Category: OPEN HOUSE…Conversations with…

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

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

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

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, a Love of Complacency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

Charity, a Love of Friendship

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHARITY
Meditations for a Month

The Definition of Charity
What is Charity?

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

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

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

Posted in CATECHESIS, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on FEAR, QUOTES on the ANTI-christ, QUOTES on the CHURCH, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, St Francis de Sales, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The SECOND COMING, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 13 July – My Church

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Quote/s of the Day – 13 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – St Anacletus (c25-c89) 3rd Bishop of Rome and Martyr – 1 Petet 5:1-4; 5:10-11: Matthew 16:13-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter
and upon this rock, I will build My Church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Matthew 16:18

“… About the fourth watch of the night,
He came towards them, walking upon the sea …”

Mark 6:48

“In the expression “fourth watch of the night”
we find the number corresponding
to the signs of His care.
Thus, the first watch was that of the Law;
the second, that of the Prophets;
the third, that of His coming in the flesh;
the fourth is situated in His return in glory.
But He will find the Church declining
and hemmed in by the spirit of the Antichrist
and all the distresses of this world.
He will come when anxieties and afflictions
are at their height …
The disciples will be terrified
even by the coming of the Lord,
fearing the images of a reality distorted by Antichrist and by the deceitful imaginations infiltrating their sight.
But our good Lord will speak to them directly,
casting out their fear and saying:
“It is I”, dispersing their fear of imminent shipwreck
by faith in His coming! ”

St Hilary (315-368)
Bishop of Poitiers,
Father & Doctor of the Church

“We, as Catholics,
are not permitted to believe
anything of our own will,
nor to choose, what someone has believed,
of his [own will].
We have God’s Apostles as authorities,
who did not themselves, of their own wills,
choose anything of what they wanted to believe
but faithfully transmitted,
to the nations,
the teachings of Christ.”

St Isidore of Seville (c560-636)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“Let us trust in Him. Who has
placed this burden upon us.
What we ourselves cannot bear,
let us bear, with the help of Christ.
For He is All-powerful
and He tells us:
‘My yoke is easy and my burden light.’”

St Boniface (c672-754) Martyr

“Thus we do not say that the Pope
cannot err in his private opinions,
as did John XXII;
or be altogether a heretic,
as perhaps Honorius was.
Now, when he, [the Pope],
is explicitly a heretic,
he falls ipso facto, from his dignity
and OUT of the Church! …

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

Posted in DEVOTIO, DOCTORS of the Church, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN HYMNS, MARIAN PRAYERS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUEENSHIP of MARY, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, St Alphonsus de Liguori,, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The HOLY NAME of MARY

Our Morning Offering – 13 July – Mother Mary, Queen Most Sweet! Attrib. to St Alphonsus

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Our Morning Offering – 13 July – Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary

Mother Mary, Queen Most Sweet!
Attrib. to St Alphonsus de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor
Italian Hymn
Trans. Fr Edmund Vaughan CSSR (1827-1908)

Mother Mary, Queen most sweet!
Joy and love my heart inflame;
Gladly shall my lips repeat
Every moment thy dear name.

Ah! that name, to God so dear,
Has my heart and soul enslaved;
Like a seal it shall appear
Deep on heart and soul engraved.

When the morning gilds the skies,
I will call on Mary’s name;
When at evening twilight dies,
Mary, still will I exclaim.

Sweetest Mary, bend thine ear:
Thou my own dear mother art;
Therefore, shall thy name so dear
Never from my lips depart.

If my soul is sore oppress’d
By a load of anxious care,
Peace once more will fill my breast
When thy name re-echoes there.

Waves of doubt disturb my peace,
And my heart is faint with fear;
At thy name the billows cease,
All my’terrors disappear.

When the demon hosts invade,—
When temptation rages high,
Crying, “Mary, Mother! aid!”
I will make the tempter fly.

This shall be my comfort sweet,
When the hand of death is nigh,
Mary! Mary! to repeat
Once again—and then, to die.

This Hymn is an Anonymous Hymn belonging to the Redemptorist tradition but Hymnary.org attributes it to St Alphonsus Liguori.
“Hymns and Verses on Spiritual Subjects” (1863) notes that this is one of two Hymns, translated in that book, mentioned above, which come from a Neapolitan published collection of Mission Hymns which are attributed to St Alphonsus.

Posted in GOD ALONE!, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 12 July – The Third Fruit of Patience: – Joy

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Thought for the Day – 12 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month
Today is the Last Meditation

The Third Fruit of Patience: – Joy

  1. ‘As it were, sorrowing yet always rejoicing.‘ (2 Cor 6 : 10) This is St Paul’s description of the ministers of Christ, labouring for the salvation of souls. What is true of them, is true of all faithful servants of God. On the surface ,apparent misery but down in the depths of the soul, intense joy. Of this joy, St Paul says: ‘I am filled with comfort and exceedingly abound with joy. in all our tribulation. (2 Cor 7 : 4)
    What is it that works this charm? Patience!. Patient endurance, humble submission to the Will of God, resignation to His Providence.
  2. How is it that out of sorrow, joy can come?
    The reason is that if we are living for God and in dependence upon Him and seeking to promote His glory, then, although in the natural order we may be crushed down with pain and suffering, we shall be full of joy by reason of the supernatural gladness which God bestows upon us. ‘Your joy,‘ says our Lord to His Apostles, ‘no man shall take from you.’ (St John 16 : 22)
    Have I any experience of this joy? If so, I shall thank God for it; if not, I must wait patiently and see whether there may not be some hindrance to it, on my part.
  3. Whence comes this joy?
    From Heaven. This is why it surpasses all earthly joy and makes earthly sufferings sweet. It is the first faint reflection of the Light of Heaven, amid the clouds and darkness of earth – the first foretaste of the joy into which the just will be welcomed by their Lord at the Gate of Heaven.
    If one drop of it sweetens all bitterness on earth and makes all sufferings light, what must be the intensity of joy which will inebriate all those who have here endured tribulation and suffering for Christ’s sake?
Posted in GOD ALONE!, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD

Thought for the Day – 11 July – The Second Fruit of Patience: – Hope

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

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Second Fruit of Patience: – Hope

  1. ‘Patience,’ says St Paul, ‘works out our trial and trial, hope.‘ (Romans 5 : 4) If we humbly accept the sufferings God sends us without rebellion or complaint, then, we reap the reward in rapid growth of hope within our heart. Through the darkness, we descry a bright light in the distance and, although our path be a dreary and a painful one, this prospect cheers us and makes us go on our way, rejoicing.
    In the earlier part of the time of trial, hope was dim and faint but, when we have been proved faithful servants, hope begins to anticipate the future and to fill us with a happiness which makes the present sufferings comparatively light.
    Have I attained that happy state?
  2. Joined to this prospect of the future, is a great confidence in God, in the present! Confidence is part of hope.
    When we have learned, by patience, to trust Him amid sorrow, tribulation, disappointment, then, we have a solid foundation for trusting Him, all the rest of our lives, not only with a sort of blind assurance that all He does is best but, with a consciousness of the happy results to come, from all that patience bids us bear, results, too which we begin to experience even here.
    I must then aim at this confidence and pray that I may gain it, by patience.
  3. St Paul tells us that if we hope for that which we see not, we have to wait for it, for the perfect ,work of patience, is to wait contentedly for the time, when God will give us the good things He has promised us.
    This was the Apostle’s frame of mind when he said: ‘I have fought a good fight, have kept the faith, at the last there is laid up for me, a crown of justice.’ (2 Timothy 4 : 7) So, too, for me, if I persevere to the end, there is laid up a like crown.
    The thought of it shall animate me to fresh patience.
Posted in GOD ALONE!, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, SELF-DISTRUST, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 10 July – The First Fruit of Patience: – Peace

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Thought for the Day – 10 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The First Fruit of Patience: – Peace

  1. We all long after peace; we are anxious, not for inactivity, nor indeed that we should have nothing against which to fight but, for the absence of that conflict within us which is the source of all our misery. It is the struggle, in our own hearts, between two opposing forces of duty and inclination, which troubles and disturbs us. I
    f this struggle is to cease, one of these two forces must be crushed. It is the process of crushing our corrupt inclinations which we dread. We have not the necessary courage, although we know that the only way to peace is to mortify our members which are upon the earth.
    This is the story of my troubles, I have not conquered my lower nature and my self-will!
  2. How is the victory to be gained and peace restored to our hearts?
    It is impossible without suffering. Nothing else has the power to break our proud wills and make us put our stubborn necks beneath the yoke.
    We speak of those who have suffered, as having a chastened look and it always attracts us. There is in suffering a sort of supernatural force which ought to commend it to us, or at least, to reconcile us to it. If I have to suffer, I will think of this and console myself with knowing that God will bring peace and happiness out of it.
  3. But, it is not all suffering which has this wholesome effect but only suffering borne with patience.
    If we are impatient, rebellious, unresigned – our suffering maybe an occasion of fresh trouble, rather than of peace. I must accept it from the Hand of God, if it is to bring with it that quiet tranquillity which I have never yet attained as I fight. I must bow my head and place myself in God’s Hands to suffer, as He pleases, whatever He pleases, as long as He pleases. This is the only road to solid peace!
Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, MARCH the month of ST JOSEPH, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, PRAYERS TO St Joseph, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, St JOSEPH, The WILL of GOD, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day –10 July – ‘ … Let God steer us where He will.’

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Quote/s of the Day –10 July – Proverbs 31:10-31, Matthew 12:46-50 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“For whoever does
the Will of My Father in Heaven,
is My brother and My sister
and My mother.”

Matthew 12:50

“Unfurl the sails
and let God steer us
where He will.”

St Bede the Venerable (673-735)
Confessor, Father and Doctor of the Church

“No-one will have any other desire in Heaven
than what God wills and the desire of one,
will be the desire of all and the desire of all
and of each one, will also be the desire of God.”

St Anselm (1033-1109)
Archbishop of Canterbury

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

St Angelica de Merici (1474-1540) Virgin

“It is impossible, that he could be denied
the favours for which he asks
and which we should request him
to obtain for us.
Let us go to him trustingly
but, let us remember,
that the surest way of being heard by him,
is to imitate his wonderful virtues,
especially his humility,
his spirit of prayer,
his purity and his calm desire always,
to do God’s will.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, PURGATORY, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The HOLY SOULS

Thought for the Day – 9 July – The Patience of the Holy Souls

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Thought for the Day – 9 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Patience of the Holy Souls

  1. In Purgatory the suffering is more intense than any suffering of this present life and there is greater need of patience to endure it. But the Holy Souls have their wills in perfect conformity to the Will of God and they cannot be anything but patient amid their torments. They do not and they cannot rebel but their submission does not remove the bitterness of their unceasing sorrow, as they think, how comparatively easy it would have been, for them to avoid, while still on earth, their present anguish, by greater faithfulness to grace and by uniting their actions and sufferings, to the actions and sufferings of the Divine Son of God.
  2. If we could look forward to those sufferings, with an appreciation of what they are, how patient we should be now! We should consider it a privilege to suffer now, as the very best way of avoiding the agony of that fire which will be kindled, by the wrath of God and will, in some way, correspond to our ingratitude and unfaithfulness to our King and Benefactor.
    If no other motive makes me patient, under my earthly sufferings, yet at least, the prospect of long years of far worse sufferings, ought to make me choose the lighter suffering now.
    What am I doing to shorten my Purgatory?

