Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Formation continues after one pledges to live the Rule of the Confraternity of Penitents. Pledged members gather at Chapter and Circle meetings to continually discuss and grow in the spiritual life.

Pledged members of the Confraternity of Penitents are to continue their formation by reading the lives or writings of the saints and blessed of the Roman Catholic Church as well as official documents of the Church and discuss these with other penitents or with their spiritual directors. This section provides a very small sampling of selected writings of a few saints, to give the penitent an idea of the richness available for study. May the saints intercede for us all!

The Cross

From Sermons 75 and 88 of Saint Augustine

All those who belong to Jesus Christ are fastened with Him to the cross. A Christian during the whole course of his life should, like unto Jesus, be on the cross. It would be an act of rashness to descend therefrom, since Jesus Christ did not descend, even when the Jews offered to believe in Him. The time for driving out the nails of His cross was only after death; there is, then, no time to extract the nails whilst we live,--we must wait until our sacrifice is consummated: Non est tempus evellendi clavos (Aug. 205).

This cross to which the servant of God is attached, is his glory, as the apostle said, " But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ " (Gal. 6:14).

This cross, I say, to which the servant of God should be fastened, not for forty days, but for life; therefore he who looks piously upon it should consider it as a treasure, because it teaches him Christ crucified, and he will despise everything to acquire a knowledge which is only to be learned in the school of the cross.

Formerly, it was looked upon as an object of horror, but Jesus Christ has made it so worthy of respect and veneration , that kings and princes have forbidden the punishment of crucifixion to be continued, in order to do honor to those faithful servants, who gloried in a punishment which our Lord and Savior has so ennobled. And this wood to which the Jews had nailed our Lord, accompanied as it was by so many outrages and insults, has become so worthy of honor, that kings have imprinted it on their foreheads, and in union with the lowest of their subjects they look upon the cross of Jesus Christ as the ship which will guide and carry them safely into harbor.

So strong sometimes are the storms of life that strength of arm is of no avail, and there is no other means to save us from shipwreck than trusting in the cross of Jesus Christ by which we are consecrated.

Meekness

From the Writings of St. Ambrose

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land."

--MATTHEW 5: 4

We must accustom ourselves to perform all our actions with quiet serenity; force of habit can correct or subdue the most obstinate bad temper. But because some are naturally so impetuous and violent that it is difficult to effect an immediate cure, it would be as well to reflect on the motives which engender impatience, in order to induce us to effect a gradual cure.

When ebullitions of passion come upon us so suddenly that there is no time for reflection, we must at least try to soothe them, if we cannot immediately master them. It is sometimes proper to make a desperate effort; but we must always try to conquer by degrees, more especially when the first bursts of impatience or anger assail us. It is recommended in Holy writ; give time for anger to evaporate, and- then extinguish it entirely. We must not only do what we can to prevent our getting into a passion, but we must use greater efforts to subdue it when it does come on. Those little outbursts of petulance, which are more amusing than bitter, are innocent in children; they fire up and are appeased in a moment, and all is soon forgotten. Let us not be ashamed to imitate them in this; for does not our Savior say, "If you do not become as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven?"

Never answer an angry person with a haughty haste; if he be ill-tempered, why fall into the same fault? When two flinty stones are quickly rubbed together, sparks will fly out.

If you cannot cure anger by those means which a calmer judgment would suggest, you must have recourse to stratagem. Patience is a great assistant; for time softens the most violent passion. If we should be exposed to the provocations of a person who is continually having recourse to sharp, impertinent answers, and we feel that we have not sufficient command over our own temper, we can, at least, moderate our tongue by keeping silent. Holy Scripture gives us this advice: "Suffer in silence, and do not have recourse to sharp retorts"; you can then seek reconciliation, and do your best to make it lasting.

We have a noble example in the conduct of Jacob. His first care was to keep his mind free from any temptation to break the precept of meekness.

If you have not the strength of mind to do this, at any rate you can bridle your tongue, and allow no bitter reply to escape your lips. When you have taken all such precautions, you will find that more is to be done to secure a mild and even temper.

Would you wish to know how to act when any injury or affront is imposed on you? Above all, do not return evil for evil; pay no attention to the malice of another; there is no occasion to be wicked, because another is wicked. Take care to preserve self-respect, and do nothing which might be a reproach for you afterwards.

The heathens have often quoted a sensible reply of one of their philosophers. One of his attendants had greatly displeased him by an act of gross injustice. Go! unhappy man, said he, how severely would I punish you, were I not angry?

King David acted in a similar way; at a time when he was tempted to inflict vengeance, he gained a complete victory over his temper, by not uttering a single word to those who had wronged him. Abigail, by her entreaties, calmed that gentle prince, who was at the head of his soldiers, and who was on his road to avenge the insults of Nabal.

