(The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass being offered in Los Gatos, California)

If we are able to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, how blessed we are!

"God is more honored by a single Mass than He could be by all actions of angels and men together, however fervent and heroic they might be. Yet how few hear Mass with the intention of giving God this sublime honor! How few think with joy on the glory a Mass gives to God."

~ St. Claude de la Colombiere, "The Spiritual Direction of St. Claude de la Colombiere", translated and arranged by Mother M. Philip, IBVM.

"[It is] our most cherished hope to see Jesus Christ one day acclaimed King of Kings, Master of legislators and Ruler of peoples, a divine, victorious Monarch, through the Scepter of His Heart....Quicken in [families] the spirit of faith and see that the spirit of love burns more and more fervently, so that Jesus may be in very truth the King and center of their supernatural life. Forward then, ever forward! The more the King is loved in families as the Friend of Bethany, the more secure will be His Sovereignty over nations."

                          ~ Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey,
                                              Jesus, King of Love.




(Statue of Christ the King in Persia, Iowa)

Hope when there seems no reason to hope!

(Orphaned children during the London Blitz; photo credited to Wikipedia)

"Remember that when all the material causes for hope disappear, one has a chance to hope for hope's sake, which is really worth doing. Any fool can hope for a likelihood."

                                  ~ from a letter written during the London Blitz, 1940

                     excerpted from "This Burning Heat" by Maisie Ward, published 1941.

Toledo, Spain

St. Teresa of Avila wrote:

"Very fervent souls...wish to prove to God that they do not serve Him for pay; so as I said, such people do not urge themselves to work harder for Him by the thought of the glory they will gain, but rather labor to satisfy their love, of which the nature is to toil for the Beloved in a thousand ways."

Toiling for the Beloved...do we look on our days as "toiling for the Beloved" or do we look at them as toiling to make a living, or take care of our kids, or to keep up with the "rat race" of modern life? I know I sometimes feel like one of those squirrels running around and around in a tumbling cage.

I love this idea that we're not being good and trying to fulfill God's Will for our lives merely to get a reward from Him, but because we labor to satisfy our love. When we truly love someone, we want to do what will please him/her, because it will please him/her, and not because he/she will give us gifts...or rewards...or eternal life.

Let us not serve God for pay; let us toil to satisfy our love for our Beloved - Jesus Christ - in a thousand ways....

(Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland)

Simplicity and confidence...simplicity and confidence...on pilgrimage to Lourdes in 2014, our priest preached to us on this. Then this Sunday there was a sermon on confidence, and on Tuesday there was a sermon on simplicity! I think this is a message that I need to absorb...let us turn to St. Teresa of Avila for words of wisdom:

"Believe me, it is safer to wish only what God wishes, Who knows us better than we know ourselves and Who loves us. Let us place ourselves entirely in His Hands so that His Will may be done in us; we can never go astray if our will is ever firmly fixed on this."

St. Bernadette

Here's a quote that I found years ago, and used to use in the signature line on my emails. I needed to read it again today. :) It came from a book that was written by a soldier, for another soldier who was seriously injured and was an invalid. The invalid was in terrible pain and was helpless, so his friend, Lt. Colonel "M de S", collected all the most comforting and inspiring quotes from the Scriptures and the writings of the saints, to try to help his suffering brother-at-arms.

"Why do you trouble yourself with willing or not willing the events and accidents of this life, since you are ignorant of what is best for you to will, and since God will always will for you all you could will for yourself, without your troubling yourself? Await therefore in peace of mind the effects of the Divine Pleasure, and let this Will suffice you, since it is always the best."

~ Lt. Col. M. de S., Draw Near to Jesus, published in 1923.

"Amber Waves of Grain" in Colorado

These words struck me today from the Epistle of St. James..."be patient and strengthen your hearts" as the farmer who waits for his crops to be ready for the harvest. I wanted to share them with you as we all enjoy harvest time in the United States of America...

"Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman [farmer] waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth: patiently bearing till he receive the early and latter rain. Be you therefore also patient and strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand."

~ James, 5:7-8

Happy Feast of St. Raphael the Archangel!

This artwork is the sole property of Tracy Christianson, from www.portraitsofsaints.com.

