August 2012
19 posts
July 2012
63 posts
Lord, You know my heart
“Let us make a resolution to control our tongues. If we are to love Jesus with undivided love in our brothers and sisters and in the poor, then our tongues must be clean. Each day, Jesus comes on our tongues in the Eucharist. When I was a child, my mother told me in preparation for first Holy Communion that if I told a lie my tongue would turn black. One day, I told a lie and ran to the looking glass to see! It might have been my imagination, but I am sure I saw that my tongue was black. And I went and told my mother about the lie. I must take care that my tongue does not get dirty because Jesus will rest there as he rested in the womb of his mother, Mary.”
—Mother Teresa (Thirsting for God, July 27)
“Prayer is as necessary as the air, as the blood in our bodies, as anything to keep us alive—to keep us alive to the grace of God.”
—Mother Teresa (Thirsting for God, July 26)
“With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.”
—Psalm 36:10
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“Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great sanctity. If you learn the art of thoughtfulness you will become more and more Christlike. His heart was meek and he always thought of the needs of others. Our vocation, to be beautiful, must be full of thought for others. Jesus went about doing good. Our Lady did nothing else at Cana but think of the needs of others and make those needs known to Jesus. The thoughtfulness of Mary and Joseph was so great that it made Nazareth the abode of the Most High.”
—Mother Teresa (Thirsting for God, July 25)
“Bad companions, bad books, and bad habits,” my guide exclaimed, “are mainly responsible for so many eternally lost.”
—In a dream of Saint John Bosco (via thefullnessofthefaith)
“On the contrary, keep company with the chaste and virtuous; often meditate upon and read holy things; for the word of God is chaste, and makes those also chaste that delight in it.”
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—Saint Francis de Sales, Introduction to a Devout Life
(via acatholicrose)
“Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.”
—Bl Mother Theresa (via thefullnessofthefaith)
"My cup you will indeed drink"
Commentary on Matthew 20:20-28; Feast day of St. James the Apostle
Saint Gregory the Great (c.540-604), Pope, Doctor of the Church
Homilies on the Gospel, no.35 (trans. ©Cistercian studies, 123)
We are celebrating today the heavenly birthday of a martyr. We must not consider ourselves altogether strangers to his virtue of patience. If with the Lord’s help we are striving to observe the virtue of patience, though we are living in a time of peace for the Church, yet we are holding the palm of martyrdom. There are in truth two kinds of martyrdom: one in the heart, the other in heart and action at the same time. And so we can be martyrs, even if we are not slain by anyone’s sword. To die at the hands of a persecutor is unmistakably martyrdom; to bear insults, to love one who hates us, is martyrdom in our secret thought.
Truth, who asked the sons of Zebedee: “Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” testifies that there are two kinds of martyrdom, one in our secret actions, the other in public. When they immediately answered: “We are able,” the Lord replied: “You will indeed drink my cup”. What do we understand by his cup except his passion, of which he said elsewhere: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”? (Mt 26,39) But the sons of Zebedee, James, that is, and John, did not both die as martyrs; yet each heard that he would drink of the cup. John did not end his life in martyrdom, yet was a martyr, because he sustained in his heart the suffering he did not undergo in his body. We too, following his example, can be martyrs without a sword, if we truly guard patience in our minds.
Lord, I beg for the grace to be always confident in You.
Jesus, I trust in You.
Jesus King of Mercy, I trust in You.
Take me by the hand. I am Your own, a little child.
I will walk with You, my little hand in Yours.
my Love, my Everything.
“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”
—Thomas Merton (via eternallyadoring)
