To celebrate the Eucharist — “to eat his flesh and drink his blood” — means to accept the wisdom of the Cross and the path of service. It means that we signal our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for others, as Christ has done. Our society desperately needs this sign, and young people need it even more so, tempted as they often are by the illusion of an easy and comfortable life, by drugs and pleasure-seeking, only to find themselves in a spiral of despair, meaninglessness and violence. It is urgent to change direction and to turn to Christ. This is the way of justice, solidarity and commitment to building a society and a future worthy of the human person. ~St. John Paul II; Sunday, 20 August 2000

In Jesus, God has opened his heart to us. He has turned his face to us. He comes to us, reveals his thoughts, and shows us who he is and what he wills. He gives us everything we need and wants to perfect the work he has begun in us. Amazingly, we feeble and insignificant beings are the object of his concern. Out of the incomprehensible love of his heart, God loves each of us quite personally. In his concern for humankind, God seeks out all people and invites them to take part in his new creation. ~Eberhard Arnold, The Prayer God Answers

At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed him. Songbirds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear him.…Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God?…When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“[The] expectation of the Lord’s return is the time of action — we are in the time of action — the time in which we should bring God’s gifts to fruition, not for ourselves but for him, for the Church, for others. The time to seek to increase goodness in the world always; and in particular, in this period of crisis, today, it is important not to turn in on ourselves, burying our own talent, our spiritual, intellectual, and material riches, everything that the Lord has given us, but, rather to open ourselves, to be supportive, to be attentive to others.” ~Pope Francis, General Audience, April 24, 2013

I often wonder if many of us hear the language of mercy and misunderstand it. I think when many people who were raised in my generation and after hear about mercy, we think that it means that God looks down and sees our sins and chooses to ignore them. We act as though God is way up in heaven looking down and saying, “Yeah, that David Barnes is a total mess, but out of mercy I will just leave him being a total mess and kind of look the other way.” But, this is not mercy! God reached down to us in mercy. He reaches down and lifts us out of our mess! Mercy means that someone died for me! Christ did not die for me so that he could leave me in my sins. He died so that he could reach down and pick me up from my sins. He reached down so that he could lift me up. Mercy means someone died for me. Mercy means that Christ carries our humanity into the sanctuary of heaven. ~Fr. David Barnes, A Shepherd’s Post

If being a Christian is simply about belonging to an organization, then membership can be as easy as we want to make it. But if being a Christian is about belonging to Jesus Christ, then the words of Jesus can’t be softened or ignored, because what he demands from us is a love that embodies the same total self-gift that he makes to us. We can’t negotiate for a part of Jesus. We can only have him when we give him everything. If we offer him only a part of ourselves, we get nothing – no truth, and no Jesus. ~Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM, Cap.

May the grace of the Sacred Heart be with you; the peace of the Sacred Heart encompass You; the Merits of the Sacred Heart plead for you; the love of the Sacred Heart inflame you; the sorrows of the Sacred Heart console you; the zeal of the Sacred Heart animate you; the virtues of the Sacred Heart shine forth in your word and work; and may the joys of the beatific vision be your eternal reward. Amen.

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. ~St Teresa of Avila

Father, by your Spirit you raised up Saint Teresa of Avila to show your Church the way to perfection. May her inspired teaching awaken in us a longing for true holiness. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either he will shield you from suffering, or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in him and I am helped. He is not only with me, but in me, and I in him.” ~St. Francis de Sales, A Selection from the Spiritual Letters of St. Francis de Sales

Never, “for the sake of peace and quiet,” deny your own experience or convictions. The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others. Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for. Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was. ~Dag Hammarskjold, Markings