Lent with Carmelite Saints

Updated as often as possible during these days of Lent to read, reflect and maybe to try to amend some imperfections. May God help us!

Passion Sunday

Passiontide is consecrated to the remembrance and loving contemplation of the sorrows of Jesus. The veiled crucifix and statues, the absence of the Gloria Patri in the responsories of the Divine Office, the suppression of the psalm Judica me at the beginning of Mass are all signs of mourning by which the Church commemorates Our Lord's Passion. Through meditating on Our Lord's Passion we bear His suffering in our hearts and by uniting our own suffering to His (2 Cor 4:10) we shall be able to share in its fruits "If you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts." At the same time let us open our hearts to a lively hope; for our salvation is in the Passion of Jesus. St Paul says in the epistle to Hebrews (9:11-15) that 'by His Blood, entered once into the holies [that is, heaven] having obtained eternal redemption". The passion of Jesus has redeemed us; it has re-opened again our Father's house to us; it is then the motive for our hope.

The Value of Suffering

The Passion of Jesus teaches us in a concrete way that in the Christian life we must be able to accept suffering for the love of God. This is a hard and repugnant task for our nature, which naturally prefers comfort and happiness. Suffering in itself is an evil and cannot be agreeable; but Jesus willed to embrace it in all its plenitude for our sake, he offers it to us and invites us to esteem and love it - as the only means to accomplish the sublime good of our redemption and the sanctification of our souls. God willed to exempt our first parents from suffering by preternatural gifts, but through sin, these gifts were lost forever, and suffering inevitably entered our life. the gamut of sufferings which has harassed humanity is therefore direct outcome of the disorder caused by sin, not only by original sin, but also by actual sins. Yet Church chants: O happy fault! Why? The answer lies in infinite love of God which transform everything and draws from the double evil of sin and suffering the great good of the redemption of the human race. When Jesus took upon Himself the sins of mankind, He also assumed their consequences, that is, suffering and death; and this suffering, embraced by Him during his whole life, and especially in His Passion, became the instrument of our redemption. Let St Therese speak on the value of suffering:

"O Lord, You do not like to make us suffer, but You know it is the only way to prepare us to know You as You know Yourself, tp prepare us to become like You. You know well that if You sent me but a shadow of earthly happiness, I should cling cling to it with all the intense ardour of my heart, and so You refuse me even this shadow... because you wish that my heart be wholly Yours.

Life passes quickly that it is obviously better to have a most splendid crown and a little suffering, than an ordinary crown and no suffering. When I think that, for a sorrow borne with joy, i shall be able to love You more for all eternity, I understand clearly that if You gave me the entire universe, with all its treasures, it would be nothing in comparison to the slightest suffering. Each new suffering, each oang of the heart, is a gentle wind to bear to You, o Jesus, the perfume of the soul that loves You; then you smile lovingly, and immediately make ready a new grief, and fill the cup to the brim, thinking the more the soul grows in love, the more it must grow in suffering too.

What a favour, my Jesus, and how You must love me to send me suffering! Eternity itself will not be long enough to bless You for it. Why this predilection? it is a secret which You will reveal to me in our heavenly home on the day when You will wipe away all our tears.

I am happy not to be free from suffering here; suffering united with love is the only thing that seems desirable to me in this vale of tears (St Therese of Child Jesus "Letters", Story of the Soul)

Patience 

Patience is the virtue which makes us accept for love of God, generously and peacefully, everything that is displeasing to our nature, without allowing ourselves to be depressed by the sadness which easily comes over us when we meet with disagreeable things.

Patience is a special aspect of the virtue of fortitude which prevents our deviating from the right road when we encounter obstacles. it is an illusion to believe in a life without difficulties. many difficulties are surmounted and overcome by an act of courage; others, on the contrary, cannot be mastered. We must learn to bear with them, and this is the role of patience - an arduous task, because it is easier to face obstacle directly, than to support the inevitable oppositions and sufferings of life, which, in time, tend to discourage and sadden us. By fixing our glance on Jesus, the divinely patient One, we can learn to practice patience most effectively. When we see Him who came into the world to save us, living from the first moment of His earthly existence in want, privation, and poverty, and later in the midst of misunderstanding and persecution; when we see Him become the object of the hatred of His own fellow citizen, calumniated, doomed to death, betrayed by a friend, and tried and condemned as malefactor, our souls are stirred: we realized that we cannot be his disciples unless we follow the same road. If Jesus, the Innocent One par excellence, bore so much for love of us, can we, sinnners who are deserving to suffer, not endure something for love of Him? Whatever the total suffering in our lives, it will always be very small, and even nothing, compared with the infinite sufferings of jesus; for in His Passion Christ not only endured the suffering of one life or several human lives, but that of all mankind.

It is very consoling for me to remember that You, the God of might, knew our weaknesses, that You shuddered at the sight of the bitter cup which earlier You had so ardently desired to drink.

In spite of this trial which robs me of all sense of enjoyment, i can still say: 'You have given me, O Lord, a delight in Your doings.' For is there any greater joy than to suffer for Your love, O my God? the more intense and the more hidden the suffering, the more do You value it. And even if, by an impossibility, You should not be aware of my affliction, I should still be happy to bear it, in the hope that by my tears I might prevent or atone for one sin against faith" (St Therese - "Letters" "The Story of the Soul")

Hidden life

St Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus was the Saint who perfected the way of 'hidden life'. She wanted to reserve for God alone the gift of her whole being, and she tried to hide from the eyes of others the riches of her interior life, her heroic virtues. She once said: "Work for the sole end of pleasing God, never looking for any human praise". St Therese prays: "Yes, all must be kept for You with jealous care, because it is so sweet to work for You alone! Then the heart is filled with gladness!...Yes I want to be forgotten, not only by creatures, but even by myself...and to have no other desire than Your glory, my Jesus - that is all! My own I abandon to You". It sounds hard, but not so if we realize it was Jesus Himself has thought us how to practice the hidden life, insisting that we do our good works in secret, only to please God, and without ostentation. He tells us also to guard the secret of our interior life and our relations with Him: "When thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber and shut the door"; to conceal our self-denials: "When thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face"; not to display our good works: "When thou dost give alms, let not thy left hand know what the right hand doth," for those who do their good works before man, to be seen by them, "have received their reward" and will receive no further one from their heavenly Father (Matt 6: 1-18). When "we observe in ourselves a desire for something brilliant", said St Therese, "Let us humbly take our place with the imperfect and know that we are weak souls who must be sustained every instant by God" (Ven Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene)

Humility and confidence
In the Psalm 129 also known as 'De Profundis' or prayer of a sinner trusting in the mercies of God we read: 'Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it. For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word: My soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (D-R B). When the Apostles asked Jesus who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven He answered this way: 'Amen I say to you, unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven' (Matt 18:3-4). St Therese therefore says in Novissima Verba: 'to remain little, is to acknowledge one's nothingness and to expect everything from the good God, as the child expects everything from its father...even among the poor, a child, while he is very little, is given everything that is necessary, but when he has grown, his father no longer wants to support him, and says 'Go to work now!...You can rely on yourself.' It is that I might never hear those words that I never wanted to grow up, because I felt incapable of earning my own living: eternal life."In spiritual terms when a soul forgets its nothingness, and relies on its own strength, knowledge, initiative, or virtues, God leaves it to itself, and the failures which follow, the falls, the fruitlessness of its works - all reveal its insufficiency. God does not introduce a soul to a higher spiritual life, nor admits it to deeper intimacy with Himself, as long as it is not completely despoiled of all confidence in itself. St Teresa of Jesus, speaking of difficulties in overcoming the last obstacles to her total conversion says: 'I must have failed to put my whole confidence in His Majesty and to have a complete distrust of myself' (Life, 8). St Therese is convinced that 'what pleases Jesus is to see me love my littleness and poverty, the blind hope that I have in His mercy. This is my only treasure' and 'I admit, O Lord, that I am very weak; I have salutary proof of it every day. But You deign to teach me the knowledge which makes me glory in my infirmities. This is a very great grace, and only in it do I find peace and contentment of heart, for now I understand Your ways: You give as God, but You want humility of heart'. (Letters) (credits: based on  'Divine Intimacy' meditations)

