Daily Thought

  The Witness of St. Stephen, the Martyr St. Stephen. His secret is easy to discern. He saw clearly that mankind had been lifted to a new plane through the miracle of the holy night and the encounter with Christ; that man now had new strength and the new responsibility of bearing witness. What had been enough before was enough no longer. Hence the expressions full of grace and strength—signs and wonders. But these things have not been given to man merely for him to master himself. Since Christmas God is with us and injustice and even murder are sanctified and transformed into signs of grace and strength and salvation. St. Stephen’s law is that of extraordinary self-surrender and extraordinary witness. This is his message and his judgment. He challenges us to get out of our rut. As we draw near to God the old and familiar become useless. God will transform us into faithful witnesses if we earnestly and with complete surrender turn to him for help. Delp, Fr. Alfred. The Prison Medita...

  True Love A truly loving heart loves God's good pleasure, not only in consolations but also in afflictions, trials and crosses. In fact, in such cases it even loves more. Love does just this; it makes the lover ready to suffer for the beloved.  St. Francis de Sales

  Hope In The Midst of Tragedy Lectio Matthew 2:13–18 Meditatio “Joseph rose and took the child  and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.” Matthew’s Gospel is the only Gospel that includes the account of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents and the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. In choosing to include it, he foreshadows the cross from the start, reminding us that Jesus did not avoid our human suffering and pain—he was born right in the midst of it! Forced to flee into Egypt as refugees to escape the heinous and unjust actions of a historically cruel king, the Holy Family knew what it was to live in our imperfect and often dark world. They, too, suffered injustice and experienced the loneliness of being far from home. In a world where headlines often tell of war, terror, persecution, and even genocide, we are painfully aware that our world is no more peaceful and utopian now than it was then. Political strife and injustice can be found on every side, and mothers co...

The Holy Family & Prayers For Our Families Dear Brothers and Sisters, buongiorno! Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. God chose a humble and simple family through which to come into our midst. Let us contemplate in amazement the beauty of this mystery, emphasizing two concrete aspects for our families. The first: the family is the story from which we originate. Each one of us has our own story. None of us was born magically, with a magic wand. We all have our own story and the family is the story from which we originate. The Gospel of today’s liturgy reminds us that even Jesus is the son of a family story. We see him traveling to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph for the Passover; then he makes his mommy and daddy worried when they do not find him; found again, he returns home with them (cf. Lk 2:41-51). It is beautiful to see Jesus inserted into the warp of familial affections which were born and grew in the caresses and concerns of his parents. This is impor...

  The Humble Birth Again and again the beauty of this Gospel touches our hearts: a beauty that is the splendour of truth. Again and again it astonishes us that God makes himself a child so that we may love him, so that we may dare to love him, and as a child trustingly lets himself be taken into our arms. It is as if God were saying: I know that my glory frightens you, and that you are trying to assert yourself in the face of my grandeur. So now I am coming to you as a child, so that you can accept me and love me. Benedict XVI. (2013). Homilies of His Holiness Benedict XVI (English). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (excerpt from Homily of December 24, 2012)

Preparing For Christmas   "Not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but by virtue of His own mercy" (Tit 3 :5). The second tiling we need to know is that it is not because man is proud and worthy, but because God upholds us. Man needs to know that we live from grace; we live from God's merciful commitment to mankind, from His mercy. Not as miserable wretches, however, but renewed in spirit; so that we know our intrinsic dignity, know that we are raised up above and beyond all else, because we mean so much to God. This is how we attain maturity in the presence of God. Alfred Delp, S.J. 

  What Will This Child Be?  Lectio Luke 1:57–66 Meditatio   “What, then, will this child be?” As each of my nieces and nephews was born (and especially when I had a chance to see them soon after birth), a feeling of awe and wonder struck me. What a little bundle of potential a newborn baby is! Each child is a mystery. What will he become? What will she be like? We can spot some clues—long feet and toes indicating future height, for example. We can surmise some likely possibilities—the prospect of inheriting gifts and inclinations from artistic, athletic, or musically gifted parents, for instance. But no one except God can know for sure anything about the future deeds, accomplishments, influence, or lifespan of the child. And only a foolish person would claim to know the future. A child like John, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah, is the focus of wonder because each child is a gift from God to the world—a sign that God has not finished with us yet. The extraordinary circ...