3 The Holy Souls must sometimes think, reproachfully, how little their friends on earth do to aid them in their present sufferings.
Among many other methods of aiding them, I can offer up for them all the pains of mind and body which God sends me, asking God to accept them in alleviation of the sufferings of the holy souls. This will help me to be patient and to suffer willingly and, when my time comes, I shall find that patient suffering for others, will shorten my time of banishment from God, in the fires of Purgatory.

Posted in "Follow Me", PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on MARTYRDOM, QUOTES on PATIENCE

Thought for the Day – 8 July – The Patience of the Martyrs

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Thought for the Day – 8 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Patience of the Martyrs

  1. To lay down one’s life for Christ is one of the greatest honours which can be bestowed upon us. it ensures an immediate entrance into Heaven.it gives us a part, such as nothing else can give, of the sufferings of Him, Who laid down His life for us.
    It is a crowning mark of God’s mercy to those who are His especial friends. It is not in the power of all who desire it; it is given to those for whom God has destined it and to none other. It has to be purchased by a long course of faithful service of God.
    If only God would give me such a privilege how happy I should be. If only I could live, so to deserve it!
  2. Even the weak, the timid, the sensitive, can, if God gives them the special grace of Martyrdom, face undismayed, the most cruel tortures. Sometimes they did not feel the pain, even when it was most agonising. The secret joy of their hearts, the thought that they were suffering for Christ – made it seem light to them and gave them fortitude to endure to the end.
    If God should, at a time, give me the happiness of dying for Him, He will take away all the fear and will give me a light, joyous heart even in the midst of the greatest physical sufferings!

3 If there is little or no prospect of my laying down my life for Christ, yet I can, at least, make the offering to Him – I can present myself to suffer anything which He has in store for me.
It may be that I am destined for suffering, worse than death, the prolonged Martyrdom of physical or mental anguish. But one thing I know, that He will never lay upon me suffering beyond that which I am able to bear, and will, with the suffering, give the grace necessary, to endure it with resignation and perhaps even with joy!

Posted in ON the SAINTS, OUR Cross, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING

Thought for the Day –7 July – The Patience of the Saints

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Thought for the Day –7 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Patience of the Saints

  1. To the grace of patience, all the Saints, in great measure, owe their eternal reward. Their crown in Heaven will not be due, so much to what they have done for God, as to what they have suffered for Him. In them, ‘patience has its perfect work’ (St James 1 : 4) and that work has been to prepare them for the eternal joys of Heaven. Oh, how grateful they will be to God for the patience which He has given them to suffer willingly for Him! How grateful they will be for the sufferings which have procured for them, such happiness inexpressible and peace, which knows no end!
  2. The Saints, while still on earth, have a truer view of all the events of life than we have. They value, above all things, even while they are still suffering them, the crosses and afflictions which God sends them. The Apostles counted it joy to suffer shame for Christ’s sake. ‘We glory in tribulation,’ says St Paul.
    St Francis Xavier prayed for more suffering; St Teresa that she might go on suffering until her death. This was no mere sentiment, it was common sense and ordinary prudence. They found a real joy, even here in suffering.
    Have I any such joy? or do I dislike and try to avoid suffering? Here is a test of whether I am like the Saints?
  3. The patience of the Saints was more severely tried than is ours. Not only were they stoned, racked, torn asunder, not only did they suffer want, distress, afflictions (Hebrews 11 : 37) but, they had to endure what was still more difficult – ingratitude, failure, unkindness, false accusations, desolation, darkness. Yet they willingly endured all for Jesus’ sake, never ceasing to love Him through it all. I have my trials, yet none so dreadful as theirs, yet I complain even under my lighter cross!
Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 6 July – The Patience of Jesus Christ

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Thought for the Day – 6 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Patience of Jesus Christ

As in all other virtues, so in patience, Jesus Chris is our Teacher and Example. None ever sufferer as He did and, therefore, none had to exercise such patience as He exercised.

  1. How patient He was with those who reviled and abused Him! Never one indignant word, never one angry look, nothing but sweetness and kindness. ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.‘ Oh, when shall I be able to imitate the patience of Jesus! when shall I approach, even at a distance, the Divine Model, Whom I profess to imitate!
  2. How patient He was with His Apostles! How their roughness, selfishness, stupidity, must have jarred upon Him! They misunderstood His word they quarrelled among themselves, His predictions respecting the Passion fell upon deaf ears, they all forsook Him in time of danger yet, He never was ruffled by the faintest breath of anger or impatience. He Who was the Infinite God put up with their inconstancy, selfishness, ambition.
    Once more, how far am I from the gentleness and patience of the Son of God!
  3. In the midst of physical agony such as none other ever tasted, how patient He was! Nothing save a gentle moaning expressive of the agony He was enduring, escaped His lips when the scourges lacerated His Sacred Body and when the nails were driven through His hands and feet. He endured that which even He could not have borne had He not been God and used His Divinity to enable Him to suffer more. Yet, He was always submissive to the Will of God, always taking a sort of strange joy in His acutest agony because, He knew, the rich reward at hand, the long-lived seed, who through Him, would be redeemed from the wrath of God and endless misery.
Posted in HUMILITY-Fr Richard Clarke, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on KINDNESS, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on VANITY, SELF-DISTRUST