Humility in our falls
It often happens when we try to practice some virtue or execute a good resolution that we fail and feel discouragement - our inner pride is wounded and deceived. This is because we depend upon our own strength. We act by ourselves. In our busy lives we easily forget that all our strength depends on the grace of God. We often forget about Him in times of prosperity, nor do we have recourse to Him when we fail Him. We rely on ourselves and this is not what God wants us to do: 'Woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to lift him up (Eccl 4:10). In our struggle for better, holy life we are in great need of God's help and considering any failure we should remember that God is our merciful and loving Father. He alone can raise us up. St Teresa of Jesus teaches us that our self-knowledge cannot be separated form the knowledge of God when she says: 'The soul must sometimes emerge from self-knowledge and soar aloft in meditation upon the greatness and the majesty of its God. Doing this will help it to realize its own baseness better than thinking of its own nature, and it will be freer form the reptiles which enter the first room, that is, the rooms of self-knowledge' (Int C 1:2). In her 'Way of Perfection' the Saints says: 'True humility, however deep it may be, neither disquiets, nor troubles, nor disturbs the soul; it is accompanied by peace, joy and tranquility....It enlarges it, and makes it fit ti serve God better', whereas 'false humility only disturbs and upsets the mind and troubles the soul, so grievious is it. I think the devil is anxious for us to believe that we are humble and, if he can, he will lead us to distrust God' (Way, 39). Therefore, when we fall into the same imperfections after so many good resolutions; when after many efforts we still so not succeed in correcting certain faults or in overcoming certain difficulties, St Teresa encourages us to have recourse to the infallible remedy of humility that is: 'the ointment for our wounds' (Int C 3:2). After St Therese of Child Jesus we may say: 'Yes, O my God, I am happy to feel little and weak in Your presence, and my heart remains in peace...I am glad to feel so imperfect and to need Your mercy so much! When we calmly accept the humiliation of being imperfect, Your grace, O Lord, returns at once' (Letters, Novissima Verba). (Based on 'Divine Intimacy' Lenten meditations)

To be hidden with Christ in God
Our Lord's interior life was the life of intimacy with the Holy Trinity. His sacred soul was personally united to the Word, unceasingly enjoying the Beatific Vision. It sees the Word, the subject of His activity, it sees the Father, the cause of its Being and it sees the Holy Spirit, who dwells in it as 'His chosen temple' and who, by covering it with the flame of His love, draws it toward God in perfect accomplishment of His will. Exteriorly, Jesus lives among men, deals with them as one of them, but His real life, His existence as the Son of God, is lived hidden from all human sight, with the Trinity and in the Trinity. The imitation of Jesus' hidden life has for its ultimate end the participation in His interior life; that is, to be hidden 'with Christ in God' - in order to enter with Him  the sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity. St Teresa Margaret expressed this in her ardent desire to 'emulate by faith insofar as it is possible for a creature, the hidden, interior life and activity of the intellect and will of the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ, hypostatically united to the Word' (Spirituality of St Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus). The practice of the hidden life, which St Teresa Margaret perfected, has two aspects. First consists in dying to glory and worldly honours, whereas the second, consists in concentrating entirely on God in a life of relation with Him. The more the soul is able to hide from creatures, the more it is capable to live 'with Christ in God' - as St Paul beautifully expressed, saying: "You are dead [to the world] and your life is hidden with Christ in God"(Col 3:3). The more we are detached from worldly honours, fame, earthly glory and esteem the more we become close to God. Our Lord is the best example: "When the people, therefore, had seen the sign which Jesus had worked, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world." So when Jesus perceived that they would come to take him by force and make Him a king, he fled again to the mountain, himself alone (John 6:14-15).
"My God, I desire to enclose myself forever within Your most loving Heart, as in a desert, so that in You, with You, and for You I may live a hidden life of love and sacrifice" " O Jesus,...since You inspire  me to become as much as possible like, all my efforts will tend toward that end. I shall imitate You especially in those virtues which are most pleasing to Your most lovable Heart - humility and purity of intention, interior as well exterior - always working with a spirit of simplicity" (Spirituality of St Teresa Margaret). 

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The Way of the Cross with Carmelite Saints - St John of the Cross

I. JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH
They all concurred in the verdict guilty, with its sentence of death (Mark 14:64).

Take neither great nor little notice of who is with you or against you, and try always please God. Ask Him that His Will be done in you. Love Him immensly, as He deserves to be loved. (The sayings of light and love, no 155, p. 96)

...Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love. God so acts with us....(The Letters, no 33 p.764)

When something distasteful or unpleasant comes your way, remember Christ crucified and be silent (Letters no 20 p.756).

II. JESUS CARRIES HIS CROSS
Jesus was led away....carrying the cross by Himself (John 19:16-17)

He who seeks not the cross of Christ seeks not the glory of Christ (Sayings no 102)

....It behoves us not to go without the cross, just s our Beloved did not go without it, even to the death of love...(Letters no 11).

Oh! If I could but now fully understand how a soul cannot reach the thicket and wisdom of the riches of God, which are of many kinds, without entering the thicket of many kinds of suffering, finding in this her delight and consolation; and how a soul with an authentic desire for divine wisdom, wants suffering first in order to enter this wisdom by the thicket of the cross (The Spiritual Canticle stanza 36).

III. JESUS FALLS THE FIRST TIME
I was hard pressed and was falling (Psalm 118:13)

On this narrow road there is room only for self-denial (as our Saviour asserts) and the cross. The cross is a supporting staff and greatly lightens and eases the journey (Ascent Bk II, ch 7).

....Not only are temporal goods and bodily delights contradictory to the path leading to God, but so also are spiritual consolations, if possessed or sought with attachment, an obstacle to the way of the cross of Christ, the Bridgeroom. (Canticle, Stanza 3 no 5)


IV. JESUS MEETS HIS AFFLICTED MOTHER
Simeon said to Mary His mother...you yourself shall be pierced with a sword (Luke 2:34-35)

Sometimes, however, and at certain periods, God allows [the soul] to feel things and suffer from them that she might gain more merit and grow in the fervor of love, or for other reasons, as He did with the Virgin Mother, St Paul and others. (Canticle, Stanza 3)


V. SIMEON OF CYRENE HELPS JESUS CARRY HIS CROSS
They pressed [Simeon] into service to carry the Cross (Mark 15:21)

Our Lord proclaimed through St Matthew: My yoke is sweet and my burden light [Mt 11:30], the burden being the cross. If individuals resolutely submit to the carrying of the cross, if they decidedly want to find and endure trial in all things for God, they will discover in all of them great relief and sweetness. (Ascent II ch 7)

Some souls obtain sensible or spiritual sweetness from God because they are incapable of eating the stronger and more solid food for trials of the cross of His Son. He would desire them to take the cross more than any other thing (Ibid Book II ch 12)

VI. VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS
There was in Him no stately bearing to make us look at Him (Is 53:2)

When there is union of love, the image of the Beloved is so sketched in the will, and drawn so intimately and vividly, that it is true to say that the Beloved lives in the lover and the lover in the Beloved....Everything can be called a sketch of love in comparison with that perfect image, the transformation in glory. Yet the attainment of such a sketch of transformation in this life is a great blessing, for with this transformation the Beloved is very pleased. Desiring the bride to put Him as a sketch in her soul, He said in the Song of Songs: Put Me as a seal upon your heart...[Sg 8:6](Canticle, stanza 12)

To the soul that is more advanced in love, more conformed to the divine Will, God communicates Himself more. A person who has reached complete conformity and likeness of will has attained total supernatural union and transformation in God. (Ascent Bk II ch 5).


