(The walled city of Carcassone, France)

Our souls are like fortresses...we lock the gates against Satan and his temptations, we avoid near occasions of sin, and we watch the windows of our five senses that we may not allow sin to enter. But sometimes within our souls we struggle with our emotions, thoughts, feelings, and anxieties. Do you ever feel that there is a battle going on inside?

This beautiful prayer refers to our soul as Our Lord's Kingdom, and asks Him to restore peace to it, and the triumph of His Love:

"Come, O my Lord Jesus Christ, take away all scandals out of Thy kingdom, which is my soul, that Thou mayest reign in it alone. Pride, lust, envy, detraction, anger, and other passions fight in my heart, to usurp portions of it to themselves. Through Thy grace, I watch and resist with all my strength: I cry out that I belong to Thee alone, and I am all Thine; and stretching out my hands to Thee, I say I have no king but the Lord Jesus. Come, therefore, O Lord, disperse Thy enemies in Thy mighty strength, and Thou wilt reign in me, because Thou art my King and my God."
~ A prayer attributed to Thalerus in a sermon, by Rev. T.H. Kinane, P.P. in his 1880 book, The Lamb of God

Happy Feast Day of St. John Bosco!

"The true Christian should be willing to endure the sufferings of the spirit as Jesus Christ did, when He was betrayed by one of His disciples, denied by another, and abandoned by all." 

~ St. John Bosco

I have not yet visited the shrine of St. John Bosco in Turin, so I'm posting another picture from Annecy, the hometown of St. Francis de Sales. :) St. John Bosco admired the Annecy saint so much that he named his order after him - the Salesians. 

(Photo taken at the Chateau de Menthon in Annecy. The castle belonged to the family of St. Bernard de Menthon, after whom St. Bernard dogs are named. He is the patron saint of mountain climbers.)

As Lent approaches, and as we take up our crosses daily to follow Christ as true Christians, it is sometimes helpful to remember these words of St. John Bosco.

Happy Feast of St. Francis de Sales, 

Patron Saint of Catholic Writers!

Okay, so he's one of my absolute, all-time favorite saints. That is why I'm posting this jet-lagged picture of myself my very first day in Annecy, his hometown, in 2015. 😀 What an amazing spiritual friend he is. The special preface for his feast, celebrated in the Convents of the Visitation Nuns (which he co-founded with St. Jane de Chantal), mentions how he had the gift "to reinforce piety by his writings, by his words and by his example, and to make the rough ways flat."

Choosing a "words of encouragement" excerpt from him is like trying to choose a leaf in a forest. Whole books have been filled with his uplifting and inspiring words.

I flipped open one of my many books on this saint, and found his farewell to the Sisters of the Visitation in Annecy (the first convent the two saints founded). He knew his health was failing, and yet he obediently set off on a trip to meet the French King and the Duke of Savoy as he was asked. Isn't it appropriate that the road on which their first convent stands is called "Street of Providence"?

When he was ready to leave, knowing he probably wouldn't see these dear nuns again, he said Mass for them. Afterward he said:

"My dear daughters, ask for nothing, refuse nothing, desire nothing, resign your cares to Divine Providence, allow God to do with you whatever He pleases. A heart indifferent to all things is like a ball of wax in the hands of God, capable of receiving all the impressions of His eternal good pleasure. It does not place its love in the things which God wills but in the will of God which decrees them. My dear children, always act as God and your superiors wish. Let the aim of your life be to love God more and more, your ambition to possess Him. Adieu, my daughters, until eternity."
(Source: Rev. James F. Cassidy, B.A., St. Francis de Sales: the Doctor of Devotion, imprimatur 1944)

This effigy of St. Francis de Sales is located in the museum adjacent to the Basilica where he is buried. The alb the figure is wearing was his...and the chasuble was made for the second centenary of his canonization. I believe the mitre is his as well, because there is one like it in Rome that belonged to the saint, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

What a gift this saint has been to the Christian world! Imagine being such a profound writer and sublime influence, that you're uplifting, encouraging, and saving souls after you've been dead for centuries...

Fr. Richard Boyle, at the Elevation of the Mass, in Marseilles, France

Look at this breathtaking place! This is a Traditional chapel in the bustling, multicultural city of Marseilles, a city where a local told us the Muslims threw tomatoes at Corpus Christi Processions. And here we were, very blessed pilgrims, attending Mass.

Have you ever thought about the gift of the Holy Mass and the Holy Eucharist? Especially in these days of not only paganism and materialism, but of Modernism?

