Archive for January 2023
Making the Devil Afraid of You
The first night I went to bed towards eleven and fell asleep immediately. As usual, I began to dream, and since the tongue always turns to the aching tooth, as the saying goes, I dreamed that I was at the Oratory with my beloved boys. I seemed to be seated at my desk while you…
Read MoreThree Assaults on Your Interior Peace
Inordinate Affections WHENSOEVER a man desires any thing inordinately, he is presently disquieted within himself. The proud and covetous are never easy. The poor and humble of spirit live in much peace. The man that is not yet perfectly dead to himself, is soon tempted and overcome with small and trifling things. He that is…
Read MoreIs the Interior Life Selfish?
Was the interior life of Mary and Joseph selfish and sterile? What blasphemy, and what absurdity! And yet they are credited with not one external work. The mere influence upon the world of an intense inner life, the merits of prayers and sacrifices applied for the spread of the benefits of the Redemption were enough…
Read MoreThe Torments of Hell
Summon up before the eye of your mind, therefore, a horrible and swirling chaos, or a lightless and sinister subterranean cavern, fuming with every kind of unspeakable foulness and swarming with hideous phantasms, or a burning and bottomless pit, completely suffused with scorching, acrid, and inextinguishable fires. Alternatively, you may imagine a great and immense…
Read MoreFour Means of Distrusting Oneself
DISTRUST of self is so absolutely requisite in the spiritual combat that without this virtue we cannot expect to defeat our weakest passions, much less gain a complete victory. This important truth should be deeply embedded in our hearts; for, although in ourselves we are nothing, we are too apt to overestimate our own abilities…
Read MoreMaxims for Perseverance in Piety
TO LIVE constantly in devotion, we have only to establish sound principles or maxims in our soul. The first which I desire you to adopt is that of St. Paul: “All things work together for good to those who love God.” And truly, since God is able and understands how to draw good from evil,…
Read MoreDefending the Real Presence: Two True Stories
It happened once in the Netherlands that two ladies, a Catholic and a Protestant, were disputing on the subject of the Real Presence. The Protestant asserted that the Real Presence was impossible. The Catholic asked her: “Have you Protestants any creed in your religion?” “Oh, to be sure,” said the Protestant; and she began to…
Read MoreThe Martyrdom of St. Sebastian
After all of these things had taken place, Sebastian himself was arrested by the imperial spies. Since he was a man of high rank in the Roman army and court, he was taken before the emperor Diocletian for a personal audience. Diocletian looked upon Sebastian with some sadness and disappointment. At last, he exclaimed, “Sebastian,…
Read MoreThe Joys of Heaven
Consider, my friend, the infinite and unutterable joy which shall arise from the pure and direct perception of the most Holy Trinity! This is the mystic and unfathomable wonder referred to as the “beatific vision.” For this Holy Trinity, mysterious and beyond all conception, is the perfect archetype and ultimate epitome of all that is…
Read MoreHell and the Revelations of a Holy Nun
The Holy Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ to save souls from the eternal punishments of hell. Otherwise, Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension have no meaning. But His life is of greatest value, for we could not be saved without His death and resurrection. Our Lord is very clear that the road to heaven is…
Read MoreFirst Temptations of St. Antony
But the devil, the hater and envier of good, could not bear to see such resolution in a young man, but attempted to use against him the means in which he is skilled. First, he tried to draw him back from the religious life by reminding him of his property, of the care of his…
Read MoreThe Virtues and the Gifts: Supernatural Actions
In a previous article, it was stated that Sanctifying Grace provides the necessary equality between the sanctified man and God for the existence of friendship between them. Not an absolute equality, of course, as there can never be a total equality between the Uncreated and the creature, but enough for the establishment of friendship. And while…
Read MoreIgnorance and Neglect of the Interior Life
St. Gregory the Great, who was as skillful an administrator and as zealous an apostle as he was great in contemplation, sums up in two words, Secum vivebat (He lived with himself), the state of soul of St. Benedict, when, at Subiaco, he was saying the foundation for that Rule which was to become one…
Read MoreChristian Perfection and External Works
CHRISTIAN soul! If you seek to reach the loftiest peak of perfection, and to unite yourself so intimately with God that you become one in spirit with Him, you must first know the true nature and perfection of spirituality in order to succeed in the most sublime undertaking that can be expressed or imagined. Some,…
Read MoreDevotion For Every Vocation
In the creation God commanded the plants of the earth to bring forth fruit, each after its kind; and in a similar way He commands Christians, who are the living plants of His Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each according to his calling and vocation. There is a different practice of devotion…
Read MoreConsideration of One’s Own Death
My friend, it is most useful for you to call to mind frequently and assiduously the reality of your own death. This, indeed, is the one universal reality of our human condition—for in this life, some are rich while others are poor, some are masters while others are servants, some learned while others are simple,…
Read MoreThe Blessed Eucharist and the Real Presence
Our true country is Heaven, and as long as we are living on earth, we are captives and exiles. We are far from Jesus Christ, our King; far from Mary, our good Mother; far from the Angels and Saints of Heaven; and far from our dear departed friends. But very many Christians are also, in…
Read MoreReturning Another Way
The word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek “ἐπιφάνεια,” [epipháneia] which means “manifestation,” and the Feast of the Epiphany, kept on January 6th, the 13th Day of Christmas, commemorates three manifestations of Christ: the visitation of the Magi from the East, Our Lord’s Baptism, and Our Lord’s first miracle of turning water into wine at the…
Read MoreThe Priest: A Eucharistic Victim
Today priests seem to only make the headlines for being cancelled or for causing scandal. But what about the heroic priests who pass unnoticed? Priests who willingly choose to be alone, so that they can be there for others. Priests who become victims like our Saving Victim in the Holy Eucharist. Priests who become martyrs…
Read MorePope Benedict XVI’s Spiritual Challenge
The following is an excerpt taken from Joseph Pearce’s biography, Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith. Like the Infant Christ, Pope Benedict XVI was a man of humility and prayer. He never sought prestige and power; rather, he preferred a life of reading, study, and solitude. He suffered silently for the salvation of souls and…
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