VII JESUS FALLS FOR THE SECOND TIME
My strength has failed through affliction (Psalm 31:11)

Since you walk in these darknesses and voids of spiritual poverty, you think that everyone and everything is failing you. It is no wonder that in this it also seems God is failing you. But nothing is failing you..... Those who desire nothing else than God walk not in darkness, however poor and dark they are in their own sight. And those who walk not presumptously, nor according to their own satisfactions, whether from God or from creatures, nor do their own will in anything, have nothing to stumble over....(Letters no 19).


VIII. JESUS MEETS THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM
Do not weep for Me. Weep for yourself and for your children (Luke 23:28)

...Christ is little known by those who consider themselves His friends. For we see them going about seeking in Him their own consolations and satisfactions, loving themselves very much, but not loving Him very much by seeking His bitter trials and deaths. (Ascent Bk II ch 7)

IX. JESUS FALLS A THIRD TIME
I looked about, but there was no one to help...no one to lend support (Is. 63:5)

If you do not fear falling alone, do you presume that you will rise up alone? Consider how much more can be accomplished by two together than by one alone. (Sayings no 9)


X. JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HS GARMENTS
They divided His clothes among them (Mt 27:35)

...The soul that is naked of desires and whines, God will clothe with His purity, pleasures, and will. (Ibid, no 98)

Wishing to strip them in fact of this old self and clothe them with the new, which is created according to God...as the Apostle says [Col 3:9-10; Eph 4:22-24; Rom 12:2], God divests the faculties, affections, and senses, both spiritual and sensory, interior and exterior. He leaves the intellect in darkness, the will in aridity, the memory in emptiness, and the affections in supreme afflictions, bitterness and anguish by depriving the soul of the feeling and satisfaction it previously obtained from spiritual blessings. For this privation is one of the conditions required that the spiritual form, which is the union of love, may be introduced into the spirit and united with it. (The dark Night Bk II Ch 3)

XI. JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS
They have pierced my hands and feet (Psalm 22:17)

Crucified inwardly and outwordly with Christ, you will live in this life with fullness and satisfaction of soul, and possess your soul in patience [Luke 21:19] (Sayings no 87)

Let Christ crucified be enough for you, and with Him suffer and take your rest, and hence annihilate yourself in all inward and outward things. (Ibid no 20)

XII. JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS
Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many...he surrendered himself to death (Is 53:11-12)

...He brought about the reconciliation and union of the human race with God through grace. The Lord achieved this....at the moment in which He was most annihilated in all things: in His reputation before people...; in His human nature, by dying; and in spiritual help and consolation from His Father, for He was forsaken....The journey, then, does not consist in consolations, delights, and spiritual feelings, but in the living death of the cross, sensory and spiritual, exterior and interior. (Ascent Bk II ch 7)

True love receives all things that come from the Beloved - prosperity, adversity, even chastisement - with the same eveness of soul, since they are His Will....Death cannot be bitter to the soul than loves, for in it she finds all the sweetness and delight of love....She thinks of death as her friend and bridegroom, and at the thought of it she rejoices as she would over the thought of her betrothal and marriage, and she long for that day and that hour of her death...(Canticle, Stanza 11).


XIII. JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS
He [Joseph of Arimathea] came therefore and took away the body of Jesus (John 19:38)

However intimate may be a person's union with God, there will never be satisfaction and rest until God's glory appears [Ps 17:15]...(The Living Flame of Love stanza 1 no 27)

It is vital for individuals to make acts of love in this life so that being perfected in a short time they may not be detained long, either here on earth or in the next life, before seeing God. (Ibid stanza 1 no 34)


XIV JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB
..they laid Jesus, because the sepulcher was nigh at hand (John 19:42).

If you desire to be perfect, sell your will, give it to the poor in spirit, come to Christ in meekness and humility, and follow Him to Calvary and the sepulcher. (Sayings no 165)

It is fitting that the soul be in this sepulcher of dark death in order that it attain the spiritual resurrection for which it hopes. (Dark Night Bk II ch 6).


Credits: text from 'The Way of the Cross with the Carmelite Saints' Compiled by Sr Joseph Marie, CHT Carmelite Hermit of the Trinity.

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St John Vianney on anger and patience - excerpts from 'The Little Catechism of the Cure of Ars' link

Anger is an emotion of the soul, which leads us violently to repel whatever hurts or displeases us. 

This emotion, my children, comes from the devil: it shows that we are in his hands; that he is the master of our heart; that he holds all the strings of it, and makes us dance as he pleases. See, a person who puts himself in a passion is like a puppet; he knows neither what he says, nor what he does; the devil guides him entirely. He strikes right and left; his hair stands up like the bristles of a hedgehog; his eyes start out of his head - he is a scorpion, a furious lion....Why do we, my children, put ourselves into such a state? It is, mind, because we do not love the good God. Our heart is given up to the demon of pride, who is angry when he thinks himself despised; to the demon of avarice, who is irritated when he suffers any loss; to the demon of luxury, who is indignant when his pleasures are interfered with....How unhappy we are, my children, thus to be the sport of demons? They do whatever they please with us; they suggest to us evil-speaking, calumny, hatred, venegeance: they even drive us so far as to put our neighbour to death. See, Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy; Saul wished to take away the life of David; Theodosius caused the massacre of the inhabitants of Thessalonica, to revenge a personal affront....If we do not put our neighbour to death, we are angry with him, we curse him, we give him to the devil, we wish for his death, we wish for our own. In our fury, we blaspheme the holy Name of God, we accuse His Providence...What fury, what impiety! And what is still more deplorable, my children, we are carried to these excesses for a trifle, for a word, for the least injustice! Where is our faith! Where is our reason? We say in excuse another sin. The good God equally condemns anger, and the excesses that are its consequences....How we sadden our guardian angel! He is always there at our side to send us good thought, and he sees us do nothing but evil...If we did like St Remigius, we should never be angry. See, this saint, being questioned by a Father of the desert how he managed to be always in an even temper, replied, "I often consider that my guardian angel is always by my side, who assists me in all my needs, who tells me what I ought to do and what I ought to say, and who writes down, after each of my actions, the way in which I have done it." Philip II, king of Spain, having passed several hours of the night in writing a long letter to the Pope, gave it to his secretary to fold up and seal. He, being half asleep, made a mistake; when he meant to put sand on the letter, he took the ink bottle and covered all the paper with ink. While he was ashamed and inconsolable, the king said, quite calmly, "No very great harm is done; there is another sheet of paper"; and he took it, and employed the rest of the night in writing a second letter, without the least displeasure with his secretary.

