Category: OPEN HOUSE…Conversations with…

Posted in franciscan OFM, I BELIEVE!, OCTOBER - The HOLY ROSARY and The HOLY ANGELS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on Lukewarmness, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on TRUTH, QUOTES on VIRTUE, QUOTES on WORK/LABOUR, ROSARY QUOTES, ROSARY REFLECTIONS and QUOTES, St Francis de Sales

Quote/s of the Day – 20 February – Prayer

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Quote/s of the Day – 20 February – Tuesday of the First Week in Lent – Ferial Day – Isaias 55:6-11, Matthew 21:10-17 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

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

Psalm 140:2

“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)

“Prayer is the beginning,
the progress and the complement
of all virtues.”

“Souls are won with the knees.”

St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584)

“The greatest method of praying
is to pray the Rosary.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

“Christian perfection consists in three things:
praying heroically,
working heroically
and suffering heroically.”

St Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870)

Posted in CONTEMPLATIVE Prayer, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on CREATION, QUOTES on WATCHING, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 19 February – Of the Proper Use of the Exterior Senses: Contemplation of the Divinity (Part One)

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Thought for the Day – 19 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XXI: … Of The Proper Use of the Exterior Senses:
Contemplation of the Divinity
(Part One)

“Great watchfulness and continual exercise is needed, for the due ordering and regulation of the exterior senses – for the appetite which is, as it were, the captain of our corrupt nature, inclines us to an immoderate seeking after pleasure and enjoyment.
The appetite, being unable, by itself, to attain them, it uses the senses as its soldiers and as natural instruments for laying hold of objects, whose images it draws to itself and impresses on the mind.
Hence arises the pleasure which, by reason of the relationship subsisting, between it and the flesh, diffuses itself, over all the senses which are capable of it, infecting both soul and body with a common contagion which corrupts the whole.
You see the evil – now mark the remedy.

Take good heed not to let your senses stray freely where they will; nor to use them when pleasure alone and not utility, necessity, nor any good end, is the motive.
And, if inadvertently they have been allowed to wander too far, recall them at once; or so regulate them that, instead of remaining as before in a miserable captivity to empty pleasures, they may gather a noble spoil from each passing object and bring it home to the soul, that, collected within itself, if may rise with a steadier flight towards Heaven, to the contemplation of God.

Which maybe done in the following manner:
When any object is presented before one of your exterior senses, separate in your mind, from the material thing, the principle which is in it and reflect that, of itself, it possesses nothing of all that which it appears to have but, that all is the work of God, Who endows it invisibly, by His Spirit, with the being, beauty, goodness, or whatever virtue belongs to it.
Then rejoice that thy Lord alone is the Cause and Principle, of such great
and varied perfections and, that they are all eminently contained in Himself, all created excellences being but most minute degrees of His Divine and Infinite perfections.
When engaged in the contemplation of grand and noble objects, reduce the creature, mentally to its own nothingness, fixing your mind’s eye on the great Creator therein present, Who gave it that great and noble being and delighting yourself in Him alone, say:
“O Divine Essence and above all things to be desired,
how greatly do I rejoice that Thou alone
art the InfInite Principle of every created being!”

In like manner, at the sight of trees, plants, or such like objects, you will understand that the life which they have, they have not of themselves but, from the Spirit which you do not see,and which alone quickens them.
Say, therefore:
“Behold here the true Life from which, in which and through which,
all things live and grow!
O living Joy of this heart!”

So, at the sight of brute animals, raise your thoughts to God, Who gave them sensation and motion, saying:
“O Thou First Mover of all that moves, Thou art Thyself immovable;
how greatly do I rejoice in Thy steadfastness and stability!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in CHRIST the JUDGE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on POVERTY, QUOTES on WEALTH/RICHES, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 19 February – “For I was hungry and you gave me to eat …”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 19 February – Monday of the First Week in Lent – Ferial Day –Ezechiel 34:11-16; Matthew 25:31-46 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“For I was hungry
and you gave me to eat”

Matthew 25:35

“If there are people who refuse to work
that is for the governor and the police to deal with.
My duty is to assist
and relieve those
who come to my door.”

St Thomas of Villanova OSA (1488-1555)
Archbishop, Confessor.

“… We must remember that the precept
to “give that which remains, as alms” applies also to us.
If there is someone in grave need
whom we have the means of helping,
we are obliged to do so by the command of the Gospel.
It is the same Gospel which warns us
that if we fail to do so,
the Divine Judge will, one day, condemn us!”

“For judgement is without mercy
to him who has not shown mercy …
And if a brother or a sister be naked
and in want of daily food
and one of you says to them,
‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’
yet you do not give them
what is necessary for the body,
what does it profit? ”
So faith too, unless it has works
is dead in itself” (Js 2:13-17).”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in CHRIST, the BRIDEGROOM, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SLOTH, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THANKSGIVING, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on WATCHING, The PASSION, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 18 February – How to Combat Sloth (Part Two)

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Thought for the Day – 18 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XX: … How to Combat Sloth
(Part Two)

“Call to mind then, frequently that a single elevation of the heart to God, a single genuflection in His honour, is worth more than all the treasures of the world and that, as often as we do violence to ourselves and our sinful passions, a glorious crown of victory is prepared for us, by angels’ hands in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Remember too, on the other hand that God gradually withdraws from the slothfulm, the grace which He had once bestowed upon them; while He increases that of the diligent, permitting them, at last, to enter into His joy.

If you are unequal at first to a bold encounter with toil and hardship, disguise them from yourself, that they may not seem as formidable as sloth would represent them to you.

The exercise before you, is perhaps, to acquire some virtue by many repeated acts, by many days of toil and the enemies to be overcome, seem to you many and strong.
Begin these acts then, as if you had but a few of them to perform, that is, only a few days’ conflict to endure.
Fight only against one adversary, as if there were no more to be resisted and, in full confidence that, with the help of God, you will be stronger than they. By this means, sloth will begin to grow feeble and will make way. at last, for the gradual entrance of the contrary virtue.

I would say the same of prayer.
An hour of prayer is perhaps needful for you and this seems a difficult matter to sloth but apply yourself to it, as if intending to pray but for the eighth part of an hour, you will then easily pass on to another eighth and so on, to the whole.
But if, in the second, or any other of these divisions, you should feel too violent a repugnance and difficulty, leave the exercise awhile, lest you become weary but return to, it shortly.

