Wednesday, November 30, 2022

MARY’S YES


With her "Yes" Mary signed the holy new covenant between God and the souls, and she was the first to put her entire life at the service of God's plan of salvation. If it had not been for her "Yes", the Redeemer could not have been conceived at that moment stipulated by the perfect wisdom of God. Mary's perfect consecration to the works of God became the foundation of our redemption.


Labels: Virgin Mary

Monday, November 28, 2022

ON THE LOVE OF GOD


On the day of our Judgment, our Lord will reproach us our little love for Him. "You loved Me less than creatures. You did not seek the happiness of your life in Me. You loved Me enough not to offend Me mortally, but not enough to live of Me!"

Some might say: "But all this is exaggeration!" Love is nothing but exaggeration; to exaggerate is to go beyond the strict requirements of the law. Love must exaggerate.

Come! Let us be all taken up with our Lord! Let us love Him a little for His own sake. Let us forget ourselves and give ourselves to this good Savior! Let us sacrifice ourselves a bit! Look at the candles and the sanctuary lamp, which burn without leaving any trace, without reserving anything for themselves.

Saint Peter Julian Eymard


Friday, November 25, 2022

ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN DIXIT


"Dostoevsky wrote that in a future day men would say there is no crime, there is no sin, there is no guilt, there is only hunger; then men will come crying and fawning at our feet saying to us, "Give us bread." Nothing will matter except the economic."

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

BAD SOLDIERS


"I must say something about the bad soldiers of Christ the King, that is, the cowardly Christians. Nothing displeases a King so much as the cowardice of his soldiers; if his soldiers are cowardly, the King is ready. Christians who have a kind of inferiority complex of being Christians do not honor Christ the King [...] For Christ to be truly King, at least in us, we have to overcome fear, cowardice, pusillanimity, without being “little men”, as Saint Teresa said. And how can we overcome fear? Fear is a giant! 'Did you forget that I was with you?'"

Father Leonardo Castellani


Thursday, November 17, 2022

PEOPLE WHO WATCH PORN LOSE THEIR CAPACITY TO LOVE


It is incredible how even five seconds of a pornographic image can stay in the mind for a lifetime, and many years of Christian formation can be forgotten in a matter of a just moment when we choose to sin. Pornography torments the soul, destroys it and leads it to perdition. It takes away the person’s will, because it leads them to a difficult addiction that enslaves them.

Unfortunately, someone who is used to watching pornography looks for in a woman what he has seen and reduces her to a simple object that serves for sexual pleasure, since this is what pornography presents, that is, a woman being used as a mere object created for satisfying carnal urges.

Little by little, the consumer of pornography loses his capacity to love, because every vice leads us away from God who is the one who instills true love in us. The person stops thinking that women should be conquered with affection and respect, because they are human beings who love and want to be loved, instead he thinks that he has to win them to take them to bed and satisfy his own pleasure. The consumer of pornography will not be able to love because true love is sacrifice and self-giving, when spouses come together in the conjugal act, they make a sacrifice of love, they seek to give themselves to each other, and not only to satisfy themselves. It is in this sacred giving that God makes himself present and that He can be glorified.

Now, if I am a consumer of pornography and I still want to know what it is to love and be loved, can I still do it?

As long as you continue to watching pornography, you will never be able to experience this because every time you get further away from God, but if you sincerely repent of having offended God so much and you flee from the occasion of sin (that is, if it is necessary, to get rid of your computer, cell phone, television, magazines, records, staying away from certain "friends" or family, etc. for the love of God), seek the life of grace, go to Confession frequently, frequently attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, pray the holy rosary, practice daily mortification and read the life of the saints trying to imitate them, trying with all your heart to detest sin, with these practices you surely can love and be loved, but as with all vice, the virtue of perseverance is necessary, not to give up, nor to believe that as you haven’t fallen into sin for months or years you will never fall into it again, because the reality is that it is a LIFELONG struggle, but one that is worth everything.