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Refugium Peccatorum - Ora Pro Nobis

This meditation is very encouraging and consoling for us, poor sinners. Mary is our spiritual mother and our  refuge given to us by her Divine Son while He was dying on the Cross: "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:27)

MARY, being the Mother of our Redeemer, you receive sinners with loving kindness, and you do all you can to save them from damnation. What sacrifices you made for us during your earthly life! For thirty-three years—from the time you laid the newborn Savior in the crib of Bethlehem to the day when you stood beneath the cross on Calvary and watched Him die—you suffered a constant martyrdom, for the sword of sorrow continually pierced your soul. But you did not complain. You bore all these sufferings with patience because you knew that the salvation of men was to be brought about in this manner. You even willingly sacrificed Jesus that the sinful human race might be redeemed.

It is impossible for you not to have mercy on sinners. Now that you are in heaven, where you no longer have to make any sacrifices for their salvation, you cannot look on quietly and see how all that you and your divine Son have endured remains without fruit, and how those souls perish on whose account your Son shed His blood and you became the Mother of Sorrows. To the end of the world you will never cease to have mercy on sinners and to intercede for their salvation.

MARY, if you confer upon us so many temporal blessings, you will surely be all the more anxious about our spiritual welfare. The sinner, were he even the outcast of the world, is never rejected by you, but you welcome him with motherly kindness and do not leave him till you have reconciled him to His Judge. As the devil goes about seeking whom he may devour, you go about seeking whom you may save.

As the Mother of Mercy, you are full of kindness and love, not only toward the just, but also toward sinners. Pray for the sinners of the world, especially for those farthest removed from God. Prepare them to receive divine graces. Stand between them and the just punishments of God. Plead for their sincere repentance that they may not be lost. Be their safe refuge and their hope for the sake of Jesus who died for them.

MARY, how well you know that mortal sin is the greatest offence against God. The infinite majesty of God is so great that all creatures in heaven and on earth are as nothing compared to Him. Teach me to understand that when I sin, I refuse obedience to God; I rebel against Him, even despise Him. I crucify Jesus anew by my sins, as the Apostle Paul reminds me, for by my sins I renew the cause for which my divine Savior suffered the death of the cross. Help me to understand more and more the malice of sin that I may hate it above all things and avoid it as the greatest possible evil. Let me rather die than commit a willful mortal sin.

REFUGE OF SINNERS, if I have the misfortune to fall into a grievous sin, let me have recourse to you at once. Obtain for me the grace of a sincere repentance and true contrition. With your help let me walk constantly in the way of penance so that as a penitent I may be saved.

PRAYER
O Almighty and merciful God, Who in the Blessed Virgin Mary have given sinners a refuge and a help, grant us, who are protected by her, the forgiveness of all our sins and the blessings of Your mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Feast of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, Aug. 13)

The illustration of this advocations of the Litany of Loreto included in the main text extols Mary’s role as advocate for spiritual and corporeal works of mercy and is of intricate composition. The cameo with mother and child is delimited by four anchors, symbols of hope, security, and stability. This central image is surrounded by five biblical scenes. Each one of them depicts in miniature size a situation of danger, temptation or fault with subsequent conversion and/or mercy:
In the lower half center, we see the rendering of Saint Peter’s vision of the large sheet filled with all animals of earth and sky (Acts 10:11-12). Peter will have to change his opinion about what is clean and unclean in order to comply with God’s will.
The miniature to the left of Peter portrays a safe harbor (Psalm 108:30). Those who went off to sea experienced distress, but God brought them to the harbor they longed for.
To the right of Peter’s vision is a town-like agglomeration of houses, churches and castles. They are a symbol of refuge for the needy, possibly reflecting 1 Maccabees 10:13,14 and the stronghold of Beth-zur.
The upper left miniature tells about the rescue of Nabal, the evil rich. His wife Abigail implores David to refrain from vengeance. David relents and praises her saying: “Blessed be your good judgment and yourself, who … have prevented me from shedding blood” (1 Samuel 25:33).
The fifth miniature, in the upper right corner, tells the story of Adonijah, who in an attempt to become king turned against David, his father. Abandoned by his followers, he “went and seized the horns of the altar” in search of refuge against Solomon’s vengeance. Solomon acted mercifully, and said to Adonijah: “Go to your home” (1 Kings 2:49ff).

The lemma reminds us that God loves all people (Psalm 87:4f.). It is Mary’s role to bring God’s love into the world, to be the intercessor for all, and to give hope and help to sinners.

Credits: text of the meditation was written by Fr Lovasik as Loreto Litany meditations and can be found on the Intermirifica webpage, whereas explanation of the picture of Our Lady Refuge of Sinners is after 'The Mary Page', relevant links on the sidebar in Rosary section of this blog.

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Lenten Devotions - click to read

"Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly" (Joel 2:12-15).

"We beg you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled with God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Papal message for Lent '09

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LENTEN DEVOTIONS

"Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly" (Joel 2:12-15).

"We beg you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled with God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Stations of the Cross - St Alphonsus Liquori
Stations of the Cross - St Francis of Assisi
Stations of the Cross with Carmelite Saints
Pictorial Stations of the Cross
Sacrament of Penance
Guide to examination of Conscience
Sample of Confession
Lent with Our Lady - collection of Marian meditations for Lent

St John Mary Vianney - The Little Catechism of Cure of Ars - Exhortations and Explanations

St John-Mary Vianney, 'Catechism on prayer'

Optional
Lent video collection Read whole post......

I decided to abstain from posting during the season of Lent apart from occasional weekend's posts. May God bless all visitors to this blog with all spiritual profits Lent is to bring to the souls.

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Fourth Sunday of Lent - Laetare

GOSPEL (John 6: 1-15)
At that time, Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias; and a great multitude followed him, because they saw the miracles which he did on them that were diseased. Jesus therefore went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. Now the pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. When Jesus therefore had lifted up his eyes, and seen that a very great multitude cometh to him, he said to Philip: Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to try him; for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered: Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him: There is a boy here that hath five barley loaves and two fishes: but what are these among so many? Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. The men therefore sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down: in like manner also of the fishes, as much as they would. And when they were filled, he said to his disciples: Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost. They gathered up, therefore, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten. Now those men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said: This is of a truth the prophet that is to come into the world. Jesus therefore when he knew that they would come to take him by force, and make him king, fled again into the mountain himself alone.

Why did Christ try St. Philip?
To test his faith and confidence; to instruct us that before seeking supernatural means, we should first look for natural ways of providing; that the miracle of the multiplying of the loaves should be more marvellous to the people from having seen there was no provision; and that we may learn to trust in God, who is a helper in due time in tribulation. (Ps. 9: 10)

What signs did Christ make use of in this miracle, and why?
According to St. Matthew (14: 19) He lifted up His eyes to heaven, by which He showed that all good gifts come from above; He gave thanks, thus teaching us to give thanks to God for all His blessings. "The table," says St. Chrysostom, "that is approached and is left with prayer will never know want, but the more richly yield its gifts." He blessed the bread showing us that the divine blessing increases all things.

Why did Christ require them to gather up the fragments that were left?
That they should not be wasted or destroyed; that the greatness of the miracle should be made evident by the quantity of the fragments; and that we might learn to honor the gifts of God, even the most insignificant, and if we do not ourselves need them, give them to the poor.

Why did Christ, after this miracle, flee from the people?
Because after this miracle the people recognized in him the Messiah, and would have made Him king. He wished to teach us to flee from praise and honor, and in all our actions seek not our own, but God's glory.

