St. Francis de Sales

  Moreover, just as every sort of gem, cast in honey, becomes brighter and more sparkling, each according to its color, so each person becomes more acceptable and fitting in his own  vocation when he sets his vocation in the context of devotion. Through devotion your family cares become more peaceful, mutual love between husband and wife becomes more sincere, the service we owe to the prince becomes more faithful, and our work, no matter what is is, becomes more pleasant and agreeable.
  It is therefore an error and even a heresy to wish to exclude the exercise of devotion from military divisions, from the artisans' shops, from the courts of princes, from family householdes, I acknowledge, my dear Philothea, that the type of devotion which is purely contemplative, monastic and religious can certainly not be exercised in these sorts of stations and occupations, but besides this threefold type of devotion, there are many others fit for perfecting those who live in the secular state.
  Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we can and we must aspire to the life of perfection.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton ~ Our daily work is to do the will of God

Your Will Not Mine

This is the second reading for the Divine Office for the Memorial of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

She offers great insights for learning to do the will of God in our lives.

She didn't have a very easy life, so to have a greater awareness of doing God's will is all the more valuable to us.

Second reading
From a conference to her spiritual daughters by Elizabeth Ann Seton
Our daily work is to do the will of God

I will tell you what is my own great help. I once read or heard that an interior life means but the continuation of our Savior’s life in us; that the great object of all his mysteries is to merit for us the grace of his interior life and communicate it to us, it being the end of his mission to lead us into the sweet land of promise, a life of constant union with himself. And what was the first rule of our dear Savior’s life? You know it was to do his Father’s will. Well, then, the first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will.
I know what his will is by those who direct me; whatever they bid me do, if it is ever so small in itself, is the will of God for me. Then do it in the manner he wills it, not sewing an old thing as if it were new, or a new thing as if it were old; not fretting because the oven is too hot, or in a fuss because it is too cold. You understand — not flying and driving because you are hurried, not creeping like a snail because no one pushes you. Our dear Savior was never in extremes. The third object is to do his will because God wills it, that is, to be ready to quit at any moment and to do anything else to which you may be called…
You think it very hard to lead a life of such restraint unless you keep your eye of faith always open. Perseverance is a great grace. To go on gaining and advancing every day, we must be resolute, and bear and suffer as our blessed forerunners did. Which of them gained heaven without a struggle?…
What are our real trials? By what name shall we call them? One cuts herself out a cross of pride; another, one of causeless discontent; another, one of restless impatience or peevish fretfulness. But is the whole any better than children’s play if looked at with the common eye of faith? Yet we know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life, that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.
But we lack courage to keep a continual watch over nature, and therefore, year after year, with our thousand graces, multiplied resolutions, and fair promises, we run around in a circle of misery and imperfections. After a long time in the service of God, we come nearly to the point from whence we set out, and perhaps with even less ardor for penance and mortification than when we began our consecration to him.
You are now in your first set out. Be above the vain fears of nature and efforts of your enemy. You are children of eternity. Your immortal crown awaits you, and the best of Fathers waits there to reward your duty and love. You may indeed sow here in tears, but you may be sure there to reap in joy.


RESPONSORY 1 Corinthians 7:29, 30, 31; 2:12
The time is growing short,
so we must rejoice as though we were not rejoicing;
we must work in the world yet without becoming immersed in it,
– for the world as we know it is passing away.
We have not adopted the spirit of the world.
– For the world as we know it is passing away.


CONCLUDING PRAYER
O God,
who crowned with the gift of true faith
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s burning zeal to find you,
grant by her intercession
and example that we may always seek you with diligent love
and find you in daily service with sincere faith.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Prayer...

Virtues are formed by prayer.

Prayer preserves temperance.

Prayer suppresses anger.

Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy.

Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit,

and raises man to Heaven.

~ St. Ephraem

On Jesus Alone...

We must pray without tiring,

for the salvation of mankind

does not depend on material success;

nor on sciences that cloud the intellect.

Neither does it depend on arms and human industries,

but on Jesus alone.

~ St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Confidence in God

My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs.  Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings.

~ St. Isaac Jogues

And pray ye without ceasing...

And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men.  For there is in them hope of repentance that they may attain to God.  See, then, that they be instructed by your works, if in no other way.  Be ye meek in response to their wrath, humble in opposition to their boasting:  to their blasphemies return your prayers; in contrast to their error, be ye stedfast in the faith; and for their cruelty, manifest your gentleness.  While we take care not to imitate their conduct, let us be found their brethren in all true kindness; and let us seek to be followers of the Lord (who ever more unjustly treated, more destitute, more condemned?), that so no plant of the devil may be found in you, but ye may remain in all holiness and sobriety in Jesus Christ, both with respect to the flesh and spirit.

~ St. Ignatius of Antioch

Letter to the Ephesians

We shall never learn to know ourselves
except by endeavoring to know God;

for, beholding His greatness,

we realize our own littleness;

His purity shows us our foulness;

and by meditating upon His humility

we find how very far we are from being humble.

St. Teresa of Avila

Petitions of St. Augustine

Lord, Jesus, let me know myself and know Thee,
And desire nothing save only Thee,
Let me hate myself and love Thee,
Let me do everything for the sake of Thee,
Let me humble myself and exalt Thee,
Let me think nothing except Thee,
Let me die to myself and live in Thee,
Let me accept whatever happens as from Thee.
Let me banish self and follow Thee,
And ever desire to follow Thee.