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said:

"The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white host." 

When a man or woman says to their beloved, "I just want to be with you forever," or "I just can't imagine ever being apart," we sigh, and think their love must be true. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that to us, poor sinners that we are! When He was about to die on the Cross, He wouldn't leave us orphans, so He gave us the Blessed Sacrament. In the Eucharist, we can always be with Him, and He will never leave us. Now THAT'S true love!

(Fr. Trevor Burfitt offering Mass in the Irish countryside, County Mayo)

"Far from being shocked at the poverty and humility that surrounded the Lamb of God, with firm faith and transports of joy [the Magi] prostrated themselves in homage, adoration, and love, 'falling down,' says the Gospel, 'they adored Him.'
"In the Holy Eucharist we have the same humble Babe bound to our altars by the chains of divine love; let us, like the wise men, prostrate and adore Him, and let us offer to the King of our hearts our treasures and gifts, that is to say, a firm faith, fervent adoration, and burning love." 

~ Rev. T.H. Kinane, P.P., The Lamb of God, imprimatur 1880.

Think of the early martyrs worshipping the tiny Host in a stony, dark, cold catacomb under the city of Rome. Think of the Irish people worshipping Him on a Mass rock in a field, ducking down to avoid the notice of rampaging priest hunters. Think of the Magi adoring a penniless Baby in a poor house in Bethlehem. Think of the British people during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, attending Mass in a secret room in someone's house, afraid for their lives. Fast-forward to the 21st century....we come into a well-lit, well-heated church, and a priest in beautiful vestments offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Come, let us adore Him. Let us unite in spirit to the millions who went before us, and adore Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

("Entering the house, they found the Child with Mary His Mother..." 

Picture taken in the Church of St. Teresa, Avila, Spain)

Yesterday was the third Sunday after Epiphany in the traditional Catholic calendar. I was privileged to listen to a sermon on the virtue of faith, and then later that afternoon, during a snowstorm, I read the following quote, also relating to faith!

"The miraculous star conducted the wise men to Jerusalem and there disappeared; here they might reasonably have expected to see the city illuminated and to hear nothing but acclamations of joy at the birth of the Savior; but to their great surprise there was not a word or sign about the object of their long journey. Their faith is not shaken, nor their courage abated. Through the streets, even at the gates of the palace of Herod, a monster of cruelty and dissimulation, they inquired for the Messiah, they cried out, 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to adore Him.' 
"The true Catholic glories in his faith, courageously professes it before kings and courts, and is ever ready to defend it, even the shedding of his heart's blood. O Jesus! grant us, and guard in us till death, this living and lively faith."

~ Rev. T.H. Kinane, P.P., The Lamb of God, imprimatur 1880.

In the sermon, we were admonished to do three things to acquire the virtue of faith. 1) Pray fervently for it, as in "O Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!". 2) Avoid the persons, places and things that will take this virtue away from us. 3) Read about and study our holy Catholic Faith. We will never in this life get to the point that we can say, "I have learned enough about my Faith."

O Lord, increase my faith day by day, hour by hour, until I meet Thee face to Face, when faith will no longer be necessary.

(Miraculous picture of the Carrying of the Cross, Segovia, Spain. 

St. John of the Cross received a consoling revelation in which this picture spoke to him.)

We are still in the beautiful Epiphany season, and don't want to think about Lent yet...or at least I don't. :) But there are so many beautiful thoughts, meditations and hymns about the sublime season of Our Lord's sufferings and death available to us.

Here is one that takes the breath away with its beauty:

"St. Gertrude, so dear to God, was once taught by Him that he who is considering in his heart the image of the Crucified, should think he hears Jesus Himself saying to him in all mildness and gentleness, 'Seest thou how I was suspended on the cross for love of thee, despised, My whole Body wounded and every Limb stretched! And even yet My Heart glows with such plenitude of the sweetness of love for thee, that I would suffer all I suffered for the whole world, for thee alone, were there no other means of saving thee and thou couldst not otherwise attain to eternal bliss."

~ Consoling Revelations collected by the Ven. Benedictine Abbot Blosius

These words refer to Our Lord's sufferings and death for us, it's true, but it's also about the glories of Heaven. In the end, that's what it's all about. Our Lord is willing to give everything to get us to join Him in Paradise. Let us not trudge slowly along, thinking we guess we'll meet Him halfway: let us run to meet Him!

How do we do this? By giving ourselves to His Will with abandon, with joy, and with courage!