I tend to think of St. Raphael as the angel of happy meetings, because he was the matchmaker for young Tobias and Sara his wife. My husband prayed every day to this great archangel for the wise choice of a marriage partner. But he is also the saint of healing...since he told young Tobias to catch and cook a certain fish, and put it on his blind father's eyes, healing them miraculously.

"For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord. And when they had heard these things, they were troubled, and being seized with fear they fell upon the ground on their face. And the angel said to them: Peace be to you, fear not. For when I was with you, I was there by the will of God: bless ye him, and sing praises to him.... It is time therefore that I return to him that sent me: but bless ye God, and publish all his wonderful works. And when he had said these things, he was taken from their sight, and they could see him no more. Then they lying prostrate for three hours upon their face, blessed God: and rising up, they told all his wonderful works."

~ Book of Tobias 12: 15-18, 20-22

The Sacred Heart of Jesus image in St. Isidore Cemetery, Watkins, Colorado

Of what does this life consist? What is life all about? St. Therese of Lisieux writes:

"I would suffer and I would love. It is that which counts in His Eyes..."

It really simplifies things, doesn't it? If we know that all we have to do in this life is to suffer and to love...to offer all our sufferings to God (because there will be sufferings in this life, despite our best efforts to avoid them)...and to love God and our neighbor. To Suffer and To Love.

She also offers these words of encouragement:

"I always see the best side of things. Some take everything in such a way as to make the worst of things. For myself, it is just the contrary. If there is nothing but pure suffering, if the heavens become so black that I cannot see anything clearly, very well! I make that my joy."

Imagine how much easier our lives would be if we could turn our sufferings into joy by offering them all to Him with love...

These quotes are from Novissima Verba -- The Last Conversations of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, collected by Rev. Mother Agnes of Jesus.

Benefits of Good Reading

Pemaquid Lighthouse, Maine

Do you see the clouds moving in to cover the lighthouse? It makes me think of this quote of St. Ambrose of Milan. St. Ambrose was the Doctor of the Church who converted the great sinner who became St. Augustine.

"He who reads much and understands much receives his fill. He who is full refreshes others. So Scripture says: 'If the clouds are full, they will pour rain upon the earth.'"

Books aren't just for the one who reads them (or the one who writes them). Good books give us beauty and joy and refreshment and illumination and encouragement that we can share with others. 

Let us read, and let us use what we absorb to refresh ourselves and others!

(Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland)

"Learn this lesson well, once for all: 

God is the only Master of our hearts; 

He alone can give solid peace, 

and our whole confidence must rest in Him only."

~ St. Claude de la Colombiere, The Spiritual Direction of St. Claude de la Colombiere, 

translated and arranged by Mother M. Philip, IBVM.

The chapel in Paray-le-Monial, France, where Father Claude de la Colombiere is buried. This picture is credited to http://www.tourisme-paraylemonial.fr/, (the tourism website for the town).

Many of us know about St. Margaret Mary and the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but have you ever read any of the writings of the priest who helped her? His name was Father de la Colombiere, and he was given the grace to know that she truly had a mission from God. His writings comfort and encourage.

When I knelt in the little chapel where he is buried in Paray-le-Monial, I was very moved by the copies, in various languages, of the saint's "Act of Confidence in God." I prayed that prayer with all my heart, and did my best to leave all my anxieties and worries in Paray. In the little shop nearby, I bought "The Spiritual Direction of St. Claude de la Colombiere", translated and arranged by Mother M. Philip, IBVM, and started reading it on the train ride back to Paris. Here's a special little quote from it today:

"As Jesus Christ possesses your whole heart, He wishes also to have all your anxieties and all your thoughts. Think of Him and trust in His goodness for all the rest."

Heavenward Thoughts

(Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseilles, France, which raises our minds heavenward!)

Whatever makes our souls and hearts and minds soar heavenward is to our benefit -- nature, architecture, spiritual reading, love!

"I cannot think much about the happiness that awaits me in Heaven. One sole expectation makes my heart beat fast. It is the love that I shall receive and the love that I shall be able to give."

~ St. Therese of Lisieux, excerpted from Novissima Verba - The Last Conversations of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, collected by Rev. Mother Agnes of Jesus.

