Prayer in General

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(Page 206)

I. Prayer in its broadest sense includes almost all the actions that proceed from the virtue of Religion. It is, in general, the raising up of the mind and heart to God, or it is the approach of man to communication with Him. God has inclined Himself to us by creating us, and has followed this up by uniting His Son to humanity. Something more is required on our part to perfect the communication. Prayer completes the circuit, and establishes a direct and continual current of human action towards God, and of the divine action of grace towards us. God is the source of all the supernatural energy that works in us. This energy is ever ready to go forth in abundance, but it must wait for our action following on that of God, the action of prayer, which is an essential condition for the accomplishment of the divine operations in us. The first impulse of grace is from God, then prayer must intervene as the channel of the regular and continuous transmission of grace to us. Devotion, which proceeds from the virtue of Religion, finds one of its chief exercises in prayer. Prayer is one of the chief expressions of devotion, for it includes the recognition of God, aspiring to Him, rendering Him the homage of adoration and love, beseeching Him to bestow His gifts on us. This is one of the highest employments of the intelligence and will of man. It is specially distinctive of rational creatures; for although it prevails among the lowest races of men, there is no rudimentary form from which it can have been developed, in even the highest races of animals; and it is most effective in keeping man from reverting in life and morals to the animal type.

II. Consider the efficacy of prayer. It is not enough for us to have been placed on the supernatural path by God, but we require the continual influx of His grace every day (Page 205) of our lives, for we remain strictly dependent on Him. Our supernatural duties are still absolutely beyond us, and even in the works of the natural order, we require to be helped against our tendency to error and to degeneration. God places the abundance of His treasures at our disposal, but prayer is the key that unlocks them. He gives us our daily bread, but we have to labour in the sweat of our brow before we can eat of it; prayer, like agriculture, is a necessary condition that must precede and prepare the harvest of graces which will support our supernatural and natural life. In prayer we have provision for all our necessities. Prayer places the omnipotence of God at our service. Prayer is the greatest source of energy in this world. To the man who besought Him for a miracle Our Lord said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark ix. 22). Be careful not to neglect so great salvation. You cannot employ your time more beneficially and more happily than in intercourse with God.

III. Prayer is an absolute necessity for us; it is in a sense our life; for it connects us as members with the central heart of all being, from which the throbs of supernatural life go forth. Without prayer we shall grow languid, become susceptible to any infection which is rife, and at last die a spiritual death. The Old Testament commands us to make prayer the chief occupation of our lives; this is the teaching of every one of the Sacred Books, the example given by every holy man. In the New Testament we have again the command and the example of Our Blessed Lord; and the Apostles enforce the lesson that we should pray without ceasing. As the earth for ever receives fertilizing rains and snows from heaven, and gives the moisture back in the form of imperceptible vapour, so we must act reciprocally with God, receiving graces and returning praise. Be assured that your happiness and success, strength to do, light to understand, fortitude to endure, can only come through prayer.

All for Jesus, all for Mary. 

Such shall be our password gentle reader.  

Til next time.

Devotion

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(Page 204)

I. Devotion, or more correctly devotedness, is one of the first effects of the virtue of Religion. It is the desire to render God His due, it is a promptitude of the will to serve God, to endure all things in His service, and to avoid all that is hostile to Him; it is a fervent consecration of self to God, and a certain supernatural enthusiasm for Him. Hence Devotion is not to be considered as a mere tenderness residing in the sensitive nature, nor as an attachment to external practices. These two things may exist simultaneously with considerable carelessness about the divine law, or even with attachment to sin; they may be merely the expression of natural temperament, or the clinging to custom and habit. Real devotion or devotedness has a much larger range, and penetrates much more deeply; it is grounded on intellectual considerations, and operates upon the will as an incitement to practical action. Hence its scope is not limited to prayer and the worship of God, but extends to our whole life, and enters into all our virtues, giving us fervour, vigour and perseverance, elevating our hearts to God, and making our service of Him a reality. Take care that your service of God be not a matter of routine, perfunctory, languid, lifeless, ineffectual. Take care lest your good works be merely an outlet for natural energies. If your devotion be real, you will be equally ready to serve God in every capacity; but if your fervour extends only to those functions which are agreeable or honourable, you may know that the force which stimulates you is not devotion but human nature.

II. Consider the sources of Devotion. It does not depend on any peculiarities of natural character such as are present in some men and absent in others. It proceeds chiefly from God who infuses the supernatural virtues of Justice and Religion; but it depends in a secondary degree on us, and on our realizing to ourselves by deep consideration the great truths of faith. The thought of God, His perfections (Page 205) and His works, and His claims on us; the thought of Jesus Our Lord, His life, His love, His death; the thought of our lowliness, and the service we owe to God; the thought also of the miseries of the world on account of its aversion from God, of the good that each of us can do, of the work that God assigns to us in counteracting these miseries, of the strength that He will give us for that work, of the power contained in prayer and good example all this should be enough to move any one who is not utterly selfish and useless, to labour for God with thorough devotedness. Let the truths of religion be a reality to you, and a reality that leads to energetic action. Pray ardently for the gift of devotion, and it will be with you as with the wise man: "I wished and understanding was given me; and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me" (Wisd. vii. 7).

III. The effects of Devotion may be summed up as peace, joy and delight in the service of God, great hopefulness and trust in Him, alacrity and facility in all good works. Devotion also stimulates the natural energies, and engenders an enthusiasm which makes us ready for all things. It is true that devotion makes us more sensitive to the evils prevailing in the world, the horrible offences against God, and our own shortcomings; and that it will not allow us to enjoy the tranquillity of those who are contented with all the evils of life, so long as they affect only other people. But this sadness is that which God promises to turn into joy (John xvi. 20); and of which David spoke: "My soul refused to be comforted; I remembered God and was delighted" (Ps. Ixxvi. 3, 4). The supernatural vigour of devotion will bear you up against all depressing and enervating influences. The absence of it is the cause of much of the weariness, discouragement, disillusion, disgust, that prevail in the world. Serve God fervently and obey the command: "Rejoice in the Lord always ; again I say rejoice" (Phil. iv. 4).

The Virtue of Religion

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(Page 202) I. The sense of religion, or "Religion" said subjectively, is a virtue allied with justice, which renders to God that which is due to Him on account of His supreme excellence. It follows on faith in God as the Truth, and love of Him as Life; and its peculiar operation consists in worshipping Him as Lord and Ruler. There is in man a natural aptitude for this, which asserts itself indomitably in all, even in the most materialistic savages. The merely natural man knows only of the manifestation of God in Nature, and his religion quickly passes into Nature-worship and Pantheism. Man needs a specially infused aptitude in order to worship God as supernaturally manifested, and to accommodate himself to the laws and ordinances of objective revealed religion. Like the prophet he has to say, "A a a, Lord God, behold I cannot speak, for I am a child" (Jer. i. 6); then the Lord touches his lips, and puts the words of the higher worship into his mouth. The infused virtue of Religion directs man in rendering to God the duties that He imposes both spiritual and material, those of the soul, and those that are associated with times, and places, and persons, and offerings, such as feast-days and temples, vows and sacrifices, the consecration of persons and the offering of tithes. Religion regulates the first of human relations, that which man has towards his Creator, it dictates the first of his duties, and thus it holds the first place among the moral virtues. Let God be the beginning of all things with you. Place His service before all other service. Let all your actions rest on Him and seek Him. Unless your life be well grounded on this foundation it will necessarily be a failure.

II. There are two spheres for the exercise of Religion, corresponding to the two departments of our being, the internal and the external, the soul and the body. Our religiousness must first of all be internal and spiritual. "God is a spirit; and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit (Page 203) and in truth" (John iv. 24). Our worship must be grounded on intelligence and free-choice, for these are the principles that give a moral value to human actions. Without this worship of the soul, our service is no more than the blood of calves and goats which God rejects (Ps. xlix.); it is merely mechanical, and abominable to the Lord. But internal worship is not all. As man is constituted, he must express his sentiments in external forms of word and action ; and these external forms serve to stimulate his inward sentiments, and impress immaterial truths upon his intelligence. Outward forms are specially necessary for collective worship, which is due to God as the homage of our corporate life, in addition to the homage that we owe as individuals. Outward forms have further been appointed by Christ as the symbols and channels of grace in His seven sacraments. Take care that you do not make your religion consist in faith and feeling alone, or in outward observances alone. Each is necessary, neither alone is complete.