Let me fly from myself and take refuge in THee.

Let me fear for myself, let me fear Thee,
Let me be willing to obey for the sake of Thee.
Let me cling to sonthing save only to Thee.
And let me be poor because of Thee.

Look upon me, that I may love Thee;
Call me that I may see Thee
And for ever enjoy Thee.  Amen.

in The Prayer Book

Without love...

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”

~ St. Therese of Lisieux

On Continually Thinking of God

Those who are filled with an earthly love are always thinking of the object of their attachment, their heart brims with affection for it, their mouth is always full of its praise.  When absent, they constantly speak their love in letters, engrave the treasured name on every tree.

In the same way those who love God are never tired of thinking of him, seeking him and talking to him.  They would like to engrave the holy name of Jesus on the heart of every human being in the world.

To such people, everything speaks of God, and all creation joins them in praising the loved one.  The whole world speaks to them in a silent but intelligible language of their love, everything excites them to holy thoughts, from which arises a stream of ejaculatory prayers to God.

The habit of recollection and ejactulatory prayers is the keystone of devotion and can supply the defects of all your other prayers, but nothing else can fill its place.  Without it, you cannot follow the contemplative life well, or the active life without danger.

~ St. Francis de Sales

in Athirth for God

God has created me...

“God has created me to do Him some definite service.

He has committed some work to me

which He has not committed to another.

I have my mission.

I may never know it in this life,

but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain,

a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good;

I shall do His work.
I shall be an angel of peace,

a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.
Therefore, I will trust Him,

whatever I am,

I can never be thrown away.

If I am in sickness,

my sickness may serve Him,

in perplexity,

my perplexity may serve Him.

If I am in sorrow,

my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain.

He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends.

He may throw me among strangers.

He may make me feel desolate,

make my spirits sink,

hide my future from me.

Still, He knows what He is about.”

~ John Henry Newman

Fruits of the Cross

Take courage and carry your cross with Jesus.  Sleep quietly in the shadow of this tree of life.  Nourish yourself with the fruits that fall from it.  These fruits first appear bitter to the palate of the senses, but afterwards become most sweet to the palate of the spirit.

~ St. Paul of the Cross

in Living Wisdom for Every Day

The Holy Spirit as Sapientia

I heard a voice saying to me,

"This Lady whom you see is Love,

who has Her dwelling place in eternity.
When God wished to create the world,

He leaned down,

and with tender Love,

provided all that was needed,

as a parent prepares an inheritance for a child.

And thus, in a mighty blaze

the Lord ordained all His works.

Then creation recognized its Creator

in its own forms and appearances.

For in the beginning,

when God said,

"Let it be!"

and it came to pass,

the means and the Matrix of creation was Love,

because all creation was formed through Her

as in the twinkling of an eye.

~ St. Hildegard von Bingen
trans. B. Newman (mod.)

Seeing God in everything...

A noble and delicate soul... sees God in everything, finds Him everywhere, and knows how to find Him in even the most hidden things.  It finds all things important, it highly appreciates all things, it thanks God for all things, it draws profit for the soul from all things, and it gives all glory to God.  It places its trust in God.

St. Faustina Kowalska

Divine Mercy Diary (148)



What does love look like?

 

What does love look like?

It has the hands to help others.

It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.

It has eyes to see misery and want.

It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.

That is what love looks like.

~St. Augustine

Jesus, delight of my soul...

Jesus, delight of my soul, Bread of Angels,

My whole being is plunged in You,

And I live Your divine life as do the elect in heaven,

And the reality of this life will not cease, though I be laid in the grave.

Jesus-Eucharist, Immortal God,

Who dwell in my heart without cease,

When I possess You, death itself can do me no harm.

Love tells me that I will see You at life’s end.

Permeated by Your divine life,

I gaze with assurance at the heavens thrown open for me,

And death will shame-facedly go away, empty-handed,

For Your divine life is contained within my soul.

And although by Your holy will, O Lord,

Death is to touch my body,

I want this dissolution to come as quickly as possible,

For through it I am entering eternal life.

Jesus-Eucharist, life of my soul,

You have raised me up to the eternal spheres,

And this, by Your agony and death  midst terrible tortures.

Saint Faustina Kowalska

Divine Mercy Diary

Notebook V, 1393

I bow down before You...

I bow down before You, O Bread of Angels,

With deep faith, hope and love

And from the depths of my soul I worship You,

Though I am but nothingness.

I bow down before You, O hidden God

And love You with all my heart.

The veils of mystery hinder me not at all;

I love You as do Your chosen ones in heaven.

I bow down before You, O Lamb of God

Who take away the sins of my soul,

Whom I receive into my heart each morn,

You who are my saving help.

Saint Faustina Kowalska

Divine Mercy Diary

Notebook V, 1324

Love...

"Totally love Him, Who gave Himself totally for your love."

~ St. Clare of Assisi

Kindness...

Be the living expression of God's kindness;

kindness in your face,

kindness in your eyes,

kindness in your smile.

Let no one ever come to you

without leaving better and happier.

~ Blessed Mother Teresa

The power of prayer...

Without prayer a man will not persevere long in spirituality;

we must ahve recourse to this most powerful means of salvation every day.

~ St. Philip Neri