You should pursue the same method with respect to manual labours, when you are called upon to do things which to sloth appear many in number and difficult of performance and so cause you much disturbance of mind.
Begin, therefore, quietly and courageously with one, as if you had no more to do and when you have dilligently accomplished this, you will be able to
perform all the others with far less labour than sloth would have you believe possible.
But if you do not pursue this method and encounter the toil and hardships which lie in your way, resolutely, the vice of sloth will so gain the mastery over you that you will be forever harassed and annoyed, not only by the present toil and difficulty which will always attend the first exercises of virtue but, even by the distant prospect of them.
You will be forever in fear of being tried and assailed by enemies, or laden with some fresh burden so that, even in the time of peace, you will live in perpetual disquiet.

Know too that this vice of sloth will, by its secret poison, not only consume, the first and feeble roots which would in time have produced habits of virtue but even the roots of habits already acquired.
Like a worm in the wood, it will go on insensibly corroding and eating away the marrow of the spiritual life.

By these means, the devil seeks to ensnare and delude all men but especially, spiritual persons.
Watch, therefore and pray and labour diligently and do not delay to weave the web of your wedding-garment that you may be found ready and adorned to meet the Bridegroom!
And remember daily that He, Who gives you the morning, does not promise you the evening and although He gives the evening, yet promises not the morrow.
Spend, therefore, every moment of every hour according to God’s will, as if it were your last and so much the more carefully, as, for every moment, you will have to give the strictest account!

Finally, I warn you to account that day lost, in which you will neither have gained some victory over your evil inclinations and your self-will, although it may have been full of busy action, nor returned thanksgiving to your Lord for His mercies and especially for His bitter Passion endured for you and for His sweet and fatherly correction, when He has made you worthy to receive, at
His Hand, the inestimable treasure of suffering.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/17/thought-for-the-day-17-february-how-to-combat-sloth-part-one/

Posted in QUOTES on SLOTH, QUOTES on THE WORLD, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 17 February – How to Combat Sloth (Part One)

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Thought for the Day – 17 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XX: … How to Combat Sloth
(Part One)

“To avoid falling into the miserable bondage of sloth, which would not only hinder your progress towards perfection but also ,deliver you into the hands of your enemies, you must observe the following rules:

  1. Shun all curiosity concerning worldly things and all attachment to them and also, every kind of occupation which does NOT belong to your state of life.
  2. Endeavour earnestly, to respond immediately to every inspiration from above and to every command of your superiors; doing everything at the time and in the manner, which is pleasing to them.
  3. Never allow yourself even one moment’s delay – for that one little delay, will soon be followed, by another and that, by a third and this again by others and to the last, the senses will yield and give way more easily than to the first, having been already fascinated and enslaved by the pleasure they have tasted therein.

Hence, the duty to be performed, is either begun too late, or sometimes laid aside altogether, as too irksome to be endured!
Thus, by degrees, a habit of sloth is acquired which, as we cannot disguise it from ourselves, we seek to excuse by vain purposes of future diligence and activity, while we are all the while held in bondage by it.

The poison of sloth overwhelms the whole man – not only infecting the will, by making exertion hateful to it but also, blinding the understanding, so that it is unable to see how vain and baseless are its intentions, to do promptly and diligently, at some future season, what should be done at once but is either willfully neglected altogether, or deferred to another time.

Nor is it enough that we perform our appointed work quickly; we must, in order to bring it to its highest possible perfection, do it at the very time required by its nature and quality and with all suitable diligence.
For that is not diligence but the subtlest form of sloth which leads us to do our work before its time – not seeking to do it well but dispatching it hastily, that we may afterwards indulge in the sluggish repose on which our thoughts have been dwelling, while we were hurrying over our business!

All this great evil proceeds from the want of duly, considering the value of a good work, performed at its right time and with a spirit determined to brave the toil and difficulty, put in the way of untried soldiers, by the sin of sloth.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in QUOTES on LUST, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 16 February – Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh, Section III

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Thought for the Day – 16 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XIX: … Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh
(III) When the Temptation is Over

“ When the temptation is over, however free, however perfectly secure you may feel yourself from danger, keep far from all those objects which gave rise to the temptation, even though, you should be induced to do otherwise, for some apparently good and useful end.
For this is a deception of our evil nature and a snare of our cunning adversary, who transforms himself into an angel of light to bring us into darkness!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on LUST, QUOTES on MEDITATION, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 15 February – Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh (Part Two of Section II)

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Thought for the Day – 15 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XIX: … Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh
(II) During the Temptation
(Part Two)

“Against evil thoughts, from whatever source arising, the remedies are as follows: (1) Occupation in the various duties proper to our state of life; (2) Prayer and meditation.

Prayer should be made in the following manner:
When first conscious of the presence of these evil thoughts, or even of such as may betoken their approach, FLY for refuge at once to the Crucified, saying:
“My Jesus! my sweet Jesus! help me speedily that I may not fall into the hands of this enemy.”
And sometimes, embracing the Cross on which your Lord is extended and repeatedly kissing the wounds of His Sacred Feet, say lovingly:
“O beauteous Wounds! chaste Wounds! holy Wounds!
wound Thou now, this miserable impure heart of mine
and free it from all that offends Thee.”

At the moment when temptations to carnal pleasures assail you, I do not advise you to meditate upon certain points recommended in many books as remedies against these temptations, such as the vileness of this vice, its insatiable craving, the bitterness and loathing, the peril and ruin of estate, life, honour, etc which follow in its train.
This is not always a certain method of overcoming the temptation – for, if the mind repels these thoughts on the one hand, on the other, they afford an opportunity and expose us to the danger of taking pleasure in and consenting to, them.
Therefore, the true remedy in all these cases, is flight, not from these thoughts alone but from everything, however contrary to them, which may bring them before us.

Let your meditation, then, for this end, be on the Life and Passion of our Crucified Redeemer.
And, should the same thoughts again, intrude themselves against your will and molest you more than ever, as will very probably happen, be not discouraged on this account, nor leave your meditation but continue it, with all possible intensity, not even turning from it to repel such thoughts but giving yourself no more concern about them than if they, in no way, belonged to you.
There is no better method than this of resisting them, how incessant soever maybe their attacks.

You will then conclude your meditation with this or some similar Supplication:
“Deliver me, O my Creator and Redeemer,
from mine enemies, for the honour of Thy Passion
and of Thine unspeakable goodness.”

Suffer not your thoughts to recur again to the subject; for the bare recollection of it is not without danger!
Neither stay, at anytime, to reason with such temptations, to find out whether you have consented to them or not – for this is a device of the devil, who seeks, under the semblance of good, to disquiet you and make you distrustful and faint-hearted, or hopes, by entangling you in such discussions, to draw you into some sin.