St. Margaret Mary drew this picture:

"The laity will find in this lovable devotion [to the Sacred Heart of Jesus] all the helps necessary for their state in life: peace in their families, consolation in their work, the blessing of Heaven on all their undertakings, consolation in their afflictions. It is especially in this Sacred Heart that they will find a refuge during their whole life and principally at the hour of death. O, how sweet it is to die after having practiced a tender and constant devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ!"

~ St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, in a letter. She died on yesterday's date in 1690.

Happy Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque!

(The Sacred Heart of Jesus appearing to St. Margaret Mary, St. Patrick's, Armagh, Northern Ireland)

I've been blessed to have visited Paray-le-Monial, the little town in France where Our Lord appeared to a cloistered Visitation nun and told her about devotion to His Sacred Heart. St. Paul in his epistles and St. John in his Gospel gave us a foretaste of it, but it was reserved for these "latter times" to know the true depth and breadth and height and length of the love of Christ for us poor sinners.

As I've said before, it inspires us to read one saint's writings about another saint. As the one saint is suffering through the struggles through this life, he or she is inspired by a saint who went before them. Today's words of encouragement come from St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, writing about St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and what we can learn from her:

"Truly loving and faithful souls are not discouraged, and it was thus with our Blessed Margaret. She knew that the work she was destined to establish came from Heaven. Her courage and confidence did not waver. Entirely abandoning herself, like a strong and true Missionary, to the loving piety of her beloved Jesus, coupled with the industry of an enlightened and generous charity, she knew how to triumph over all obstacles, meriting thus to see before she died this Divine Heart known, loved and glorified by a large number of devout souls. As a recompense for so much generosity of action, Blessed Margaret Mary now contemplates in Heaven the beauty of the Divine Heart. She enjoys peace, happiness and sovereign delights, and can at every instant talk to Him unveiled, implore and obtain great graces, and she will certainly implore them for you if you honor her but especially if you imitate her." 

I visited her tomb and the chapel where Our Lord appeared to this great saint. May she talk to our loving Lord in our behalf today, as she celebrates her anniversary in Heaven. St. Margaret Mary, pray for us and for our families!

Rest in Peace, Dear Friend!

The lady on the left was Mrs. Betty O'Grady Pia, a very dear lifelong friend. She passed through the curtain into the next life yesterday morning, leaving a hole in our hearts. "Aunt Betty" was one of the sweetest, kindest, most devout women I ever knew. She always made you feel as if you were the most important person in the world to her. I can still hear her voice saying my name, always preceded by a high-pitched "Oh!" to indicate how happy she was to see me. :) And yet, I knew she made everyone feel that way...her husband and children and grandchildren, and her sweet mother-in-law who lived with her for decades, and who is left behind to mourn her.

(The lady on the right in the picture many of you know...I think I'll let her remain anonymous. :)

Eternal rest grant unto Aunt Betty, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. 

May she rest in peace. Amen.

For today's words of inspiration, I take from Our Lord's revelation to St. Margaret Mary (whose feast is tomorrow), regarding the priest he wanted her to speak to, Father Claude de la Colombiere.

"Let him not be discouraged at the difficulties he will encounter, for they will be many; but let him know that he is all-powerful who places no confidence in himself, but trusts entirely to Me."

~ from "The Spiritual Direction of St. Claude de la Columbiere", 

translated and arranged by Mother M. Philip, IBVM.

Let us place no confidence in self, but trust entirely in Our Lord Jesus Christ who strengthens us.

Happy Feast of St. Teresa of Avila!

(Somewhere in Iowa)

After all that the first "Mother Teresa" (of Avila) accomplished, I think she is most known for these simple words:

Let nothing disturb you,Let nothing frighten you,All things are passing;God only is changeless.Patience gains all things.Who has God wants nothing.God alone suffices.

That's quite a legacy, when you think about it! Looking at a bucolic scene like the above, (preferably in person) and thinking about these words, line by line, makes the stress ebb from us like an outgoing tide. Let nothing disturb you...God alone suffices.

Happy Feast Day!

(Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland)

Reading the descriptions of those who have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary is inspiring and uplifting. And if His Mother, a creature, is so beautiful, imagine what it will be like to see the Face of God Himself.

