St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. Do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits, who prowl about the world, seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen

"When God calls you to lose your life, he calls you to give up all that you have become, all that you have made yourself, all the wisdom that you have accumulated from your experience of life apart from the knowledge of the love of God in Christ....

If, in our journey, we ever decide that we are no longer willing to die -- to our self-sufficiency and pride and control -- we lose the power of the resurrection, which is ours only as we fall before the Lord."

The Older Brother Returns, by Neal Lozano, p. 134

Pray. Hope. And don't worry.

-----St. Pio

Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

The Seven Sorrows of Mary

THE PROPHECY OF SIMEON.
Simeon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, met Joseph and Mary in the temple and foretold the great sufferings of Jesus and Mary: that a sword would pierce her heart.
Hail Mary...

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
Warned by an angel in a dream, Joseph took Mary and the Child Jesus and fled to Egypt - the land of Israel's long exile.
Hail Mary...

THE LOSS OF THE CHILD JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
What must it have been like to lose the Son of God for three days?
Hail Mary...

MARY MEETS JESUS CARRYING HIS CROSS
Mary meets Jesus carrying His cross on the way to Calvary.
Hail Mary...

THE CRUCIFIXION
Mary stood faithfully with Jesus to the end. It is here that Jesus gave her to us "Behold thy mother."
Hail Mary...

MARY RECEIVED THE BODY OF JESUS FROM THE CROSS
What more can be said? Unimaginable grief.
Hail Mary...

THE BODY OF JESUS IS PLACED IN A TOMB
It is finished.
Hail Mary...

Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

We adore you, O Christ and we praise You,
Because by your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.


"He who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:27

Happy Birthday, Mary!

Mini-teaching on discernment:

Discernment

"You should remember all your life that one of the principal causes of the small progress made by certain good people is that the devil continually fills their souls with disquiet, perplexities, and troubles, which render them incapable of serious, gentle and constant application to the practice of virtue. The great principle of the interior life lies in peace of the heart: it must be preserved with such care that the moment it is in danger everything else should be abandoned for its re-establishment....

This is why the masters of the spiritual life give this great principle for distinguishing the true inspirations of God from those which come from the devil, namely, that the former are always gentle and peaceful and lead us to confidence and humility while the later are agitating, unquiet, and turbulent, leading to discouragement and suspicion, or even to presumption and the following of our own will. We must, therefore, firmly reject all that does not bear this mark of peace, submission, gentleness and confidence, the impressions as it were of God's seal; this point is of great importance for the whole of our lives."

By: Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade, SJ -- printed in Magnificat 9-1-09