Therefore, in this temptation, when the consent is not evident, it is sufficient that you briefly confess the whole to your Spiritual Father and then, rest satisfied with his opinion, without thinking of it further.
But be sure, faithfully to reveal every thought to him and, neither be restrained from so doing by shame or any other consideration.
For if, in dealing with all our enemies, we need the grace of humility to enable us to subdue them, in this case, more than in any other, we are bound to humble ourselves; this vice being almost always, the punishment of pride!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE of I:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/12/thought-for-the-day-11-february-of-the-way-to-resist-the-sins-of-the-flesh-part-one/
PART TWO of I:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/13/thought-for-the-day-13-february-of-the-way-to-resist-the-sins-of-the-flesh-part-two/
PART ONE of II:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/14/thought-for-the-day-14-february-of-the-way-to-resist-the-sins-of-the-flesh-part-one-of-section-ii/

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOMINICAN OP, LENT 2024, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on BAD CONVERSATION, QUOTES on CHASTITY, QUOTES on FASTING, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on LUST, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on PRAYER, SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN

Quote/s of the Day – 15 February – Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving

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Quote/s of the Day – 15 February – Ash Thursday

“… Now is the time in this life of suffering,
when we journey apart from Him.
… So let us fast and pray now
because, we are in the days of childbirth!”

“Fasting cleanses the soul,
raises the mind,
subjects one’s flesh to the spirit,
renders the heart contrite and humble,
scatters the clouds of concupiscence,
quenches the fire of lust
and kindles the true light of chastity.
Enter again into yourself!”

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

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

St Dominic OP (1170-1221)

“What great profit you gain from God
when you are generous!
You give a coin
and receive a Kingdom;
you give bread from wheat
and receive the Bread of Life;
you give a transitory good
and receive an everlasting one.
You will receive it back,
a hundred times more
than you offered.”

St Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)

“The soul which is quick to turn
to speaking and conversing,
is slow to turn to God.”

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

“All evangelical perfection is attained,
by the continual exercise of prayer.”

St Aloysius Gonzaga SJ (1568-1591)

“As well as the corporal works,
there are the spiritual works of mercy.
Everyone is not obliged to undertake the former,
that would be impossible, for instance,
for the desitute, the sick, the aged.
But, everyone is OBLIGED to undertake the latter.
Sometimes a kind word
is more valuable than money!”
… Remember, however, that the practice
of the spiritual works of mercy,
does not excuse us from the exercise
of material works of charity,
wherever that is possible for us (Cf Js 2:16).

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in MODESTY, QUOTES on LUST, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on VICE, SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 14 February – Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh (Part One of Section II)

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Thought for the Day – 14 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XIX: … Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh
(II) During the Temptation
(Part One)

“During the temptation, consider whether it proceeds from internal or external causes.
By external, I mean, curiosity of the eyes or ears, immodesty — in dress, habits and conversations which excite to this sin.
The remedies in this case are purity, modesty, the refraining from seeing or hearing anything which excites to this vice and, as I said before, fight against such vices!

The internal are either the rebellion of the flesh, or thoughts of the mind proceeding from our own evil habits or from the suggestion of the devil.
The rebellion of the flesh must be mortified by fasts, disciplines, hair-shirts, vigils and other similar austerities, as discretion and obedience may direct.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE of I:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/12/thought-for-the-day-11-february-of-the-way-to-resist-the-sins-of-the-flesh-part-one/
PART TWO of I:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/13/thought-for-the-day-13-february-of-the-way-to-resist-the-sins-of-the-flesh-part-two/

Posted in QUOTES on CHASTITY, QUOTES on LUST, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on VICE, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 12 February – Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh (Part One of Section I)

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Thought for the Day – 12 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XIX: … Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh
(I) Before the Temptation
(Part One)

“These sins must be resisted in a way peculiar to themselves and different from the method used against any other temptation.
In order, therefore, to resist successfully, three phases must be observed. The firtst – before the temptation, the second – during the temptation and the third – after the temptation.

Before the temptation the struggle must be against those things which generally occasion it.
First, you must combat the vice but never confront it; on the contrary, avoid to the utmost of your power, every occasion and every person, where you may incur the slightest danger.
And if at times, compelled to converse with such, let it be brief, with a grave and modest demeanour and with words of severity, rather than of excessive tenderness and affability.

Neither be confident in yourself, if you are free of such temptations and, during many years of such exercises, have continued free from temptations of the flesh – for this accursed vice makes its advances secretly, often doing, in an hour, what in many years it had failed to effect and it hurts the more grievously and wounds the more fatally, the more friendly the form it assumes and the less ground of suspicion it seems to give.

And there is often great danger, as experience has shown and still shows, in connections which are indulged in, under fair and lawful pretexts, such as kindred, relations of duty, or, again, great virtue in the person beloved.

For the poisonous pleasure of sense insinuates itself into this over-frequent and imprudent connection, instilling its venom gradually, until it penetrates into the marrow of the soul and darkens the reason more and more, until at last, no account is made of things which are really dangerous, such as mutual glances of tenderness, loving words and the enjoyment of conversation and so, a change creeping over both, they fall at last into destruction, or into some temptation most difficult and toilsome to overcome!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, OUR Cross, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 11 February – Of the Way to Resist Sudden Impulses of the Passions

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Thought for the Day – 11 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XVIII: … Of the Way to Resist
Sudden Impulses of the Passions

“Until we have become habituated to ward off sudden strikes, whether of insult or other adverse circumstances, it is well, in order to acquire such a habit, to anticipate them and desire to suffer them, over and over again and so, to await them with a mind prepared.

The way to anticipate them is, to consider the passion to which you are most inclined and also, the places wherein and the persons with whom, you are wont to converse; whence you may readily conjecture what is likely to befall you.
And should you meet with any other untoward circumstance which you have not foreseen, although you will find your soul strengthened by having been prepared to meet the other evils which you did foresee, yet may you also avail yourself of the following additional help.

At the very first touch of the insult or ‘trial,’ whatever it be, rouse yourself at once and lift up your heart to God, reflecting on His ineffable goodness and love, which sends you this affliction that, by enduring it for the love of Him, you may thereby be more purified and brought nearer and united unto Him.
And, knowing, how greatly He is pleased that you should suffer it, turn next to yourself and with a sharp rebuke, say, “O, why will you refuse to bear this cross which is sent to you, not by man but by your Father Who is in Heaven!”
Then turn to the cross and embrace it with all possible patience and joy, saying, “O cross, formed by Divine Providence before I was born; O cross, endeared to me by the dear love of my Crucified Lord, nail me now to youself that so I may give myself to Him, Who died on you for my redemption!”

And if, at first the passion should prevail against you and you should be wounded and unable to raise your heart to God, strive even then, to do, as at the beginning and fight as if still unwounded.

The most effectual remedy, however, against these sudden impulses, is to remove the cause from whence they proceed.
Thus, if you discover that, through your affection for any object, you
are thrown into a sudden agitation of mind, as often as it is presented to you, the remedy is, by persevering efforts, to withdraw your affection from it.

