Archive for June 2022
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus According to St. Gertrude
Invitation of the Heart of Jesus Part I The Devotion to the Sacred Heart is the Last Effort in These Latter Ages of the Love of Our Lord for Men One day when St. John, the well-beloved Apostle of the Heart of Jesus, appeared to St. Gertrude in the splendor of an incomparable glory, “My…
Read MoreThe Spiritual Significance of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
For Catholics the annual feast of Saints Peter and Paul is of immense spiritual import. In the Roman tradition, it is one of the more significant feasts on the liturgical calendar, kept as a solemnity on the General Roman calendar. In some countries it is still a holy day of obligation, such as in England. …
Read MorePractice of Conformity to God (PART II)
In Reverses of Fortune We should accept with the same conformity to the will of God the loss of employment or money and all other setbacks in our temporal affairs, repeating with faith the words of Job: “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so it…
Read MoreThe Power of Guardian Angels
Our Angel Guardians We will now speak of what is for us the most interesting and important of all the facts concerning the angels, namely, their role as our dearest, most intimate, most loving guardians. Every Christian should strive to have a full comprehension of this doctrine and should realize vividly the presence of this…
Read MoreRemedies Against Pride (PART II)
Consider also the danger of vainglory, the daughter of pride, which St. Bernard says, enters lightly but wounds deeply. Therefore, when men praise you, think whether you really possess the qualities for which they commend you. If you do not, you have no reason to be proud. But if you have justly merited their praise,…
Read MoreExercise Great Care in the Selection of Your Spiritual Reading
“Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of Thy Law.” –Ps. 93:12 “All scripture divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice.” –2 Timothy 3:16 Spiritual reading is to the soul what food is to the body. Be careful, therefore, to…
Read MoreMotives Impelling Devotion to the Sacred Heart
By Original Sin man lost Sanctifying Grace and thereby forfeited the right to Heaven. But God, in His merciful love, had decreed from eternity to restore him to the state of supernatural grace and to make him worthy of eternal happiness. This was to be accomplished by the Incarnation of the Son of God, who,…
Read MoreHow We Are to Fight Against Impurity
In encountering this vice we must use special tactics and greater resolution. In order to do this we must distinguish three phases of the operation – the first, which precedes the temptation – the second, during the temptation – the third, which follows the temptation. First: Before the time of temptation we must avoid all…
Read MoreThe Assault on the Holy Eucharist
“I am not allowed in these columns to discuss politics or religion, which is inconvenient; as they are the only two subjects which seem to me to have the slightest element of interest for a sane man.” That was the English convert to Catholicism GK Chesterton writing in the Illustrated LondonNews in 1908. Chesterton became…
Read MoreConsolations and Dryness in Prayer
One of the most common and deplorable illusions consists in judging of our prayer by the consolation or dryness we meet with therein. In thinking it good because accompanied by consolation, bad, if chilled by desolation. No, no, such is not the case. The best prayer, were it ever so dry, is that which leaves…
Read MorePractice of Conformity to God (PART I)
The Practice of Conformity to the Will of God To the question, “In what things should we practice conformity to the will of God?” there can be only one answer: “In everything.” The first thing that God asks of us is that we should faithfully keep His commandments and those of the Church, humbly obey…
Read MoreThe Archconfraternity of the Holy Face: Why Should One Join?
Is Reparation Destined to Save Society? In the nineteenth century Blessed Pope Pius IX stated, “Reparation is destined to save society!” One addresses God by petition, thanksgiving, adoration and reparation. Reparation is to repair the relationship between God and man. King Josaphat was a skilled archer. His grandfather, King David noted that Josaphat didn’t just…
Read MoreEffects of Holy Communion
There is a correspondence between the natural uses of the matter of the Sacraments and at least some of the effects they produce. For example, an effect of Baptism is that one is born again as an adopted child of God. When one is born naturally, one is wet. When one is born again supernaturally,…
Read MoreGod Deserves to be Supremely Loved
“Let us therefore love God because He first hath loved us.” -1 John 4:19 St. Teresa said that it was a great favor that God should call a soul to love Him. Let us then love Him, since we are called to this love, and let us love Him as He desires to be loved. …
Read MoreFrom the Imitation of Christ: Amendment of Life
The Fervent Amendment of Our Whole Life Be vigilant and diligent in God’s service, and often consider to what end thou camest hither, and why thou didst leave the world: Was it not that thou mightst live for God and become a spiritual man? Be fervent, therefore, in thy spiritual progress, for thou shalt shortly…
Read MoreThe Secret of Our Lady and the Reality of Hell
Anyone who has been interested in the apparitions of Fatima from the beginning has felt a curiosity and burning desire to uncover or see uncovered the mysterious secret which the children claimed to have received from the Lady, and which they kept inviolate in the face of the most alluring promises as well as the…
Read MoreRemedies Against Pride (PART I)
We have generally called the deadly or capital sins the sources of all iniquity. They are the roots of the mighty tree of vice, and if we can destroy them the trunk and branches must soon decay. With them, therefore, we shall begin, following the example of Cassian and other spiritual writers, who were so…
Read MoreLove of Jesus for Sinners
Our Lord, the great and excellent physician of our infirmities, announced everywhere, before coming into this world, both His arrival and the maladies He would cure; sometimes by His prophets: “I will bind up that which was broken and I will comfort that which was weak. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; to…
Read MorePentecost Meditation on the Holy Spirit (PART II)
An Example From Church History Even in Church history, this problem of not appreciating the Holy Spirit’s presence and importance in daily Christian life existed! St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430) recognized the lack of theological study regarding the Holy Spirit and His mission even in his own day. “Many books have been written by scholarly and…
Read MorePentecost Meditation on the Holy Spirit (PART I)
The Gift of God “It is the gift of the Holy Spirit Who makes us like the Son and puts us in a filial relationship with the Father: in the one Spirit through Christ we have access to the Father.” -Pope John Paul II (cf. Ephesians 2:18) When someone offers another person a gift, the…
Read More