Here's a tidbit from when Lucia saw Our Lady at Fatima...

"They saw a Lady, and she was so beautiful that they were never after able to describe her in terms they believed fitting to her radiance and glory. The Lady was young -- no more than sixteen years old, and she appeared to be standing on the topmost fragile leaves of a small oak tree, looking down at them with tender interest. 'It was a Lady,' Lucia has written, 'clothed in white, and brighter than the sun, radiating a light more intense and clear than a crystal cup would be, were it filled with sparkling water and lit with burning sunlight.' 'Please don't be afraid of me,' the Lady said to the children; 'I'm not going to harm you.'"

~ John de Marchi, IMC, The True Story of Fatima, imprimatur 1952.

(Front of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy)

Today is the 99th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. Beginning on May 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared repeatedly to three shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco. Although they immediately believed that she came from Heaven, they asked her for a sign of her heavenly origin for everyone else. Our Lady told them a miracle would take place on October 13, 1917. On that day, 70,000 people witnessed an incredible phenomenon. It was reported in the secular newspapers, even the strongly anti-Catholic one. Fr. John De Marchi moved to Fatima in 1943, and spent seven years interviewing eyewitnesses. He wrote:

"When Lucia cried, 'Look at the sun!' the people responded. The rain at that moment had stopped; the sun was clearly seen. There was no cloud to obscure it, yet it did not strain the eyes of any man to look on its unveiled light. The people could see that the sun was strangely spinning. It began to revolve more rapidly, more frighteningly. It began to cast off beams of many-colored lights in all directions. Shafts of brilliant red came from the rim of the revolving star and fell across the earth, the people and the trees; and green lights came and violet and blue in mixed array. It is a story of wonder and of terror, too, as the great star challenges the discipline of all the ages it has known, and begins careening, trembling in the sky for seventy thousand witnesses to see. Now, horribly, it appears to plunge from its place in the heavens and fall upon the earth. People are crying; 'I believe! I believe!'.....An interesting document has been left by the late Father Inacio Lourenco, a priest from Alburitel, a village about eleven miles from Fatima....[skipping to the end of Fr. Alburitel's account:] 'After about ten minutes the sun, now dull and pallid, returned to its place. When the people realized that the danger was over, there was an explosion of joy, and everyone joined in thanksgiving and praise to Our Lady.'"

~ John De Marchi, IMC, "The True Story of Fatima", imprimatur 1952.

What a comfort to know that the world is not "spinning out of control". Just as God caused the sun to spin wildly in the sky, He could put an instant stop to things happening in the world today. But He chooses to allow the chaff to grow along the wheat, and He will make it all right at the end of time. As a good priest said to me recently, "Trust often."

(A bit of beauty last winter at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado)

"To Him, then, let us turn our souls, created by Him and for Him -- those souls in which He has infused a great attraction for the beautiful and great, a proof of our high origin and the end for which we were created."

I know I quote a lot from St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (as above), but she has such interesting insights on so many different subjects. :) Today, I'm hoping we can take this quote to help us lift our hearts and minds above the day-to-day turmoil of this crazy world of ours.

Look at something beautiful and great today - a mountain, a baby's pinky toe, a sunset, an elderly couple holding hands, a fall tree in full blazing foliage, the smile of a friend or family member - and remember that we were given a love of beauty and greatness because we were created for higher things.

Happy Feast of the Divine Maternity, 

or, the Motherhood of Mary!

(St. Isidore's Church, Watkins, Colorado)

Mother Cabrini's letters are full of interesting reflections on the times in which she lived. In 1904, she wrote about the poor Indian (Native American) women that she saw on the reservations in the Western United States....doing most of the work for the family, as well as bearing children that the woman then carried "around her waist in a sack". After seeing how hard these women's lives were, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini wrote:

"See how grateful we should be to Christianity, which has raised the dignity of woman, re-establishing her rights, unknown to the pagan nations. Until Mary Immaculate, the Woman by excellence, foretold by the prophets, sighed for by the patriarchs, desired by the people, Dawn of the Sun of Justice, had appeared on earth -- what was woman? But Mary appeared, this new Eve, true Mother of the Living, elected by God to be the Co-Redemptrix of the human race, and a new era arose for woman. She is no longer a slave, but equal to man; no longer a servant, but mistress within her domestic walls; no longer the object of disdain and contempt, but raised to the dignity of Mother and Educator, on whose knee generations are built up. ...Mary derives all her greatness from Jesus. If it was her boast that she became the Mother of the Redeemer, to her also...was consigned the office of guarding and preparing the Victim of the human race."