But, if the agitation proceeds from a person, who is so disagreeable to you that every little action of his annoys and irritates you, the remedy here, is to force yourself to love and cherish him, not only as a creature formed by the same Sovereign Hand, with yourself and created anew by the same Divine Blood but also becaus. he offers you an opportunity, if you will accept it, of becoming like your Lord, Who is kind and loving unto all men!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in QUOTES on ENEMIES, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on VICE, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 10 February – Of the Order to be Observed in the Conflict with our Evil Passions

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Thought for the Day – 10 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XVII: … Of the Order to be Observed
in the Conflict with our Evil Passions

“It is of great importance that we should know how to observe a due order in this combat, lest, as too many do, to their own great injury, we should fight in a casual or desultory manner.

The order to be observed in the warfare against your enemies and evil inclinations should be as follows:

Look well into your heart and search diligently until you have discovered, by what thoughts and affections it is surrounded and, by what passion it is most tyrannically swayed,
Then, against this vice, first take up arms and direct your attack. If, meanwhile, you should be assaulted by other enemies, turn against the one nearest to you and which, at the moment threatens you but fail not, to return afterwards, to the prosecution of your principal enterprise.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in "Follow Me", ArchAngels and Angels, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, SELF-DISTRUST, The COMMUNION of SAINTS, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 9 February – The Soldier of Christ Must Prepare for Battle, Early in the Morning (Part Two)

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Thought for the Day – 9 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XVI: … The Soldier of Christ Must Prepare
for Battle, Early in the Morning (Part Two)

‘Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.’ – Zechariah 4:6,

“Begin the combat in the Name of the Lord, with the weapons of Self-distrust and Trust in God, of prayer and spiritual exercises and challenge your foe to the battle, that is, that inclination, whatever it be, which, according to the order above laid down, you have resolved to conquer.
Do this, now by open resistance, now by deep abhorrence, or again, by acts of the contrary virtue, wounding him again and again, even unto death, to give pleasure to your Lord, Who is looking on, with the whole Church Triumphant, to behold your conflict!

I tell you again, you must not weary of the struggle but, remember the obligation which lies on us all, to serve and please God and the absolute necessity of fighting in this battle, from which none can escape, without wounds or death.

I tell you, moreover, that if, as a rebel you would fly from God,and give
yourself over to the world and the delights of the flesh, you will still be forced, in spite of yourself, to labour by the sweat of your brow, against many and many an adversary, who will pierce your heart with deadly anguish.

Consider, then, what folly it would be to incur all this toil and trouble, which does but lead to greater toil and endless trouble and spiritual death, in order to avoid that which will soon be over and which will lead us to eternal and infinite blessedness in the everlasting enjoyment of our God.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/08/thought-for-the-day-8-february-the-soldier-of-christ-must-prepare-for-battle-early-in-the-morning-part-one/

Posted in QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 8 February – The Soldier of Christ Must Prepare for Battle, Early in the Morning (Part One)

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Thought for the Day – 8 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XVI: … The Soldier of Christ Must Prepare
for Battle, Early in the Morning (Part One)

‘Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.’ – Zechariah 4:6,

“On awaking in the morning, the first thing to be observed by your inward sight, is the field of battle in which you are enclosed, facing the enemy and bound by the law of the combat – either fight or die!

Here picture to yourself, on one side, your enemy (that evil inclination which you are already pledged to conquer) now standing before you, ready armed to wound and slay you.
See also, on the right hand, your victorious Captain, Jesus Christ, with His most holy Mother the Virgin Mary and her beloved Spouse Saint Joseph and innumerable hosts of Angels, especially Saint Michael the Archangel and, on the left hand, the infernal demon, with all his armies, ready to excite this passion and to persuade you to yield to it.

Then shall you seem to hear a voice as of your Guardian Angel addressing you:

“You are to fight this day against this and your other enemies.
Let not your heart fail, nor your spirit faint.
Yield not on any account, neither for fear nor any other cause; for our Lord, your Leader, stands beside you with all His glorious hosts and will do battle for you against all your enemies and will not suffer them to prevail against you or to overcome you.

Only stand firm – do violence to yourself and endure the pain such violence will cause you.
Cry unceasingly from the depths of your heart and call upon the Lord and so assuredly, shalt you gain the victory.
If you are weak and inexperienced, if your enemies are strong and manifold, manifold more, are the succours of Him Who created and redeemed you and mightier beyond all measure and comparison, is your God and more willing to save you, than are all your enemies to destroy you.

Fight valiantly then and be not loathe to suffer; for it is this toilsome resistance to your evil inclinations, this painful struggle against evil habits which shall gain you the victory and win for you a treasure wherewith to purchase the Kingdom of Heaven and unite your soul to God forever.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in "Follow Me", QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on ENEMIES, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 7 February – Of the Enemies We are to Engage and the Courage Necessary to Fight (Part Two)

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Thought for the Day – 7 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XV: … Of the Enemies We Are to Engage
and the Courage Necessary to Fight (Part Two)

“Therefore, you must never be dismayed, although at times, your enemy seems to be strengthening his array against you, although the struggle threatens to last your whole lifetime and although, almost certain falls menace you on every side! – for know assuredly, that the whole strength and wisdom of our enemies, is in the Hands of our Divine Captain, in Whose honour the battle is arrayed – Who, prizing us beyond measure, sure and having Himself imperatively called us to the conflict, will never suffer you to be overcome!

Nay more, He will Himself fight on your right hand and will not fail, in His own good time, to subdue your foes before you and this, to your greater reward, if He should delay to give you the victory, until the last day of your life!
This alone is your concern, to fight manfully, and never, however numerous your wounds, to lay down your arms or take to flight.

Lastly, that you fail not to fight courageously, bear in mind that this is a conflict whence there is no escape and, that he who will not fight must needs be captured or slain!
Moreover, we have to deal with enemies so powerful and so filled with
deadly hate, as to leave us no hope of either peace or truce.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/06/thought-for-the-day-6-february-of-the-enemies-we-are-to-engage-and-the-courage-necessary-to-fight-part-one/

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on POVERTY, QUOTES on the POOR, St Francis de Sales, The HOLY NAME, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 7 February – Shall receive a hundredfold … Matthew 19:29

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One Minute Reflection – 7 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – St Romuald (c951-1027) Abbot – Ecclesiasticus 45:1-6, Matthew 19:27-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

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

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

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

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

PRAYER – May the intercession of the Blessed Abbot Romuald, commend us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, so that what we do not deserve by any merits of our own, we may obtain by 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 QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on ENEMIES, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THE WORLD, SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, The FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES: JUSTICE, PRUDENCE, TEMPERANCE, FORTITUDE, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 6 February – Of the Enemies We are to Engage and the Courage Necessary to Fight (Part One)

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Thought for the Day – 6 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XV: … Of the Enemies We Are to Engage
and the Courage Necessary to Fight (Part One)

“You see now after what manner you must fight in order to conquer self and to adorn your soul with all virtues.