  Pondering Prayer     O KING OF ALL NATIONS,     the one for whom they have been yearning,     the cornerstone who unites all of them in perfect union,     come now, and rescue poor humanity,     which from dust you have fashioned. The Church offers us the opportunity to gather together daily in prayer at the Eucharistic liturgy and the Liturgy of the Hours. For centuries Christians have broken up the day and night into periods of prayer, rest, work, and, yes, recreation. Through these meditations we have tried to ponder and to pray, but what is prayer? Can I define what prayer is for you? No one else’s words fit right in our mouths or in our patterns of thought. Each of us needs to speak to God in our own language, in our own way. Even so, Prayer cannot be reduced to the spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse: in order to pray, one must have the will to pray. Nor is it enough to know what the Scriptures reveal about prayer: on...

  Preparing For Christmas Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today’s General Audience is taking place in an atmosphere of glad and excited expectation for the Christmas festivities, now at hand. Come, Lord Jesus! This is what we repeat in prayer during these days, preparing our hearts to taste the joy of the Redeemer’s birth. In this last week of Advent in particular, the liturgy accompanies and sustains us on our inner journey with repeated invitations to welcome the Saviour and to recognize him in the humble Child lying in a manger. This is the mystery of Christmas, which a wealth of symbols helps us to understand better. These include the symbol of light, which is one of the symbols richest in spiritual significance and on which I would like briefly to reflect. In our hemisphere, the Feast of Christmas coincides with the days of the winter solstice, after which the daylight time gradually lengthens, in accordance with the sequence of the seasons. This helps us understand better the them...

  Casting Our Cares When you intercede for another, do so with a boundless confidence in My love for that soul. At the same time, relinquish every desire to see the outcome of your intercession as you would imagine or desire it to be. Allow Me to receive your prayer and to respond to it in ways corresponding to My infinite wisdom, to My love, and to My perfect will for the person you bring before My Eucharistic Face. Do not come to Me with solutions; come to Me only with your problems, and allow Me to provide the solutions. I have no need of your solutions, but when you bring Me problems, sufferings, questions, and needs, I am glorified by your confidence in My merciful love.  Bring Me your questions, your problems, and your fears, and I will attend to them; for Me darkness itself is not dark and night shines as the day. There is no situation and no suffering so heavy that I cannot make it light to bear, and even, if such be My will, remove it altogether from those who are cru...

  Do Not Be Sad The Lord is with us: be not sad. Put on, you chosen ones of God, the garments of gladness and joy; cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light: as in the open day, so let us watch this sacred night. Let us rejoice and exult. Let us sing canticles and hymns. Let us praise the God our Savior. Let us offer Him our vows. Let us present Him the service of our mouth. Thomas À Kempis

  Never Give Way To Anger When Joseph sent his brethren back from Egypt to his father’s house, he only gave them one counsel, “Let there be no recriminations on the way” (Gn 45:24). This earthly life is but the road to a blessed life. On the way let us not fall out with each other. Let us go on in the company of our brethren gently, peacefully, and kindly. I mean it when I say: if possible, never give way to anger, and under no pretext let anger and passion enter your heart. Saint James says, plainly and frankly, that “the wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God” (Jas 1:20). Without a doubt, it is a duty to oppose what is wrong and to steadily and firmly correct those for whom we are responsible, but we must also do so gently and quietly.… A correction given excitedly, however tempered by reason, never has so much effect as that which is given with calmness; for the reasonable soul is naturally subject to reason. Passion is mere tyranny, and in its throes, reaso...

  The Key To Happiness - Say "Yes To God" Lectio Matthew 11:16–19 Meditatio   “The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said …” When my siblings and I were little we would sometimes get in a contrary mood that my mom called “try-an’-please-me.” No matter what my mother suggested or offered us—things to play with, snacks, or drinks—we were never satisfied. Usually Jesus speaks of children as models of what Christians should be like (because of their simplicity and trust), but this passage evokes the idea of the contrariness of children. The crowd who were listening to Jesus had not been fully converted by the preaching of John—they said he must have been crazy or possessed to have adopted such an extreme lifestyle in the desert, “neither eating nor drinking.” But Jesus didn’t live that kind of hermit- or prophet-like existence. He lived among the people, and he ate and drank with them when they invited him to their homes. So they now accuse him of lack of moderation. ...