CONSOLATION IN POVERTY
This gospel gives the account of Christ providing for those who followed and listened to Him, which is indeed consoling for the poor. God from the beginning of the world has always cared for His own. For the aid and comfort of His chosen people in time of famine God sent Joseph, the son of the Patriarch Jacob, in advance into Egypt: (Gen. 45: 5) for forty years He fed the children of Israel in the desert with bread from heaven; (Deut. 8: 2, 3) He fed the Prophet Elias by a raven; (3 Kings 7: 6) and thought of Daniel in the lions' den. (Dan. 14: 37) In the New Testament God shows His merciful care for His own, because in great need He fed them marvelously through angels, men, and even animals, as we frequently see in the lives of the saints. Truly has David said: God forsakes not the just, I have been young, and am now old: and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread, (Ps 36:25) that is, one who sincerely serves Him, and seeks before all the kingdom of God and His justice, as Christ commands. (Luke 12: 31) Strive to be a faithful child, and you will have God for your father, and with King David you can cast your care upon the Lord, and He will sustain you. You must not think it is enough to pray and trust in God, He demands that you should use your strength to receive help, for if any man will not work, neither let him eat. (2 Thess. 3: 10)

ASPIRATION
In Thy omnipotence and goodness, O my God, I put my trust, firmly believing that if I fear Thee, serve Thee faithfully, and avoid evil, I shall not be abandoned in poverty, but receive many good things. Amen.

INSTRUCTION ON PREPARATION FOR EASTER
Now the Pasch the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand (John 6: 4)

If we would sing a joyful Alleluia with the Church on the festival of Easter, we must fulfill her desire, and prepare ourselves to celebrate it worthily. Therefore, we should shun improper, clamorous meetings, and retire often to pray in solitude, especially to meditate on the bitter sufferings of our Saviour, for when man is alone, God speaks to his heart. (Osee 2:14) We should carefully examine our conscience, and consider how we stand before God, for upon this day shall be the expiation for you, and the cleansing from all your sins: you shall be cleansed before the Lord; for it is a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls, that is, by fasting, watching, and praying (Lev 16: 30-31). From this Sunday until Easter we should fast more strictly, give more alms to the poor if we are able, or if poor ourselves, bear our poverty more patiently, offering it to Christ in union with His poverty, His hunger, thirst, &c. ; we should make a sincere and contrite confession, and purify our heart from the old leaven of iniquity, that we may keep the Easter meal with Christ in the unleavened bread of purity and truth (1 Cor 5:7-8). For this end we should incite ourselves to holy desires, rise from sin, which is the death of the soul

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St John Vianney, the Cure of Ars "The Little Catechism - Exhortations and Explanations"

For Lenten spiritual reading the Cure of Ars gives us his excellent explanations and exhortations on temptation, sin, last judgment and seven deadly sins - after "The little catechism of the Cure of Ars - from TAN books.

10. ON ANGER

Anger is an emotion of the soul, which leads us violently to repel whatever hurts or displeases us.

This emotion, my children, comes from the devil: it shows that we are in his hands; that he is the master of our heart; that he holds all the strings of it, and makes us dance as he pleases. See, a person who puts himself in a passion is like a puppet; he knows neither what he says, nor what he does; the devil guides him entirely. He strikes right and left; his hair stands up like the bristles of a hedgehog; his eyes start out of his head - he is a scorpion, a furious lion....Why do we, my children, put ourselves into such a state? It is, mind, because we do not love the good God. Our heart is given up to the demon of pride, who is angry when he thinks himself despised; to the demon of avarice, who is irritated when he suffers any loss; to the demon of luxury, who is indignant when his pleasures are interfered with....How unhappy we are, my children, thus to be the sport of demons? They do whatever they please with us; they suggest to us evil-speaking, calumny, hatred, venegeance: they even drive us so far as to put our neighbour to death. See, Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy; Saul wished to take away the life of David; Theodosius caused the massacre of the inhabitants of Thessalonica, to revenge a personal affront....If we do not put our neighbour to death, we are angry with him, we curse him, we give him to the devil, we wish for his death, we wish for our own. In our fury, we blaspheme the holy Name of God, we accuse His Providence...What fury, what impiety! And what is still more deplorable, my children, we are carried to these excesses for a trifle, for a word, for the least injustice! Where is our faith! Where is our reason? We say in excuse another sin. The good God equally condemns anger, and the excesses that are its consequences....How we sadden our guardian angel! He is always there at our side to send us good thought, and he sees us do nothing but evil...If we did like St Remigius, we should never be angry. See, this saint, being questioned by a Father of the desert how he managed to be always in an even temper, replied, "I often consider that my guardian angel is always by my side, who assists me in all my needs, who tells me what I ought to do and what I ought to say, and who writes down, after each of my actions, the way in which I have done it." Philip II, king of Spain, having passed several hours of the night in writing a long letter to the Pope, gave it to his secretary to fold up and seal. He, being half asleep, made a mistake; when he meant to put sand on the letter, he took the ink bottle and covered all the paper with ink. While he was ashamed and inconsolable, the king said, quite calmly, "No very great harm is done; there is another sheet of paper"; and he took it, and employed the rest of the night in writing a second letter, without the least displeasure with his secretary.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - "The seven deadly sins or vices - anger"

9. ON GLUTTONY
Gluttony is an unordinate love of eating and drinking.

We are gluttonous, my children, when we take food in excess, more than is required for the support of our poor body; when we drink beyond what is necessary, so as even to lose our senses and our reason....Oh, how shameful is this vice! How it degrades us! See, it puts us below the brutes: the animals never drink more than to satisfy their thirst: they content themselves with eating enough; and we, when we have satisfied our appetite, when our body can bear no more, we still have recourse to all sorts of little delicacies; we take wine and liquors to repletion! Is it not pitiful? We can no longer keep upon our legs; we fall, we roll into the ditch and into the mud, we become the laughing stock of everyone, even the sport of little children...If death were to surprise us in this state, my children, we should not have time to recollect ourselves; we should fall in that state into the hands of the good God. What a misfortune, my children! How would our soul be surprised! How would it be astonished! We should shudder with horror at seeing the lost who are in Hell....Do not let us be led by our appetite; we shall ruin our health, we shall lose our soul....See, my children, intemperance and debauchery are the support of doctors; that let them live, and gives them a great deal of practice...We hear every day, such a one was drunk, and falling down he broke his leg; another, passing a river on a plank, fell into the water and was drowned....Intemperance and drunkenness are the companions of the wicked rich man....A moment of pleasure in this world will cost us very dear in the other. There they will be tormented by a raging hunger and a devouring thirst; they will not even have a drop of water to refresh themselves; their tongue and their body will be consumed by the flames for a whole eternity....
O my children! we do not think about it; and yet that will not fail to happen to some amongst us, perhaps even before the end of the year! St Paul said that those who give themselves to excess in eating and drinking shall not possess the kingdom of God. Let us reflect on these words! Look at the saints; they pass their life in penance, and we would pass ours in the midst of enjoyments and pleasures. St Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, fasted all Advent, and also from St John Baptist's day to the Assumption. Soon after, she began another Lent, which lasted till the feast of St Michael. She lived upon bread and water only on Fridays and Saturdays, and on the vigils of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and of the Apostles. They say that St Bernard drank oil for wine. St Isidore never ate without shedding tears! If we were good Christians, we should do as the saints have done. We should gain a great deal for Heaven at our meals; we should deprive ourselves of many little things which, without being hurtful to our body, would be very pleasing to the good God; but we choose rather to satisfy our taste than to please God; we drown, we stifle our soul in wine and food. My children, God will not say to us at the Day of Judgment, "Give Me an account of thy body"; but, "Give Me an account of thy soul; what hast thou done with it?"...What shall we answer Him? Do we take as much care of our soul as of our body? O my children! Let us no longer live for pleasures of eating; let us live as the saints have done; let us mortify ourselves as they were mortified. The saints never indulged themselves in the pleasures of good cheer. Their pleasure was to feed on Jesus Christ! Let us follow their footsteps on this earth, and we shall gain the crown which they have in Heaven.

