Posts Tagged ‘Interior Life’
On Interior Conversation
Meditation: Prepare thy heart for this thy Spouse, that he may…dwell in thee. The kingdom of God is within you – LUKE XVII. 21, saith the Lord. Convert thyself with thy whole heart to the Lord – JOEL II. 12, and quit this miserable world, and thy soul shall find rest. Learn to despise exterior…
Read MoreDiscourse on Mary’s Immaculate Conception
How becoming it was that each of the Three Divine Persons should preserve Mary from Original Sin Great indeed was the injury entailed on Adam and all his posterity by his accursed sin; for at the same time that he thereby, for his own great misfortune, lost grace, he also forfeited all the other precious…
Read MoreEscape from Communism: the Bella Dodd Conversion Story
Meeting Sheen: Recovery and Reconciliation In her June 1953 public testimony, Bella Dodd informed counselor Robert Kunzig and the congressmen on his committee, “I only got out of the Communist Party completely, emotionally, when I found my way back to my own church.” In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Bella’s life was in chaos—a…
Read MoreThe Joyous Feast of St. Nicholas
St. Nicholas, the patron Saint of Russia, was born toward the end of the third century. His uncle, the Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, ordained him priest, and appointed him abbot of a monastery; and on the death of the archbishop he was elected to the vacant see. Throughout his life he retained the bright…
Read MoreThe Second Week of Advent: Prayer Means Progress
“When John had heard in prison the words of Christ, sending two of his disciples he said to him: Art thou he that is to come, or look we for another? And Jesus answering said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the…
Read MoreThe Advantages Attached to Temptations and Afflictions
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life.” -James 1:12 “The Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love Him with all your heart, and with all your soul, or no.” (Deut. 13:3). Upon these words of Sacred Scripture,…
Read MoreThe Christian Virtue of Meekness
“Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land.” -Matthew 5:4 Our Lord offers us in His Divine Person a model of all the virtues. Meekness, however, is the one that He seems to have wished more particularly to propose for our imitation since He said: “Learn of Me for I am meek and…
Read MoreAdvent Recollection: The Cave of Bethlehem
The Blessed Virgin was in the eastern part of this cave, exactly opposite the entrance, when she gave birth to the Light of the World. The crib in which the child Jesus was laid stood on the west side of the southern and more roomy part of the cave. This crib was a hollowed-out stone…
Read MorePerseverance in Prayer
If you want all your prayers to be answered without fail and oblige God to meet all your wishes, the first thing is never to stop praying. Those who get tired after praying for a time are lacking in either humility or confidence, and so do not deserve to be heard. You would think that…
Read MoreThe Beginning of Advent: Preparing for Christmas
The Catholic Church is the most interesting institution in the world. Like her Founder, she is both human and divine. She is human because her members are of human origin; she is divine because Christ, the Head of these members, is divine. The Catholic Church is the greatest storyteller in the world. She is the…
Read MoreFamiliar Friendship with Jesus
When Jesus is present all things go well, and nothing seems difficult; but when Jesus is absent everything is hard. When Jesus speaks not within, our comfort is worthless; but if Jesus speak but one word, we feel great consolation. Did not Mary Magdalen immediately arise from the place where she wept when Martha said…
Read MoreThanksgiving Meditation: Gratitude to Jesus Christ
“That they who live may not now live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.” -2 Corinthians 5:15 St. Augustine says that Jesus Christ, having first given His life for us, has bound us to give our life for Him, and further, that when we go to the Eucharistic table…
Read MoreInequality in Friendship
In a previous article, it was stated that just as there is an analogy between the natural life of man and the supernatural life of grace, there is an analogy between the development of human friendship and the friendship between the soul and God. However, in his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle, the Philosopher, notes that “if…
Read MoreReflection on the Feast of St. Cecilia
In the evening of her wedding day, with the music of the marriage hymn ringing in her ears, Cecilia, a rich, beautiful, and noble Roman maiden, renewed the vow by which she had consecrated her virginity to God. “Pure be my heart and undefiled my flesh; for I have a spouse you know not of—an…
Read MoreConfession is the Sacrament of Mercy (PART II)
It is essential to be sorry for our sins—it is not essential to be troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety is an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere repentance we can still thank God that He has not permitted us to become yet…
Read MoreDiscourse on the Presentation of Mary
The offering that Mary made of herself to God was prompt without delay, and entire without reserve There never was, and never will be, an offering on the part of a pure creature greater or more perfect than that which Mary made to God when, at the age of three years, she presented herself in…
Read MoreConfession is the Sacrament of Mercy (PART I)
“I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.” -Ps. 31:5 The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should therefore approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de Sales assures us that for those who go to confession…
Read MoreVirtues of St. Gerard Majella
His Desire for the Highest Perfection After the death of Father Cafaro, his first director, Gerard placed himself under the direction of Father Juvenal, a religious of great virtue. To him we are indebted for precious documents on the holy brother’s inner life. He soon saw for himself that Gerard had received from God the…
Read MoreSpiritual Desolation
We ought to view in the light of God’s holy will, the loss of persons who are helpful to us in a spiritual or material way. Pious souls often fail in this respect by not being resigned to the dispositions of God’s holy will. Our sanctification comes fundamentally and essentially from God, not from spiritual…
Read MorePrayers Suitable to the Sick
The bed of the sick is an altar of sacrifice…Happy is the just man who disturbs not the sacrifice by his murmurs and his cries, who adores the beneficent hand that is hidden under the instruments which it vouchsafes to employ, who blesses the salutary strokes, who feels the honor of the distinction! How brilliant…
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