  The Immaculate Conception Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno! The Gospel for today’s Liturgy, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, brings us into the house of Nazareth, where she receives the angel’s annunciation (cf. Lk 1:26-38). Within the domestic walls, a person reveals him or herself better than elsewhere. And it is precisely within that domestic intimacy that the Gospel gives us a detail that reveals the beauty of Mary’s heart. The angel calls her “full of grace”. If she is full of grace, it means the Madonna is void of evil: she is without sin, Immaculate. Now, at the angel’s greeting, Mary – the text says – is “greatly troubled” (Lk 1:29). She is not only surprised, but troubled. To receive grand greetings, honours and compliments sometimes brings the risk of provoking pride and presumption. Let us recall that Jesus is not gentle with those who go in search of greetings in the squares, adulation, visibility (cf. Lk 20:46). Mary, instea...

  The Shaking Reality of Advent There is perhaps nothing we modern people need more than to be genuinely shaken up. Where life is firm we need to sense its firmness; and where it is unstable and uncertain and has no basis, we need to know this, too, and endure it. We may ask why God sends whirlwinds over the earth, why the chaos where all appears hopeless and dark, and why there seems to be no end to human suffering. Perhaps it is because we have been living on earth in an utterly false and counterfeit security. and now God strikes the earth till it resounds, now he shakes and shatters: not to pound us with fear, but to teach us one thing – the spirit’s innermost longing. Many of the things that are happening today would never have happened if we had been living in that longing, that disquiet of heart which comes when we are faced with God, and when we look clearly at things as they really are. If we had done this, God would have withheld his hand from many of the things that now s...

  Joyful Preparation! Lectio Luke 3:1–6 Meditatio   “[T]he word of God came to John … in the desert.” It’s not surprising that God’s word came to John in the desert. Scripture tells us that Israel’s early history abounded with desert experiences. Abraham receives God’s promise of descendants out in the open, beneath a sky strewn with stars. Sleeping in a barren landscape, with a stone for his pillow, Jacob experiences the Lord’s glory and reassuring presence as he set out on his journey to Haran. Moses first encounters God when a voice calls to him from a bush blazing on Mount Sinai. In that same desert God later molds the Israelites into a people. Desert experiences are also part of the Church’s heritage. The seasons of Advent and Lent remind us of this. I hope that during this Advent each of us will have an opportunity to create within ourselves our own “desert,” where we can meet the Lord and walk with him. In that desert we can share our concerns and his, ask for light an...

  The Garden of Scripture All who ask receive, those who seek find, and to those who knock it shall be opened. Therefore, let us knock at the beautiful garden of Scripture. It is fragrant, sweet, and blooming with various sounds of spiritual and divinely inspired birds. They sing all around our ears, capture our hearts, comfort the mourners, pacify the angry, and fill us with everlasting joy. St. John of Damascus

  Great Thought From Our Saint For Today Thought for the day: “The better friends you are, the straighter you can talk, but while you are only on nodding terms, be slow to scold. St. Francis Xavier

The Wisdom to Look at Christ Once again we are in Advent, which reminds us vividly, beautifully, of Christ’s first advent in time. Even while he is coming, he is also with us now in many ways. He is with us in the tabernacle. Incredible Love that he is, he could not separate himself from us. He also walks among us in all his priests. Through their hands, he multiplies himself in the Hosts so that they can feed us with the Bread of Life—himself. How immense must be his love for us! Think for a moment. Allow a few moments of silence to interrupt your reading of this page. Try to comprehend the lavishness of God’s love for us. Daily, millions of Hosts are given in Holy Communion to the faithful throughout the world. And each Host is Christ, coming in tremendous love to be united to each and all. Think about it now! Let every day be the day of beginning again, of loving Christ a little more, of hungering for him a little more, of turning our face to him. To accomplish this, all we need to ...

