Tag: ourpassions

Posted in GOD ALONE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on REASON/INTELLECT, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, The HEART, Thomas a Kempis

Thought for the Day – 16 July – Our Passions

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 16 July – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Our Passions

“Let us be vigilant in the control of our passions.
As soon as they tempt us to do anything contrary to right reason and the Divine Law, let us renew our resolutions and implore the help of God.
“O God,” let us pray, “I wish to love Thee above all things.
I wish neither to contemplate, nor intend, nor do anything which could offend Thee in any way.”
This is the only way in which we shall find peace and an easy conscience for, as The Imitation of Christ says, “whenever a man desires anything inordinately , straightaway, he is disquieted within himself” (Bk 1 C 6).
“It is by resisting the passions,” it continues, “and not by serving them, that true peace of heart is to be found” (Ibid).”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/07/18/thought-for-the-day-18-july-our-passions/
PART TWO:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/07/20/thought-for-the-day-20-july-our-passions/

Posted in GOD ALONE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on MEDIOCRITY, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SACRIFICE

Thought for the Day – 20 July – Our Passions

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 20 July – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Our Passions

“It is a difficult thing to control and to direct our natural inclinations.
It requires perseverance, sacrifice and the grace of God, for which we should always pray.

Often, this struggle will last a lifetime and we can still fall, even after many years of combat.
It is important, however, never to give up.
If we accept defeat and quietly submit to the tyranny of sinful passions, we are lost forever.
It is a poor outlook too, for a Catholic who ends up by being satisfied with a life of worthless mediocrity.
We must fight hard, pray fervently and value nothing higher than the love of Christ.
When we are finally victorious, our joy will be greater than any happiness which the world can give.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/07/18/thought-for-the-day-18-july-our-passions/

Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on MORTIFICATION, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on VIRTUE, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior)

Thought for the Day – 18 July – Our Passions

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

Our Passions

our passions - bacci - 18 july 2020

“Our Passions are not essentially sinful.
They can open the way to evil but, they can also lead us towards perfection.
Everything depends on how we control and direct them.
They are impulses which are, at the same time valuable and, dangerous.

Human nature was wounded as a result of original sin.
The soul was disobedient to God and the lower faculties rebelled against right reason.
Hence, the disturbance of our passions.
What should our attitude be in regard to this problem?
Should we suppress or obliterate our passions, as some of the Stoics would have done?
It is, in fact, impossible to do this, for our passions are innate natural forces which cannot be destroyed.
What we should do, is guide and control them.
If the dykes are burst, a strongly flowing river can cause havoc but, if it’s course is wisely directed, it irrigates the soil and makes it fertile.
It is the same with our natural inclinations, which “can be used to form a saint but, can also make a brigand” (Mariano Cordovani OP, Breviario Spirituale, p88).

A man with a fiery and aggressive temperament, can use his natural impulses under God’s guidance, to combat vice in himself and in others.
One who is haughty and ambitious by nature, can convert his ambition into a quest for the true and lasting glory of Heaven.
Finally, a passionate man who feels the need to love and to be loved, can find a partial remedy in Christian friendship.
Most of all, however, he can find repose in the love of God.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci