to be saved?”
If the thought of having once offended God at any time should torment us in death, we know the Lord has promised to remember no more, the sins of the penitent.
“If the wicked will turn from all his sins which he hath committed, … they shall not be mentioned unto Him.” (Ezelc xviii: 21, 22).
But some will say, how can we be sure that God has pardoned us? St Basil even, asks this question and replies: “If we can say, I hate and abominate my sin because he who hates sin, may rest secure that God has pardoned him already.”

The heart of man cannot exist without love; it either loves the creature, or it loves God; if it does not love the creature, then it loves God. And who is it that loves God? Even he who keeps His commandments.
“He who hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is who loveth Me.” (St John xiv: 21).
He, therefore, who dies, observing God’s commands, dies loving God and he who loves God shall not fear for “perfect love casteth out fear.” (i St John iv: 18).

Affections andPrayers.

Ah, my Jesus, when will that day come when I shall be able
to say, “My God, never more shall I be able to lose Thee?”
When will that day come when I shall see Thee face-to-face,
and shall rest secure of loving Thee, with all my strength for all eternity?

Ah my Sovereign Good, my only love, as long as I live I shall stand in danger of offending Thee and of losing Thy blessed grace!
There was once an unhappy time when I loved Thee not and when I despised Thy Love but now, I repent with all my heart and hope Thou hast already pardoned me; for now I love Thee with all my heart and I desire to do all I can, to love Thee and to please Thee but I am still in danger of not loving Thee, and of again turning away from Thee.
Ah, my Jesus, my Life, my Treasure, do not permit me to do this. Rather than allow this dreadful misfortune to befall
me, let me now die the most painful death it may please Thee to send me. I am content with it and I pray for it.

Eternal Father, for the love of Jesus Christ, give me not over to this
great ruin. Punish me as Thou wilt, I deserve it and I accept
it but deliver me from the punishment of ever beholding myself deprived of Thy grace and of Thy Love.
My Jesus, for Thine own sake have mercy upon me!

Posted in PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 14 September – CONSIDERATION VI, Third Point: The Death of the Sinner, “God is not mocked.”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 14 September – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION VI

The Death of the Sinner
“Destruction cometh and they shall seek peace and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief.”
(Ezek vii: 25, 26)

THIRD POINT:
IT IS a marvellous thing that God does nothing but threaten sinners with an unhappy death:
“Then will they call upon Me but I shall not answer.” (Prov i: 28).
“Will God hear his cry, when trouble cometh upon im?” (Job xxvii: 9)
”I also shall laugh at your calamity; I shall mock.” (Prov i: 26).
God laughs when He will not show mercy. “To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot willl slide in due time.” (Deut xxxii: 35).

In many other places God threatens the same and yet, sinners live in peace and are as secure, as if God had certainly promised to give them pardon when dying and after death, to give them Paradise.
It is quite true that, in whatever hour the sinner is converted, God has promised to pardon him but He has not said that the sinner shall be converted in death.
On the contrary, He has often declared that he who lives in sin shall die in sin: “Ye …. shall die in your sins.” (St John viii: 21). He has said in another place, he who seeks Him in death, will not find Him. “Ye will seek Me and shall not find Me.” (St John vii: 34).
Therefore, it is indeed necessary to seek God when He can be found. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. ” (Isa Iv: 6). Yes, there will be a time when He will no longer be found!.
Poor sinners poor blind ones who put off their conversion until the hour of their death, when there will be no more time to be converted!

Geronimo Oleaster OP (Died 1663) well says, “that the wicked will never have learned to do well, save when there is no time in which to do it.”
God wishes all men to be saved but He will punish those who are obstinate in their sins.
If some miserable sinner living in sin should be seized with an apoplectic fit and thus be deprived of his senses, what pity all those would feel, who would see him die thus, without the Sacraments and without any sign of repentance! and, on the contrary, what great joy would not everyone experience, if this poor sinner should recover from his fit, seek for absolution and become repentant? But is not he indeed mad, who, having time to repent, continues in a state of sin, or else returns to sin and so places himself in danger of being surprised by death, at the same time that he is perhaps committing sin?
It is very fearful to see anyone die suddenly and yet, so many put themselves in danger of dying thus and in danger of dying in sin.