  Be Ablaze With Enthusiasm Be not lax in celebrating. Be not lazy in the festive service of God. Be ablaze with enthusiasm. Let us be an alive, burning offering before the altar of God. St. Hildegard of Bingen

  Pope Francis ⏤ Don't Be A "Sleepy" Christian Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno! The Gospel of today’s liturgy, the First Sunday of Advent, speaks to us about the Lord’s coming at the end of time. Jesus announces bleak and distressing events, but precisely at this point He invites us not to be afraid. Why? Because everything will be okay? No, but because He will come. Jesus will return as He promised. This is what he says: “Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand” (Lk 21:28). It is nice to hear this encouraging Word: stand up straight and raise our heads because right during those moments when everything seems to be coming to an end, the Lord comes to save us. We await Him with joy, even in the midst of tribulations, during life’s crises and the dramatic events of history. We await Him. But how do we raise our heads and not become absorbed with difficulties, suffering and defeat? Jesus points the way with a strong reminder: “Beware that yo...

  1st Sunday of Advent THE MARKING OF TIME and its turning is a remarkably human thing. Inexorably, the minutes and hours move forward and never reverse. Yet the discovery of cycles of years connotes its own hope. We may begin anew, make resolutions, hope that love will flourish again. For Christian churches the message of Jesus Christ is condensed in a year’s cycle—celebrated from glory to glory: his coming, his ministry, his death, his resurrection, and his future coming. Advent begins a new year. Yes, Jesus came and he will come again. He will be with us and take us home. Till then our life is a pilgrimage. Each Advent we may start once more to live with him and in him. We have the option to become a testimony of his loving redemption, to share in it through who we are and what we do, and finally to recall our own eternal destiny.     Advent Wreath   A wreath is a ring; a ring has no end. Advent wreaths are usually made of evergreens to remind us of life everlasti...

  The Importance of Leisure Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. Pope Francis

  Happy Thanksgiving!                    Father all-powerful,          your gifts of love are countless          and your goodness infinite;          as we come before you on Thanksgiving Day          with gratitude for your kindness,          open our hearts to have concern          for every man, woman, and child,          so that we may share your gifts in loving service.          Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,          who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,          God, for ever and ever.  Collect for Thanksgiving Day Mass

  By Your Perseverance You Will Save Your Lives Lectio Luke 21:12–19 Meditatio “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” Who wants to reflect on persecution and possible martyrdom? Yet, here they are in today’s Gospel. We can’t honestly think that this passage isn’t meant for us. So what can we take with us for today and the future? I believe we can start with humility. Saint Augustine, painfully aware that many Christians had apostatized, wrote that we could never be sure that we’d have the strength to endure martyrdom. This thought, he said, should make us humble. But then we can move on to confidence—not in ourselves, but in Jesus. In this same passage, the Lord says he will enlighten his followers as to what to say when brought before those hostile to the faith. This indicates that whatever might befall us, Jesus will be with us in our hour of need. But we have to ask for his help instead of caving in. We have to let him be enough for us. He is the Faithful O...

  Blessed Are Those Who Trust Blessed indeed are “those who have not seen, and yet have learned to believe.” Those who ask for no miracles, demand nothing out of the ordinary, but who find God’s message in everyday life. Those who require no compelling proofs, but who know that everything coming from God must remain in a certain ultimate suspense, so that faith may never cease to require daring. Those who know that the heart is not overcome by faith, that there is no force or violence there, compelling belief by rigid certitudes. What comes from God touches gently, comes quietly, does not disturb freedom, and leads to quiet, profound, peaceful resolve within the heart. And those are called blessed who make the effort to remain open-hearted; who seek to cleanse their hearts of all self-righteousness, obstinacy, presumption, and inclination to “know better”; who are quick to hear, humble, and free-spirited. Romano Guardini

  A Glorious Transaction Jesus Christ, in His infinite love, has become what we are, in order that He may make us entirely what He is. St. Iranaeus of Lyon

  Be On The Lookout! Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it. St. Josemaria Escriva

  Asking With Confidence The greater and more persistent  your confidence in God,  the more abundantly  you will receive,  all that you ask. St. Albert the Great

 Trust Entrust everything to Me and do nothing on your own, and you will always have great freedom of spirit. St. Faustina Kowalska

 Discipleship Jesus promised his disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.  G.K Chesterton 