Thought for the Day – 5 July – Certain Temptations Against Humility

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Thought for the Day – 5 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

HUMILITY
Meditations for a Month

Certain Temptations Against Humility

It is not easy to be humble when we are praised and flattered. Our self-love swallows, with eagerness, the words of compliment. We think they must be partly true, or at least, we are tempted to exult in the high opinion which others profess of us. Such occasions are very perilous to humility.
We should do well to think of Herod when the people listened to his oration and shouted out, “It is the voice of a god and not of a man.” We read that, because he took the glory to himself instead of giving it to God, he was smitten down by the Angel of the Lord and died miserably (Acts 12).

Yet we cannot help being pleased when others speak kindly of us and we ought to be pleased when our superiors commend us but, we must observe certain precautions.

  • We must take care to rejoice rather in the kindness of others than in their praise.
  • We must strive to forget ourselves, raise our hearts to God and offer Him our success.
  • We must make an act of humility at the thought that, if those who praise us saw us as God sees us, they would despise, not honour us.

If we find we are puffed up by praise, this is fresh proof of our imperfection. The Saints disliked and dreaded praise and, when they were blamed unjustly, thanked God and took it as a mark of His love and favour. Father Lancicius used to consider unjust reproaches as pure gains because they had no drawback of self-reproach or regret.
Which do I accept most gladly, undue praise or undeserved blame?

Posted in GOD ALONE!, HUMILITY-Fr Richard Clarke, QUOTES on CONSOLATION, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on VANITY, SELF-DISTRUST

Thought for the Day – 4 July – The Presentation of Humility

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Thought for the Day – 4 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

HUMILITY
Meditations for a Month

The Presentation of Humility

When God gives us consolation and peace of soul, we are in danger of losing our sense of dependence and our humility, unless, we bear in mind that:
+ All this happiness is a gift of God which, at any moment, He might take from us and, if He does but turn His Face from us, our joy will be turned to sorrow and heaviness.
+ We live continually on the edge of a precipice and, without a humble reliance upon God, we shall be sure to plunge over it!
+ Prayer to God is necessary to keep us humble and to keep us from attributing to ourselves, His good gifts.

However great may be the graces given us and, however, high the degree of virtue we may attain, we are never safe, unless we remember that we have, in ourselves, an inextinguishable fount of sin and weakness, of concupiscence and rebellion against God, otherwise, our very graces, may prove our ruin. We must cry out to God each morning as Saint Philip did,
“Watch me, O Lord, this day –
for, abandoned to myself,
I shall surely betray Thee!”
‘Guard me against myself and the traitor within my heart which makes me so often unfaithful to Thee. Heal my soul, which abounds with that, which is displeasing to Thee.‘

Those who have great natural talents are in especial danger unless they cultivate constant dependence upon God. Their very ability, is a danger to them and makes them plume themselves, upon what they are able to effect. Nabuchodonosor did this and for a time God took from him his reason until he recognised his own nothingness. Beware of priding yourself on anything you do, lest God take away that talent which has been the cause of so great an evil!

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, SELF-DISTRUST, St Francis de Sales, St PAUL!, St PETER!, The WILL of GOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 4 July – ‘ … When we do abandon all, Our Lord takes care of all …’

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One Minute Reflection – 4 July– “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Within the Octave of Sts Peter and Paul – Acts 5:12-16, Matthew 19:27-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And everyone who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands,
for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.” – Matthew 19:29

REFLECTION – “WE MUST POSSESS a continual and imperturbable equanimity, amid the great variety of human occurrences and although, all things change around us, remain immovable, with our eyes fixed on God alone.
And, although, all things, I will not merely say around us but even within us, should turn topsy-turvy; whether our souls be joyful or sorrowful, in peace or in trouble, in light or in darkness, in temptation or in repose, in happiness or in disgust, although the sun scorch, or the dew refresh – we should always keep our will fixed on the good pleasure of God, as its sole and supreme object.

It is true that we require great confidence to abandon ourselves, without any reserve, to Divine Providence but, when we do abandon all, Our Lord takes care of all and disposes of all.
But, if we reserve anything which we are unwilling to confide to Him, He leaves us, as if He would say: “You think yourselves sufficiently wise to manage that affair without Me – you can do so and see what will come of it!” – St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor Caritatis( Consoling Thoughts on God and Providence).

PRAYER – God, Who hast consecrated this day to the Martyrdom of Thy Apostles Peter and Paul, give Thy Church a precept to follow them in all things. 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 HUMILITY-Fr Richard Clarke, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SCANDAL, QUOTES on THE WORLD

Thought for the Day – 3 July –Humiliation!

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Thought for the Day – 3 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

HUMILITY
Meditations for a Month

Humiliation!

Humiliation is a very painful thing and our pride shrinks from it. Yet, it is a necessary step to humility. We must be humbled in order that we may be humble. We must learn, not to shun dishonour, if we are to learn not to crave honour from men.
When some slight is shown us, when we are ignored or distrusted, or judged unfairly, we have an excellent opportunity of advancing in humility, by accepting, with patience and resignation, the contempt and dishonour and, not attempting to defend ourselves or assert our rights and our claim to be treated with consideration and respect.

