Daily Thought

  The Gift of Faith Faith brings into our lives such freedom, such love, such peace, and such joy that there are no words in any language that can explain it. You have to have it in order to know it. You have to experience it in order to understand it. Faith liberates. It liberates love and hope. If I am free to love and free to hope, what more do I want of life? Catherine Doherty

  Always Remember What We Can Do In order to console a soul in its sufferings, point out to it all the good it can still do. St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

  Jesus Can & Does Heal! Dear Brothers and Sisters, Buongiorno! Today in the Gospel (cf. Mk 5:21-43) Jesus encounters our two most dramatic situations, death and disease. He frees two people from them: a little girl, who dies just as her father has gone to ask Jesus’ help; and a woman, who has blood loss for many years. Jesus lets himself be touched by our suffering and our death, and he works two signs of healing to tell us that neither  suffering nor death have the last word. He tells us that death is not the end. He defeats this enemy, from which alone we cannot free ourselves. However, in this period in which illness is still at the centre of the news, we will focus  on the other sign, the healing of the woman. More than her health, her affections were compromised. Why? She had blood loss and therefore, according to the mindset of the time, she was deemed impure. She was a marginalized woman; she could not have stable relationships; she could not have a husband; s...

  Beautiful Message On Art & Prayer Dear Brothers and Sisters, In this period I have recalled several times the need for every Christian, in the midst of the many occupations that fill our days, to find time for God and for prayer. The Lord himself gives us many opportunities to remember him. Today I would like to reflect briefly on one of these channels that can lead to God and can also be of help in the encounter with him. It is the way of artistic expression, part of that “via pulchritudinis” — the “way of beauty”, of which I have spoken several times and whose deepest meaning must be recovered by men and women today. It may have happened on some occasion that you paused before a sculpture, a picture, a few verses of a poem or a piece of music that you found deeply moving, that gave you a sense of joy, a clear perception, that is, that what you beheld was not only matter, a piece of marble or bronze, a painted canvas, a collection of letters or an accumulation of sounds, but...

  Power In The Name To holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport. His name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living. St. John Henry Newman

  God's Mercies Will Be My Song Forever May the comfort and grace of the Holy Spirit be yours for ever, most honoured lady. Your letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead, but now I must rouse myself to make my way on to heaven at last and to praise God for ever in the land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there would have been over. If charity, as Saint Paul says, means to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who are glad, then, dearest mother, you shall rejoice exceedingly that God in his grace and his love for you is showing me the path to true happiness, and assuring me that I shall never lose him.   The divine goodness, most honoured lady, is a fathomless and shoreless ocean, and I confess that when I plunge my mind into thought of this it is carried away by the immensity and feels quite lost and bewildered there. In return for my short and feeble labours, God is calling me to eternal rest; his voice from heave...

  The Importance of Family All that you succeed in doing to support the family is destined to have an effectiveness that goes beyond its own sphere   and reaches other people, too, and has an effect on society.  The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family. ST. JOHN PAUL II, Familiaris Consortio, n. 75

  Scripture, Humility, & The Perfection of Love If you wish to attain to true knowledge of the Scriptures, hasten to acquire first an unshakeable humility of heart. That alone will lead you, not to the knowledge that puffs up, but to that which enlightens, by the perfecting of love. St. John Cassian

  On The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart Keep your heart in peace and let nothing trouble you, not even your faults. You must humble yourself and amend them peacefully, without being discouraged or cast down, for God's dwelling is in peace. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

  Love & Sacrifice You have to make many sacrifices when you live in the midst of people who differ from you politically, socially, and ideologically. But look at the example of Jesus. He Who is God chose to live among humanity I thirty-three years of continual sacrifice. Venerable Servant of God Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan

  Do Not Be Discouraged Do not let your heart become troubled by the sad spectacle of human injustice. Even this has its value in the face of all else. And it is from this that one day you will see the justice of God rising with unfailing triumph. Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

  Avoiding Mediocrity To live without faith, without a heritage to defend, without battling constantly for truth, is not to live but to ‘get along’; we must never just ‘get along’. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

  The Amazing Gift of the Eucharist “Remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you” (Deut 8:2).  Today’s Scripture readings begin with this command of Moses: Remember!  Shortly afterwards Moses reiterates: “Do not forget the Lord, your God” (v.14).  Scripture has been given to us that we might overcome our forgetfulness of God.   How important it is to remember this when we pray!  As one of the Psalms teaches: “I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old” (77:11). But all those wonders too, that the Lord has worked in our own lives. It is vital to remember the good we have received. If we do not remember it, we become strangers to ourselves, “passers-by” of existence. Without memory, we uproot ourselves from the soil that nourishes us and allow ourselves to be carried away like leaves in the wind. If we do remember, however, we bind ourselves afresh to the strongest of ties; we feel part of a living history...

  Trust HAVE NO FEAR OF BAD NEWS. I want your heart to be steadfast, trusting in Me—in My unfailing Love. Remember that My Love for you is independent of your performance. So, when you become anxious or fearful, I do not love you less. Having a steadfast heart is an excellent goal, and you are making some progress in this quest. I am like a proud parent watching his baby learn to walk, eager to see you take each step of trust—however small. No matter how unsteadily you walk, I applaud each trust-step as if it were an Olympic feat. When you stumble or fall, I give you time to pull yourself back up. However, if you lift your arms to Me, seeking My help, I cannot resist coming to your aid.  Looking to Me for help demonstrates genuine trust in Me. It is easy to turn against yourself when you have failed, but this is not pleasing to Me. Some of My children blame others—or Me—for their failures. All of these responses are hurtful and counterproductive. The sooner you turn toward Me,...

  Transformation I AM YOUR LAMP; I TURN YOUR DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. Transforming you is delightful to Me. Only I know the full measure of your capabilities, and I work ceaselessly to help you become all I created you to be. My brilliant Light—in which there is no darkness at all—enables you to see areas where you need to change. When My Spirit spotlights an area of sin, you face a choice: You can withdraw from Me into the darkness of denial, or you can come more fully into the radiance of My Presence. If you face your sin head-on, it diminishes in power. You gain strength to walk in My ways—on fresh paths illuminated by My Light.  I help you deal with all your darkness—not only within you but also around you. Because you live in a broken world, you encounter darkness every day of your life. You inhabit a rebellious planet that screams obscene lies about who I am. This is why living close to Me—aware of My Presence—is so vital to your well-being. An excellent way to draw near Me ...