It is a sure sign of a noble disposition if you listen to sincere petitions, and grant what is demanded of you. David always felt rejoiced when he forgave his enemies, and he praised the cleverness of that woman, who so well knew his tenderness of heart, that she obtained all she sought for. That royal prophet was not insensible to injury, for he cries out,-- I am hurt at what evil-disposed persons have said; had I consulted my evil genius, I should have rejoiced to inflict vengeance. But this glorious and pacific king, on second thoughts, continues to say -- Oh ! who will give me the wings of the dove, that I may seek peace in flight?

And notwithstanding all their insults and outrages, he preferred to remain in peace.

He says in another place: "Be angry, but sin not." This is a moral precept, which teaches us to allay any little asperity which we cannot altogether stifle.

On Courage

From the Writings of St. Teresa of Avila

This is what I want us to strive for, my Sister, and let us desire and be occupied in prayer not for the sake of our enjoyment but so as to have this strength to serve. . . . Believe me, Martha and Mary must join together in order to show hospitality to the Lord and have Him always present and not host Him badly by failing to give Him something to eat. How would Mary, always seated at His feet, provide Him with food if her sister did not help her? His food is that in every way possible we draw souls that they may be saved and praise Him always.

You will make two objections: one: that He said that Mary had chosen the better part. The answer is that she had already performed the task of Martha, pleasing the Lord by washing His feet and drying them with her hair. Do you think it would be a small mortification for a woman of nobility like her to wander through these streets (and perhaps alone because her fervent love made her unaware of what she was doing) and enter a house she had never entered before and afterward suffer the criticism of the Pharisee and the very many other things she must have suffered? The people saw a woman like her change so much - and, as we know, she was among such malicious people - and they saw her friendship with the Lord whom they vehemently abhorred, and that she wanted to become a saint since obviously she would have changed her manner of dress and everything else. All of that was enough to cause them comment on the life she had formerly lived. If nowadays there is so much gossip against persons who are not so notorious; what would have been said then? I tell you, Sisters, the better part came after many trials and much mortification, for even if there were no other trial that to see His Majesty abhorred, that would be an intolerable one. Moreover, the many trials that afterward she suffered at the death of the Lord and in the years that she subsequently lived in His absence must have been a terrible torment. You see she wasn't always in the delight of contemplation at the feet of the Lord. (Interior Castle, PP. 448-449)

Friendship

Taken from the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales

"Blessed is he that finds a true friend."

--PROVERBS 25: 12

Friendship requires great communication between friends otherwise it can neither grow nor subsist. Wherefore it often happens, that with this communication of friendship other communications insensibly glide from one heart to another, by a mutual infusion and reciprocal intercourse of affections, inclinations, and impressions.

But this happens especially when we have a high esteem for him whom we love; for then we open our heart in such a manner to his friendship, that with it his inclinations and impressions enter rapidly in their full stream, be they good or bad. Certainly the bees that gather the honey of Heraclea, seek nothing but honey; but yet, with the honey they insensibly suck the poisonous qualities of the aconite, from which they gather it Good God, Philotheo, on these occasions we must carefully put what the Savior of our souls was accustomed to say, in practice: Be ye good bankers or changers of money; that is to say, receive not bad money with the good, nor base gold with the fine; separate that which is precious from that which is vile, for there is scarcely any person that has not some imperfection. For why should we receive promiscuously the spots and imperfections of a friend, together with his friendship? We must love him, indeed, notwithstanding his imperfections, but we must neither. love nor receive his imperfections; for friendship requires a communication of good, not of evil.

True and living friendship cannot subsist in the midst of sins. As the sale mender extinguishes the fire in which he lies, so sin destroys the friendship in which it lodges. If it be but a transient sin, friendship will presently put it to flight by correction; but if it be habitual, and take up its lodging, friendship immediately perishes, for it cannot subsist but on the solid foundation of virtue. We must never, then, commit sin for friendship's sake.

A friend becomes an enemy when he would lead us to sin, and he deserves to lose his friend when he would destroy his soul.

It is an infallible mark of false friendship to see it exercised towards a vicious person, be his sins of whatsoever kind; for if he whom we love be vicious, without doubt our friendship is also vicious, since, seeing it cannot regard true virtue, it must needs be grounded on some frivolous virtue or sensual quality. Society, formed for traffic among merchants, is but a shadow of true friendship, since it is not made for the love of the persons, but for the love of gain. Finally, the two following divine sentences are two main pillars to secure a Christian life. The one is that of the wise man: He that feareth God shall likewise have a true friendship. The other is that of the apostle St. James: The friendship of this world is the enemy of God.

Suffering

From a Letter of Agnes of Assisi

To her Sister Clare

(1230)

To her venerable mother and the woman beloved in Christ beyond all others, to the Lady Clare and her whole community, Agnes, the lowly and least of Christ's servants, humbly presents herself with all obedience and devotion with best wishes for her and them for whatever is sweet and precious in the eyes of the most High King.

The lot of all has been so established that one can never remain in the same state or condition. When someone thinks that she is doing well, it is then that she is plunged into adversity. Therefore, you should know, Mother, that my soul and body suffer great distress and immense sadness, that I am burdened and tormented beyond measure and am almost incapable of speaking, because I have been physically separated from you and my other sisters with whom I had hoped to live and die in this world. This distress has a beginning, but it knows no end. It never seems to diminish; it always gets worse. It came to me recently, but it tends to ease off very little. It is always with me and never wants to leave me. I believed that our life and death would be one, just as our manner of life in heaven would be one, and that we who have one and the same flesh and blood would be buried in the same grave. But I see that I have been deceived. I have been restrained; I have been abandoned; I have been afflicted on every side.

My dearest sisters, sympathize with me, I beg you, and mourn wit me so that you may never suffer such things and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering (cf. Lam 1:12) This sorrow is always afflicting me, this emotional tenderness is always torturing me, this ardent desire is always consuming me. As a result, distress utterly possses me and I do not know what to do (Ph 1:22), what I should say, since I do not expect to see you and my sisters again in this life.

O if only I could lay bare for you on this page the continuing sorrow that I anticipate and that is always before me. My soul burns within me, and I am tormented by the fires of innumerable tribulation. My heart groans within me, and my eyes do not cease to pour out a flood of tears. Filled with every kind of sorrow and spiritless, I am pining away entirely. Even though I seek consolation, I do not find it (cf. Lam 1:2). I conceive sorrow upon sorrow, when I ponder within me with fear that I will never see you and my sisters again. Under such distress I am totally disheartened.

St. Agnes of Assisi

Claire of Assisi Early Documents

Pg 109

Spousal Love of God

By St. Clare of Assisi in Her Fourth Letter to Agnes of Prague

Happy, indeed, is she to whom it is given to share in this sacred banquet so that she might cling with all her heart to Him

Whose beauty all the blessed hosts of heaven unceasingly admire,

Whose affection excites,

Whose contemplation refreshes,

Whose kindness fulfills,

Whose delight replenishes,

Whose remembrance delightfully shines,

By Whose fragrance the dead are revived,

Whose glorious vision will bless all the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem:

Gaze upon that mirror each day, O Queen and Spouse of Jesus Christ, and continually study your face within it, that you may adorn yourself within and without with beautiful robes, covered, as is becoming the daughter and most chaste bride of the Most High King, with the flowers and garments of all the virtues. Indeed, blessed poverty, holy humility, and inexpressible charity are reflected in that mirror, as, with the grace of God, you can contemplate them throughout the entire mirror.

Look at the border of this mirror, that is, the poverty of Him Who was placed in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes.

O marvelous humility!

O astonishing poverty!

The King of angels,

The Lord of heaven and earth,

Is laid in a manger!

Then, at the surface of the mirror, consider the holy humility, the blessed poverty, the untold labors and burdens that He endured for the redemption of the whole human race. Then, in the depth of this same mirror, contemplate the ineffable charity that led Him to suffer on the wood of the Cross and to die there the most shameful kind of death.

An Act of Hope and Confidence in God

By Saint Claude de la Colombiere

My God, I believe most firmly that Thou watchest over all who hope in Thee, and that we can want for nothing when we rely upon Thee in all things; therefore I am resolved for the future to have no anxieties, and to cast all my cares upon Thee.

People may deprive me of worldly goods and of honors; sickness may take from me my strength and the means of serving Thee; I may even lose Thy grace by sin; but my trust shall never leave me. I will preserve it to the last moment of my life, and the powers of hell shall seek in vain to wrestle it from me.

Let others seek happiness in their wealth, in their talents; let them trust to the purity of their lives, the severity of their mortifications, to the number of their good works, the fervor of their prayers; as for me, O my God, in my very confidence lies all my hope. "For Thou, O Lord, singularly has settled me in hope." This confidence can never be in vain. "No one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded."

I am assured, therefore, of my eternal happiness, for I firmly hope for it, and all my hope is in Thee. "In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me never be confounded."

I know, alas! I know but too well that I am frail and changable; I know the power of temptation against the strongest virtue. I have seen stars fall from heaven, and pillars of firmament totter; but these things alarm me not. While I hope in Thee I am sheltered from all misfortune, and I am sure that my trust shall endure, for I rely upon Thee to sustain this unfailing hope.

Finally, I know that my confidence cannot exceed Thy bounty, and that I shall never receive less than I have hoped for from Thee. Therefore I hope that Thou wilt sustain me against my evil inclinations; that Thou wilt protect me against the most furious assults of the evil one, and that Thou wilt cause my weakness to triumph over my most powerful enemies. I hope that Thou wilt never cease to love me, and that I shall love Thee unceasingly. "In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded."

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Against Heresies

From the writings of St. Ireaneus, Bishop of Lyons

Book I

Preface.

Inasmuch as certain men have set the truth aside, and bring in lying words and vain genealogies, which, as the apostle says, "minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith," and by means of their craftily-constructed plausibilities draw away the minds of the inexperienced and take them captive, [I have felt constrained, my dear friend, to compose the following treatise in order to expose and counteract their machinations.] These men falsify the oracles of God, and prove themselves evil interpreters of the good word of revelation. They also overthrow the faith of many, by drawing them away, under a pretence of [superior] knowledge, from Him who rounded and adorned the universe; as if, forsooth, they had something more excellent and sublime to reveal, than that God who created the heaven and the earth, and all things that are therein. By means of specious and plausible words, they cunningly allure the simple-minded to inquire into their system; but they nevertheless clumsily destroy them, while they initiate them into their blasphemous and impious opinions respecting the Demiurge; and these simple ones are unable, even in such a matter, to distinguish falsehood from truth.

Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself. One far superior to me has well said, in reference to this point, "A clever imitation in glass casts contempt, as it were, on that precious jewel the emerald (which is most highly esteemed by some), unless it come under the eye of one able to test and expose the counterfeit. Or, again, what inexperienced person can with ease detect the presence of brass when it has been mixed up with silver? "Lest, therefore, through my neglect, some should be carried off, even as sheep are by wolves, while they perceive not the true character of these men, -because they outwardly are covered with sheep's clothing (against whom the Lord has enjoined us to be on our guard), and because their language resembles ours, while their sentiments are very different,-I have deemed it my duty (after reading some of the Commentaries, as they call them, of the disciples of Valentinus, and after making myself acquainted with their tenets through personal intercourse with some of them) to unfold to thee, my friend, these portentous and profound mysteries, which do not fall within the range of every intellect, because all have not sufficiently purged their brains. I do this, in order that thou, obtaining an acquaintance with these things, mayest in turn explain them to all those with whom thou art connected, and exhort them to avoid such an abyss of madness and of blasphemy against Christ. I intend, then, to the best of my ability, with brevity and clearness to set forth the opinions of those who are now promulgating heresy. I refer especially to the disciples of Ptolemaeus, whose school may be described as a bud from that of Valentinus. I shall also endeavour, according to my moderate ability, to furnish the means of overthrowing them, by showing how absurd and inconsistent with the truth are their statements. Not that I am practised either in composition or eloquence; but my feeling of affection prompts me to make known to thee and all thy companions those doctrines which have been kept in concealment until now, but which are at last, through the goodness of God, brought to light. "For there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed, nor secret that shall not be made known."

Thou wilt not expect from me, who am resident among the Keltae, and am accustomed for the most part to use a barbarous dialect, any display of rhetoric, which I have never learned, or any excellence of composition, which I have never practised, or any beauty and persuasiveness of style, to which I make no pretensions. But thou wilt accept in a kindly spirit what I in a like spirit write to thee simply, truthfully, and in my own homely way; whilst thou thyself (as being more capable than I am) wilt expand those ideas of which I send thee, as it were, only the seminal principles; and in the comprehensiveness of thy understanding, wilt develop to their full extent the points on which I briefly touch, so as to set with power before thy companions those things which I have uttered in weakness. In fine, as I (to gratify thy long-cherished desire for information regarding the tenets of these persons) have spared no pains, not only to make these doctrines known to thee, but also to furnish the means of showing their falsity; so shalt thou, according to the grace given to thee by the Lord, prove an earnest and efficient minister to others, that men may no longer be drawn away by the plausible system of these heretics, which I now proceed to describe.

While at prayer, I begged our Lord to make known to me by what means I could satisfy the desire that I had to love Him. He gave me to understand, that one cannot better show one's love for Him than by loving one's neighbor for love of Him; and that I must work for the salvation of others forgetting my own interests in order to espouse those of my neighbor, both in my prayers and in all the good I might be able to do by the mercy of God.

+ + +

Bear patiently the little vexations caused by your neighbor's being of a disposition contrary to your own; do not show your resentment, for that displeases the Sacred Heart of our Lord.

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Our Lord wishes us to have great charity for our neighbor, for whom we should pray as for ourselves; it is one of the characteristic effects of this devotion to reconcile hearts and to bring peace to souls.

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Work courageously and untiringly in the vineyard of the Lord, for this is the price of your crown; you must forget yourself and all you own interests and think only of increasing His glory in the work He has confided to you.

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You see plainly that I do not mean to advise you to perform great austerities, but rather generously to mortify your passions and inclinations, detaching your heart and enptying it of all that is earthly, and exercising charity towards your neighbor and liberality towards the poor.

+ + +

You should never find fault with, accuse or judge anyone but yourself, so that your tongue on which the Sacred Hose so often rests, may not serve Satan as instruments to sully your soul.

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Never keep up any coldness towards your neighbor, or else the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ will keep aloof from you. When you resentfully call to mind former slights that you have received, you oblige our Lord to recall you past sins which His mercy had made Him forget.

Exhortation to Faith and Repentance

By St. Francis of Assisi in His Letter to All the Faithful

To all Christians, religious, clerics and layfolk, men and women; to everyone in the whole world, Brother Francis, their servant and subject, sends his humble respects, imploring for them true peace from heaven and sincere love in God.

I am the servant of all and so I am bound to wait upon everyone and make known to them the fragrant words of my Lord. Realizing, however, that because of my sickness and ill-health I cannot personally visit each one individually, I decided to send you a letter bringing a message with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, whose words are spirit and life (Jn 6:64).