When we commit some fault which causes others to think less of us, we should be full of sorrow at the thought of having offended God and given bad example to our neighbour but we must not seek to shun the just contempt we have deserved, or allow ourselves to be miserable at the thought of being despised. On the contrary, we must be content to be esteemed according to our merits and must thank God for teaching us this lesson and giving us a greater insight into ourselves.

It is a sure sign of pride, if we seek to shirk the consequences of our fault, as Saul did when he begged Samuel still to honour him before the ancients of Israel (1 Kings 15:30). Such conduct only brings fresh humiliations.
God, who resists the proud, always brings down those who refuse to humble themselves. The devils, who would not willingly bow the knee before Christ made Man, were forced to do so. God, sooner or later, will force all the proud, willingly or unwillingly, to bow before Him.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The HEART, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 3 July– My Lord and my God

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Quote/s of the Day – 3 July– “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – St Leo II (611–683) Pope, Confessor – 1 Peter 5:1-4; 5:10-11, Matthew 16:13-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 16:16

“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona
because flesh and blood
hath not revealed it to thee
but My Father Who is in Heaven.”

Matthew 16:17

“Thomas answered and said to Him:
My Lord and my God.”

John 20:28

“Blessed are they who have not seen
and have believed.”

John 20:29

“Our hearts were made for Thee, O God
And restless must they be
Until, O God, this grace accord,
Until they rest in Thee!”

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

“Each one of us has a thirst
for all that is infinite, eternal and perfect.
God alone can satisfy this thirst.
Just as we are created by God,
so we are created for Him.
Just as we came from God,
so we are gradually travelling back towards Him,
for He is the final goal of our earthly journey.
We should meditate on this great truth
which we were first taught in the Catechism,
namely, that we were created
to know, love and serve God
on this earth and to be happy with Him
forever in Heaven.
God alone is the eternal beauty
which will satisfy our hearts.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in HUMILITY-Fr Richard Clarke, PURGATORY, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 2 July – Humility under Trials

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

HUMILITY
Meditations for a Month

Humility under Trials

When God lays His heavy Hand upon us, we have an excellent opportunity of exercising the virtue of humility and of making great progress in it. There is nothing like a good knockdown blow, for teaching us our own nothingness and for schooling us in submission to God.
If we take the chastisement well and do not allow ourselves to rebel against the Will of God but rather make it an occasion for humbling ourselves the more in His sight, we shall acquire more grace from God and advance more in perfection in a day, than in months of prosperity and spiritual consolation.
How do I bear the trials God sends — well, or ill?

When the time of darkness is upon us and the gloom seems almost intolerable, there is no harm in praying for release from our misery or that God may avert some threatened blow but, the petition must always be accompanied by an act of humility,
“Not my will, but Thine be done!”
If we are patient, God will certainly send us speedy relief; just when we least expect it, peace will be restored to our souls.

Those trials are intended by God to cleanse our souls and to root out the pride which still lurks there, unnoticed by us.
The best prayer for us to offer under them and indeed, at all times and at all seasons, is to cry out to God,
“Humble me, O God and I shall be humbled. Burn out of me now, in this life, all that displeases Thee that I may not have to endure the burning of the life to come!”
Happy are those who in all trouble can offer this prayer!

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, HUMILITY-Fr Richard Clarke

Thought for the Day – 1 July – The Beauty of Humility

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

HUMILITY
Meditations for a Month

The Beauty of Humility

Humility is not only sweet and pleasant to others; it is beautiful in itself.
Humility is the primary means to attain a likeness to God, since His image in us, cannot be perfect, as long as there is any vestige of pride present in our hearts. When humility has driven out the opposing vice, we then become indeed, like to God. We share the Divine beauty and are the object of the admiration of the holy Angels and even of God Himself, Who then speaks to the soul in the words of the Divine Lover in the Canticles, “Thou art all fair, my beloved and there is no spot in thee.”

Humility is also beautiful because, it is the root whence all other virtues spring. We may say of it that it has, in itself, the combined beauty of all. If we find a man humble, we know that he must, needs be patient, Charitable, unselfish, generous, obedient and, we cannot help admiring and loving him.
Might not my deficiency in these virtues be due to my lack of humility?
O my God, plant this most indispensable and most attractive virtue firmly in my heart!

Nothing will so quickly render us conformed to the Divine Beauty of the Son of God, as humility.
“Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”
If we desire to draw men to ourselves and to attract them, to be efficient in moving their hearts and influencing them for good, we must first learn this lesson of humility from Him, Whose Soul was beautiful beyond that of all the sons of men because none had humility like His.

Posted in CATECHESIS, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, franciscan OFM, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, St Francis de Sales, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION

Quote/s of the Day – 1 July– No other way …

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Quote/s of the Day – 1 July– “The Feast and Month of the Most Precious Blood”

“Carry me, O Christ,
on Thy Cross
which is salvation to the wanderer,
rest for the wearied
and, in which alone,
is Life for those who die.”

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father and Doctor of the Church

Excerpt from the Prayer
to the Five Wounds of Jesus
By St Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)

I pray Thee, O most gentle Jesus,
that having redeemed me
by Baptism from original sin,
so now, by Thy Precious Blood,
which is offered and received,
throughout the world,
deliver me from all evils,
past, present and to come.
And by Thy most bitter Death,
give me a lively faith,
a firm hope
and perfect charity,
so that I may love Thee
with all my heart and all my soul
and all my strength.
Make me firm and steadfast in good works
and grant me perseverance in Thy service,
so that I may be able to please Thee always.
Amen.

“Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judeaorum –
Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”
John 19:19

“HE DIED, THEN
But although He died for us and was lifted up on the Cross,
those who refuse to look upon Him, will surely die,
for there is no other redemption but in this Cross.

