Archive for July 2022
The Vast Life of God and the Precious Blood
The Empire of the Precious Blood The life of God is very vast. It is a thing to be thought rather than to be spoken of, nay, to be seen in the mind rather than to be thought. It is very vast. It seems to grow vaster every day. We kneel down before it in…
Read MoreHumility is the Remedy for Evil
It may be said that humility is the most efficacious remedy for all evil and a most potent antidote to preserve the soul from that death and guilt which leads to everlasting perdition. And yet it is this virtue which we neglect most of all. O my Soul, God, who Himself desires thine eternal salvation,…
Read MoreWhy Pray in Latin?
“For the Church, precisely because it embraces all nations and is destined to endure until the end of time…of its very nature requires a language which is universal, immutable, and non-vernacular.” -Pope Pius XI (Officiorum Omnium, 1922) At a time when old religious rituals are being embraced anew by many faiths, countless Catholics are choosing…
Read MoreIt is Sweet to Serve God
Disciple: Now will I speak, O Lord, and will not be silent; I will say in the hearing of my God, my Lord and my King Who is on high: Oh, how sweet is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee (Ps. 20:20). But what art…
Read MoreWhat is the Interior Life (PART II)
EIGHTH TRUTH: My interior life will be no better than my custody of my heart. “Before all things keep a guard over thy heart, for from it springs forth life.” This custody of the heart is simply a HABITUAL or at least frequent anxiety to preserve all my acts, as they arise, from everything that…
Read MoreThe Youthfulness of Mary the Mother of God
How old was Mary when she conceived Our Lord according to St. Albert the Great? The accounts of the nativity of Christ, found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, each present to us very beautiful images of the Virgin Mary. She was the humble and innocent handmaid of the Lord, whose ready obedience to…
Read MoreWhat is the Interior Life (PART I)
In this book the words life of prayer, contemplative life will be applied, as they are in the Imitation of Christ to the state of those souls who have dedicated themselves to a Christian life which is at the same time out of the common, and accessible to all, and, in substance, obligatory for all.…
Read MoreOn Preparation for Communion
In order to receive the abundant fruits of the Holy Eucharist, a certain cooperation is required on the part of the receiver – not indeed that the efficacy of the Sacrament considered in itself depends at all on the recipient (this efficacy it has entirely from God) – but because its salutary effects in each…
Read MoreMary is the Hope of All (PART II)
In the Book of Proverbs Mary herself tells us that she possesses all the riches of God, that is to say, His mercies, that she may dispense them in favour of her lovers: “With me are riches . . . and glorious riches . . . that I may enrich them that love me.” And…
Read MoreSundays and Holydays in the Spiritual Life
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” -Mark 2: 27 Every day of our life should be employed in glorifying God, but there are certain days He has particularly appointed whereon to receive from us a more special exterior worship. These are Sundays and holydays. It is therefore obligatory upon…
Read MoreSt. Gerard Majella’s Devotion to the Saints and Angels and Particularly to St. Michael
A child of Heaven rather than of earth, Gerard had chosen his intimate friends from among the Angels and the Saints. Besides the Twelve Apostles, he daily honored his Guardian Angel, St. Joseph, Sts. Joachim and Anne, St. John the Baptist, St. Bernard, St. Philip Neri, St. Mary Magdalen the Penitent, St. Francis Xavier, St.…
Read MoreMary is the Hope of All (PART I)
OUR HOPE Modern heretics cannot endure that we should salute and call Mary our Hope: ‘Hail, our Hope!’ They say that God alone is our hope; and that He curses those who put their trust in creatures in these words of the prophet Jeremias: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man.” Mary, they exclaim,…
Read MoreDistrust of Ourselves Under Temptation
“The Lord is the protector of all that trust in Him.” -Psalm 17:31 One of the best means of overcoming temptations is to distrust ourselves and to place all our confidence in God, for as the Scripture notices in several places, it is this which chiefly moves Him to assist us in our temptations and…
Read MoreWe Should Abandon Ourselves to God in Life and in Death
Among the praises given by the saints to Abraham, St. Paul mentions this above every other, that he believed, hoping against all hope. God has promised to multiply his posterity as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the seashore; and, notwithstanding, gave him an order to sacrifice his only son. Yet Abraham…
Read MoreSt. Benedict on Humility
From The Rule of St. Benedict (Regula) , Chapter 7, on Humility. Brothers, the Holy Scripture cries to us, saying: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 14:11). By these words it declares to us that all exaltation is a kind of pride, which the Prophet…
Read MoreThe Mystery of the Precious Blood
Salvation! What music is there in that word – music that never tires but is always new, that always rouses yet always rests us! It holds in itself all that our hearts would say. It is sweet vigor to us in the morning, and in the evening it is contented peace. It is a song…
Read MoreSt. Albert the Great on the Color of Our Lady’s Hair
St. Albert the Great Speculation: “What Color was Mary’s Hair?” The desire to have a visual impression or image of any person whom we love is a very natural and human one. As beings who are both corporeal and spiritual, the affections of our heart and soul are inseparably conjoined to our physical senses. In…
Read MoreThe Martyrdom of St. Maria Goretti
CHAPTER 8: EVEN TO BLOOD It is once more high noon. The sun from its zenith beats down on the Ferriere farm. A burning wind, storm-laden, sweeps across the swamps, licks the walls of the house and enters the kitchen by the open door. The Gorettis and Serenellis as usual are seated about the table.…
Read MoreThe Mortification of the Passions
Having thus regulated the body and all it senses, the most important reformation still remains to be effected, which is that of the soul with all its powers. Here the first to present itself is the sensitive appetite which comprises all our natural affections: love, hatred, joy, sorrow, fear, hope, anger, and other sentiments of…
Read MoreFreedom of Heart According to My Imitation of Christ
A Pure and Entire Resignation of Ourselves for Obtaining Freedom of Heart Christ: Son, leave thyself and thou shalt find Me. Stand without choice or any self-seeking, and thou shalt always gain. For greater grace shall always be added to thee irrevocably once thou has given up thyself. Disciple: Lord, how often shall I resign…
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