  We Need More Joy! Joy must be one of the pivots of our life. It is the token of a generous personality. Sometimes it is also a mantle that clothes a life of sacrifice and self-giving. A person who has this gift often reaches high summits. He or she is like sun in a community. St. Teresa of Calcutta

  A Great Prayer To Start The Day! Lord, help me to live this day, quietly, easily. To lean upon Thy great strength, trustfully, restfully. To wait for the unfolding of Thy will, patiently, serenely. To meet others, peacefully, joyously. To face tomorrow, confidently, courageously. St. Francis of Assisi

  Powerful Words From A Powerful Saint! Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage. St. Francis of Assisi

  Put Your Hand In The Hand! In face of the hatred and anger of the world, we must bring the gentleness and the smile of the Infant Jesus of Bethlehem. In face of the pride of the world, we must bring the littleness and powerlessness of the tiny newborn baby of the crib. . . Be a tiny baby in the Lord's hands. Close your eyes and put your hand in his. Let go and be supple and then he can send you where he wants!" Little Sister Magadeleine of Jesus

  The Value of Wisdom My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures— then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you. It will save you from the way of evil, from those who speak perversely, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways...

  Great Reflection On The Dishonest Steward Were you startled when you read this verse? Why would the master commend this steward? He’d already been chastised for squandering his master’s property. And now he was doing something that appeared even worse—he was telling his master’s debtors to reduce their debt! And these were no small accounts! One hundred measures of olive oil alone could translate to eight hundred gallons. But let’s look at what this steward was actually doing. Like many other stewards, he had likely been inflating the amount his master’s debtors owed and keeping the extra money for himself. By decreasing their debt, he was giving away his own profits, not actually causing his master to lose money. He knew he would soon be out of work and possibly unemployable, so he gave the debtors a break in the hope that they would help him out later on. So this wily steward corrected his fraudulent ledgers and made friends for himself in the process! Jesus wants us to learn f...

  Keeping Focused If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor.We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: “I will pray, and then I will understand.” This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in others.If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can.Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words ...

  St. Martin De Porres St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima on December 9, 1579, the son of a Spanish father and a black mother. As a youth, he learned the basics of medical practice by helping one of the local pharmacist-physicians. He felt called to the religious life, but because he was a mulatto he thought that that way of life was not for him. Instead, he took a job—he was then fifteen years of age—doing domestic work in a Dominican monastery. During his nine years there, the monks witnessed his humility, goodness, and charity, and eventually they asked him if he would not want to become a Dominican brother. This he did in 1603. In addition to his regular tasks in the community (as barber, surgeon, and infirmarian), Br. Martin cared for the sick and the poor of the city, and when he returned home he spent his nights more in prayer than in sleep. To the people of the city and to his religious brethren, he was the living symbol of generosity and humility. He died in Lima on Nov...

  Really Enjoyed This Meditation! He took the man and . . . healed him. (Luke 14:4) The man whom Jesus healed had dropsy. Nowadays, the word “edema” is used, but both words refer to a buildup of fluid in the body that causes limbs to swell, joints to stiffen, and movement to be hampered. The Pharisees who witnessed this miracle would have known Jesus’ view of healing on the Sabbath because the question had already been asked and answered, to their humiliation (Luke 13:10-17). They weren’t likely to welcome such a healing the second time around. But still, Jesus was offering them an invitation—this time to seek their own healing. It’s an invitation for all of us: to be healed of spiritual bloat and stiffness so that we can deepen our relationship with the Lord. It’s easy to settle into a fixed, familiar understanding of who God is and what he wants. But more than anything, what he wants is an intimate and fluid relationship with us, one that moves and grows and matures daily. So Jes...