O God, how spiritually beneficial and profitable
is a consideration of Thy Cross and Passion!
Can we contemplate our Saviour’s humility on the Cross,
without becoming humble and,
having some affection for humiliations?
Can we see His obedience, without being obedient?
Certainly not!
No-one has ever looked upon Our Lord Crucified
and remained dead or sick.
On the other hand, all who have died,
have done so because.
they were unwilling to gaze upon Him,
just as the Israelites died.
who were unwilling to gaze upon the serpent
which Moses had raised upon the pole.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in ACT of ADORATION, ACT of CONTRITION, ACT of REPARATION, GOOD RESOLUTIONS, HOLY COMMUNION, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, SACRED HEART PRAYERS, SACRED HEART REFLECTIONS, The ADORABLE HEART of JESUS

Thought for the Day – 30 June – Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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Thought for the Day – 30 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

The Adorable Heart of Jesus
Meditations for a Month

EXERCISES OF DEVOTION.

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
to make amends for the outrages He suffers
in the Blessed Sacrament

O Heart of Jesus, ever on fire with love for men and ever outraged by their ingratitude!
Thou hast done everything on earth, during Thy mortal life, to show Thy Love to men, even so far, as to wear Thyself out and to consume Thyself for them.
Thy Love was repaid then, by nothing but contempt and the most disgraceful insult.
And now that Thou burnest with the self-same love in the Holy Eucharist, where Thou art still dwelling in Thy Sacrament of Love in the midst of us, Thou dost suffer at the hands of ungrateful men the most cruel outrages, although they have no longer the excuse of ignorance and know now, what Thou art.

I see Thee on our Altars expose, during the lapse of so many hundred years, to numberless irreverences, sacrileges and insults, the memory of which fills me with horror and which, are going on now, even amongst those who believe in the True Faith!

Moved by these outrages, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Adorable Heart and weep for Thine outraged Love.
I beg Thy pardon for the ingratitude of which I myself am guilty. I detest the sins which I have committed in Thy Presence by irreverence, coldness, and negligence.
I would make reparation for them, as also, for the abominations committed against Thee by so many heretics and bad Catholics.

Would that by my homage and my grief, I could make amends to Thy injured honour.
Would that by my tears and my blood, I could wash out the insults I deplore.
Would that by some new kind of homage, I could atone for so many irreverences, insults and sacrileges. My life would not be too much to sacrifice for so worthy an object.
Grant me, O Sacred Heart,
by Thine own sweetness
and boundless mercy,
the pardon which I ask for,
and give me grace to keep
the resolution, which I now make,
to do all I can in the future ,
to pay Thee, in the Sacrament of Thy Love,
the profound adoration which I owe Thee
and to show Thee that gratitude
and love which are justly due to Thee.
I resolve to repair my past faults
by the modesty of my deportment
in Thy churches,
by my constancy in visiting Thee,
my devotion and fervo.r in receiving Thee
and, in fulfilment of Thy desire,
I impose upon myself the duty of often
repeating Acts of Reparation
in Thy Presence, as Thou hast deigned to direct,
in order, as far as I can, to atone
for the injuries done Thee by others
and of which Thy very love
makes Thee the Victim in this Divine Sacrament.

Bless, I beseech Thee, this resolve
and give me grace to keep it faithfully.
Amen.

Posted in GOD ALONE!, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on CONSOLATION, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, QUOTES on SUFFERING

Thought for the Day – 29 June – The Patience of Mary

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Thought for the Day – 29 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Patience of Mary

  1. As Jesus came to suffer, it was necessary that Mary should suffer with Him. This was her greatest privilege and she knew it to be such. She knew it even when her human love broke forth, in the words of expostulation: ‘Son, why hast Thou so dealt with us?‘
    She knew it when she stood broken-hearted beneath the Cross. She knew it when she received, in her arms, the Body of he Son, after He had been taken down from the Cross.
    She knew from first to last that the best proof of our Lord’s Love is to give us a share in His sufferings!
    This was Mary’s consolation; is it mine when I have to suffer?

+++ 2. We do not read much in Sacred Scripture respecting the patience of Mary,but enough to know that Jesus purposely tried her patience.
Why did He prompt holy Simeon to pierce her heart with the prediction of her coming sufferings? Why did He compel her to start in the dark night on the journey to Egypt, when He could, so easily, have defeated Herod’s projects? Why did He not let her know where He was, when He remained behind in Jerusalem? Why did He apparently rebuke her at the marriage of Cana? Why did He allow her heart to be torn by the sight of His Crucifixion?
It was all that she might have a more glorious reward and share His triumph, in a greater degree!

+++ 3 If we could have seen Mary upon earth, we would have been especially struck by her undisturbed peace. This was owing to her perfect patience and readiness to accept everything at God’s Hand.
‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to thy word.’
If I desire peace, this must be the motto of my life.

Posted in ASPIRATIONS and EJACULATIONS, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PERSECUTION, St Francis de Sales, St PAUL!, St PETER!, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 29 June – Confessing Christ

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Quote/s of the Day – 29 June – Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles – Acts 12:1-11; Matthew 16:13-19 – – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 16:16

“… Now you must be, for a little time,
made sorrowful in divers temptations.
That the trial of your faith,
(much more precious than gold
which is tried by the fire)
may be found unto praise and glory
and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1:6-7

“And all who wish to live
piously in Christ Jesus,
will suffer persecution.”