Picture by Pieter Bruegel the Elder - "The seven deadly sins or vices - gluttony"

8. ON ENVY

Envy is a sadness which we feel on account of the good that happens to our neighbour.

Envy, my children, follows pride; whoever is envious is proud. See, envy comes to us from Hell; the devils having sinned through pride, sinned also through envy, envying our glory, our happiness. Why do we envy the happiness and the good of others? Because we are proud; we should like to be the sole possessors of talents, riches, of the esteem and love of all the world! We hate our equals, because they are our equals; our inferiors, from the fear that they may equal us,; our superiors, because they are above us. In the same way, my children, that the devil after fis fall felt, and still feels, extreme anger at seeing us the heirs of the glory of the good God, so the envious man feels sadness at seeing the spiritual and temporal prosperity of his neighbour . We walk, my children, in the footsteps of the devil; like him, we are vexed at good, and rejoice at evil. If our neighbour loses anything, if he is unfortunate, we are joyful...we triumph! The devil, too, is full of joy and triumph when we fall, when he can make us fall as low as himself. What does he gain by it? Nothing. Shall we be richer, becasue our neighbour is poorer? Nothing. Shall we be greater, because he is less? Shall we be happier, because he is more unhappy? O my children! how much we are to be pitied for being like this! St Cyprian said that other evils had limits, but that envy had none. In fact, my children, the envious man invents all sorts of wickedness; he has recourse to evil speaking, to calumny, to cunning, in order to blacken his neighbour; he repeats what he knows, and what he does not know he invents, he exaggerates.
Through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world; and also through envy we kill our neighbour; by dint of malice, of falsehood, we make him lose his reputation, his place....Good Christian, my children, do not do so; they envy no one; they love their neighbour; they rejoice at the good that happens to him, and they weep with him if any misfortune comes upon him.How happy should we be if we were good Christians. Ah! my children, let us, then be good Christians and we shall no more envy the good fortune of our neighbour; we shall never speak evil of him; we shall enjoy a sweet peace; our soul will be calm, we shall find paradise on earth.

Picture as previously drawn by Pieter Bruegel the Elder "The seven deadly sin or vices - Envy".

7. ON LUST
Lust is the love of the pleasures that are contrary to purity.

No sins, my children, ruin and destroy a soul so quickly as this shameful sin; it snatches us out of the hands of the good God and hurls us like a stone into an abyss of mire and corruption. Once plunged in this mire we cannot get out, we make a deeper hole in it every day, we sink lower and lower. Then we lose the faith, we laugh at the truth of religion, we no longer see Heaven, we do not fear Hell. O my children! how much are they to be pitied who give way to this passion! How wretched they are! Their soul, which was so beautiful, which attracted the eyes of the good God, over which He leant as one leans over a perfumed rose, has become like a rotten carcass, of which the pestilential odor rises even to His throne. ...
See, my children! Jesus Christ endured patiently, among His Apostles, men who were proud, ambitious, greedy - even one who betrayed Him; but He could not bear the least stain of impurity in any of them; it is of all vices that which He has most in abhorrence: "My Spirit does not dwell in you," the Lord says, "if you are nothing but flesh and corruption." God gives up the impure to all wicked inclinations of his heart. He lets him wallow, like the vile swine, in the mire, and does not even let him smell its offensive exhalations....The immodest man is odious to everyone, and is not aware of it. God has set the mark of ignominy on his forehead and he is not ashamed; he has a face of brass and a heart of bronze; it is in vain you talk to him of honour, of virtue; he is full of arrogance and pride. The eternal truths, death, judgment, Paradise, Hell - nothing terrifies him, nothing can move him. So, my children, of all sins, that of impurity is the most difficult to eradicate. Other sins forge for us chains of iron, but this one makes them of bull's hide, which can be neither broken nor rent; it is a fire, a furnace, which consumes even the most advanced old age. See those two infamous old men who attempted the purity of the chaste Susannah; they had kept the fire of their youth even till they were decrepit. When the body is worn out with debauchery, when they can no longer satisfy their passions, they supply the place of it, oh, shame! by infamous desires and memories.
With one foot in the grave, they still speak the language of passion, till their last breath; they die as they have lived, impenitent; for what penance can be done by the impure, what sacrifice can be imposed on himself at his death, who during his life has always given way to his passions? Can one at the last moment expect a good confession, a good Communion, from him who has concealed on of these shameful sins, perhaps, from his earliest youth - who has heaped sacrilege on sacrilege? Will the tongue, which has been silent up to thhis day, be unloosed at the last moment? No, no, my children; God has abandoned him; many sheets of lead already weigh upon him; he will add another, and it will be the last....

Picture credit: Pieter Bruegel the Elder "The seven deadly sin or vices - Lechery"

6. ON AVARICE
Avarice is an unordinate love of the goods of this world.


Yes, my children, an ill-regulated love, a fatal love, which makes us forget the good God, prayer, the sacraments, that we may love the goods of this world - gold and silver and lands. The avaricious man is like a pig, which seeks its food in the mud, without caring where it comes from. Stooping towards the earth, he thinks of nothing but the earth, he no longer looks towards Heaven, his happiness is no longer there. The avaricious man does no good till after his death. See, how greedily he gathers his wealth, how anxiously he keeps it, how afflicted he is if he looses it. In the midst of riches, he does not enjoy them; he is, as it were, plunged in a river, and is dying of thirst; lying on a heap of corn, he is dying of hunger; he has everything, my children, and dares not touch anything; his gold is a sacred thing to him, he makes it his divinity, he adores it...
O my children! how many there are in these days who are idolators! how many there are who think more of making a fortune than of serving the good God! They steal, they defraud, they go to law with their neighbour; they do not even respect the laws of God. They work on Sundays and holydays; nothing comes amiss to their greedy and rapacious hands. Good Christians, my children, do not think of their body, which must end in corruption; they think only of their soul, which is immortal. While they are on the earth, they occupy themselves with their soul alone. So you see how assiduous they are at the Office of the Church, with what fervour they pray before the good God, how they sanctify the Sunday, how recollected they are! The days, the months, the years are nothing to them; they pass them in loving the good God, with their eyes fixed on their eternity....
Seeing us so indifferent to our salvation, and so occupied in gathering up a little mud, would not anyone say that we were never to die? Indeed, my children, we are like people who , during the summer, should make an ample provision of gourds, of melons, for a long journey; after the winter, what would remain of it? Nothing. In the same way, my children, what remains to the avaricious man of all his wealth when death comes upon him unawares? A poor covering, a few planks, and the despair of not being able to carry his gold away with him. Misers generally die in this sort of despair, and pay eternally to the devil for their insatiable thirst for riches. Misers, my children are sometimes punished even in this world. Once St Hilarion, followed by a great number of his disciples, going to visit the monasteries under his rule, came to the abode of an avaricious solitary. On their approach, they found watchers in all parts of the vineyard, who threw stones and clods of earth at them to prevent their touching the grapes. The miser was well punished, for he gathered that year much fewer grapes than usual, and his wine turned into vinegar. Another solitary, named Sabbas, begged him, on the contrary, to come into his vineyard and eat the fruit. St Hilarion blessed it, and sent in to it his religious, to the number of three thousand, who all satisfied their hunger; and twenty days after, the vineyard yielded three hundred measure of wine, instead of the usual quantity of ten. Let us follow the example of sabbas, and be disinterested; the good God will bless us, and after having blessed us in this world, He will also reward us in the other.