“A just weight and balance are the Lord’s.” (Prov xvi: II).
We do not take any account of the favours which the Lord
bestows upon us but the Lord takes the account and measures them and when He sees them despised, up to a certain point, He allows the sinner to remain in his sin and in this state to die.
Miserable indeed is that one who defers his repentance until the day of his death.
St Augustine remarks “the repentance which is demanded of the infirm, is infirm.”
St Jerome says, amongst a hundred thousand sinners who remain in a state of sin until the day of their death, hardly one will be saved!
St Vincent Ferrer declares that it would be a greater miracle, for one who has lived in habitual sin, all his life, to be saved, than it would be to raise one, who is dead, to life!
What sorrow, or what repentance, could be felt at the hour of death, by him who, until that time, has loved sin? St Robert Bellarmine tells us that, having gone to assist a dying person and having exhorted him to make one act of contrition, the dying one answered, he did not understand what contrition meant. Bellarmine tried to explain to him but the sick one said: “I do not understand you, Father. I am not capable of these things.” And thus he died, “leaving clear signs of his condemnation.”
St Augustine observes that it will be a just punishment to that sinner who has been unmindful of God during his life, to be unmindful of himself in death.
The Apostle warns us, saying: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap: for he who soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.” (Gal vi: 7, 8).

It would indeed be mocking God for anyone to live, despising His Love and then, to reap a reward and everlasting glory but “God is not mocked.”
That which is sown in this life, shall be reaped in the next. He who loves the forbidden pleasures of this life, shall reap corruption, misery and eternal death in the life to come.

Christian brother, what is said for others is also said for you. Tell me, if you were now at the point of death, despaired of by the doctors and already in great pain, would you not pray to God to grant you one more month, one more week, in order to render your conscience clear in His sight? But God does give you that time now! Return thanks to Him and quickly try to atone for the evil you have done and use every means to be found in a state of grace whenever death shall come because then, there will be no time to atone for past evils.

Affections and Prayers

Ah, my God and who is there who would have had so much
patience with me as Thou hast!
If Thy goodness were not Infinite, I should cease to hope for pardon. But I have a God Who died to pardon me and to save me. Thou dost command me to hope and I will hope. If my sins affright and condemn me, Thy merits and Thy promises give me courage.
Thou hast promised the life of Thy grace to him ho returns to Thee: “Turn yourselves and live ye.” (Ezek xviii:2).
Thou hast promised to embrace him who turns to Thee. “Turn ye unto Me …. and I will turn unto you.” (Zee i: 3).
Thou hast said, Thou wilt not despise him who humbles himself and repents.
“A broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise.” (Ps ci: 17). Behold, O Lord, I return and come to Thee; I confess myself worthy of condemnation and I repent of having offended Thee. I sincerely promise never more to offend Thee willingly and I would wish to love Thee forevermore.

Ah, do not allow me to be anymore ungrateful towards such Goodness. Eternal Father, through the merits of the obedience of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Who died in obedience to Thy will, let me obey Thee in all things until death. I love Thee, O Thou Highest Good and because of the love I bear for Thee, I would obey Thee in all things. Give me holy perseverance, Thy holy Love and I ask for nothing more.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOCTORS of the Church, PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 13 September – CONSIDERATION VI, Second Point: The Death of the Sinner

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 13 September – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION VI

The Death of the Sinner
“Destruction cometh and they shall seek peace and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief.”
(Ezek vii: 25, 26)

SECOND POINT:
The agonies of the dying sinner will not be one agony only but they will be many.
It will be one agony to be tormented by the devil. When the hour of death comes that dreadful enemy uses all his strength to ruin the soul which is on the point of launching into eternity. The devil knows that at this hour, there is but little time to gain the soul and, if it is lost to him then, it will be lost forever.