Then she advised the young college students she was writing to thus:

"Remember that we shall only be true women, when, by the discharge of the principal duties that are imposed upon us, we become the true educators of society, Angels of the family and faithful imitators of Mary Immaculate."

True motherhood, whether spiritual or physical, is fulfilled when we behave like the Blessed Mother did...bringing education, courtesy, light, peace and joy to those among whom we live.

(The cathedral of St. Francis de Sales - St. Peter's in Annecy, France)

When I read that St. Francis de Sales was never seen in a hurry (like, for example, when he must have walked up these steps to his cathedral), I thought, "Well, sure, but he was a bishop! They never started things without him. Whatever time he got there was the time the meeting started, or Mass began, or lunch was served!" But although it's probably true that people didn't start things without him if he was a few minutes late, he also looked at time in the light of eternity.

He was considerate of others and didn't keep them waiting unnecessarily, but he kept his peace of soul even when everything seemed to be conspiring to make him miss an appointment.

"Saint Francis de Sales was never seen in a hurry no matter how varied or numerous might be the demands made upon his time. When on a certain occasion some surprise was expressed at this he said: 'You ask me how it is that although others are agitated and flurried I am not likewise uneasy and in haste. What would you? I was not put in this world to cause fresh disturbance: is there not enough of it already without my adding to it by my excitability?' However, do not on the other hand succumb to sloth and indifference. All extremes are to be avoided. Cultivate a tranquil activity and an active tranquility."

R. P. Quadrupani, Barnabite, wrote this in 1795 in his book Light and Peace. 

A tranquil activity and an active tranquility....

Food for thought today.

(Original art by Tracy L. Christianson from PortraitsofSaints.com; she holds the copyright)

Today is the feast of St. Denis...and here's an image of him from an artist I greatly admire. She sells her original artwork of numerous saints at her website: www.portraitsofsaints.com. I don't get a kickback for this...I'm just sharing art I enjoy.

"Saint Denis said that there is nothing more noble and more pleasing to God than to cooperate in the work of saving souls and to frustrate the devil's plans for ruining them." 

~ St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, imprimatur 1954.

Is there something you can do to cooperate in the work of saving souls? Of course there is. It's not only the employment of priests and religious...each one of us can contribute to the effort...what can you do today?

(A street sign in Carefree, Arizona)

"Prayer is not a means supplied by God of making our lives run more smoothly. The first purpose of prayer is a means supplied by God of making our love explicit..."

 ~ Dom Hubert Van Zeller, OSB.

Do you ever feel as if your prayer is a laundry list of what you want from God? Please make this sick person well, this erring person contrite, this child obedient, this business deal successful. Maybe instead of thinking of prayer as a way to keep us on "Easy Street", we could think of it as a way to communicate with the One we love.

Father Van Zeller, in his book, Holiness for Housewives and Other Working Women, continues:

"In proportion as you draw near to Truth by prayer, you inevitably increase your own conformity to the true pattern of yourself as it exists in the mind of God. And this means that, whatever it feels like, your life is going right."

There's not much more I can say....let's just chew on that one...conformity to the true pattern of myself as it exists in the mind of God...whatever it feels like, if I'm close to God in prayer, my life is going right! Have a carefree day! :)

Happy Feast of the Most Holy Rosary!

(Church of Mary Immaculate, Stranorlar/Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland)

"...The Solemnity of the Most Holy Rosary. This festival was instituted by Gregory XIII to commemorate the victory gained by the Christians over the Mohammedans at Lepanto, Sunday, October 7th, 1571. The importance of this victory cannot be overestimated. At the time it was won, the Turks threatened to bring all Christendom under their domination. The fate of Christianity itself, humanly speaking, depended largely upon the success of the forces which Pius V had mustered to resist the aggressions of the Sultan of Turkey. Few, nowadays, can form an adequate idea of the evils from which the engagement at Lepanto saved Europe."