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the glorious Word of the Father, so holy and exalted, whose coming the Father made known by St. Gabriel the Archangel to the glorious and blessed Virgin Mary, in whose womb he took on our weak human nature, He was rich beyond measure and yet his holy Mother chose poverty.

Then, as his passion drew near, he celebrated the Pasch with his disciples and, taking bread, he blessed and broke, and gave to his disciples, and said, Take and eat; this is my body. And taking a cup, he gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is being shed for many unto the forgiveness of sins (Mt. 26: 26-29). And he prayed to his Father, too, saying, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me (Mt. 26:39); and his sweat fell to the ground like thick drops of blood (cf. Lk. 22:44). Yet he bowed to his Father's will and said, Father, they will be done: yet not as I will, but as thou willest (Mt. 26:42 and 39). And it was the Father's will that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave to us and who was born for our sake, should offer himself by his own blood as a sacrifice and victim on the altar of the cross; and this, not for himself, through whom all things were made (Jn 1:3), but for our sins, leaving us an example that we may follow in his steps (1Pet. 2:21). It is the Father's will that we should all be saved by the Son, and that we should receive him with a pure heart and chaste body. But very few are anxious to receive him, or want to be saved by him, although his yoke is easy, and his burden light (Mt. 11:30).

All those who refuse to taste and see how good the Lord is (Ps. 33:9) and who love the darkness rather than the light (Jn. 3:19) are under a curse. It is God's commandments they refuse to obey and so it is of them the Prophet says, You rebuke the accursed proud who turn away from you commands (Ps. 118:21). On the other hand, those who love God are happy and blessed. They do as our Lord himself tells us in the Gospel Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, . . .and thy neighbor as thyself (Mt. 22:37-39). We must love God, then, and adore him with a pure heart and mind, because this is what he seeks above all else, as he tells us, True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23). All who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:24). We should praise him and pray to him day and night, saying, Our Father, who art in Heaven (Mt. 6:9), because we must always pray and not lose heart (Lk. 18:1).

And moreover, we should confess all our sins to a priest and receive from him the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The man who does not eat his flesh and drink his blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God (cf. Jn 6:54). Only he must eat and drink worthily because he who eats and drinks unworthily, without distinguishing the body, eats and drinks judgment to himself (1Cor. 11:29); that is, if he sees no difference between it and other food.

Besides this, we must bring forth therefore fruits befitting repentance (Lk. 3:8) and love our neighbors as ourselves. Anyone who will not or cannot love his neighbor as himself should at least do him good and not do him any harm.

St. Francis of Assisi

Omnibus of Sources

Pg. 93

The Need for Spiritual Direction

By Saint M. Faustina Kowalska

120. I have wandered onto the subject of silence. But this is not what I wanted to speak about, but rather about the soul's life with God and about its response to grace. When a soul has been cleansed, and the Lord is on intimate terms with it, it begins to apply all its inner force in striving after God. Yet the soul cannot do anything of itself. God alone arranges everything. The soul knows this and is mindful of it. It is still in exile and understands well that there may yet come cloudy and rainy days, but it must now look upon things differently from what it had up to now. It does not seek reassurance in a false peace, but makes ready for battle. It knows it comes from a warrior race. It is now much more aware of everything. It knows that it is of royal stock. It is concerned with all that is great and holy.

121. There is a series of graces, which God pours into the soul after these trials by fire. The soul enjoys intimate union with God. It has many visions, both corporeal and intellectual. It hears many supernatural words, and sometimes, distinct orders. But despite these graces, it is not self-sufficient. In fact it is even less so as a result of God's graces, because it is now open to many dangers and can easily fall prey to illusions. It ought to ask God for a spiritual director; but not only must it pray for one, it must also make every effort to find a leader who is an expert in these things, just as a military leader must know the ways along which he will lead his followers into battle. A soul that is united with God must be prepared for great and hard-fought battles.

After these purifications and tears, God abides in the soul in a special way, but their soul does not always cooperate with these graces. Not that the soul itself is not willing to work, but it encounters so many interior and exterior difficulties that it really takes a miracle to sustain the soul on these summits. In this, it absolutely needs a director. People have often sown doubt in my soul, and I myself have sometimes become frightened at the thought that I was, after all, an ignorant person and did not have knowledge of man things, above all, spiritual things. But when my doubts increased, I sought light from my confessor and my superiors.

St. M. Faustina Kowalska

Diary - Divine Mercy in My Soul

Notebook 1, Pg 67

Union with God

By Saint John of the Cross

In our previous discussion, we have already given some indication of the meaning of the phrase "union of the soul with God." Thus our teaching here about the nature of this union will be more understandable.

It is not my intention now to discuss the divisions and parts of the union. Indeed, I would never finish were I to begin explaining the union of the intellect, or that of the will or the memory, or trying to expound the nature of the transitory and the permanent union in each of these faculties, or the significance of the total, the transitory, or the permanent union wrought in these three faculties together. We will discuss all this frequently in the course of our treatise. But such an exposition is unnecessary for an understanding of what we now wish to state about these different unions. A better explanation of them will be given in sections dealing with the subject, and then we shall have a concrete example to go with the actual teaching. In those sections the reader will note and understand the union being discussed and will for a better judgment of it.