Know, furthermore, that to obtain a speedier and easier victory over your enemies, it is expedient, nay necessary, that you should fight against them daily and, especially against self-love and learn to esteem, as dear friends and benefactors, all the insults and vexations which the world can heap upon you.

And it is because men know not the necessity of this daily warfare and make too little account of it that, as I said before, their victories are rare, difficult, imperfect and unstable.

Moreover, I warn you that you must bring great courage and steadfastness of soul to this conflict.
And this gift you will readily obtain if you beseech it of God, considering, on the one hand, the undying hatred and fury of your enemies and the vast multitude of their ranks and squadrons and, on the other, how infinitely greater is the goodness of God and the love wherewith He loves you and how much mightier, too, are the Angels of Heaven and the prayers of the Saints, who fight for us.
By this consideration, have so many feeble women been enabled to overcome and conquer, all the power and wisdom of the world, all the assaults of the flesh and all the fury of hell!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in QUOTES on FREEDOM, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 5 February – Of What Must be Done, When the Superior Will Seems to be Wholly Stifled and Overcome

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Thought for the Day – 5 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XIV: … Of What Must be Done, When the Superior Will
Seems to be Wholly StifLed and Overcome,
by the Inferior Will and by Other Enemies

“If, at times, the Superior Will should seem to you, powerless to resist the Inferior and, its other enemies because, you do not feel within you an effectual will opposed to them, yet stand firm! and do not leave the field – for you must always account yourself victorious, until you can clearly perceive that you have yielded.

For, inasmuch as our Superior Will has no need of the Inferior for the production of its acts, without its own consent, it can never be compelled to yield, however sorely assaulted.

For God endowed our will with such freedom and such strength that were all the senses, all evil spirits, nay, the whole world itself, to arm and conspire to assault and oppress it, with all their might, it could still, in spite of them, will or not will, all that it wills or wills not and that, how often soever, whensoever, howsoever and, to what end soever it should please!

And, if at any time, your foes should so violently assail and press upon you as almost to stifle your will, so that it seems to have no breath to produce any opposing act of volition, yet, do not lose courage, nor throw down your arms but make use of your tongue in your defence, saying:
“I yield not, I consent not”
like a man whose adversary is upon him and holds him down and who, being unable to reach him with the point of his sword, strikes at him with the hilt and, as he tries to make a spring backwards to wound his enemy with the point, so do thou take refuge in the knowledge of yourself, the knowledge that you are nothing and can do nothing and with faith in God, Who can do all things, strike a blow at this hostile passion, saying:
“Help me, Lord! help me, O my God! help me, Jesus, Mary! that I
may not yield to this enemy!”

You may also, when your enemy gives you time, call in your reason to assist the weakness of your will, by meditating upon various points, the consideration of which may give it strength and restore its breath, to resist the enemy.
For example:
You are, perhaps, under some persecution or other trial, so sorely tempted to impatience that your will, as it seems to you, cannot, or at least, will not, endure it.
Encourage it, then, by discussing with the reason such points as the following:

  • Consider, firstly, whether you have given any occasion for the evil under which you are suffering and so, have deserved it; for if you have done so, every rule of justice requires of you, to bear patiently the wound which, with your own hand, you have inflicted on yourself.
  • Secondly – If blameless in this particular instance, think of your other sins, for which God has not yet chastised you and for which you have not, as you should have, duly punished yourself.
    Seeing, then, that God’s mercy changes your deserved punishment which should be eternal, into some light affliction which is but temporal, you should receive it, not willingly only but thankfully.
  • Thirdly – Should your offences against the Divine Majesty, seem to you to be light and, the penance you have endured for them, heavy. (a persuasion, however, which you should never allow yourself to entertain!), you must remember that it is only through the straight and narrow gate of tribulation that you can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
  • Fourthly – That even were it possible to enter there by any other way, the law of love forbids you, so much as to think of it, seeing that the Son of God, with all His friends and all His members, entered into that Kingdom by a path strewn with thorns and crosses.
  • Fifthly – That which you have chiefly to consider, on this and all other occasions, is the Will of God, Who, for the love He bears you, views. with unspeakable complacency, every act of virtue and mortification which, as His faithful and valiant soldier, you perform in requital of His love for you.

And of this be assured, that the more unreasonable in itself the trial seems and the more ignominious, by reason of the unworthiness of those, from whom it comes and so, the more vexatious and the more difficult to be borne, so much the more pleasing will you be to the Lord, if, in things so disordered in themselves and, therefore, so bitter and repugnant to you, you can approve and love His Divine Will and Providence, in which all events, however adverse, are disposed, after a most perfect rule and order.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in ACT of CONTRITION, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, LENT, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on BAD CONVERSATION, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, QUOTES on VICE, QUOTES on VIRTUE, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, St Francis de Sales, The PASSION, To JESUS through MARY

Quote/s of the Day – 5 February – In Sexagesima Week, Preparing for Lent

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Quote/s of the Day – 5 February – In Sexagesima Week, Preparing for Lent

“Listen to the Lord’s appeal:
‘Come, then, return to Me
and learn to know Me as your Father,
Who repays good for evil,
love for injury
and boundless charity
for piercing wounds!”

St Peter Chrysologus (c400-450)
“Golden Words”
Father & Doctor of the Church

Have Mercy, Lord
By St Peter Damian (1007-1072)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Have mercy, Lord,
on all my friends and relatives,
on all my benefactors,
on all who pray to Thee for me
and on all who have asked me
to pray to Thee, for them.
Give them the spirit of fruitful penance,
mortify them in all vices
and make them flower
in all Thy virtues.
Amen

“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

O Jesus, My Sweet Love!
(I too have kept Thee suffering)
Prayer of Contrition
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

O Jesus, my sweet Love!
I too have kept Thee suffering
through all Thy life.
Tell me, then, what I must do
in order to win Thy forgiveness.
I am ready to do all Thou askest of me.
I am sorry, O sovereign Good,
for all the offences I have committed against Thee.
I love Thee more than myself,
or at least, I feel a great desire to love Thee.
Since it is Thou Who hast given me this desire,
do Thou also give me the strength to love Thee exceedingly.