(Well, I don't know about that! I think it's becoming more and more clear to us nowadays. It's a sad state of affairs, and requires us more and more to call on God, through the intercession of His sweet Mother, the Queen of the Rosary.)

"The disparity of numbers left the Christians scarcely a human hope of success. They placed all their confidence in Mary. The result proved that she did not forsake them. The power of the Mohammedans was completely broken by the reverse they sustained at Lepanto. This festival was also instituted in order to afford the faithful clients of the Blessed Virgin, an opportunity to express their gratitude to God for the numberless favors obtained through the intercession of His holy Mother in the devotion of the Rosary."

O Queen of the Rosary, Our Lady Help of Christians, pray to thy Son for us!

(These quotes are from Sermons on the Blessed Virgin Mary by Very Rev. D.I.McDermott, imprimatur 1891.)

(Saints Peter and Paul Church in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland)

Oh, to pray like Mary Magdalen, with intense concentration and great love! But do you ever feel when you pray as if God couldn't possibly be pleased with your prayer because you were so distracted, and interrupted so many times?

Father Hubert Van Zeller of the Benedictines suggests a scenario in which the devil is telling God what a terrible job we've done at our morning prayer and meditation...going something like this:

"'See this dilapidated prayer,' says the devil, 'and tell me, Lord, whether You don't think it has been a waste of time. Those yawns, for instance, and those furtive glances at the watch -- they must certainly score heavily in my favor. And what about that lengthy digression on the subject of his health? Then there was that argument which would have been so convincing if it had in fact taken place instead of being a fanned-up piece of self-justification existing only in the mind. And those plans for August. Followed by at least ten minutes when nothing seems to have gone on at all. Surely, Lord, You got very little out of that prayer today -- especially if You take into consideration those memories and imaginations which I suggested to his muddy mind: memories which would be unsuitable anywhere but which are especially so at prayer. Even the attempts at returning to Your Presence, Lord, can be counted as winning points to me: they were so half-hearted and infrequent. Add to the total that confessedly bored attitude of mind in which the whole thing was conducted and You will admit that I have won hands down.'"

Oh dear...I'm afraid this sounds all too familiar to most of us. And if the devil were to say this about us, what would Our Lord reply?

"It would surely be reasonable to think of God as countering Satan with the all-important question: 'But Whom was he doing it for?' That's the point....'It's all very well for you to cite the distractions in My friend's prayer' -- so we would have the Lord defending His own -- 'but though he many not have made a very good thing of it, at least he has not gone back to bed or picked up a novel. He did, you notice, go on. Discouraged as he is about the result of his effort (unreasonably discouraged in point of fact) he will be at it again, you will find, tomorrow morning. His object all along has been -- and still is -- to please Me, and though he imagines he isn't doing this, he has no intention of pleasing you, [Satan]. While certainly he isn't, poor man, pleasing himself.'"

So as long as we keep trying -- even though we're discouraged with the results, we keep making the supreme effort, Our Lord is pleased. And we may even say He is more pleased when we struggle on through the mud and the muck, than when we had the perfect feel-good prayer, flying along, and weren't even distracted once.

These quotes are from Dom Hubert Van Zeller, OSB, in his We Die Standing Up, imprimatur 1948.

(Church of Mary Immaculate in Stranorlar/Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland)

Maybe you're feeling sick today...maybe the business deal you put together with a great deal of effort fell apart...maybe despite your best efforts, your children aren't behaving the way you'd hoped they would...maybe you're missing a loved one who has died...

I'd like to offer these words about "inescapable circumstance" today and how it can sanctify us....

"We are so used to being masters of our affairs that it does us the world of good to be for a time subjects of inescapable circumstance. The inescapable circumstance, however, is only a supernatural value to us when we accept it as the will of God. There are many who love God, but not so many who love His will...This acceptance of His inescapable will, is far more sanctifying, because less showy, than any spectacular heroics of our own choosing."

~ Dom Hubert Van Zeller, OSB, We Die Standing Up, imprimatur 1948.