“The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Apoc xii: 12). There will not only be one devil but many devils, who will surround the dying man, who will do all which lies in their power to gain his soul.
“Their houses shall be full of doleful creatures.” (Isa.xiii:21)
One will say: “Fear not, thou wilt soon be well.”
Another \vill say: “How is it that thou, who for so many years hast been deaf to the Voice of God, canst expect Him now to show thee mercy?”
And another: “How canst thou now remedy those evils which are done and the reputations thou hast ruined?” And another: “Dost thou not see, thy Confessions have been of no avail, without true grief; without any intention to do better for the future?. How then canst thou now repair the evil which is already done.”

Besides all this, the dying man will behold himself surrounded by his sins: “Evil shall hunt the wicked person to overthrow him.” (Ps cxl: ii).
St Bernard observes that these sins, like so many watchful guards, shall hold him in their grasp and shall say to him: “We are thy works; we will not leave thee; we will go with thy soul to the other world and with it present ourselves to the Eternal Judge. ”
Then the dying man will want to rid himself of these enemies but, to get rid of them, it would be necessary to hate them; it would be necessary for his heart to become converted to God. Whereas his mind is darkened and his heart is hardened.
“A hard heart shall fear evil at the last and he who loveth danger, shall perish in it.” (Ecclus iii: 27)
St Bernard again says, that, the heart which has been so obstinate in sin during life, will use every means to free itself when dying, from this state of condemnation but will be, unable to do so and being oppressed with its own wickedness, will pass from life in this state.

Until the hour of death arrived, the sinner always
loved sin; he has also loved the danger of his own damnation; very justly, therefore, .will the Lord allow him to perish in that peril in which he has loved to live!
St Augustine believes, that “he who is left, by sin, before he
himself leaves it, at the hour of death, will hardly dislike it as much as he ought because, whatever he does at that time, will be done through necessity.”
Miserable indeed is that sinner, who is so hardened, he resists the Voice of God when He calls him!
“His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.” (Job xli: 24).
Instead of yielding and being softened by the Voice of God, he becomes more hardened; even as the anvil is hardened by the strokes of the hammer.

As a punishment for all this, he will find himself in the same obstinate frame of mind at the hour of death, although he may be on the point of passing into eternity. “A hard heart shall fear evil at the last.”
Sinners, saith the Lord: “have turned their back unto Me and not their face but, in the time of their trouble, they will say, Arise and save us. But where are thy gods which thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee.” (Jer ii: 27, 28).
The miserable sinners when dying will fly unto God and God will say to them:
“Now you can come to Me. Call upon creatures to help you, for they have been your gods!”
Even thus will the Lord answer those who at that time seek Him because they will not seek Him with any sincere wish to become converted.
St Jerome has said, that he fully believes and has learnt from experience that he who has led a wicked life,until the hour of death, will never be happy when the hour of death arrives.

Affections and Prayers

My dear Saviour, help me and do not abandon me, for I see my soul all wounded with my sins; my passions do violence to me and my evil habits oppress me. I throw myself at Thy feet, have mercy upon me and deliver me from all my evil passions.

“ In Thee, O Lord, have I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.” (Ps Ixxi: i).
Do not permit a soul wjp trusts in Thee to be lost.
I repent of having offended Thee, O God of Infinite Goodness, I have done evil and I confess it.
I wish to amend, at any price.
But unless Thou dost assist me with Thy grace, I am lost. Receive, O my Jesus, this rebellious one, who has displeased Thee so much. Remember that Thou didst spend Thy Blood and Thy Life for me. Through the merits, therefore, of Thy Passion and of Thy Death, receive me into Thy arms and give me holy perseverance.
I was almost lost but Thou didst call me; behold, I will no longer resist; I consecrate myself to Thee; bind me to Thy Love and never more allow me to lose myself by again losing Thy grace.
Do not, my Jesus, allow it, please!