 

  God's Mercy Allows Us To Joyfully Continue On Our Way Chase all gloominess from your heart, and, even if you do something wrong, don’t get upset, since that would do even more harm than the wrongdoing. Instead, humble yourself gently, asking God’s pardon, decide that you will do better in future and joyfully continue on your way. St. Paul of the Cross

  Waiting On the Lord Our soul waits for the LORD, he is our help and shield. For in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust. May your mercy, LORD, be upon us; as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:20-22

  Let Nothing Disturb You Let nothing Disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, Though all things pass, God does not change. Patience wins all things. But he lacks nothing who possesses God; For God alone suffices. St. Teresa of Avila

  Prayer & The Grace of Surrender “It can happen that the opportunity for a great offering to our Lord coincides with a time of great personal pain. ...Unique to each life, that day may come with no preparation, not at all anticipated.  ...And yet this juncture in time, in God’s vision and plan, is not for sadness and pain, but rather invites a different understanding of God, and perhaps a contemplative turn in life. ...A sacrificial act of offering must take place, more serious than any other renunciation we have made in our lives.  It is a profound offering to God of what he has taken from us, holding back nothing, uniting ourselves now to his choice, even as this act may cost much in tears.  ‘Yes, Lord, this, too, indeed everything you have asked, I offer to you.’  This act repeated possibly for many days subsequently may be decisive for all subsequent relations with God.  The essential truth of sacrifice as an outpouring - a bloodletting of the hear...

  Focus On The Great Commandment Lectio Luke 11:42–46 Meditatio “These you should have done, without overlooking the others.” Sometimes I get so caught up in details that I miss the big picture. This can be helpful when I need to focus. But it can also be a problem if I’m so focused that I miss the opportunities to serve others that God shows me right now. Jesus is talking about this with the Pharisees and scholars of the Law. In this instance they are following the law of paying certain tithes, but are not giving attention to the greatest commandment of all, love for God. In building a house, the interior design is important, but the foundation and walls have to be put up first! If the foundation is not solid, then the rest of the house cannot stand. Jesus acknowledges that tithes should be paid, but we can’t overlook the most important laws: love of God and neighbor. Sometimes the good that we choose to do can be self-serving and lead us to rely on ourselves. Jesus offers us the ...

  True Charity True charity consists in bearing all our neighbor’s defects – not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues. St.  Thérèse of Lisieux

  Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan - 10 Rules for Life I will live the present moment to the fullest. I will discern between God and God’s works. I will hold firmly to one secret: prayer. I will see in the Holy Eucharist my only power. I will have only one wisdom: the science of the Cross. I will remain faithful to my mission in the Church and for the Church as a witness of Jesus Christ. I will seek the peace the world cannot give. I will carry out a revolution by renewal in the Holy Spirit. I will speak one language and wear one uniform: Charity. I will have one very special love: The Blessed Virgin Mary. 

On the Good and Peaceable Person First keep yourself in peace, then you will be able to bring others to peace. The peaceable person does more good than one who is highly educated. The overly passionate person turns even good to evil, and readily believes evil. The good and peaceable person turns all things to good. Whoever is in perfect peace suspects no one. But whoever is discontented and disturbed is agitated by various suspicions, and neither has rest, nor permits others to rest. Often such a person says what should not be said and does not do what should be done. While considering what others ought to do, do not neglect what you yourself are bound to do. It is better to have zeal toward yourself in the first place, and then you may justly exercise zeal toward your neighbor. You know well how to excuse and gloss over your own deeds, but you will not accept the excuses of others. It is more just for you to accuse yourself and to excuse another. If you wish others to put up with you,...

 The Power of Prayer Prayer can truly change your life. For it turns your attention away from yourself and directs your mind and your heart toward the Lord. If we look only at ourselves, with our own limitations and sins, we quickly give way to sadness and discouragement. But if we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, then our hearts are filled with hope, our minds are washed n the light of truth, and we come to know the fullness of the Gospel with all is promise and life. St. John Paul II

  Love, Sorrow, Fruitfulness One of the most important things in the spiritual life is to understand well the close relationship between love and sacrifice. It is easily understood that love is the basis of perfection, and the soul delights in confirming it. For love marvelously corresponds to something deep that the soul bears in its interior: a vital yearning that is vehement and, in a certain sense, unparalleled. And when we come in contact with what is fleeting and superficial, the emptiness of the affections of earth, we impetuously fling toward divine love. That love is so profound that it reaches to the deepest part of our soul, into regions that mundane affections never touch. It is so perfect that it satisfies forever without ever tiring. It is so enduring that it is immortal and so abiding that nothing and no one can uproot it when it has implanted itself in our heart. Frequently, however, one has an inexact concept of love.… It [the soul] does not understand that in this...

  Blessings & Lessons Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.  St. Teresa of Calcutta