For thousands of years the world had been expecting the promised Messias. The fulness of time has now come. The eternal Father sends a heavenly messenger to Mary, to treat with her of the mystery of the Incarnation. She pronounces the word "Fiat!" "Be it done!" And the heavens open; the Earth possesses a Savior; Mary has become the Mother of God.
Years pass by. The time has arrived when the great sacrifice is to be consummated. We find Mary at the foot of the cross. With the dying breath of Jesus she receives the Church as an inheritance. Mary becomes our Mother.
These are the two great titles which give Mary a claim on our veneration and affection.
-- The Little Book of Our Lady
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Divine Mercy Sunday
O Jesus! I adore Thee carrying with love for us the cross prepared for Thee by Thy Father, and I beg of Thee, through the intercession of Thy holy and sorrowful Mother, patience and resignation in the trials of this life.
Heart of Jesus, wounded by my infidelities, forgive me my sins.
Heart of Jesus, wounded by my infidelities, forgive me my sins.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
More Grace and Merit
Be assured that we shall obtain more grace and merit in one day by suffering patiently the afflictions which come to us from God or from our neighbor than we could acquire in ten years by mortifications and other exercises which are of our own choice.
-- St. Francis de Sales
-- St. Francis de Sales
Friday, March 28, 2008
Change
How great is the change that must be effected in me, if I wish to be Thy true disciple and to bear a resemblance to Thee! In all sincerity, however, I pray: "Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine."
How different a rule of life, how great a reform of conduct is required of me before I shall be able to say with the Apostle: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me."
How different a rule of life, how great a reform of conduct is required of me before I shall be able to say with the Apostle: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me."
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Certain Sign
There is no sign more certain that one is of the number of the elect than, while leading a Christian life, to be the subject of sufferings, desolations, and trials.
-- St. Aloysius Gonzaga
-- St. Aloysius Gonzaga
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Help in Temptation
In temptation say: "O my Jesus, through Thy passion and death, give me the victory over this temptation." Take your crucifix, kiss it devoutly while the temptation lasts, and rest assured that you will not sin.
-- St. Paul of the Cross, Flowers of the Passion
-- St. Paul of the Cross, Flowers of the Passion
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Intra tua vulnera, absconde me
Within Thy wounds hide me. As of old Moses hid in the cleft of the rock and was there protected by God's right hand, so may I be hidden in Thy sacred wounds, the cleft in the Rock of Ages. Within Thy wounds, hide me, Savior, that henceforth my life may be hidden with Thee in God.
-- Madame Cecilia, Retreat Manual
-- Madame Cecilia, Retreat Manual
Monday, March 24, 2008
Tree of Life
According to a very old tradition, Adam, the father of the human race, was buried on the spot where Our Lord died. A similar tradition has it that a sprig of the tree of life which Adam took from Paradise and planted as a lasting remembrance of his transgression in the place where he wished to be buried, became the wood from which the cross of Our Savior was fashioned. Thus the tomb of Adam was identified with the spot on the mount of Calvary on which the Cross was raised. So art has represented it for centuries, and the skull and bones of our first parents are placed there to indicate that they (and the whole race of man) receive new life through the death of Christ.
-- American Ecclesiastical Review
-- American Ecclesiastical Review
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Our Foundation
Our Savior's resurrection is the firmest foundation of our religion, because by it Our Lord proves beyond all doubt that He is truly God, and consequently that His doctrine, whereon our whole religion is based, is divine.
-- Rosmini, A Spiritual Calendar
-- Rosmini, A Spiritual Calendar
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Child of Tears
Are we sure there is no merit in suffering as such?
Suppose two baptized infants were both to die before they reach the faintest use of reason, the one after enjoying good health and spirits and every luxury an unconscious baby-soul can possibly enjoy, the other after a precarious life of illness, pain, and privation; what certainty have we that the child of tears will not have greater joy in heaven than the other, which constantly beamed over with happy smiles?
-- Rev. Joseph Egger, SJ, God and Human Suffering
Suppose two baptized infants were both to die before they reach the faintest use of reason, the one after enjoying good health and spirits and every luxury an unconscious baby-soul can possibly enjoy, the other after a precarious life of illness, pain, and privation; what certainty have we that the child of tears will not have greater joy in heaven than the other, which constantly beamed over with happy smiles?
-- Rev. Joseph Egger, SJ, God and Human Suffering
Friday, March 21, 2008
Merit
Our divine Master emphatically assures us that even a cup of cold water, given for His sake, will not be left without its reward; what, then, must be the merit of daily acts of charity to the poor and needy, to widows and orphans, to the sick and dying! How meritorious must be countless acts of love and kindness to neighbors, relations, friends, and even enemies in their hour of need! It is impossible to form the remotest idea of the value of such merits. They are bound up with the immensity of eternity, of God, and of God's unbounded goodness and generosity!
-- Rev. Joseph Egger, SJ, God and Human Suffering
-- Rev. Joseph Egger, SJ, God and Human Suffering
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A Tried Life
The life of St. Joseph was a tried life, and tried just by those who were dearest to him; his charity was put to the proof by Mary, his faith by Jesus, his obedience by God the Father, his patience by Providence . . .
We do not read that before the birth of Jesus, Joseph was exercised by great tribulations; he doubtless led the kind of humble and modest life which finds its happiness in what suffices. But after the birth of the divine Child, the life of Joseph was one long martyrdom.
We do not read that before the birth of Jesus, Joseph was exercised by great tribulations; he doubtless led the kind of humble and modest life which finds its happiness in what suffices. But after the birth of the divine Child, the life of Joseph was one long martyrdom.
- Until then, he had not been without a home; afterward, his retreat was a stable.
- Until then, he had lived tranquilly, surmounting his poverty by labor; afterward, he was persecuted, and constrained to lead a life of exile in a strange land.
- Until then, desiring little, he had known but little anguish; afterward, his compassionate soul was torn . . .
- Until then, possessing little, he had little to lose; afterward, he had Jesus, and he lost Him at Jerusalem . . .
Joseph was calm and resigned. He understood that tribulations are the crucible in which God purifies the virtue of those whom He loves, that the way of the cross is the only one which leads to heaven, that all the just must pass along it, and that Jesus never visits a soul without taking His cross with Him.
Are these our dispositions? Do we not imitate, on the contrary, the man of the world who lives only for pleasure, who will always have his comforts and be at his ease, who will deprive himself of nothing, and who is irritated by suffering and contradiction?
Let us adore the great design of God, who exposes His dearest friends to trials (Job 13:13). We find a difficulty in understanding, here below, this arrangement of Providence, but let us have patience, and we shall understand it hereafter (John 23:7).