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the JUDGE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, PREPARATION for DEATH, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on SIN, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 12 September – CONSIDERATION VI, The Death of the Sinner

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 12 September – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION VI

The Death of the Sinner
“Destruction cometh and they shall seek peace and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief.”
(Ezek vii: 25, 26)

FIRST POINT.
IT is now that sinners try, as far as they can, to drive away the memory and the thought of death and thus, to find peace, although they never will do so, by leading a life of sin but when, in the agonies of death, they must enter into eternity when “destruction cometh, I and they shall seek peace and there shall be none” then they will try to fly from the stings of their troubled consciences, they will seek peace but what peace can a soul find which is laden with sin which bites it, like so many vipers?
What peace, knowing that in so short a time it will have to appear before Jesus Christ the Judge, whose law and friendship, until that moment, it has esteemed of so little worth?

“Mischief shall come upon mischief. ”
The intelligence which the sinner has just received – that he is dying, the thought that he must bid farewell to everything in this world, the stings of a troubled conscience, the time which is forever lost, the time which he is now in want of, the severity of the Divine Judge, the miserable eternity which awaits all sinners – the thought of all these
things will come upon him in terrible confusion which will greatly trouble his mind and increase his apprehensions, and, thus confused and being filled with fear, the soul of the dying man will pass into the other life.

Abraham, to whom great praise is due, hoped in God against all human hope, believing in the Divine Promise, “who against hope believed in hope.”
But shiners, with great de-merit and who are the cause of their own ruin, falsely hope, not only against hope but even against faith, whilst they pay no attention whatever, to the warning which God gives to those who are obstinate.
They dread an unhappy death but they have no fear in leading a wicked life. But who is able to assure them, that their death will not suddenly be caused by a thunderbolt, by an apoplectic fit, or by the bursting of a bloodvessel? And even should they have time, when they are dying, to be converted, who can assure them, their conversion will
then be a true one?
St Augustine had to strive against his evil habits for twelve years, in order to overcome them. How then will one, who is dying, who has ever had a conscience stained with sin, who will be tormented with pain, with dreadful feelings in the head and, who will be in the confusion of death, how will he, then, I repeat, be possibly able to be truly converted!?
I say truly because, at that time, the saying and promising will be of no use, it will be necessary to say and to promise from the depth of the heart.
O God, into what terror will not the miserable sufferer be thrown, whose conscience, when remorseful, has been blighted, when he finds himself oppressed by his sins and by the fears of the coming judgement, by the thought of hell and of eternity? Into what dreadful confusion will not these thoughts throw him, when he finds that his memory is failing him, his mind becoming darkened and his body overcome with the pains of death which is already fast approaching?
He will confess, he will promise, he will weep, he will cry to God for mercy but, without knowing what he is doing and in that tempest of agitation, of remorse, of anguish and of fear, his soul will pass into the other world.
“The people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away.” (Job xxxiv: 20).
It is well said by an author that the prayers, the tears and the promises, of a dying sinner, are like the tears and promises of a man who finds himself assailed by his enemy, who puts a dagger to his throat to take away his life.
He who lies down on his bed and whose soul passes from it to eternity, is indeed a wretched man.

Affections and Prayers

The Wounds of Jesus are my only hope.
I should despair of pardon for my sins, did I not look upon Thee, the fountains of pity and of mercy, through which my God has shed all His Blood to wash my soul from the many sins which it has committed.
I adore Thee, O ye holy Wounds and in Thee confide.
I detest and abhor those unworthy pleasures through which I have displeased my dear Redeemer and through which. I have lost His holy friendship.

Looking then upon Thee, my hopes are raised and, therefore, I turn my affections towards Thee.
My beloved Jesus, it is only right that all men should love Thee and they should love Thee with their whole heart.
But I have so often offended Thee and counted Thy holy Love of no moment and yet. notwithstanding all my shortcomings, Thou hast borne with me so long and hast so often offered me pardon.

Ah, my Saviour, never more let me offend Thee and by so doing lose my soul forever. O God ! what dreadful pain it would give me to see Thy dear Blood and to remember Thy many mercies which Thou hast shown to me, if I should ever be cast into everlasting punishment.