Saturday, November 12, 2022

ONE DAY WE WILL UNDERSTAND


How great will be our confusion when we appear before God and see the reasons why He sent us these crosses that we now complain about! We have mourned the death of that son in the prime of his age, but we do not know that if he had lived a few more years, he would have died in mortal sin. We have mourned the breakup of that courtship, but we do not know what consequences would have had. We complain about that physical ailment that has been bothering us for thirty or forty years, but we ignore that we owe our salvation to this penance.

Saint Claude de la Colombière


Wednesday, November 9, 2022

THANK YOU, LORD


Jesus, my Redeemer, I thank Thee that Thou didst not let me die when I was in disgrace with Thee! During how many of the past years have I not deserved to be cast into hell!... If I had died on such a day, or on such a night, what would have become of me for all eternity?... I thank Thee for this, O my Lord!

I accept my death as a satisfaction for my sins ; and I accept it in whatever manner it may please Thee to send it to me. But since Thou hast waited for me until now, wait for me yet a little longer.

Give me time to weep over the offences which I have committed against Thee, before Thou comest to judge me. (Job 10, 20.)  

I will no longer resist Thy sweet voice that calls me. Perhaps these words which I have just read may be the last call for me! I confess that I do not deserve pity, for Thou hast so often pardoned me; and I, ungrateful one that I am, have again offended Thee!; 

But "a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise." (Ps. li. 17.) O Lord, since Thou wilt not despise a broken and contrite heart, look upon a traitor, who being repentant, flees unto Thee." Cast me not away from Thy presence." 

In mercy, do not cast me from Thee, for Thou hast said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." It is true that I have offended Thee more tnan many others, because I have been favoured by Thee with light and grace; but the blood which Thou hast shed for me gives me courage, and gives me pardon, if only I repent. Yes, O my Sovereign Good, I do repent with my whole heart for having despised Thee. 

Pardon me, and give me grace to love Thee for the time to come. I have offended Thee too many times already. I will not spend the life that remains to me, O my Jesus, in giving Thee offence, but I will spend it ever weeping over the displeasure I have caused Thee, and in loving Thee with all my heart, Thou, O God, who art so worthy of infinite love!

Preparation for Death – Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori

Monday, November 7, 2022

DOES GOD HEAR THE PRAYERS OF THOSE WHO ARE IN MORTAL SIN?


In a sinner we have to consider two things: his nature, which God loves; and his fault, which God hates. If, then, a sinner asks something of God formally as a sinner --that is, according to his sinful desires-- God, out of His mercy, does not hear him, though sometimes He does hear him in His vengeance, as when He permits a sinner to fall still farther into sin. 

But that prayer of a sinner which proceeds from the good desire of his nature God hears, not, indeed, as bound in justice to do so, for that the sinner cannot merit, but out of His pure mercy, and on condition, too, that the four above-mentioned conditions are observed -- namely, that he prays for himself, for things needful for his salvation, that he prays devoutly and perseveringly.

Summa Theologica, II-II, 83, 16, by Saint Thomas Aquinas.


Friday, November 4, 2022

BLESSED HENRY SUSO (OR SUSSO)



Beatification date: In 1831 by Gregory XVI.

German mystic, he was born at Constance on March 21, probably 1295; he died at Ulm, January 25, 1366.

HIS LIFE

His father belonged to the noble family of Berg; his mother, a holy woman from whom he took his name, to a family of Sus (or Süs). When thirteen years of age, he entered the Dominican convent at Constance, where he made his preparatory, philosophical, and theological studies.

From 1324 to 1327 he took a supplementary course in theology in the Dominican studium generale at Cologne, where he sat at the feet of Johann Eckhart, "the Master", and probably at the side of Tauler, both celebrated mystics. Returning to Constance, he was appointed to the office of lector, from which he seems to have been removed some time between 1329 and 1334. In the latter year he began his apostolic career. About 1343 he was elected prior of a convent, probably at Diessenhofen. Five years later he was sent from Constance to Ulm where he remained until his death.