5. ON SLOTH
Sloth is a kind of cowardice and disgust, which makes us neglect and omit our duties, rather than do violence to ourselves.


Alas, my children, how many slothful people there are on this earth: how many are cowardly, how many are indolent in the service of the good God. We neglect, we omit our duties of piety, just as easily as we should take a glass of wine. We will not do violence to ourselves; we will not put ourselves to any inconvenience. Everything wearies, everything disgusts the slothful man. Prayers, the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which do so much good to pious souls, are a torture to him. He is weary and dissatisfied in church, at the foot of the altar, in the presence of the good God. At first he feels only dislike and indifference towards everything that is commanded by religion. Soon after, you can no longer speak to him either of Confession or Communion; he has no time to think of those things. O my children! how miserable we are in losing, in this way, the time that we might so usefully employ in gaining Heaven, in preparing ourselves for eternity! How many moments are lost in doing nothing, or in doing wrong, in listening to the suggestions of the devil, in obeying him! Does not that make us tremble? If one of the lost had only a day or an hour to spend for his salvation, to what profit would he turn it! What haste he would make to save soul, to reconcile himself with the good God! And we, my children, who have days and years to think of our salvation, to save our souls - we remain there with our arm crossed, like that man spoken of in the Gospel. We neglect, we lose our souls. When death shall come, what shall we have to present to Our Lord? Ah! my children, hear how the good God threatens the idle: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire." "Take that unprofitable servant, and cast him out into the exterior darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Idleness is the mother of all vices. Look at the idle; they think of nothing but eating, drinking, and sleeping. They are no longer men, but stupid beasts, giving up to all their passions; they drag themselves through the mire like very swine. They are filthy, both within and without. They feed their soul only upon impure thoughts and desires. They never open their mouth but to slander their neighbour, or to speak immodest words. Their eyes, their ears, are open only to criminal objects....O my children! that we may resist idlness, let us imitate the saints. Let us watch continually over ourselves; like them, let us be very zealous in fulfilling all our duties; let the devil never find us doing nothing, lest we should yield to temptation. Let us prepare ourselves for a good death, for eternity. Let us not lose our time in lukewarmness, in negligence, in our habitual infidelities. Death is advancing: tomorrow we must, perhaps, quit our resolutions, our friends. Let us make haste to merit the rewards promised in Paradise to the faithful servant in the Gospel.

4. ON PRIDE
Pride is an untrue opinion of ourselves, an untrue idea of what we are not.


The proud man is always disparaging himself, that people may praise him the more. The more the proud man lower himself, the more he seeks to raise his miserable nothingness. He relates what he has done, and what he has not done, he feeds his imagination with what has been said in praise of him, and seeks by all possible means for more; he is never satisfied with praise. See, my children, if you only show some little displeasure against a man given up to self-love, he gets angry, and accuses you of ignorance or injustice towards him...My children, we are in reality only what we are in the eyes of God, and nothing more. Is it not quite clear and evident that we are nothing more, that we can do nothing, that we are miserable? Can we lose sight of our sins, and cease to humble ourselves? If we were to consider well what we are, humility would be easy to us, and the demon of pride would no longer have any room in our heart. See, our days are like grass - like the grass which now flourishes in the meadows, and will presently be withered; like an ear of corn which is fresh only for a moment, and is parched by the sun. In fact, my children, today we are full of life, full of health; and tomorrow, death will perhaps come to reap us and mow us down, as you reap your corn and mow your meadows...Whatever appears vigorous, whatever shines, whatever is beautiful, is of short duration....The glory of this world, youth, honours, riches, all pass away quickly, as quickly as the flower of grass, as the flower of the field...Let us reflect that so we shall one day be reduced to dust; that we shall be thrown into the fire like dry dust, if we do not fear the good God. Good Christians know this is very well, my children; therefore they do not occupy themselves with their body; they despise the affairs of this world; they consider only their soul and how to unite it to God. Can we be proud in the face of the examples of lowliness, of humiliations, that Our Lord has given, and is still giving us every day? Jesus Christ came upon earth, became incarnate, was born poor, lived in poverty, died on a gibbet, between two thieves....He instituted an admirable Sacrament, in which He communicates Himself to us under the Eucharistic veil; and in this Sacrament He undergoes the most extraordinary humiliations. Residing continually in our tabernacles, He is deserted, misunderstood by ungrateful men; and yet He continues to love us to serve in the Sacrament of the Altar. O my children! what an example of humiliation does the good Jesus give us!
Behold Him on the Cross to which our sins have fastened Him; behold Him: He calls us, and says to us, "Come to Me, and learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.""How well the saints understood this invitation, my children! Therefore, they all sought humiliations and sufferings. After their example, then, let us not be afraid of being humbled and despised. St. John of God (picture on the left), at the beginning of his conversion, counterfeited madness, ran about the streets, and was followed by the populace, who threw stones at him; he always came in covered with mud and with blood. He was shut up as a madman; the most violent remedies were employed to cure him of his pretended illness; and he bore it all in the spirit of penance, and in expiation of his past sins. The good God, my children, does not require of us extraordinary things. He wills that we should be gentle, humble, and modest; then we shall always be pleasing to Him; we shall be like little children; and He will grant us the grace to come to Him and to enjoy the happiness of the saints.

Credits: The upper picture is by Pieter Bruegel the Elder "Seven deadly sins - Pride".

3. ON SIN
Sin is a thought, a word, an action, contrary to the law of God.


"By sin, my children, we rebel against the good God, we despise His justice, we tread under foot His blessings. From being children of God, we become the executioner and assassin of our soul, the offspring of Hell, the horror of Heaven, the murderer of Jesus Christ, the capital enemy of the good God. O my children! if we thought of this, if we reflected on the injury which sin offers to the good God, we should hold it in abhorrence, we should be unable to commit it; but we never think of it, we like to live at our ease, we slumber in sin. If the good God sends us remorse, we quickly stifle it, by thinking that we have done no harm to anybody; that God is good, and that He did not place us on the earth to make us suffer. Indeed, my children, the good God did not place us on the earth to suffer and endure, but to work out our salvation. See, He wills that we should work today and tomorrow; and after that, an eternity of joy, of happiness, awaits us in Heaven. ...O my children! how ungrateful we are! The good God calls us to Himself; He wishes to make us happy forever, and we are deaf to His word, we will not share His happiness; He enjoins us to love Him, and we give our heart to the devil. ...The good God commands all nature as its Master; He makes the winds and the storms obey Him; the angels tremble at His adorable will: man alone dares to resist Him. See, God forbids us that action, that criminal pleasure, that revenge, that injustice; no matter, we are bent upon satisfying ourselves of a moment's pleasure, or give up a sinful habit, or change our life. What are we, then, that we dare thus to resist God? Dust and ashes, which He could not annihilate with a single look....
"By sin, my children, we despise the good God. We renew His Death and Passion; we do as much evil as all the Jews together did, in fastening Him to the Cross. Therefore, my children, if we were to ask those who work without necessity on Sunday: "What are you doing there?" and they were to answer truly, they would say, "We are crucifying the good God." Ask the idle, the gluttonous, the immodest, what they do every day. If they answer you according to what they are really doing, they will say, " We are crucifying the good God.". O my children! it is very ungrateful to offend a God who has never done us any harm; but it is not the height of ingratitude to offend a God, who has done us nothing but good? It is He who created us, watched over us. He holds us in His hands; if He chose, He could cast us into the nothingness out of which He took us. He has given us His Son, to redeem us from the slavery of the devil; He Himself gave Him up to death that He might restore us to life; He has adopted us as His children, and ceases not to lavish His graces upon us. Notwithstanding all this, what use do we make of our mind, of our memory, of our health, of those limbs which He gave us to serve Him with? We employ them, perhaps, in committing crimes. "The good God, my children, has given us eyes to enlighten us, to see Heaven, and we use them to look at criminal and dangerous objects; He has given us a tongue to praise Him, and to express our thoughts, and we make it an instrument of iniquity - we swear, we blaspheme, we speak ill of our neighbour, we slander him; we abuse the supernatural graces, we stifle the salutary remorse by which God would convert us. ...we reject the insiprations of our good guardian angel. We despise good thoughts, we neglect prayer and the Sacraments. What account do we make even of the Word of God? Do we not listen to it with disgust? How miserable we are! How much we are to be pitied! We employ the time that the good God has given us for our salvation, in losing our souls. We make war upon Him with the means He has given us to serve Him; we turn His own gifts against Him! Let us cast our eyes, my children, upon Jesus fastened to the Cross, and let us say to ourselves, "This is what it has cost my Saviour to repair the injury my sins have done to God." A God coming down to the earth to be the victim of our sins! A Dod suffering, a God dying, A God enduring every torment, becasue He has put on the semblance of sin, and has chosen to bear the weight of that Cross, let us conceive once for all the malice of sin, and the abhorrence ikn which we should hold it. ...Let us enter into ourselves, and see hat we ought to do to repair our past sins; let us all together say to Him, from the bottom of our heart, "O Lord, who art here crucified foe us, have mercy upon us! Thou comest down from Heaven to cure souls of sin; cure us, we beseech; cause our souls to be purified by approaching the tribunal of penance; yes, O God! make us look upon sin as the greatest of all evils, and by our zeal in avoiding it, and in repairing those we have had the misfortune to commit, let us one day attain to the happiness of the saints."