I love Thee now and I would love Thee forever.
Give me holy perseverance. Take away from my heart every love which is not Thine and establish in me, a real desire and resolution to love Thee alone. Thou Who art my Sovereign Good, may I do this from henceforth and forever.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 6 September – ‘ … Symbols of three kinds of sinner … ‘

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 6 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – Ferial Day – Galatians 5:16-24, 6:1-10; Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Young man, I say to thee, arise!” – Luke 7:14

REFLECTION – “In the Gospels, we find three dead people who are visibly restored to life but, thousands who are invisibly so … The Synagogue Official’s daughter (Mk 5:22f.), the widow of Naim’s son and Lazarus (Jn 11) … are symbols of three kinds of sinner whom Christ still raises today. The young girl was still in her father’s house … the widow of Naim’s son was no longer in his mother’s house but not, as yet, in the tomb … Lazarus had already been buried …

And so, there are some people whose sins remain in their hearts but who have not put them into practice … They have consented to sin and death is within their souls but, it has not yet been carried outside. Now, it often happens … that people experience this in themselves – after hearing the Word of God, our Lord seems to say to them: “Arise!” They accuse themselves of the consent they gave to evil and draw breath, to live in salvation and uprightness … Others, having given their consent, go as far as the deed. They carry out the dead thing, hidden in the concealment of their dwelling and expose it before everyone. Are we to despair of them? Did not our Saviour say to that young man: “I tell you, arise!?” Did not He give him back to his mother? This is how it is with someone who has behaved like that – if he is touched and moved by the Word of Truth, he rises again at Christ’s Word, he comes back to life. He was able to go a step further along the way of sin but he could not die forever.

As for those who are so bound fast in evil habits as to their removing even the sight of the evil things they do, they undertake to defend their evil deeds, they are angered if one rebukes them … Such as these, crushed under the weight of a habit of sinning, are, as though buried in the tomb … That stone placed over the sepulcher is the tyrannical force of the habit which crushes the soul and does not allow it, either to arise or to breathe…

Listen, then, dearest brethren and behave in such a way that those who live, live and those who are dead revive … Let all those dead people repent … Let those who live, preserve that life of theirs and let those who are dead, be quick to come back to life again!” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermon 98).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, unto all Thy servants, that they may remain continually in the enjoyment of soundness, both of mind and body and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, always a Virgin, may be delivered from present sadness and enter into the joy of thine eternal gladness.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 DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 4 September – ‘ … What is this tomb? …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 4 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross”– St Rose of Viterbo (c1233 – 1251) Virgin – Ferial Day – Galatians 5:16-24, Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“… When the Lord … being moved with mercy towards her, He said to her: Weep not.” – Luke 7:13

REFLECTION – “God’s mercy quickly allows itself to be moved by this mother’s tears. She is a widow; the suffering or death of her only son have crushed her… It seems to me that this widow, surrounded by a crowd of people, is more than just a simple woman, deserving of her young and only son’s resurrection through her tears. She is the image itself of Holy Church, who, by her tears, in the midst of the funeral procession and on the brink of the grave, gains a restoration to life of the youthful people of the world … For, at God’s Word, the dead are raised (Jn 5:28), they regain their speech and the mother recovers her son. He is called back from the tomb, snatched from the sepulchre.

What is this tomb of yours, if not your evil behaviour? Your tomb is your lack of faith … Christ sets you free from this sepulchre. If you listen to God’s Word, you will come out of the tomb. And if your sin is too serious for the tears of your repentance to cleanse it, may the tears of your mother, the Church, intercede on your behalf. She is, indeed, full of compassion and feels a wholly maternal, spiritual sorrow when she sees her children dragged off to death by sin!” – St Ambrose (340-397) Bishop of Milan, Father and Doctor of the Church (Commentary on Saint Luke’s Gospel V, 89).

PRAYER – Protect Thy Church by Thine abiding mercy, we beseech Thee, O Lord and since all mortals fall without Thee, may Thy help keep them from danger and guide them to salvation. May the prayers of Thy virgin the blessed Rose, assist us on our journey to Thee. 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 CATECHESIS, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SIN, St Francis de Sales, St PETER!, The WORD, VENIAL SIN

Quote/s of the Day – 1 September – Arise!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 1 September – Pentecost XV – Galatians 5:25-26; 6:1-10; Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Young man,
I say to thee,
arise!”