It is only right that I,
who have offended Thee so much,
should love Thee very much.
Always remind me of the love
Thou hast borne me,
in order that my soul may ever burn
with love of Thee and long to please Thee alone.
O God of love,
I, who was once a slave of hell,
now give myself all to Thee.
Graciously accept me and bind me to Thee
with the bonds of Thy love.
My Jesus, from this day and forever,
in loving Thee will I live
and in loving Thee will I die.

O Mary, my Mother and my hope,
help me to love Thy dear God and mine.
This is the only favour I ask of thee
and through thee, I hope to receive it.
Amen

Posted in OUR Cross, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on MORTIFICATION, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, QUOTES on VICE, QUOTES on VIRTUE, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), The HOLY CROSS, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 4 February – Of the Acts to be Performed in order to Acquire Habits of Virtue (Part FOUR)

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Thought for the Day – 4 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

The Third Weapon
of the Spiritual Combat

XIII: … Of the Way to Resist the Impulses of Sense
and of the Acts to be Performed by the Will,
in order to Acquire Habits of Virtue (Part Four)

“Remember, again, to mortify and thwart your own wishes, from time to time, in lawful but not necessary things; for many benefits follow such discipline; it will prepare and dispose you, more and more, for self-mastery in other things; you will thus become expert and strong, in the struggle with temptation; you will escape many a snare of the devil and accomplish a work well pleasing to the
Lord.

I speak plainly to you; if, in the way I have taught you, you will persevere faithfully, in these holy exercises for self-reformation and self-mastery, I promise you that in a short time, you will make great progress and will become spiritual, not in name only but in truth!
But in no other manner do I bid you hope to attain to true holiness and spirituality, nor by any other exercises, however excellent in your estimation, although you should seem to be wholly absorbed in them and to hold sweet colloquies with our Lord.

For, as I told you in the first Chapter, true holiness and spirituality consists, not in exercises which are pleasing to us and conformable to our nature, nor is it produced by these but, by such only, as nail that nature, with all its works, to the cross and, renewing the whole man by the practice of the evangelical virtues, unite him to his Crucified Saviour and Creator.

There can be no question that, as habits of vice are formed by many and frequent acts of the Superior Will yielding itself to the sway of the Sensual appetites, so, on the contrary, habits of evangelical virtue are acquired, by the performance of frequent and repeated acts of conformity to the Divine Will, Which calls upon us to exercise ourselves now, in one virtue, now, in another.

For as our will, however fiercely assailed by sin or by the suggestions of our lower nature, can never become sinful or earthly, unless it yield or incline itself to the temptation, so you will never attain to holiness and union with God, however powerfully called and mightily assailed by Divine grace and heavenly inspirations, unless, by inward and, if need be, by outward acts, your will be made conformable to His!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/01/25/thought-for-the-day-25-january-of-the-way-to-resist-the-impulses-of-sense-part-one/
PART TWO:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/02/thought-for-the-day-2-february-of-the-way-to-resist-the-impulses-of-sense-part-two/
PART THREE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/03/thought-for-the-day-3-february-of-the-acts-to-be-performed-in-order-to-acquire-habits-of-virtue-part-three/

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, CONSECRATION Prayers, FEBRUARY - THE BLESSED TRINITY (Traditional), LENT, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, St Francis de Sales, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY

Our Morning Offering – 4 February – An Act of Consecration to the Holy Trinity

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Our Morning Offering – 4 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – Sexagesima Sunday

An Act of Consecration to the Holy Trinity
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity

I vow and consecrate to God
all that is in me:
my memory and my actions
to God the Father;
my understanding
and my words
to God the Son;
my will and my thoughts
to God the Holy Ghost;
my heart, my body,
my tongue, my senses
and all my sorrows
to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ,
“who was content to be betrayed
into the hands of wicked men
and to suffer the torment of the Cross..”
Amen

Posted in QUOTES on ENEMIES, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on KINDNESS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), The FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES: JUSTICE, PRUDENCE, TEMPERANCE, FORTITUDE, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 3 February – Of the Acts to be Performed in order to Acquire Habits of Virtue (Part THREE)

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

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

The Third Weapon
of the Spiritual Combat

XIII: … Of the Way to Resist the Impulses of Sense
and of the Acts to be Performed by the Will,
in order to Acquire Habits of Virtue (Part Three)

“Lastly — to adorn and perfect your soul in the habit of all the virtues, exercise yourself in the inward practices directly opposed to all your disorderly passions.

Would you attain, for instance, to the perfection of patience?
On receiving any insult which tempts you to impatience, it will not be enough to exercise yourself in the three modes of warfare above described [see Part One link below], you must do more — even willingly accept and love the indignity you have endured; desiring to submit to it again, from the same person and in the same manner — expecting and disposing yourself to bear, still more difficult things.

These contrary acts are needful to our perfection in all the virtues, because, the exercises of which we have been speaking, manifold and efficacious as they are — will not suffice to eradicate the roots of sin.

Hence (to pursue the same example) although, when we receive an insult, we do not yield to the impulse of impatience but, on the contrary, resist it by the three methods above described, yet, unless we accustom ourselves, by many and repeated acts of the will, to love contempt and rejoice to be despised, we shall never overcome the sin of impatience which springs from a regard for our own reputation and a shrinking from contempt. …

I would add to all that has been said, that if the virtue in which you are exercising yourself, so requires, you must also practice exterior acts conformable to the interior — as, for instance, words of love and meekness and lowly services rendered to those who have, in any way, thwarted or slighted you.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/01/25/thought-for-the-day-25-january-of-the-way-to-resist-the-impulses-of-sense-part-one/
PART TWO:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/02/thought-for-the-day-2-february-of-the-way-to-resist-the-impulses-of-sense-part-two/

Posted in QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 2 February – Of the Way to Resist the Impulses of Sense (Part Two)

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Thought for the Day – 2 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

The Third Weapon
of the Spiritual Combat

XIII: … Of the Way to Resist the Impulses of Sense
and of the Acts to be Performed by the Will
in order to Acquire Habits of Virtue (Part Two)

“Suppose you are assailed by feelings of impatience.
Look carefully into yourself and you will find that these feelings are constantly directed against the superior will, in order to win its consent.

Now then, begin the first exercise and by repeated acts of the will, do all in your power to stifle each feeling, as it arises that your will may not consent to it.
And never desist from this, until, wearied unto death, your enemy yields himself vanquished.
But see here the malice of the devil!
When he perceives that we resist the first movements of any passion, not only does he desist from exciting them but when excited, he endeavours, for the time, to allay them, lest, by the exercise of resistance to the passion, we should acquire the habit of the opposite virtue.
He would fain also betray us into the snares of pride and vainglory, by subtly insinuating to us that, like valiant soldiers, we have quickly trampled down our enemies.

