You Have No Excuse

“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)

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

Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant, we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. 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

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

“Whoever chooses Christ is dead to the world and the world is dead to him. He bears the wounds of Christ in his body, he is weak and despised by men, but his cause is strong because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness. Knowing this, the disciple of Christ does not merely accept the Cross that has been laid upon him, but he himself crucifies his own self: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with all its passions and desires. They have fought a hard battle against their nature, so that the life of sin should die within them and the life of the Spirit be given room to flourish. That battle demands the greatest fortitude. But the Cross is not the end: it is lifted up and shows us the way to heaven. It is not merely a sign, but Christ’s undefeated weapon: it is the shepherd’s sling with which the divine David battles the evil Goliath. With it, Christ knocks loudly at the door of heaven and opens it. When these things come to pass the light of God will shine out and all who follow the Crucified will be filled with it.” ~St. 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

“Do not receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament so that you may use him as you judge best, but give yourself to him and let him receive you in this Sacrament, so that he himself, God your savior, may do to you and through you whatever he wills.” ~St Cajetan
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O God, who endowed the Priest Saint Cajetan with the grace of imitating the apostolic way of life, grant us, through his example and intercession to trust in you at all times and to seek unceasingly your Kingdom. 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

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