Is it not pleasant to see the sun shining on the mountains, even though we have none of it down in our valley? Oh, the littleness and the meanness of that sickly appetite for sympathy which will not let us keep our tiny Lilliputian sorrows to ourselves!
-- Father Faber
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Our Own Manufacture
Most of our sorrows are of our own manufacture; so let us resolve to make the best of things in the future, and always to choose the sunny side of the street.
-- Bishop John S. Vaughan
-- Bishop John S. Vaughan
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Necessities
Three things are needed to keep one in bodily health -- food, sleep, and jest.
-- Bishop Grosseteste
-- Bishop Grosseteste
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Enemies of Sadness
What a surprise to hear of a St. Francis pretending to play the violin with a piece of wood and a ruler to amuse his brethren; of a St. Teresa playing the flute on feast days; of a St. Philip Neri, whom Professor Joly does not hesitate to call a "humoristic saint"; of a St. Chrispino of Viterbo, a most decided enemy of sadness in any shape, so much so that he was always laughing or smiling.
-- Rev. Felix Drouet, C.M.
-- Rev. Felix Drouet, C.M.
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Monday, August 27, 2007
Rules
The first rule of the house is, to bore nobody.
-- St. Madeleine Sophie Barat
-- St. Madeleine Sophie Barat
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Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Most Sane Thing in the World
A sense of the Ludicrous is the most sane thing in the world. The richest intellects possess it in amplest measure. The absence of it is a sure indication of mental poverty.
-- William Samuel Lilly
-- William Samuel Lilly
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Good Works
Good is never done except at the expense of those who do it.
-- Cardinal Newman
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
-- Tennyson
-- Cardinal Newman
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
-- Tennyson
Friday, August 24, 2007
"Out of the strong came forth sweetness"
Sophie's serenity was not stoicism.
"If pagans make sacrifices for the sake of their own glory, can I not bear crosses for the sake of the God of heaven whom I serve?" was her own explanation of the unfailing sweetness at which others marvelled. A motto she was fond of quoting in after years was: "To suffer myself and not to make others suffer."
-- Life of Blessed Madeleine Sophie Barat
(Siteowner's note: Madeleine Sophie Barat was canonized in 1925.)
"If pagans make sacrifices for the sake of their own glory, can I not bear crosses for the sake of the God of heaven whom I serve?" was her own explanation of the unfailing sweetness at which others marvelled. A motto she was fond of quoting in after years was: "To suffer myself and not to make others suffer."
-- Life of Blessed Madeleine Sophie Barat
(Siteowner's note: Madeleine Sophie Barat was canonized in 1925.)
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Knowing God's Will
God makes known His will to those who ask Him in simplicity. Let him who has a state of life to choose, or who would desire to know what he should do for the sanctification of his soul, renounce, first, all natural inclination, and place himself generously in the hands of God, firmly resolved to obey Him. Let him then weigh the pro and con, meditating on some truths of Scripture, drawing the consequences which are the result, and applying them to the end for which God has created us. If he still doubts what part he should take, let him suppose himself on his deathbed, or at the last judgment, and then determine to do what he would wish then to have done.
-- St. Ignatius Loyola
-- St. Ignatius Loyola
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Self-Denial
Do not fear this word self-denial. You believe, perhaps, that it only means inconvenience, constraint, weariness, lassitude.
No, it also means love, purification, perfection . . .
To deny oneself is to be faithful to duty, and to continue so in spite of difficulties, disgust, weariness, or want of success.
To deny oneself is to sacrifice to duty, under whatever form it presents itself, prayer, work, friendship . . . all that would be an obstacle not only to its accomplishment, but to its perfect fulfilment.
To deny oneself is to cast from us energetically all that encumbers the heart and interferes with the free action of God.
-- A Friendly Voice
No, it also means love, purification, perfection . . .
To deny oneself is to be faithful to duty, and to continue so in spite of difficulties, disgust, weariness, or want of success.
To deny oneself is to sacrifice to duty, under whatever form it presents itself, prayer, work, friendship . . . all that would be an obstacle not only to its accomplishment, but to its perfect fulfilment.
To deny oneself is to cast from us energetically all that encumbers the heart and interferes with the free action of God.
-- A Friendly Voice
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Interior Joy
If Christianity sends men to learn the solemn lessons of the grave and asks them to keep in view their eternal destiny and the salvation of their priceless immortal souls, this need not make them gloomy and morose, this should not and does not make them sad and depressed; it tends, in fact, to keep them in that state in which they will be able to "rejoice in the Lord always", to be glad and cheerful and hopeful and helpful also to others, no matter what may be their outward circumstances. The peace of God is with them always; interior joy is theirs both in adversity and prosperity . . .
Faith -- Christianity -- does, indeed, make a man serious and thoughtful, but it does not rob him of the real pleasures of life, nor does it paralyze his energies, but it directs them aright.
-- Cardinal Newman
Faith -- Christianity -- does, indeed, make a man serious and thoughtful, but it does not rob him of the real pleasures of life, nor does it paralyze his energies, but it directs them aright.
-- Cardinal Newman
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Monday, August 20, 2007
Self-Control
St. Ignatius frequently said to a novice who was of an extremely vivacious and fiery temperament: "My son, conquer yourself, and you will have in Heaven a crown more splendid than many others who are more meek of character."
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Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Da Mihi Animas
We flatter ourselves that we love God, and we leave His living image in the dirt, without giving ourselves the least trouble of lifting it up out of it! . . . Ecclesiastical history shows us a simple slave converting the whole nation of the Iberians. Let us enter into ourselves; do we find that we have this zeal for the salvation of souls, this ardent thirst to save our perishing brothers?
-- Hamon, Meditations
-- Hamon, Meditations
Friday, August 17, 2007
God beholds me
If a glance of the eyes of God makes the earth tremble, shakes the pillars of hell, seizes the angels with holy fear, how could I, when He is beholding me, allow myself to indulge in frivolity, in buffoonery, which is wanting in dignity? God beholds me!
-- Hamon, Meditations
-- Hamon, Meditations
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Landmarks of Grace
We are going to eternity as fast as time can bear us. The feasts of Our Lady fly by like lights upon a line of railroad. Let us watch them well, making them landmarks of grace upon our great journey to eternity.
-- Canon Sheehan
-- Canon Sheehan
Feast of the Assumption
Death and corruption had no part in her. She had died because Jesus had died; her body, like His, had been laid in the tomb, that on the third day she too might rise again.
--Bowden, Miniature Life of Mary
--Bowden, Miniature Life of Mary