Luke 7:14

“Rather blessed are those
who hear the Word of God
and keep it.’”

Luke 11:28

“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

“Make ready then the vessel of your soul
that you may become a son of God
and an heir of God
and joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17);
if, indeed, you are preparing yourself
that you may receive;
if you are drawing near in faith
that you may be made faithful;
if of set purpose,
you are putting off the old man!”

St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“Do not content yourself
with confessing your venial sins
merely as to the fact
but accuse yourself too,
of the motive which induced you
to commit them.”

(Introduction to the Devout Life,
Part II, Chapter 19).

“Christ was more concerned
with St. Peter’s repentance and remorse,
than with his sin.”

(The Spirit of St. François de Sales, VII, 8)

​St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 September – “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will give you Light! ” (Eph 5:14)

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 1 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – St Giles (c650 – c710) Abbot – Pentecost XV – Galatians 5:25-26; 6:1-10; Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Young man, I say to thee, arise!” – Luke 7:14

REFLECTION – “Let no-one who is Christian doubt that even now, dead people rise. Certainly, every human being has eyes, by which he can see dead people rising, in the way this widow’s son, whom we just heard about in the Gospel, arose. But not everyone can see people who are spiritually dead rise. For that, it is necessary to have already risen interiorly. It is greater to raise someone, who is to live forever than to raise someone, who will have to die again.

The young man’s mother, this widow, was transported with joy at seeing her son rise. Our Mother, the Church, also rejoices when she sees her children’s spiritual resurrection everyday. The widow’s son was dead with the death of the body but these latter, are dead with the death of the soul. People wept tears over the visible death of the former but people were not concerned by the invisible death of the latter – they did not even see it. The only One Who did not remain indifferent, is the One Who knew these deaths – only the One, Who could give life back to them, knew these deaths. For if the Lord had not come to raise the dead, the Apostle Paul would not have said: “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will give you Light.” (Eph 5:14).” – St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermon 98).

PRAYER – May the pleading of blessed Giles Abbo,t make us acceptable unto Thee O Lord, we pray that what we may not have through any merits of our own, we may gain by means of his patronage. 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, CHRIST the JUDGE, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on JUDGING, QUOTES on JUSTICE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on VICE, QUOTES on VIRTUE

Thought for the Day – 19 August –Charity, Our Protection – “Charity shall Cover a multitude of Sins”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 19 August – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, Our Protection
“Charity shall Cover a multitude of Sins”

One of the characteristics of charity is that it always looks to the bright side of things. It seeks to bring out all that is good in others while concealing their sins. It does not notice their sins. It does not allude to their sins unnecessarily, whether they are committed directly against man or against God. It has a happy knack of forgetting their sins or seeming to forget them. It covers their sins from the eyes of men and even seeks to obliterate them before God by the prayers it offers for the offender.
Is this my spirit? Do I not rather cover the virtues of others and disclose their faults?!

In this respect, it is especially true that we shall be treated as we treat others.
“With what judgement you judge, you shall be judged,” says our Lord.
If we pass the severe sentence of harsh criticism onto others, our sentence will be severe. If we make little of their faults and much of their virtues, God will do the same to us. What utter folly to prepare for ourselves a harsh verdict at the tribunal of Christ, by our condemnation of others here below!

On the other hand, Charity shall cover a multitude of sins. If we have been always men of charity, it is wonderful how God will seem to have forgotten our many sins.
The poor whom we have helped will pray for us, those whom we have comforted in sorrow, will say kind things on our behalf and our charitable judgeement of others, will find its counterpart in God’s judgement of us.
Our sins will be concealed and disappear under the mantle of our charity.
Is my charity such as this to cover my sins?

Posted in DEVOTIO, GOD ALONE!, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN QUOTES, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CHURCH, QUOTES on THE WORLD

Quote/s of the Day – 19 August – St John Eudes “The Apostle of Two Hearts”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 19 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – the Feast St John Eudes (1601-1680) Confessor, “The Apostle of Two Hearts”

“Let us … give ourselves to God,
… and beg Him to destroy in us,
the life of the world of sin
and to establish His Life within us.”