2 Timothy 3:12

“What is the surest kind of witness?
“Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ
came among us in the flesh” (cf 1 Jn 4:2)
and who keeps the commands of the Gospel…
How many there are, each day,
of these hidden martyrs of Christ
who confess the Lord Jesus!
… So be faithful and courageous
in interior persecutions,
so that you may also win
the victory in exterior persecutions.”

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“It is an old custom
with the servants of God,
always to have some little prayers ready
and to be darting them up to Heaven
frequently during the day,
lifting their minds to God
out of the filth of this world.
He who adopts this plan,
will get great fruit, with little pains.”

St Philip Neri (1515-1595)

“He who most loves,
will be most loved.”

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

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, SELF-DISTRUST

Thought for the Day – 28 June – The Reward of Job’s Patience

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Thought for the Day – 28 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Reward of Job’s Patience

‘You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is merciful and compassionate,‘ (St James 5 : 11)

+++ 1. The patience of Job produced, as its first-fruit, humility.
Although he had never lost his patience nor, in any way, rebelled against God, yet, when he heard the Voice of God declaring to him the Divine Majesty, he accuses himself of speaking unwisely, of things which exceeded his knowledge.
‘ I reprehend myself and do penance in dust and ashes.‘ This is the effect of suffering on the friend of God; it does not embitter them, it humbles them.

+++ 2. Job earned the approval of God Himself, having spoken correctly. Against his friends the wrath of God was kindled, for their unkindness, their rash judgement, their censorious words. They were commanded to offer sacrifice for their sins and to ask Job to pray for them, if they desired to escape God’s anger.
Thus God will always justify His faithful servants, if they leave their cause in His Hands!
‘Blessed are those who wait for Him, they will not be disappointed.’
Is this my policy, or am I keen to fight my own battles?

+++ 3. God rewarded Job even in this life for his patience. One by one his relatives came to comfort him and bring him presents. God blessed his flocks, his herds, his family and he became doubly as rich as before. Sons and daughters grew up around him and Job was happy and prosperous.
He died at last, full of days, leaving behind him a name to be honoured, as an example of patience and fidelity, as long as the world lasts and, receiving in Heaven, a rich reward.
Am I earning, by my patience in this life, God’s blessing and an eternal reward in Heaven?

Posted in GOD ALONE!, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, SELF-DISTRUST, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 27 June – The Source of Job’s Patience

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Thought for the Day – 27 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Source of Job’s Patience

  1. How was it that Job was able to bear his manifold calamities,with patience?
    It was not that he did not feel them acutely, or that he wrapped himself in a mantle of self-reliant pride. It was simply due to his great subservience to the Will of God.
    His motto was: ‘As it hath pleased the Lord, so let it be done.‘
    He was quite satisfied with whatever was the Divine good pleasure, and so, whatever happened, he could say from his heart ‘Blessed be the Name of the Lord,‘ he could thank God fo    r it, however great the pain and misery resulting to himself.
  2. There was a further secret of Job’s patience.
    He placed his hopes of happiness in the future, not the present: ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth, I know that in my flesh, I shall see God.’
    When man thus realises the love of Jesus, and is able to say. ‘my Redeeme’ (as St Paul said, ‘He loved me and gave Himself for me’) he has, amid all his troubles, a source of consolation which never can dry up. He is able to look to the joyful day of the resurrection.
    In my trials, I must thus look to Jesus and think of the reward to come which shall richly compensate for all present pain.
  3. Job was not only perfectly resigned but, ready for fresh sufferings, if it were God’s Will and, if no rebellion in his heart should follow from the additional calamities.
    ‘Let this be my comfort that afflicting me, He spare not and that I may not contradict the words of the Holy One.’
    Is this my spirit? Have I the generosity to pray for more sufferings and more humiliations? At least I will pray that God may send me, whatever He sees will cleanse me from sin and help me to love Him more and more.
Posted in CATECHESIS, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOMINICAN OP, GOD ALONE!, Hail MARY!, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN QUOTES, MARY, MATER ECCLESIAE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on the CHURCH, QUOTES on THE MYSTICAL BODY, St Francis de Sales, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, To JESUS through MARY

Quote/s of the Day – 27 June – – Mother of Perpetual Succour

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Quote/s of the Day – 27 June – – Mother of Perpetual Succour

“Let not your heart be disturbed.
Do not fear that sickness,
nor any other sickness or anguish.
Am I not here, who is your Mother?
Are you not under my protection?
Am I not your health?
Are you not happily within my fold?
What else do you wish?
Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything!”

Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego
9 December 1531

“Gracious Lady,
you are a Mother and Virgin,
you are the Mother
of the body and soul
of our Head and Redeemer,
you are also truly Mother
of all the members of Christ’s Mystical Body.
For through your love,
you have co-operated
in the begetting of the faithful in the Church.
Unique among women,
you are Mother and Virgin,
Mother of Christ and Virgin of Christ.
You are the beauty and charm of earth, O Virgin.
You are, forever, the image of the holy Church.
Through a woman came death,
through a woman came life!
yes, through you, O Mother of God.“

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

Whenever I Say Hail Mary
Blessed Alain de la Roche (1428-1475)

Whenever I say Hail Mary,
The Court of Heaven rejoices
And the earth is lost in wonderment
And I despise the world
And my heart is brim full
Of the love of God.

When I say Hail Mary,
All my fears wilt and die
And my passions are quelled.

If I say Hail Mary,
Devotion grows within me
And sorrow for sin awakens.

When I say Hail Mary,
Hope is made strong in my breast
And the dew of consolation
Falls on my soul
more and more,
Because I say Hail Mary.
And my spirit rejoices,
And sorrow fades away
When I say …
Hail Mary!