Suso's life as a mystic began in his eighteenth year, when giving up his careless habits of the five preceding years, he made himself "the Servant of the Eternal Wisdom", which he identified with the Divine essence and, in a concrete form, with the personal Eternal Wisdom made man. Henceforth, a burning love for the Eternal Wisdom dominated his thoughts and controlled his actions. He had frequent visions and ecstasies, practised severe austerities (which he prudently moderated in later years), and bore with rare patience corporal afflictions, bitter persecutions and grievous calumnies.

In the world he was esteemed as a preacher, and was heard in the cities and towns of Swabia, Switzerland, Alsace, and the Netherlands. His apostolate, however, was not with the masses, but rather with individuals of all classes who were drawn to him by his singularly attractive personality, and to whom he became a personal director in the spiritual life.

It has often been incorrectly said that he established among the Friends of God a society which he called the Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom. The so-called Rule of the Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom is but a free translation of a chapter of his "Horologium Sapientiae", and did not make its appearance until the fifteenth century.

HIS WRITINGS

The first writing from the pen of Suso was the "Büchlein der Wahrheit", which he issued while a student at Cologne. Its doctrine was unfavourably criticized in some circles — very probably on account of its author's close relations with Eckhart, who had just been called upon to explain or to reject certain propositions — but it was found to be entirely orthodox.

As in this, so in his other writings Suso, while betraying Eckhart's influence, always avoided the errors of "the Master". The book was really written in part against the pantheistic teachings of the Beghards, and against the libertine teachings of the Brethren of the Free Spirit. Father Denifle considers it the most difficult "little book" among the writings of the German mystics.

Whereas in this book Suso speaks as a contemplative and to the intellect, in his next, "Das Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit", published early in 1328, he is eminently practical and speaks out of the fullness of his heart to "simple men who still have imperfections to be put off". Bihlmeyer accepts Denifle's judgment that it is the "most beautiful fruit of German mysticism", and places it next to the "Homilies" of St. Bernard, and the "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas à Kempis. In the second half of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth century there was no more widely read meditation book in the German language.

In 1334, Suso translated this work into Latin, but in doing so added considerably to its contents, and made of it an almost entirely new book, to which he gave the name "Horologium Sapientiae". Even more elevating than the original, finished in language, rich in figure, rhythmic in movement, it became a favourite book in the cloisters at the close of the Middle Ages, not only in Germany, but also in the Netherlands, France, Italy, and England.

To the same period of Suso's literary activity may belong "Das Minnebüchlein" but its authenticity is doubtful.

After retiring to Ulm Suso wrote the story of his inner life ("Vita" or "Leben Seuses"), revised the "Büchlein der Wahrheit", and the "Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit", all of which, together with eleven of his letters (the "Briefbüchlein"), and a prologue, he formed into one book known as the "Exemplar Seuses".

Besides the above-mentioned writings we have also five sermons by Suso and a collection of twenty-eight of his letters (Grosses Briefbuch), which may be found in Bihlmeyer's edition.

Suso is called by Wackernagel and others a "Minnesinger in prose and in the spiritual order." The mutual love of God and man which is his principal theme gives warmth and colour to his style. He used the full and flexible Alamannian idiom with rare skill, and contributed much to the formation of good German prose, especially by giving new shades of meaning to words employed to describe inner sensations. His intellectual equipment was characteristic of the schoolmen of his age. In his doctrine there was never the least trace of an unorthodox tendency.

For centuries he exercised an influence upon spiritual writers. Among his readers and admirers were Thomas à Kempis and Bl. Peter Canisius.

By A.L. McMahon | Source: Santopedia.com


Wednesday, November 2, 2022

THEY HAVE CONSENTED TO INIQUITY


Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power and signs and lying wonders:

And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish: because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying:

God shall send. . .That is God shall suffer them to be deceived by lying wonders, and false miracles, in punishment of their not entertaining the love of truth. That all may be judged who have not believed the truth but have consented to iniquity.

Saint Paul to Thessalonians 2, 9