(A crucifix at one of the "Stations" of Lough Derg Island in County Donegal, Ireland)

I was thinking wonderingly, that St. Therese knew so much about the love of God and the spiritual life that hundreds of books have been written about her, and yet, she never saw Our Lord in this life. So many other saints had visions of Him, but she loved Him without special voices and apparitions. She learned about Him the way we so easily can: by love, by prayer, and by her "Little Way" of love and sacrifice. As a matter of fact, much of the time, she didn't even have spiritual consolation...she often felt dark and alone. But she kept on loving in the dark...she kept on loving even when she didn't "feel" like loving. We've been talking about the Holy Face of Our Lord on this blog, and that was a great devotion of she who called herself "Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face."

She wrote a prayer along these lines, and Pope St. Pius X gave it an indulgence of 300 days. The final lines go thus:

"O Jesus, Whose Face is the sole beauty that ravishes my heart, I may not behold here upon earth the sweetness of Thy Glance, nor feel the ineffable tenderness of Thy Kiss. I bow to Thy Will -- but I pray Thee to imprint in me Thy Divine Likeness, and I implore Thee to so inflame me with Thy Love that it may quickly consume me, and I may soon reach the Vision of Thy glorious Face in Heaven! Amen."

We may never receive a vision of Our Lord's breathtakingly beautiful Face in this life, but we bow to His Will and pray that we may quickly come to Heaven to see Him there. So I hope, so may it be.

    Happy Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux!

"Confidence plays a leading part of supreme importance in the holiness of Therese. At the sight of this holiness, so simple and so winning, many good people let a discouraging thought hold them back. 'Therese,' they say, 'was favored by extraordinary graces.' And why do they say this? Because they have not given confidence its rightful place at the very center of Therese's life and doctrine. Once confidence is given its place as the essential and primary foundation of holiness, no soul, however little and needy it sees itself to be, will see anything improbable in the idea of God wishing to raise it to a life of friendship, of intimacy, of love with Himself."

~ Pere Liagre, CSSP, A Retreat with Saint Therese, imprimatur 1947.

Angels Surround Us

(St. Thomas Beckett Church, Veneta, Oregon)

Today is the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. Not only does each one of us have our own personal angel, given to us by God at our birth, but there are angels everywhere, performing services to God and to us. The angel statues shown above remind us how the sanctuary is filled with angels during Mass and Benediction, and how at any moment, in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, there are countless angels adoring Our Lord.

Remember the Savior's rebuke to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane:

"Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father, and he will give me presently more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26: 52-53)

A Roman legion contained 5,000-6,000 soldiers. So Our Lord told Peter that in the blink of an eye, He could ask for 60,000 angels and they'd be there to defend Him from His captors. But it was not God's Will that this happen. So although the angels are all around us, it is not always God's Will that we be saved from everything that seems to be negative.

But it is a great comfort to know that God's messengers are here...whispering inspirations to us, putting a protecting arm about us, carrying messages from God to us, and carrying our prayers back to God.

Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, O.P., writes in his short book, All About the Angels, from 1945:

"Millions and millions of Angels fill the Heavens, ministering unto God, but millions and millions of Angels are also here on Earth, ministering unto us. They are in our midst around us, about us, everywhere. Their activity in our regard is unceasing every day and every moment of the day, though we do not see them nor even suspect their presence nor feel their influence. They are watching over us with infinite care and love. Were it not for their ever vigilant protection, the history of the world would be far different, far more calamitous than it has been....God has given us into their charge: 'For He has given His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' (Psalm 90)"

 (St. Thomas Beckett Church, Veneta, Oregon)

Words of Encouragement for October 1, 2016 

"If you desire to correct your faults, and you feel that you cannot; if you languish with tepidity and it seems you can do no good, but, still you wish to be fervent, try to be devout to the Holy Ghost, invoking Him often and with your whole hearts....If you invoke Him with a humble and trusting heart, filled with good desires, He will descend with His blessed light and inflaming fire; He will come and penetrate into the very center of your heart, purifying it, changing it, enlightening it, inflaming it, and consuming it with the flames of His holy and divine love."

~ St. Frances Xavier Cabrini