Proceed, therefore, to the second conflict, recalling and exciting within yourself those thoughts which tempted you to impatience, until they sensibly affect you.
Then set yourself to repress every such feeling with a stronger will and more earnest endeavour than before.
And because, however strenuously we have resisted our enemies, from a sense of duty and a desire to please God, we are still in danger, unless we hold them in perfect detestation, of being one day overcome, attack them again even a third time and repel them, not with repugnance only but with indignation, until they have become hateful and abominable in your sight.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/01/25/thought-for-the-day-25-january-of-the-way-to-resist-the-impulses-of-sense-part-one/

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION

Quote/s of the Day – 2 February – ‘… What shall we give Him? …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 2 February – The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, Candlemas – Malachias 3:1-4, Luke 2:22-32 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“The day will come when this Child
will no longer be offered in the Temple,
nor in Simeon’s arms
but outside the City
in the arms of the Cross.
The day will come when He
will not be redeemed
by the blood of a sacrifice
but redeem others ,
with His own Blood. …”
That will be the evening sacrifice;
this is the morning sacrifice;
this one is the happiest
but that one is the most complete;
for this one was offered
at the time of birth
and that one will be offered
in the fullness of time,..”

“But what shall we offer, brothers,
what shall we give Him
for all the benefits He has given us?
He offered the most precious Victim
He possessed for our sake;
in truth, He could not have had
anything more precious.
So let us, too,
do what we can,
let us offer Him the best we have,
that is to say, ourselves!
He offered Himself,
so who are you,
to hesitate to offer yourself?”

St Bernard (1091-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor of the Church

“Let us try and live like Simeon,
with our minds and hearts turned towards Jesus.
Let us think chiefly of Him,
love Him, above everything else
and work only for Him.
Then our death will be as beautiful as his.
In fact, we shall be even more fortunate,
for we can go further than receiving Jesus into our arms.
We shall be able to receive Him into out hearts.
He will be at hand to give us the supernatural strength
which we shall need on our great journey into eternity.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/02/02/quote-s-of-the-day-2-february-carrying-jesus/

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, FEBRUARY - THE BLESSED TRINITY (Traditional), PRAYERS of the SAINTS, St Francis de Sales, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY

February Devotion – The Most Holy and Blessed Trinity

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Traditional Catholic Devotion for February

February is traditionally the Month of the Blessed Trinity, with the Holy Family being celebrated together with the Holy Name of Jesus in January.

The Sign of the Cross

In the Name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.

(50 Days. 100 Days if made with Holy Water
Pope Pius IX, 1865)

An Act of Oblation to the Most Blessed Trinity
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity

I vow and consecrate to God
all that is in me,
my memory and my actions,
to God the Father;
my understanding and my words,
to God the Son;
my will and my thoughts,
to God the Holy Spirit.
I consecrate my heart, my body,
my tongue, my senses and all my sorrows,
to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ,
Who consented to be betrayed
into the hands of wicked men
and to suffer the torment
of the Cross for me.
Amen

Posted in CATECHESIS, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), St Francis de Sales, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 29 January – “The Difference between –Placing ourselves in God’s Presence and Staying in God’s Presence” by St Francis de Sales

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Thought for the Day – 29 January – The Feast of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Bishop, Confessor – Doctor of the Church: Doctor Caritatis (Doctor of Charity) “The Gentle Christ of Geneva” and “The Gentleman Saint.”

“The Difference between –
Placing ourselves in God’s Presence and
Staying in God’s Presence”

From a letter of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
to St Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)
dated 16 January 1610

“Staying in God’s Presence and placing ourselves in God’s Presence are, to my mind, are two different things.

In order to place ourselves in His presence, we have to withdraw our soul from every other object and make it attentive to that Presence at this very moment, as I have explained in the book.[Introduction to the Devout Life]
But once we are there, we remain there, as long as, either out intellect or our will, is active in regard to God.
We look either at Him, or at something else, for love of Him; or, not looking at anything at all, we speak to Him; or again, without either looking at Him or speaking to Him, we just stay there where He has placed us, like a statue in its niche.
And if, while we are there, we also have some sense that we belong to God and that He is our All, then we must certainly thank Him for this.

If a statue which had been placed in a niche, in some room, had the ability to speak and were asked “Why are you there?” it would answer, “Because my master, the sculptor, has put me here.”
“Why do you not move out?”
“Because he wants me to be perfectly still.”
“What use are you there? What do you gain by staying like this?” “I’m not here for my own benefit but to serve and obey the will of my master.”
“But you do not see him.”
“No but he sees me and is pleased that I am here where he has put me.”
“But would you not like to be able to move about and to get closer to him?
“No, not unless he ordered me to.”
“Is there not anything at all which you wish then?”
“No because I am where my master put me and all my happiness lies in pleasing him.”

Dear daughter, what a good way of praying and what a fine way of staying in God’s Presence – doing what He wants and accepting what pleases Him!
It seems to me that Mary of Bethany was a statue in her niche when, without saying a word, without moving and perhaps, even without looking at Him, she sat at Our Lord’s feet and listened to what He was saying.
When He spoke, she listened; whenever He paused, she stopped listening but always, she was right there (Lk 10:39).
A little child who is at its mother’s breast when she has fallen asleep, is really where it belongs and wants to be, even though neither of them makes a sound.

O my daughter, how I enjoy talking with you about these things!
How happy we are when we want to love Our Lord!
Let us really love Him, my daughter and let us not start examining in detail what we are doing, for love of Him, as long as we know that we never want to do anything except for love of Him.

For my part, I think we remain in God’s Presence, even while we are asleep because we fall asleep in His sight, as He pleases and according to His will and He puts us down on our bed, like a statue in its niche; when we awake, we find Him still there, close by. He has not moved, nor have we – evidently, we have stayed in His Presence but with our eyes closed in sleep.”

Posted in QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 25 January – Of the Way to Resist the Impulses of Sense (Part One)

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Thought for the Day – 25 January – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

The Third Weapon
of the Spiritual Combat

XIII: … Of the Way to Resist the Impulses of Sense
and of the Acts to be Performed by the Will
in order to Acquire Habits of Virtue (Part One)

“Whenever your reasonable will is attacked by the will of sense, on the one hand and the Divine Will on the other, each seeking to obtain the mastery over it, you must make use of various exercises, in order that the Divine Will may always govern you.

  • Firstly: — Whenever you are assailed and buffeted by the impulses of sense, oppose a valiant resistance to them, so that the superior will may not consent.
  • Secondly: — When the assaults have ceased, excite them anew, in order to repress them with greater force and vigour.