“Let me now say something of the devotion
which we ought to have toward this holy Virgin.
The worldly-minded imagine
that devotion to Our Lady
usually consists in carrying a Rosary in their cincture.
It seems to them that, it is enough,
to pray it a number of times without doing anything else.
In this, they are greatly mistaken!
For our dear Mistress wants us to do
what her Son commands us [Jn 2:5]
and, considers as done to herself,
the honour we give to her Son,
by keeping His commandments.”

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

Posted in GOD ALONE!, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on THANKSGIVING

Thought for the Day – 26 June – The Patience of Job

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Thought for the Day – 26 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Patience of Job

The patience of Job is proverbial.
It is held up in Holy Scripture for our imitation. (St James 5 : 11).
It was commended by God Himself and received a rich reward even in this world. It is, therefore, worthy of our study and imitation.

+++1. The patience of Job supported him, not against one kind of misfortune only,but, against a series of all kinds of calamities, coming upon him one after another, in rapid succession. All his goods were taken from him and his children, were one and all killed, by the fall of the house where they were.
Job, so far from murmuring, simply worshipped God, saying: ‘The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
Is this my language when I suffer?

+++2. Job’s next misfortune befell his own body. He was smitten with grievous ulcers from head to foot. His wife, seeing his condition, cried out to him that it was better to put an end to his life than to live on in such a state. But Job gently reproved her: ‘If we have received good things at the Hand of the Lord, why should we not receive evil? I too have received good things without number from God’s Hand. Shall I then murmur if I receive a little of the evil, of which I have deserved so much?!’

+++3. But this was not the end of Job’s troubles. His three friends came to comfort him and began to taunt him as a vain man lifted up by pride, who had hardened his heart and thus brought all this misery upon himself.
Poor Job could not restrain the expression of his misery; he poured forth words of sorrow, yet he never lost his patience or His confidence in God.
Do I thus maintain and uphold my trust in God when all around fail or reproach me undeservedly? Am I gentle and patient with them, as vas Job?

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GUARDIAN ANGELS - Prayers etc, QUOTES on CONSOLATION, QUOTES on FEAR, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on TRUTH, QUOTES on VIRTUE, QUOTES on WORRY/ANXIETY, St Francis de Sales, The HEART, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 26 June – ‘Why do you put yourself in trouble? …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 26 June – Ecclesiasticus 44:10-15, Luke 12:1-8 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings?
And yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
Yes, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Therefore, do not be afraid, you are of more value t
han many sparrows.”

Luke 12:6-7

“[He] hath called you out of darkness
into His marvellous Light … ”

1 Peter 2:9

“In the world you will have tribulation.
But take heart, I have conquered the world.”
John 16:33

“Who will be crowned without having fought?
Who will go to rest if he is not tired
(cf. 2 Tim 2:5-6)?
Who will gather the fruits of life
without having planted virtues in his soul?
Cultivate them, prepare the earth
with the greatest care,
take trouble over it, sweat over it,
children, God’s workers,
imitators of the Angels,
competitors with incorporeal beings,
lights for those who are in the world.
(cf. Phil 2:15)!”

St Theodore the Studite (759-826)

“Fear is a greater evil
than the evil itself.”

(Letters to Persons in the World, VI, 12)

“Why do you put yourself in trouble?
God is good; He sees very well what you are.”

(Letters to Persons in Religion, III, 16)

“The good Angels are around you,
like a company of Sentinels on guard!”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

“We think not enough of this Truth –
that God is present with us
that He sees our thoughts,
even long before we have them.
That He knows what we think
and shall think, better than we ourselves
that He sees the folds and recesses,
of our heart
and of this other Truth –
that NOTHING HAPPENS to us
but by the order of Providence.
We should all be Saints,
if we well apprehended these Truths.
And truly, it is a great consolation,
to know that God sees
the bottom of our heart.”

St Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)
Disciple and Collaborator with
St Francis de Sales in Founding
the Sisters of the Visitation

Posted in "Follow Me", GOD ALONE!, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PRIDE, The PASSION

Thought for the Day – 25 June – Some Motives for Patience under Contempt

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

Some Motives for Patience under Contempt

  1. It is always foolish to complain or to be dissatisfied with that which ,of its own nature. is calculated to advance our happiness and our highest interests. Contempt is better suited, than almost anything else, to humble us, if we take it as we ought. It cannot fail to tear up the pride which is so deeply rooted in our hearts and, which is the great obstacle between us and God.
    Ought we not then, to be grateful to those who do us this service?
    Instead of resenting this treatment of us, we ought to thank God and pray for them as our benefactors!
  2. When we look into ourselves, must we not acknowledge that contempt is what ought to be felt towards us?
    It is the fitting disposition, the proper attitude towards one so contemptible as I am. My love of what is fitting ought to make me welcome it as the right and proper thing. I ought, not only to acquiesce in it but, to be pleased at justice being done to me.
    I ought to say to myself when treated with contempt, ‘That is just and right! It is exactly the true view to take of me!’
  3. Above all, I ought to value contempt because it gives me a share in the humiliation of my dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
    He humbled Himself even to death. He was treated with the utmost contempt and ignominy by the very creatures He had made, who owed all to Him and, on whom, He had bestowed countless benefits and lavished unmeasured love.
    What can be better or happier or a greater privilege, than thus to be clad in the livery of my Lord and to be treading, all unworthy as I am, in His footsteps?
    Welcomethen, contempt and ignominy, for Jesus’ sake and as giving me a share in His Divine Life!