“Any innovation in matters of faith,
is extremely harmful and injurious
and utterly damnable!”

“A man is no true Christian
if he has no devotion
to the Mother of Jesus Christ.”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/08/19/quote-s-of-the-day-19august-st-john-eudes/

St John Eudes (1601-1680)
“The Apostle of Two Hearts”

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on THANKSGIVING, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 18 August – “Where are the other nine?” – Luke 17:17

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 18 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – Pentecost XIII –Within the Octave of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin – Galatians 3:16-22; Luke 17:11-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Where are the other nine?” – Luke 17:17

REFLECTION – “In our own day we see many people at prayer but, unfortunately, we see none of them turning back to give thanks to God … “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?” As I think you will remember, it was in these words that our Saviour complained about the lack of gratitude of the other nine lepers. We read that they knew well how to make “supplications, prayers, petitions” since they lifted up their voices, crying out: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” But they lacked the fourth thing required by the Apostle Paul: “thanksgiving” (1Tm 2:1) for they did not turn back nor give thanks to God.

We see still more in our own day ,people who implore God for what they lack but a mere handful who seem to be grateful for the blessings they have received. There is no harm in imploring Him but what causes God not to grant our prayers, is His finding us lacking in gratitude. After all, perhaps it is even an act of mercy on His part, to hold back from the ungrateful, what they are asking for, so that they may not be judged all the more rigorously, on account of their ingratitude! … For, it is sometimes out of mercy that God holds back His mercy! …

So you see, not all those who are healed of the leprosy of this world, I mean their manifest complaints, profit by their cures. Indeed, many are secretly afflicted with an ulcer worse than leprosy, all the more dangerous, in that it is more interior. That is why it was correct that the Saviour of the world should ask, where the other nine lepers were, since sinners avoid cures. So, too, after his sin, God questioned the first man: “Where are you?” (Gn 3:9).” – St Bernard (1090-1153) Cistercian Abbot, Father and Doctor of the Church (Various sermons No 27).

PRAYER – O Lord, we beseech Thee, forgive the transgressions of Thy servants and, forasmuch as by our own deeds, we cannot please Thee, may we find safety through the prayers of the Mother of Thy Son and our Lord. 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 CHARITY - Fr Richard Clarke SJ, GOD ALONE!, ON the SAINTS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SIN

Thought for the Day – 11 August –The Attitude of Charity to Sin“ – Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 11 August – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

The Attitude of Charity to Sin
“Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity”

Anything which offends God, is necessarily a source of sorrow, to the charitable, for as charity consists in loving God above all things for His Own sake and, is accompanied by a yearning desire to see Him honoured, more and more, that, which detracts from His honour, cannot cause charity any satisfaction.
On the contrary, it pains charity which pain corresponds to the offence committed against God.
Do I share this personal sorrow and pain, when any wrong is done to His Divine Majesty, or is it a matter of comparative indifference to me?

The Saints would gladly have given their lives to prevent sin.
It was intensely painful to them to think how continually God is offended. Many Saints laid down their lives to prevent sin from being committed.
The Saints all devoted themselves, with generous self-sacrifice, to the furtherance of God’s glory and, the hindrance of sin against Him. By prayer, by active zeal, by word, by work and by personal penance, the Saints fought against iniquity.
What do I do to prevent all the sin and vice in this wicked world?

Above all, the Saints feared and dreaded any sin in themselves. They avoided with the utmost care anything which could lead to sin. No spectacle, however magnificent, no honour, however brilliant, no pleasure however intense, caused them anything but disgust and horror, if it was in any way mingled with iniquity.
Is this true in my case? Do I relish things questionable or dangerous, or perhaps not altogether unmixed with positive sin!

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on SIN, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 11 August – “Have mercy on me, God, according to Thine Merciful Love!” (Ps 50:3).