Then challenge them again to a third conflict, wherein you may accustom yourself to repulse them with contempt and abhorrence.
These two challenges to battle should be made to every disorderly appetite, except in the case of temptations of the flesh, concerning which we shall speak in their place.

  • Lastly: — Make acts contrary to each evil passion which is to be resisted.
    This will be made clear by the following example in part two.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, franciscan OFM, QUOTES on BAD CONVERSATION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on FEAR, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on STRENGTH, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), SELF-DISTRUST, St Francis de Sales, The COMMUNION of SAINTS, The HEART

Quote/s of the Day – 25 January – Conversion

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Quote/s of the Day – 25 January – Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, Apostle

“O my brethren, if only we wanted to,
if only we all wanted to perceive
our soul’s paralysis in all its depth!
Then we would see
that it is lying on a stretcher of sins,
deprived of strength.
Christ’s action within us,
would be a source of light
and we would understand
that each day He sees our lack of faith,
harmful as it is, that He draws us
towards healing remedies
and sharply presses our rebellious wills.
“My son” He says, “your sins are forgiven you.”

St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450)
“Golden Words”
Father & Doctor of the Church

“What are you afraid of, you men of little faith?
That He will not pardon your sins?
But with His own hands He has nailed them to the Cross.
That you are used to soft living
and your tastes are fastidious?
But He knows the clay of which we are made (Gn 2:7).
That a prolonged habit of sinning binds you like a chain?
But the Lord loosens the shackles of prisoners.
Or perhaps that angered by the enormity
and frequency of your sins,
He is slow to extend a helping hand?
But where sin abounded,
grace became superabundant (Rom 5,20).
Are you worried about clothing
and food and other bodily necessities
so that you hesitate to give up your possessions?
But He knows that you need all these things (Mt 6,32).
What more can you wish?
What else is there to hold you back
from the way of salvation? ”

St Bernard (1091-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor of the Church

“When it is dark,
we do not see how dusty and dirty
our house is.
Only when the place
is flooded with sunlight,
do we realise its awful condition.
So, we need the light of God’s grace
to show us the real state of our soul
and to induce us
to clean up our hearts!”

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

“I see clearly with the interior eye,
that the sweet God loves, with a pure love,
the creature that He has created
and has a HATRED for nothing but SIN,
which is more opposed to Him,
than can be thought or imagined.”

St Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)

“A person who is conscious of his misery,
can certainly have great confidence in God.
In fact, he cannot have true confidence in Him,
without this consciousness of his misery.
This knowledge and acknowledgement
of our misery, leads us to the presence of God.”

“Let us then depart, let us depart from Egypt,
let us approach Our Lord,
let us make provision of good works;
let the feet of our affections be bare,
let us clothe ourselves with innocence,
let us not be satisfied with crying for mercy,
let us go forth from Egypt, let us delay no longer.
The hour is come to arise from sleep,
since we know that He receives sinners;
the Angels await our repentance,
the Saints pray for it!”

St Francis de Sales 91567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

Posted in QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on VIRTUE, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 24 January – Of the Diverse Wills in Man and the Warfare Between Them (Part Two)

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Thought for the Day – 24 January – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

The Third Weapon
of the Spiritual Combat

XII: … Of the Diverse Wills in Man
and the Warfare Between Them (Part Two)

“But let no-one imagine it possible to persevere in the exercise of true Christian virtues, or to serve God as He ought to be served, unless he will, in good earnest, do violence to himself and endure the pain of parting with all pleasant things whatsoever, whether great or small, around which his earthly affections are entwined!

Hence it is that so few attain to perfection; for after having, with much toil, overcome the greater vices, they will not persevere in doing violence to themselves, by struggling against the promptings of self-will and an infinity of lesser desires.
They grow weary of so unremitting a struggle; they suffer these insignificant enemies to prevail against them and so to acquire an absolute mastery over their hearts!

To this class belong men who, if they do not take what belongs to others, cleave with inordinate affection, to that which is lawfully their own.
If they do not obtain honours by unlawful means, yet they do not, as they should, shun them but, on the contrary, cease not to desire and sometimes, even to seek them in various ways.
If they observe fasts of obligation, yet they do not mortify their palate in the matter of superfluous eating, or the indulgence in delicate morsels.
If they live continently, yet they do not renounce many indulgences which much impede union with God and the growth of the spiritual life and which, as they are very dangerous, even to the holiest persons, and most dangerous to those, who fear them least, should be as much as possible avoided by all.
Hence all their good works are performed in a lukewarm spirit and accompanied by much self-seeking, by many lurking impefections, by a certain kind of self-esteem and by a desire to be praised and valued by the world.

Such persons not only fail to make any progress in the way of salvation but rather, go backwards and are, therefore, in danger of relapsing into their former sins because they have no love of true holiness and show little gratitude to their Lord, Who rescued them from the tyranny of the devil.

They are, moreover, too blind and ignorant to see the peril in which they stand and so, falsely persuade themselves, of their own security.
And here we discover a delusion which is the more dangerous because, it is little apprehended.

Many who aspire to the spiritual life, unconsciously love themselves far more than they ought to do and, therefore, practice for the most part, those exercises which suit their taste and neglect others, which touch to the quick those natural inclinations and sensual appetites, against which they ought, in all reason, to direct the full strength of the battle.

Therefore, I exhort and counsel you, to be in love with pain and difficulty — for they will bring with them, that which is the end and object of the whole struggle — victory over self!

The more deeply you shall be in love with the difficulties encountered by beginners in virtue and in war, the surer and the speedier shall be the victory and, if your love be to the difficult and the toilsome struggle, rather than to the victory and the virtue to be attained, you shall, the more speedily obtain, all you desire!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/01/23/thought-for-the-day-23-january-of-the-diverse-wills-in-man-and-the-warfare-between-them/

Posted in Holy Name PRAYERS, Our MORNING Offering, QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The HOLY NAME, Thomas a Kempis

Our Morning Offering – 23 January – The Love of Thy Name

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Our Morning Offering – 23 January – “The Month of the Most Holy Name of Jesus and of the Holy Family”

The Love of Thy Name
By Thomas à Kempis CRSA (1380-1471)
The Imitation of Christ
(Book 3 Ch 26:1-4)

My God, Sweetness beyond words,
make bitter all the carnal comfort
which draws me from love of the eternal
and lures me to its evil self,
by the sight of some delightful good
in the present.
Let it not overcome me, my God.
Let not flesh and blood conquer me.
Let not the world and its brief glory
deceive me, nor the devil trip me by his craftiness.
Give me courage to resist,
patience to endure
and constancy to persevere.
Give me the soothing unction of Thy spirit,
rather than all the consolations of the world
and in place of carnal love,
infuse into me,
the love of Thy Name.
Amen