The Arrest of Christ

[Mary continues her reply to Anselm.] After this, my Son returned to His disciples and found that they had succumbed to sleep. He said to them with some disappointment, “Could you not remain awake for just one hour with Me?” And He added, “Behold! The one who will betray Me now draws nigh.” Just at…

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The Seven Last Words of Christ: Meditating on the Third Word

“When Jesus therefore had seen His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing there, He saith to His Mother: ‘Woman, behold thy son.’ After that, He saith to the disciple: ‘Behold thy Mother.’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.” —John 19:26–27 The third leaf on the vine of the…

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Reflections on the Passiontide

During the next two weeks, the poignant drama of Calvary will again be enacted in the sublime worship of the Church. Faithful people will flock to the churches, to the amazement of a skeptical and irreligious world, and they will not be mere witnesses of the greatest tragedy in history. They will be actors in…

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Jesus Goes to Jerusalem

In the morning, while the Apostles were engaged at Jerusalem in preparing for the Pasch, Jesus, who had remained at Bethania, took an affecting leave of the holy women, of Lazarus, and of His Blessed Mother, and gave them some final instructions. I saw Our Lord conversing apart with His Mother, and He told her,…

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St. Teresa of Avila’s Concept of Meditation

WE HAVE EMPHASIZED, with calculated repetition, St. Teresa’s fundamental theory of meditation: a loving conversation with Christ. St. Teresa, though, was a clever pedagogue; she realized that it is alarmingly difficult to kneel down and inaugurate conversation with Christ immediately. Human nature being what it is, our thoughts quickly wander from prayer. Therefore, she proposed…

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On Why a Crown is Fitting for Our Lady

In the longing of my soul, in the joy of the Holy Spirit, in the most genuine love, and in the Word of Truth, I wish to extol you, to praise you, and to bless you, O Virgin Mary! For you are more radiant than the Sun; in appearance, you are more beautiful; in faith…

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Path of Perfection

But those who at this time are going on to perfection proceed in a very different way, and in a very different temper of mind: they grow and are built up in humility, not only looking on their own works as nothing, but also dissatisfied with themselves; they look upon all others as much better,…

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The Imitation of Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is an antidote to the self-referential age of failed fatherhood. Abuses do not negate the truth. Those who have not provided, not protected, and failed to bestow are not the examples we look to for imitation. But imitate we must. We do not enter life creating our own language, designing our own clothing,…

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St. Patrick’s Discouragement Amidst His Labors

THROUGH four years, from 427 to 431, Patrick labored to learn what others absorbed without effort. His age impeded the acquisition of knowledge, he knew, but he saw also a more serious defect: “It was my sins that prevented me from fixing in my mind what once I would have learned merely by reading.” His…

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Do You Love the Virtue of Humility?

Truly, no one cares to be thought proud, for even according to worldly ideas, the greatest blame that one can give to a man is to say that he is proud. And yet few try to avoid the very thing they would least desire to be accused of by others. If we feel inward satisfaction…

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End of Mental Prayer

All mental prayer, active or passive, whatever be its object, form or method, has for its end to glorify God, and in order to this, as we have already seen, it may perform the four functions of prayer, or some of the four, or only one, according to the attraction or need of the soul.…

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The Final Judgment

My friend, reflect next upon how much terror and anxiety there will be at the great scene of the Final Judgment! The miraculous trumpets of angels shall then sound a deafening fanfare. Great bolts of blazing lightening will illuminate the earth and the sky with a blinding luminosity. Tumultuous thunder will roar, penetrating into the…

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Spiritual Pride

WHEN beginners become aware of their own fervor and diligence in their spiritual works and devotional exercises, this prosperity of theirs gives rise to secret pride—though holy things tend of their own nature to humility—because of their imperfections; and the issue is that they conceive a certain satisfaction in the contemplation of their works and…

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Pride, the Mother and Queen of the Vices

Saint Thomas is clear in defining the overarching vice or inspirer of all the seven capital vices. He defines it first as a disordered love for personal excellence in excess of right reason. Then, as a special sin, pride leads to a lack of subjection to God’s rule, or commandments, and the undue estimation of…

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