“You have no excuse whatsoever. You have only yourself to blame. If you are aware – and you know it well enough – that going along that path, reading those things, keeping that company, can bring you to a precipice, why do you persist in thinking that perhaps it is a short cut which will help you develop or which makes your personality more mature? You must change your plan radically, even though it demands an effort and means fewer amusements at your disposal. It is high time you behaved as a responsible person.” ~St. Josemaria Escriva (Furrow, 138)
Month: August 2018
Like Bees
“Like bees, our faculties come and go ceaselessly, settling and feeding upon any object that present itself to them. Those objects are good, but they are not the ultimate good. They are from God, but they are not God. They lead us to him; they make us think of him, but they do not replace him. Our faculties must return to the hive, and bring to the divine Majesty who dwells there all the wealth that they have gathered. It is there the honey is made. They enter there by recollection, and there they reassemble and bring together the fruits they have collected, offering them to their Creator.” ~A Carthusian, excerpt from Where Silence is Praise
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
August 14: Saint Maximilian Kolbe
All-powerful, ever-living God, you gave Saint Maximilian Kolbe the courage to witness to the Gospel of Christ even to the point of giving his life for it. By his prayers, help us to endure all suffering for love of you and to seek you with all our hearts, for you alone are the source of life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
In Order To Be Free
“Those who know the Lord are never alone. Solitary times are opportunities to know him in greater depth. In order to be free for this new level of being, all self-pity must be conquered. Our self-centeredness must be reckoned for the enemy it is. God cannot squeeze into a self-centered heart.” ~Anna Mow, excerpt from So Who’s Afraid of Birthdays?
St. Laurence, Deacon and Martyr
“Christ humbled himself: you have something, Christian, to latch on to. ‘Christ became obedient.’ Why do you behave proudly? After running the course of these humiliations and laying death low, Christ ascended into heaven: let us follow him there. Let us listen to the Apostle telling us, ‘If you have risen with Christ, savour the things that are above us, seated at God’s right hand.'” ~St. Augustine, from a sermon preached on the feast of St. Laurence
Lord God, you inspired Saint Laurence with so ardent a love that his life was renowned for the service of your people and his death for the splendour of his martyrdom. Help us to love what he loved and to live as he showed us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Saint Dominic
Lord, let the holiness and teaching of Saint Dominic come to the aid of your Church. May he help us now with his prayers as he once inspired people by his preaching. We ask 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
August 7: Saint Cajetan
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
O God, who in the glorious Transfiguration of your Only Begotten Son confirmed the mysteries of faith by the witness of the Fathers and wonderfully prefigured our full adoption to sonship, grant, we pray, to your servants, that, listening to the voice of your beloved Son, we may merit to become co heirs with him. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen