The Very Stones Would Cry Out!

"Jesus makes his entry into Jerusalem as the Messiah on a donkey...
Our Lord has entered triumphantly into Jerusalem.  A few days later, in this same city, he will be nailed to a cross...

"...What accounts for such a turn around, and such inconsistent behavior?  If we are to understand at all, perhaps we only need to look into our own hearts.

"The triumphal entry...asks for loyalty and perseverance from each one of us, it calls us to deepen our faithfulness, and for our resolutions to be more than just bright lights that sparkle for a moment and then fade away.  There are some striking contrasts in the depth of our hearts, for we are capable of the very greatest things and also the very worst, ... we need to be constant and through penance deaden within us anything that separates us from God and prevents our following Our Lord unto the Cross.  Anyone who barricades himself in the citadel of his own selfishness will never come down onto the battlefield.  But if he raises the gates of his fortress and lets in the king of peace, then he will go out with the king to fight against all that misery which blurs the eyes and numbs the conscience."  --from In Conversation With God , pp.248-252

Meditating on the Passion

"We will not be able to share in Our Lord's Resurrection unless we unite ourselves with him in his Passion and death (cf Rom 8:17).  If we are to accompany Christ in his glory at the end of Holy Week, we must first enter into his holocaust and be truly united to him as he lies dead on Calvary.  So during these days let us accompany Jesus, in our prayers, along his painful way to Calvary and his death on the cross.  As we keep him company let us not forget that we too were protagonists in all those horrors, for Jesus bore the burden of our sins, each and every one of them.  We were freed from the hands of the devil and from eternal death at a great price, that of the Blood of Christ."  -- from In Conversation with God, vol. 2, p. 229.

The Force of Habit

"We must consider the force of habit.  Conscience first warns us against sin;  but if we disregard it, it soon ceases to upbraid us; and thus sins, once known, in time become secret sins.  It seems then (and it is a startling reflection), that the more guilty we are, the less we know it; for the oftener we sin, the less we are distressed by it..Such is the force of habit...take..the duty of stated private prayer; at first it is omitted with compunction, but soon with indifference.  But it is not the less a sin because we do not feel it to be such.  Habit has made it a secret sin.

To think of these things, and to be alarmed, is the first step towards acceptable obedience; to be at ease, is to be unsafe.  We must know what the evil of sin is hereafter if we do not learn it here.  God give us all grace to choose the pain of present repentance before the wrath to come!"  --Blessed John Henry Newman, in Magnificat, p.389-390.

Ecce, Fiat

"O Mary, my sweet love, you opened to the eternal Divinity the door of your will, and the Word immediately became incarnate within you.  By this you teach me that God, who created me without my help, will not save me without it...but knocks at the door of my will and waits for me to open it to Him"  (St. Catherine of Siena).  Divine Intimacy, p. 1136.

Take Sides

Thoughts from Fr. Apostoli, CFR, at St. John the Apostle Church this morning:

Simeon was a holy man who longed to see the Messiah.  When he saw Jesus, he prophesied that He would be a sign of contradiction.  Jesus would cause division because some would reject Him and some would accept Him.  But why would some not accept Him?  Three reasons:
       1.  Some don't understand, they are confused
       2.  Some understand but don't want to to obey, they want to choose which parts to accept, therefore they refuse to accept Him.
       3.  Some are hostile and react with violence to destroy Him because they don't want to be reminded of what they don't want to be true.

We have to accept Jesus with all our hearts.  We must proclaim Him.  We must take sides.  Every one who speaks the truth is a voice that dispels some of the darkness.  We need to have courage.  Pay attention to the message of Fatima.  It is through Our Lady that we will win this struggle.

Accepting God's Will

"There is not a single moment when God is not communicating himself to us...

"As long as we want to decide for ourselves where we will find God, we need not fear that we shall meet him!  We will meet only ourselves, a touched-up version of ourselves.  Genuine spirituality begins when we are prepared to die.  Could there be a quicker way to die than to let God form our lives from moment to moment and continually consent to his action?" --taken from Into Your Hands, Father, by Wilfrid Stinissen, pp. 23-34.

Comfort

As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort. (Is 66:13)

The three great works of Lent - fasting, almsgiving, and prayer - should free us to live the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in full as we celebrate it in full in the liturgy. In his cross is our comfort.

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. (Is 40:1-2)   

I will never forget you, says the Lord. (Is 49:15) 
                                                                              Magnificat pps 305 & 306

I will heal you

"We wait by the waters of Christ's open side from which a river flows that gives life to every living creature." (Magnificat, p. 296)

"The Angel brought me, Ezekiel, back to the entrance of the temple of the Lord, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple...Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live... for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.  Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow..for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.  Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."  (parts of Ezekiel 47: 1-12)

"I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.  I will heal you."  (2Kgs 20:5)  "The Lord gathers up the tears of humanity and transforms them into the waters of life by the alchemy of the cross, where suffering and death are changed into joy and life by the self-gift of love."  (from Magnificat, p. 301)

What is it that keeps you (and me) on the banks of the river? What keeps us from abandoning ourselves to the life-giving flow of that living water?  The Lord invites us to trust Him; to throw ourselves into the river flowing from His side.  In a mysterious way, it is an invitation to join in His sufferings and His love for the healing of the nations.

Joy

"Technological society has succeeded in multiplying the occasions of pleasure, but finds great difficulty in giving birth to happiness.  For happiness has its origin elsewhere:  it is a spiritual thing.  Money, comfort, hygiene, material security etc, may often not be lacking, but nevertheless, despite these advantages, boredom, suffering and sadness are frequently to be found supervening in the lives of many people."  (Pope Paul VI)

"God asks us to lose our fear of pain and tribulation and unite ourselves to him, as He waits for us on the Cross.  Our soul will then be more purified, our love stronger.  And we will realize that joy is inseparable from the Cross.  Not only that, but we will also understand that we can never be happy if we are not united to Christ on the Cross, and that we will never know how to love if we do not at the same time love sacrifice...If we humbly have recourse to God, He will make us see that everything, even events and circumstances apparently least likely to do so, work together for the good of those who love him.  Suffering, when seen in its true light, when it serves as a means of loving more, produces great peace and deep joy.  That is why God often blesses us with the Cross.

"That is how we must travel along the way of self-giving:  the Cross on our shoulders, a smile on our lips and light in our hearts."  --from In Conversation with God, Vol. 2, pp. 159-160.

Confession

While any spiritual exercise can be helpful in our journey, I find regular Confession to be a particularly powerful tool. As I've travelled the world, it has become apparent that this sacrament has been abandoned during our own time. I believe this has happened because a tragic mediocrity has gripped the Church.

People striving to excel in any area of life want to know their weaknesses so they can work to overcome them. This striving for excellence is precisely what needs to be re-ignited in Catholics today. Confession is the perfect spiritual practice to rekindle our passion for excellence in the spiritual life.
Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly p. 151

Examination of conscience

Some Pharisees were converted and became friends and faithful disciples of the Lord. But many others did not know how to recognize the Messiah who walked through their streets and squares. Pride led them to lose sight of the true meaning of their existence: their religious life which they were so proud of was hallow and empty.

Our Lord warned the disciples don't become like the Pharisees and explained: all their deeds are done so as to be seen by men. He called them hypocrites. They were frauds and separated from God. Through their pride they became severe, inflexible and demanding of their fellow-men, while being complacent and indulgent towards themselves.

Self love makes us hypersensitive, inflexible, proud, impatient; it causes us to exaggerate our own importance and our rights, to be cold, indifferent, unjust in our judgements and in word. One delights in speaking about one's actions, of one's insights and experiences, difficulties, of sufferings, even when there is no need to do so.  In practices of piety, one takes pleasure in looking at others, observing and judging them: one is inclined to make comparisons with them and to believe oneself better; to see only defects in them and deny their good qualities; to attribute to them intentions and aims which are not noble, and even to wish them ill. Self love...leads us to feel offended when we are humiliated, insulted or passed over, or when we are not considered, esteemed or made a fuss of as we had hoped for.

While the publican says, and repeats often, My God, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner. This fosters in the soul a love for humility.               In Conversations with God, Vol 2, pps 152-155

Return

"Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God!" (Hos 14:2)

"Few of us are guilty of out-and-out idolatry.  Many of us are guilty of allowing our decisions to be governed by many powers other than the one true God:  desire for approval, addiction to work or other escapes from reality, greed for gain, need for control.  So powerful can these dictators become that we no longer recognize the voice of God, who speaks a different language than they do."  Magnificat, p.239

"Certainly it is the great secret of the spiritual life to abandon to God all that we love by abandoning ourselves to all that He wills."  St Louise de Marillac

"Jesus let himself be cruelly condemned and put to death to make expiation for the "original sin" committed by our first parents, as well as for the terrible tide of sin which flows throughout all of human history.  the events on Golgotha are thus revealed as an act of supreme love."  Blessed John Paul II (quoted in Magnificat, p. 183)

In His Hands

"The safest way is to want only what God wants.  He knows more than we ourselves do, and he loves us.  Let us place ourselves in his hands so that his will may be done in us, and we cannot err if with a determined will we always maintain this attitude."  --St Teresa, Interior Castle, 6.ch 9 #16.

Truth

"In that experience she was given knowledge of a truth that is the fulfillment of all truths.  She clearly understood that it was Truth itself telling her:'...all the harm that comes to the world comes from its not knowing the truths of Scripture in clarity and truth;  not one iota of Scripture will fall short.'  To enter into the last dwelling place one must be free of every lie."  --from the interpretive notes after chapter 10 of the 6th dwelling places in the study edition of Interior Castle, by St Teresa of Jesus. (p. 368)

Prayer for Humility

"O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, cure me of my pride, make my heart humble, infuse a little of Your profound humility into my soul.  Since You know me better than I know myself, how could I, with my proud will, make my heart humble?  A poor man cannot give wealth to himself, nor can a proud man give humility to his heart.  Only Your infinite goodness can heal pride.

'This is the remedy to fix my gaze on You, Incarnate Word, hanging on the Cross.  As soon as You see a humble soul looking at You in this way, You are quickly moved to look at it, and the effect of Your divine glance is like that of a ray of sunshine on the earth:  it warms it and prepares it to bring forth fruit.  This is the way You act, O divine Word, who by the light of Your glance, drain my soul of all its pride and consume it in Your fire.  No one can acquire humility if he does not fix his gaze on You, O Word, on the Cross.' (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi)"  quoted in Divine Intimacy, pp. 328-329.

You know not what you ask

"Let us imagine our confusion when we appear before God and understand the reasons why he sent us the crosses we accept so unwillingly.  The death of a child will then be seen as its rescue from some great evil had it lived...loss of money the means of saving your soul from eternal loss.   So what are you worried about?  God is looking after us and yet we are full of anxiety!  We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he knows his business...Yet we are unwilling to treat God the same way!  It looks as though we do not trust his wisdom and are afraid that he cannot do his job properly... 

"If we could see all that he sees we would unhesitatingly wish all he wishes.  We would beg him on bended knees for those afflictions we now ask him to spare us.  To all of us he addresses the words spoken to the sons of Zebedee:  You know not what you ask - O blind of heart, your ignorance saddens me.  Let me manage your affairs and look after your interests.  I know what you need better than you do yourselves.  If I paid heed to what you think you meed you would have been hopelessly ruined long ago."  -- St. Claude de la Colombiere, quoted in Magnificat, p. 100-101.

Mercy and Our True Measure

"If  you wish always to press forward on the path of virtue without stopping, you should pay great attention to things which may serve as chances for acquiring virtue, and never let them slip out of your hands.  Therefore those are ill-advised who do everything in their power to avoid any kind of obstacles in the path of virtue, in spite of the fact that  these might have helped towards success in their progress.  For example, if you wish to grow in patience, you should not avoid the people, things and circumstances that particularly try your patience...

You should adopt the same attitude towards any work which displeases you...you must not avoid it but, on the contrary, must undertake it without digging in your toes, and must do and finish it through, as though it were the most welcome work, never letting your heart be troubled by it...You will never ...find the true peace that you seek by running away from such things; for peace does not dwell in self-indulgent hearts.

I advise you to do the same in relation to the thoughts which at times invade you and trouble your mind with memories of human injustices...Do not stifle them or drive them away, but let them leave of their own accord, not through your opposition,but through the patience with which you endure them."  -- Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli, quoted in Magnificat, p. 78-9

Forming our minds

"Now most of us have Catholic wills, but not many of us have Catholic intellects.  When we look at the universe, we see pretty well what other people see, plus certain extra features taught us by our religion.  For the most part, the same influences that form other people's minds, form ours -- the same habits of thought, inclinations, bodily senses, indolences, worked upon by the same newspapers, periodicals, best-sellers, films, radio programs.  So that we have not so much Catholic minds as worldly minds with Catholic patches.  Intellectually, we wear our Catholicism like a badge on a lapel of the same kind of suit everyone else is wearing."  --from Theology and Sanity, by Frank Sheed, as quoted by Fr. Michael Keating in his presentation at Christ the King, and by Fr. Ed in his talk at the Parish Mission on Tuesday.

Ointment for our wounds

"True humility, however deep it may be, neither disquiets, nor troubles, nor disturbs the soul;  it is accompanied by peace, joy, and tranquility...It enlarges it and makes it fit to serve God better."  On the other hand, false humility only disturbs and upsets the mind and troubles the soul..."

"Distress and lack of confidence lessen our capacity for loving and the devil's aim is to hold back souls on the road to love.

"To be wanting in confidence in God's mercy, even after a grave fall, is never a sign of true humility but of insidious pride and diabolical temptation. ..Humility is the virtue that keeps us in our place; and our place in God's sight is that of children who are weak and miserable, yes, but confident children.

"When we fall into the same imperfections after so many good resolutions;  when after many efforts we still do not succeed in correcting certain faults or in overcoming certain difficulties, and we find ourselves in one way or another far beneath what we ought or would like to be, let us have recourse to the infallible remedy of humility.  "Humility" says St Teresa of Jesus is "the ointment for our wounds" (Int Cas III,2).  Even if we seem to have used up all our strength, if we feel unable to do anything and see ourselves always prostrate, powerless to rise, there is still one possibility for us: to humble ourselves.  Let us humble ourselves sincerely and with confidence; and humility will supply for all our miseries;  it will heal all our wounds because it will attract divine mercy to them."  --Divine Intimacy, p. 322.

Knowing Yourself

"To insure an orderly and progressive growth in the spiritual life, we must know ourselves... This knowledge of our interior state is obtained through the examination of conscience.   The examen considered in this way becomes one of the most important exercises of the spiritual life, since its object is to help the soul to rid itself of everything that might obstruct or delay its journey to God...  the examination of conscience attains its end when the soul who has faithfully practiced this exercise can say to itself:  these are the inclinations which I must watch more carefully to avoid falling into sin;  these, the weak points which I must strengthen;  these are the virtues that I must practice most of all.  In this way the soul will be able to formulate practical, firm resolutions which will then become the special subject of its subsequent examinations." (p. 303)

"Instead of trying to seek our all the faults it has committed, the soul living an interior life...should fix its attention on the degree to which its faults have been voluntary, even in the case of slight imperfections, because it is these deliberate faults that present the greatest obstacle to spiritual progress and to union with God.  The soul must carefully investigate the cause of and the motive for these failures.  It must realize that while its exterior faults are of various kinds,...all of them, nevertheless, have one and the same cause, one common root which may be, for example, pride or sloth.  It is precisely against this root of our sins and imperfections that we must direct our efforts, not simply to lessen it by mortification, but rather to fight it directly by the increase of the opposite virtues in ourselves.  In other words, we must struggle against our dominant passion or fault;  this is very important, for by aiming to destroy evil at its root, we eliminate at the same time many actual faults." (p.304) from  Divine Intimacy

Imperfections

"While venial sin always consists in a more or less slight transgression of one of God's laws, imperfection is the omission of some good act to which we are not obliged by any law, but which charity invites us to do.  To illustrate:  when I am aware of the possibility of performing a better act suited to my state, in accord with my actual capabilities, in harmony with my duties, and for the accomplishment of which I may reasonably believe that I am inspired by the Holy Spirit, I cannot deliberately refuse to do it without real actual imperfection.  In this case, my refusal to perform a better act cannot be judged to be good, not can it be justified by the thought that I am free to omit this better action since no law or commandment obliges me.  This would be an abuse of that liberty which was given me by God for the sole purpose of making me capable of adhering to the good, uninfluenced by my passions.  In fact, in the last analysis, my refusal to perform the better act always implies a lack of generosity, motivated by a little selfishness, laziness, meanness, or fondness for my own comfort, all of which are evidently contrary to perfection...

Every kind of imperfection in fact always comes from a want of effort, energy, and fervor in the spiritual life.  It is always selfishness which, in one way or another, takes something away from God to satisfy the ego.  We are too calculating, afraid of giving too much, and so selfishness clips our wings and keeps us from reaching full union with God."
  --Divine Intimacy, pp. 300-301

Venial Sin

"Venial sin, like mortal sin, goes counter to God's will, although with less serious deviation.  While it does not destroy charity, it is opposed to it and therefore diminishes its fervor and vigor, hindering its development.  This is the disastrous effect of deliberate venial sin committed with the realization that it is displeasing to God.

"Once venial sins of this kind become habitual, they decrease the soul's tendency toward God, and increase on the other hand, its leaning toward self-satisfaction and creatures.  Thus, little by little the soul loses its fervor, its sense of sin, and falls into tepidity, which is characterized by a certain indifference to venial sin.  This puts it in danger of offending God in serious matters also.  In this sense, venial sin can be compared to a disease of insidious languor, a kind of spiritual tuberculosis which undermines the organism slowly but fatally.  It is not unusual to meet souls who having at first surrendered themselves to God with sincere fervor, afterwards let themselves fall into continual carelessness, indifference, voluntary omissions and laziness, because they have given in to selfishness and sought their own comfort.  They become incapable of making the generous efforts required to advance on the way they have started.  Their spiritual life is reduced to a kind of lethargy which is not yet death, but which has none of the freshness and vigor of a strong, healthy life.  It lacks the fervor of charity, for this is continually being lessened by deliberate venial sin."  -- from Divine Intimacy, p. 297

Living in God's Will

"How can you know if you are living in God's will?  This is the sign:   If you are troubled about anything, that means you are not completely abandonned to God's will.  The one who lives according to God's will is not troubled about anything."   Starets Silvan, quoted in Into Your Hands, Father, by Wilfrid Sinissen, p. 21.

Transformation

"Lent is a time of transformation.  As we gaze in the drk faith ofprayer upon the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ, we are transformed into his likeness.  As we leave the work of prayer for the work of charity in our world, we live in his likeness."  --Magnificat, p. 61

Ask and Praise

God's love will do more for us than we can ask or imagine: let us give thanks and praise.
Magnificat. pg 29

God's love takes delight in answering his people's prayers...all he asks in return is our trust.
Magnificat pg. 23.

Rejoice in hope, endure in afflication, persevere in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

Commanded to Pray

In prayer the illusions of our own will are unmasked. "The sober and vigilant heart, says Hesychius of Bathos, "calls continually upon Christ out of the depths, with groaning that cannot be uttered. He who struggles so sees the enemy crumble to dust before the holy and adorable Name of Jesus like stubble before the wind." The purity of heart to which this surrender of the will leads is the same as that from which will arise uncesaing prayer. According to the fathers they both amount to the same thing.

If prayer enables us the better to understand the Fathers's will, it also helps us to penetrate deeper into reality. To a heart steeped in prayer everything becomes transparent. To it is disclosed the inmost core of being. In prayer everything points to God, speaks in some sort of His Name, praises Him unceasingly.
Father Andres Louf, O.C.S.O. Magnificat, pg. 29.