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 11 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – Pentecost XII – St Tiburtius (Died c286) Martyr, Layman, St Susanna of Rome (Died c 295) Virgin Martyr, St Philomena (Died 304) Virgin Martyr – 2 Corinthians 3:4-9; Luke 10:23-37– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“But a certain Samaritan, … seeing him, was moved with compassion.” – Luke 10:33

REFLECTION – “O Lord Jesus, stirred by pity may Thou have the goodness to draw near me. Going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, Thou fall from the heights to our own lowest depths, from a state where people are full of life, to a land of the sick. Look, I have fallen into the hands of the angels of darkness, who have not only stripped off my garment of grace but, having beaten me with their blows, have left me half dead. May Thou treat the wounds of my sins, when Thou hast given me hope of recovering my health, lest they should triumph if I ever lose hope of healing. May Thou anoint me with the oil of Thine forgiveness and pour the wine of contrition, over me. If Thou set me on Thy Own mount, it is then that Thou “raise up the needy of the earth” that Thou “lift the poor from the ash-heap” (Ps 112:7).

For Thou art the One Who bore our sins, the One Who paid a debt for us, which Thy Thyself, did not contract. If Thou hast led me into the Inn of Thy Church, it is there that Thou would feed me with the food of Thine Body and Blood. If Thou were taking care of me, then I should no longer disobey Thy commands, I should no longer draw down on myself, the fury of raging beasts. For I have great need of Thy care, as long as I bear this flesh, subject to sin. Hear me then, I, who am the Samaritan stripped and wounded, weeping and groaning, calling Thee and crying with David: “Have mercy on me, God, according to Thine Merciful Love!” (Ps 50:3).” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church (Exposition on the Seven Penitential Psalms),

PRAYER – May the constant protection of Thy holy Martyrs, Tiburtius and Susanna and Philomena support us, O Lord, for Thou never fails to look mercifully upon those whom Thou, hast given the help, of such intercession. 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 CATHOLIC Quotes, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, franciscan OFM, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on Love of Self, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on TRUTH, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), QUOTES on WISDOM, The HEART, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, The WILL of GOD

Quote/s of the Day – 26 July – Let us Pray!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 26 July – St Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grandmother of Jesus.

St Anne, through her constant prayer,
received, the Mother of God
and then, became the Grandmother of God!

“Let my prayer come
like incense before Thee, O Lord.”

Psalm 140:2

“Exercise your soul!
Use keeps metal brighter
but disuse produces rust.
… So “No-one lights a candle
and puts it under a bushel
but upon a candlestick
that it may give light.”
For of what use is wisdom, if it fails
to make those who hear it wise?”

St Clement of Alexandria (c150-c215)
Father of the Church

“God accepts our desires as though
they were of great value.
He longs ardently for us
to desire to and love Him.
He accepts our petitions for benefits,
as though we were doing Him a favour.
His joy in giving,
is greater than ours in receiving.
So let us not be apathetic in our asking,
nor set too narrow bounds to our requests;
nor ask for frivolous things
unworthy of God’s greatness.”

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

“Arm yourself with prayer
instead of a sword;
be clothed with humility
instead of fine raiment.”

St Dominic OP (1170-1221)

“In prayer, the soul cleanses itself from sin,
charity is nourished,
faith is strengthened,
hope made secure;
the spirit rejoices,
the soul grows tender
and the heart is purified,
truth discovers itself,
temptation is overcome,
sadness takes to flight,
the senses are renewed,
failing virtue is made strong,
tepidity disappears,
the rust of sin is rubbed away.
In it are brought forth,
lively flashes of heavenly desires
and in these fires,
burns the flame of Divine love.
Great are the excellences of prayer,
great its privileges.
The heavens open before it
and unveil therein, their secrets
and to it, are the ears of God ever attentive.”

A Golden Treatise of Mental Prayer
Download the book, “A Golden Treatise of Mental Prayer”

St Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562)

“When you pray, let it be your intention
to will God’s Will alone and not your own,
as well in asking as in obtaining that is,
pray because God Wills you to pray
and desire to be heard, insofar and, no farther,
than He Wills. Your intention, in short,
should be to unite your will to the Will of God
and not to draw His Will to yours.
And this because, your will, being infected
and ruined by self-love, often errs
and knows not what to ask but the Divine Will,
being always united to ineffable goodness,
can never err.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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