Here I intend to discuss only this total and permanent union in the substance and faculties of the soul. And I shall be speaking of the obscure habit of union, for we will explain later, with God's help, how a permanent actual union of the faculties in this life is impossible; such a union can only be transitory. (1)

To understand the nature of this union, one should first know that God sustains every soul and dwells in it substantially, even though it may be that of the greatest sinner in the world. This union between God and creatures always exists. By it he conserves their being so that if the union should end they would immediately be annihilated and cease to exist. Consequently, in discussing union with God we are not discussing the substantial union that always exists, but the soul's union with and transformation in God that does not always exist, except when there is likeness of love. We will call it the union of likeness; and the former, the essential or substantial union. The union of likeness is supernatural; the other, natural. The supernatural union exists when God's will and the soul's are in conformity, so that nothing in the one is repugnant to the other. When the soul rids itself completely of what is repugnant and unconformed to the divine will, it rests transformed in God through love.

The Ascent of Mount Carmel

Book 2, Chapter 5, P162

A Letter to a Spiritual Brother

By St. Therese of Lisieux

My dear little Brother,

My pen, or rather my heart, refuses to call you "Monsieur l;Abbe," and our good Mother has told me that from now on, in writing you I may use the name I always use when I speak of you to Jesus. It seems to me that this Divine Savior has wanted to unite our souls so that we might work for the salvation of sinners, as He once united those of the Venerable Father de la Colombiere and Blessed Margaret Mary. Recently I read in the Life of that Saint: "One day when I was approaching Our Saviour to receive Him in Holy Communion, He showed me His Sacred Heart as a burning furnace and two other hearts (her own and that of Pere Colombiere) which were about to be united and plunged into it, and He said to me: 'It is in this way that My pure love unites these three hearts forever.' He made me understand again that this union was entirely for His glory, and that for the reason He wanted us to be like brother and sister, equally sharing in spiritual benefits. When I pointed out to Our Lord my poverty and the inequality that existed between a priest of such great virtue and a poor sinner like me, He said to me: 'The infinite riches of my Heart will make up for everything and make you completely equal.'".

Perhaps, my Brother, the comparison doesn't seem right to you? It is true that as yet you are no Father de la Colombiere, but I don't doubt that like him you will one day be a real apostle of Christ. For me, the thought doesn't even enter my head to compare myself to Blessed Margaret Mary. I'm only saying that Jesus has chosen me to be the sister of one of His apostles, and the words which this holy lover of His Heart spoke to Him out of humility, I repeat to Him about myself in all truth. Moreover, I'm hoping that His infinite riches will supply for everything I lack in order to achieve the work He has entrusted to me.

I am happy if the Good God makes use of my poor verses to do you a little good. I would have been embarrassed to send them to you in I had not recalled that a sister should hide nothing from her brother. It is surely with a brother's heart that you have welcomed and judged them. No doubt you were surprised to receive "Vivre d'Amour" again. I had no intention of sending it to you twice. I had started to copy it when I remembered that you already had it and it was too late to stop.

Maurice & Therese

The Story of a Love

P. 103

Kingship of Christ

By St. Anthony of Padua from a Sermon on Palm Sunday

(translated by Paul Spilsbury)

All this was done that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by the propet (Zechariah) saying: Tell ye the daughter of Sion: Behold, thy king cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass and a colt, the foal of her that is used to the yoke. [Mt 21.4-5]

The actual words of Zechariah are: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king will come to thee, the just and saviour. He is poor and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim and the horse out of Jerusalem; and the bow of war shall be broken. [Zech 9.9-10]

Sion and Jerusalem are the same city, Sion being the citadel of Jerusalem. They stand for the heavenly Jerusalem, in which is the sight of eternity and the vision of lasting peace. Her daughter is Holy Church, and to her, you preachers, say: "Rejoice greatly by your works, and shout for joy in your mind." This joy is conceived as being of such great and heartfelt happiness that words cannot express it. Behold the king, of whom Jeremiah says: There is none like to thee, O Lord: thou art great, and great is thy name in might. Who shall not fear thee, O king of nations? [Jer 10.6-7]

He, as is told in the Apocalypse, hath on his garment and upon his thigh written: King of kings and Lord of lords [Apoc 19.16]. The swaddling-clothes are his garment, and his 'thigh' is his flesh. At Nazareth he was crowned with flesh as with a diadem; at Bethlehem he was wrapped in swaddling clothes as his purple. These were the first insignia of his reign. At each, the Jews raged, like people wanting to deprive him of his kingdom. In his Passion he was stripped by them of his garments, and pierced with nails. There his kingdom was completely fulfilled, for after crown and purple he lacked only a sceptre; and this he took when he went out, bearing his cross, to the place called Calvary [cf. Jn 19.17]. Isaiah says: The government was laid upon his shoulder [Is 9.6], and the Apostle: We see Jesus, through suffering death, crowned with glory and honour. [cf. Heb 2.9]

