Daily Thought

Great Words From Our Saint Of The Day God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God's purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven. All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.  As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go. St. Ignatius of Loyola

Resting in God’s Heart The holy Gospel relates that after the apostles first went out on their apostolic mission, Jesus said to them: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while” (Mk 6:31). The Gospel tells us nothing of how they took that rest, but we can easily conjecture what peace, love, and happiness that secret, intimate retreat with Jesus must have held for them. On some occasions in life, God approaches the soul and speaks similar words, inviting it with immense tenderness to rest sweetly within his divine heart and—dare I say it?—asking it to allow him to rest in it. Heaven is complete rest in God, because earth is always a place of labor, vicissitudes, and sorrow. The soul sighs to be freed from the anxieties of this life, as Saint Paul desired: “… [M]y desire is to depart and be with Christ” (Phil 1:23). But God, the divine friend, is pleased to grant to souls that love him an experience of beatitude on this earth, in the heaven of his heart—is...

Insights Into Yesterday's First Reading When interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham argues in terms of collective responsibility, as understood in ancient times in Israel: the entire people shared the same fate even though not all of them sinned, for the sin of some affected all. According to that way of looking at things, if there were enough just people in the city (Abraham did not dare go below ten) God would not have destroyed it. This way of thinking also shows how the salvation of many (even if they are sinners) can come through the faithfulness of a few, thereby preparing the way to see how the salvation of all mankind is brought about by the obedience of one man alone, Jesus Christ. Gavigan, J., McCarthy, B., & McGovern, T. (Eds.). (1999). The Pentateuch (pp. 105–106). Dublin; New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishers.

The Liberating Power Of God's Love      Only love heals, only love liberates, only love redeems. By bringing love into the depths of My Passion and by putting all the bitterness and hatred of sin expressed in My sufferings in contact with My love, I redeemed the world, atoned for sin, and restored to My Father the glory  that is due Him from the creatures whom He created to bless Him and fill the world with the sound of His praises.       The redemption is the work of love. I loved in the face of hatred. I loved in the face of death. I loved even in the netherworld, where the just of the ages awaited My coming among them. It is by love that I vanquished hell, by love that I triumphed over death, by love that I undid what Satan, in his envy, had plotted against the creatures whom I so love and whom My Father destined for the praise of His glory.        Love is not a feeling; it is an act of the will, a movement of the hear...

Beautiful Prayer From A World Youth Day Lord Jesus Christ, proclaim once more your Beatitudes in the presence of these young people, gathered in Toronto for the World Youth Day. Look upon them with love and listen to their young hearts, ready to put their future on the line for you. You have called them to be the "salt of the earth and light of the world". Continue to teach them the truth and beauty of the vision that you proclaimed on the Mountain. Make them men and women of the Beatitudes! Let the light of your wisdom shine upon them, so that in word and deed they may spread in the world the light and salt of the Gospel. Make their whole life a bright reflection of you, who are the true light that came into this world so that whoever believes in you will not die, but will have eternal life (cf. Jn 3:16)! Pope John Paul II World Youth Day Welcoming Center July 25, 2002

Obtaining Peace My CHILD, My saints lived in this world without complaint. They were aware of  their own defects, and they offered up their daily trials in reparation for their faults. They developed the virtues of humility and simplicity in order to avoid self-deception. Their greatest fear was that they might deceive themselves into a sense of their own goodness, or even of superiority over others. By living with eyes fixed on Me, they lived in peace.  If you want to enjoy My gift of peace, learn to control your selfishness in many things. Do your best but do it for Me. Give Me the best loyalty within you because I deserve it. Do not always expect a reward for the good you do. I have already given you more than you can ever repay Me.  If you cannot help others against their faults and defects, the only thing left for you is  to mind your own business. Let them go along the way they have chosen. Why lose your peace of soul, or even sin by anger?  Firs...

Go Forward With Confidence & With Peace My love for you is unchanging. It is faithful and it is as strong as it is tender. I will never forsake you and you must never doubt that I have chosen you to be a privileged friend of My Heart, and this in spite of the sins by which you so grieved Me and wounded My little ones. All is forgiven; the past has been consumed in the fire of My merciful love. Now,  you have only to rejoice in the love with which I have turned your life into an act of adoration and of obedience to My designs. Trust in the love of My Heart for you. Go forward with confidence and with peace, for I am with you and you are Mine and My love will never fail you.  from In Sinu Jesu ⏤ When Heart Speaks To Heart The Journal Of A Priest At Prayer pp.154-155

The Primacy of Grace If in the planning that awaits us we commit ourselves more confidently to a pastoral activity that gives personal and communal prayer its proper place, we shall be observing an essential principle of the Christian view of life: the primacy of grace. There is a temptation which perennially besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: that of thinking that the results depend on our ability to act and to plan. God of course asks us really to cooperate with his grace, and therefore invites us to invest all our resources of intelligence and energy in serving the cause of the Kingdom. But it is fatal to forget that “without Christ we can do nothing” (cf. Jn. 15:5). It is prayer which roots us in this truth. It constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness. When this principle is not respected, is it any wonder that pastoral plans come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening sense of f...

The Wonderful Work of the Holy Spirit “Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of all “fullness of blessing,” both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the reflection of their grace as though they were already present, we await the full enjoyment.” St. Basil the Great

Freedom The salvation offered by God to his children requires their free response and acceptance. It is in this that faith consists, and it is through this that “man freely commits his entire self to God”, responding to God’s prior and superabundant love (cf. 1 Jn 4:10) with concrete love for his brothers and sisters, and with steadfast hope because “he who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). In fact, the divine plan of salvation does not consign human creatures to a state of mere passivity or of lesser status in relation to their Creator, because their relationship to God, whom Jesus Christ reveals to us and in whom he freely makes us sharers by the working of the Holy Spirit, is that of a child to its parent: the very relationship that Jesus lives with the Father (cf. Jn 15–17; Gal 4:6–7). #39 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church Reprint April 2005  © Copyright 2004 Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Experience Peace Desire to see God, be fearful of losing Him, and find joy in everything that can lead to Him. If you act in this way, you will always live in great peace. St. Teresa of Avila

Planted Firmly in Hope Look upon yourself as a tree planted beside the water, which bears its fruit in due season; the more it is shaken by the wind, the deeper it strikes its roots into the ground. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

A Prayer For Help Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors’ souls and come to their rescue. St. Faustina Kowalska

We Can Do This! What I ask of you is nothing other than love and affection for Me and for your neighbor. This can be done at any time, any place, and in any state of life. St. Catherine of Siena