Credit: picture is "Sin, Satan and Death" by William Hogarth.

2. ON TEMPTATION


We are all inclined to sin, my children; we are idle, greedy, sensual, given to the pleasures of the flesh. We want to know everything, to learn everything, to see everything; we must watch over our mind, over our heart, and over our senses, for these are the gates by which the devil penetrates. See, he prowls round us incesantly; his only occupation in this world is to seek companions for himself. All our life he will lay snares for us, he will try to make us yield to temptation; we must, on our side, do all we can to defeat and resist him. We can do nothing by ourselves, my children; but we can do everything with the help of the good God; let us pray Him to deliver us from this enemy of our salvation, or to give strength to fight against him. With the Name of Jesus we shall overthrow the demons; we shall put them to flight. With this Name, if they sometimes dare to attack us, our battles will be victories, and our victories will be crowns for Heaven, all brilliant with precious stones.
See, my children, the good God refuses nothing to those who pray to Him from the bottom of their heart. St Teresa, being one day in prayer, and desiring to see the good God, Jesus Christ showed to the eyes of her soul His Divine hands; then, another day, when she was again in prayer, He showed her the whole of His Sacred Humanity. The good God who granted the desire of St Teresa will also grant our prayers. If we ask of Him the grace to resist temptations. He will grant it to us; for He wishes to save us all, he shed His Blood for us all, He died for us all, He is waiting for us all in Heaven. We are two or three hundred [in the Cure of Ars parish] here: shall we all be saved. shall we all go to Heaven? Alas! my children, we know nothing about it; but I tremble when I see so many sould lost in these days.
See, they all fall into Hell as the leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter. We shall fall like the rest, my children, if we do not avoid them, we do not fight generously, with the help of the good God - if we do not invoke His Name during the strife, like St Anthony in the desert.


This saint having retired into an old sepulcher, the devil came to attack him; he tried at first to terrify him with horrible noise; he even beat him so cruelly that he left him half dead and covered with wounds. "Well", said St Anthony, "here I am, ready to fight again; no, thou shalt not be able to separate me from Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God." The spirits of darkness redoubled their efforts, and uttered frightful cries. St Anthony remained unmoved, becasue he put all his confidence in God. After the example of this saint, my children, let us be always ready for the combat; let us put our confidence in God; let us fast and pray; and the devil will not be able to separate us from Jesus Christ, either in this world or the next.

Credits: first picture is by Lafosse "Temptation of Christ", the second is by Hieronim Bosch "Temptation of St Anthony".

1. ON THE LAST JUDGMENT



Our Catechism tells us, my children, that all men will undergo a particular judgment on the day of their death. No sooner shall we have breathed our last sigh than our soul, without leaving the place where it expired, will be presented before the tribunal of God. Wherever we may die, God is there to exercise His justice. The good God, my children, has measured out our years that He has resolved to leave us on this earth, He has marked out one which shall be our last; one day which we shall not see succeeded by other days; one hour after which there will be for us no more time. What distance is there between that moment and this - the space of an instant. Life, my children, is a smoke, a light vapour; it disappears more quickly than a bird that darts through the air, or a ship that sails on the sea, and leaves no trace of its course!
When shall we die? Alas! Will it be in a year, in a month? Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps today! May not that happen to us which happens to so many others? It may be that at a moment when you are thinking of nothing but amusing yourself, you may be summoned to the judgment of God, like the impious Baltassar. What will then be the astonishment of that soul entering on its eternity? Surprised, bewildered, separated thenceforth from its relations and friends, and, as it were, surrounded with Divine light, it will find in its Creator no longer a merciful Father, but an inflexible Judge. Imagine to yourselves, my children, a soul at its departure from this life. It is going to appear before the tribunal of its Judge, alone with God; there is Heaven on one side, Hell on the other. What object presents itself before it? The picture of ite whole life! All its thoughts, all its words, all its actions, are examined.
This examination will be terrible, my children, becasue nothing is hidden from God. His infinite wisdom knows our most inmost thoughts; it penetrates to the bottom of our hearts, and lays open their innermost folds. In vain sinners avoid the light of day that they may sin more freely; they spare themselves a little sham the eyes of men, but it will be of no advantage to them at the day of judgment; God will make light the darkness under cover of which they thought to sin with impunity. The Holy Ghost, my children, says that we shall be examined on our words, our thoughts, our actions ; we shall be examined on our words, our thoughts, our actions; we shall be examined even on the good we ought to have done, and have not done, on the sins of others of which we have been the cause. Alas! so many thoughts to which we abandon ourselves - to which the mind gives itself up; how many in one day! in a week! in a month! in a year! How many in the whole course of our life! Not one of this infinite number will escape the knowledge of our Judge.
The proud man must give an account of all his thoughts of presumption, of vanity, of ambition; the impure of all his evil thoughts, and of the criminal desires with which he has fed his imagination. Those young people who are increasingly occupied with their dress, who are seeking to please, to distinguish themselves, to attract attention and praise, and who dare not make themselves known in the tribunal of Penance, will they be able still to hide themselves at the day of the judgment of God? No, no! They will appear there such as they have been during their life, before Him who makes known all that is most secret in the heart of man. We shall give an account, my children, of our oaths, of our imprecations, of our curses. God hears our slanders, our calumnies, our free conversations, our worldly and licentious songs; He hears also the discourse of the impious. This is not all, my children; God will also examine our actions. He will bring to light all our unfaithfulness in His service, our forgetfulness of His Commandments, our transgressions of His law, the profanation of His Churches, the attachment to the world, the ill-regulated love of pleasure and of the perishable goods of earth. All, my children, will be unveiled; those thefts, that injustice, that usury, that intemperance, that anger, those disputes, that tyranny, that revenge, those criminal liberties, those abominations that cannot be named without blushes...

Credits: the picture is "Last Judgment" by Hieronymus Bosch

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