Behold, then, thy King, coming to you for your benefit; meek, that he may be loved rather than feared for his power; sitting upon an ass. Zechariah calls him, Just and saviour, poor and riding upon an ass. There are two proper virtues for a king, justice and piety. Your king is just, in respect of justice, rendering to each according to his works. He is meek, and a redeemer, with respect to piety. He is poor, as the Apostle says in today's Epistle: He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. [Phil 2.7] Because Adam, in Paradise, would not serve the Lord, the Lord took the form of a servant, to serve the servant, so that henceforward the servant might not be ashamed to serve the Lord. Being made in the likeness of man, and in habit found as a man. [Phil, loc. cit.] So Baruch says: Afterwards, he was seen upon earth and conversed with men. [Bar 3.38] 'As man' expresses the reality of his manhood; he was not just 'like' a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. [Phil 2.8]

St Augustine² says: "Our Redeemer spread before our captor the mouse-trap of the cross; he placed his own blood as bait. The devil shed the blood of one who was not a debtor, and by doing so retreated from those who were debtors." St Bernard³ says of Christ: "So great was his obedience, that he was ready to lose life itself; being made obedient to the Father even to death, death on the cross." He had nowhere to lay his head [cf. Mt 8.20; Lk 9.58], except that place where, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit [Jn 19.30].

On The Means Necessary For Salvation

By St. Alphonsus Liguori

"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord" - John 1:23

All would wish to be saved and to enjoy the glory of Paradise; but to gain Heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss. This road is the observance of the divine commands. Hence, in his preaching, the Baptist exclaimed: "Make straight the way of the Lord." In order to be able to walk always in the way of the Lord, without turning to the right or to the left, it is necessary to adopt the proper means. These means are, first, diffidence in ourselves; secondly, confidence in God; thirdly, resistance to temptations.

"With fear and trembling", says the apostle, "work out your salvation" - Phil. 2:12.

To secure eternal life, we must be always penetrated with fear; we must be always afraid of ourselves (with fear and trembling), and distrust altogether our own strength; for, without the divine grace we can do nothing. "Without me," says Jesus Christ, "you can do nothing.": We can do nothing for the salvation of our own souls. St. Paul tells us, that of ourselves we are not capable of even a good thought. "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God" - II Cor. 3:5. without the aid of the Holy Ghost, we cannot even pronounce the name of Jesus so as to deserve a reward. "And no one can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost" - I Cor. 12:3 2.

Miserable the man who trusts to himself in the way of God. St. Peter experienced the sad effect of self-confidence. Jesus Christ said to him: "In this night, before cock-crow, thou wilt deny me thrice" - Mat. 26: 34. Trusting in his own strength and in his good will, the Apostle replies: "Yea, though I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee" - 5:35. What was the result? On the night on which Jesus Christ had been taken, Peter was reproached in the court of Caiphas with being one of the disciples of the Savior. The reproach filled him with fear: he thrice denied his Master, and swore that he had never known Him.

Humility and diffidence in ourselves are so necessary for us, that God permits us sometimes to fall into sin, that, by our fall, we may acquire humility and a knowledge of our own weakness. Through want of humility David also fell: hence, after his sin, he said: "Before I was humbled, I offended" - Ps. 18:67. 3. Hence the Holy Ghost pronounces blessed the man who is always in fear: "Blessed is the man who is always fearful" - Prov. 28:14. He who is afraid of falling, distrusts his own strength, avoids as much as possible all dangerous occasions, and recommends himself often to God, and thus preserves his soul from sin. But the man who is not fearful, but full of self-confidence, easily exposes himself to the danger of sin: he seldom recommends himself to God, and thus he falls.

Let us imagine a person suspended over a great precipice by a cord held by another. Surely he would constantly cry out to the person who supports him: Hold fast, hold fast; for God's sake, do not let go. We are all in danger of falling into the abyss of all crime, if God does not support us. Hence we should constantly beseech Him to keep His hands over us, and to help us in all dangers.

In rising from bed, St. Philip Neri used to say every morning: O Lord, keep Thy hand this day over Philip; if Thou do not, Philip will betray Thee. And one day, as he walked through the city, reflecting on his own misery, he frequently said, I despair, I despair. A certain religious who heard him, believing that the saint was really tempted to despair, corrected him, and encouraged him to hope in the divine mercy. But the saint replied: "I despair of myself, but I trust in God, hence, during this life which we are exposed to so many dangers of losing God, it is necessary for us to live always in great distrust in ourselves, and full of confidence in God.

On Grace

By Blessed Angela of Foligno

In this felt experience wherein the soul finds the certitude that God is within it, the soul is given the grace of wanting God so perfectly that everything in it is in true and not false harmony. False harmony exists when the soul says that it wants God but does not really mean it, because its desire for God is not true in everything, in every way, or in every respect. Its desire for God is true when all the members of the body are in harmony with the soul, and the soul in turn is in such harmony with the heart and with the entire body that it becomes one with them and responds as one for all of them. Then the soul truly wants God, and this desire is granted to it through grace.

Hence when the soul is told: "What do you want?" it can respond: "I want God." God then tells it, "I am the one making you feel that desire." Until it reaches this point, the soul's desire is not true or integral. This form of desire is granted to the soul by a grace by which it knows that God is within it, and that it is in companionship with God. This gift is to have a desire, now a unified one, in which it feels that it loves God in a way analogous to the true love with which God has loved us. The soul feels God merging with it and becoming its companion.
(pp. 188-189)

On Obedience

From His Writings on the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales

" Let every soul be subject to higher powers; for there is no power but from God."

Romans 13: 1

There are two sorts of obedience, the one necessary, the other voluntary. By that which is necessary, you must obey your ecclesiastical superiors, as the Pope, the bishop, the parish priest, and such as are commissioned by them; as also your civil superiors, such as your Queen and the magistrates she has established for administering justice; and, finally, your domestic superiors, namely, your father and mother master and mistress.

Now this obedience is called necessary, because no man can exempt himself from the duty of obeying his superiors, God having placed them in authority to command and govern, each in the department that is assigned to him. You must then of necessity obey their commands; but, to be perfect, follow their counsels also, nay, even their desires and inclinations, so far as charity and discretion will permit. Obey them when they order that which is agreeable, such as to eat, or to take recreation; for though there seems no great virtue to obey on such occasions, yet it would be a great sin to disobey. Obey them in matters indifferent, as to wear this or that dress, to go one way or another, to sing or to be silent, and this will be a very commendable obedience. Obey them in things hard, troublesome, or disagreeable, and this will be a perfect obedience. Obey, in fine, meekly, without reply; readily, without delay; cheerfully, without repining; and above all, lovingly, for the love of Him who, through His love for us, made Himself obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross, and who, as St. Bernard says, rather chose to part with His life than His obedience.

We call that obedience voluntary, to which we oblige ourselves by our own choice, and which is not imposed upon us by another. We do not commonly choose our prince, our bishop, our father and mother, nor do even wives, many times, choose their husbands, but we choose our confessor and director; if, then, in choosing, we make a vow to obey, as the holy St. Teresa did, who, besides her obedience solemnly vowed to the superior of her order, bound herself by a simple vow to obey Father Gratian.

We must obey every one of our superiors, according to the charge he has over us. In political matters, we must obey our Queen; in ecclesiastical matters, our prelates; in our domestic circle, father, master, or husband; and in what regards the private conduct of the soul, our ghostly father or director.

On Vainglory

From the Writings of St. John Chrysostom

"Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another."

--Galations 5: 26

The yearning after glory is a strange passion. It displays itself in a hundred different ways. Some wish to be honored, some wish to be in regal power, some aspire to be rich and others sigh to be strong and robust. This tyrannic passion, passing still further on, induces some to seek for glory by their alms-deeds, others by their fasts and mortifications, some by their ostentatious prayers, others by their learning and science; so various are the forms of this monster vice.

One need not be astonished that men seek after the emoluments and grandeur of this world but what is more astonishing (and what more blameable), that any one can be found who is proud and vain of his good works, of his fasts, his prayers, and of his alms. I confess that I am pierced to the heart when I see such holy actions tarnished by secret vanity. I feel as much grieved as I should be if I heard of an illustrious princess, of whom much was expected, giving herself up to all sorts of debauchery and vice.

Men soon find that there is no one more importunate than he who, filled with vainglory, praises himself, gives himself airs, and places on his head a wreath of incense. He is laughed at for his vanity, and the more they notice that he boasts of himself, the more they endeavor to humiliate him. In fact, the more you try to attract the praise of the world by your own vanity and vainglory, the more will people either avoid you or laugh at you.

Thus it happens that the result is contrary to our expectations; we are anxious that the world should praise us, and exclaim, " What a good man! how charitable he is! " But people will say, " What a vain man! how easy to see that he wishes to please men, rather than please God."

If, on the other hand, you hide the good you do, it is then that God will praise you; He even will not allow any holy action to remain long concealed. You may try to suppress the performance of good deeds; He will take care to make them known, aye, better known than you could possibly have intended. You see, then, that there is nothing more antagonistic to glory and honor, when you seek to do good merely for the purpose of being seen, known and admired. It is the way of doing quite the contrary to what you intended, since, instead of showing off your goodness, you will only cause your vanity to be known to all men, and punished by Almighty God.

This vice seems, as it were, to smother all our reasoning faculties, so much so, that one would say that he who is a slave to vainglory had lost his senses. You would look upon that man as a madman who, being short of stature, would really believe that he was growing so tall that he would soon be able to look down on the highest mountain. After this extravagance, you would need no further proof of his insanity.

So, in like manner, when you see a man who considers himself to be above all his fellow creatures, and would be offended were he compelled to mix with the common herd of men, you would seek for no other proof of his madness. He is even more ridiculous than those who have lost the use of reason, for he voluntarily reduces himself to that pitiable state of extravagant folly.