III. As the Cardinal Virtues enter as factors into all our virtues, so Religion, as the highest exercise of Justice, must inspire every action so as to give it a supernatural value. Even those duties which regard our neighbours and ourselves in the natural sphere should be fulfilled as duties towards God as well; otherwise they end in the natural order, and are ineffective to please God and receive a reward in the supernatural order. Only in this manner can the service of man be considered as the service of God. Further, the religious sense is the originating cause of most of the virtues and acts of beneficence practised by men, and of every high principle that prevails in the world. Even those who profess to carry out such things on merely natural grounds of philanthropy or expedience without reference to religion, have nevertheless received these ideas as an inheritance from the ages of faith or have copied them from Christianity. Cultivate the sense of religion and duty to God; it will help you to fulfil all natural duties and give them a supernatural value.

A Story of Hope

Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House in the Big Woods

My strawberry-blond, freckled-faced, non-stop mother, Jeannine, was the youngest of four and as such was hopelessly spoiled. Nicknamed “Peaches,” she was a very welcome addition to my grandparents after the loss of two babies beforehand. She was also quite a bit younger than her oldest brother, Dick, who graduated high school the year Mom received her First Communion.

My grandfather was a foreman on the B&O Railroad. The family moved quite a bit around Ohio and Indiana until settling for the longest period of time in the small railroad town of Willard, Ohio. Dick and Bill, the brother who came 14 months after, had been football and basketball stars at the local high school. Mary, who was a teenager by the time Mom was 8, was already working at the local movie theatre. Everyone in town knew who my mom was, as she rode her bike from one end to the other with reckless abandon.

It was on a Sunday in December, and after 10am Mass, Mom was given her customary dime allowance in order to go see a movie in the afternoon. Even though it was cold, she rode her bike to the Temple Theatre in downtown Willard, where Mary welcomed her with a box of popcorn. Bill was home with Grandma.

Dick had left home for the Navy after graduation in June. He had wanted to join the Army, but Grandpa did not want his son sleeping in a foxhole. At least with the Navy, Grandpa said, you’d have a clean bed out of the dirt. After training at Naval Station Great Lakes near Waukegan, Illinois, Dick was sent to San Francisco, and then Hawaii. The family received frequent postcards of palm trees and hula dancers, and Jeannine (my mom) could not wait to see what he would send for Christmas. She wanted a hula skirt.

Settling in for the 1pm show, Jeannine started to eat her popcorn. Several minutes into the movie, the film stopped and the screen went black. Suddenly the lights went up. “We are sorry, but the film cannot be shown and the theatre is closed for the remainder of the day. Please come to the desk for your refund.” Jeannine went to complain to Mary, but she was already gone.

Hopping on her bike, Jeannine noticed people running up and down the street, and speaking in rushed, hushed tones. Some looked at her with knowing eyes and nodded. “Hurry home,” more than one said.

As she walked up the steps, she could see her mother sitting by the radio attentively, crying. Mary and Bill were sitting next to her, crying and comforting their mother.

As Jeannine stood speechless, her mother collected herself and said, “They’ve bombed Pearl Harbor. That’s where Dick is.” Jeannine could not quite understand what it meant, but she knew that it was terrible and frightening. She hugged her mother and began to cry as well.

Shortly thereafter, her father came home. She had never seen him cry before, but he did and kept saying, “Dick was always such a good boy. Dick was always such a good boy.” It was then that her mother said, “As long as we don’t know, we always have hope.”

The next few weeks were a whirlwind. Their lives and the lives of everyone in that small town changed dramatically. The town’s sons went off to enlist. A scrap drive was announced, and Jeannine and her friends began to collect scrap metal and rubber in their wagons. Rationing was to be implemented, and Jeannine’s mom knew that food that was readily available, such as sugar and meat, would be prized.

This would be the last Christmas for a long while that they would have more than one dozen Christmas cookies; big Sunday dinners would be a thing of the past. Jeannine did not see her dad for three weeks: as the foreman, he needed to direct the trains taking soldiers to the coast and assist in other cities as well.

The biggest change to their household was the ritual of waiting. Jeannine and her siblings went to school and her mother went to daily Mass. They came home to do homework at the dining room table, as their mother prepared dinner. Sometimes mother would play the piano as she always did, but not as often as in Christmases past. They talked and worked, but all the while the radio stayed on, just in case there might be any announcements. And whenever the telegram boy rode his bicycle by the house, with the brick streets jingling the bell on his handlebars, the entire household would stop.

All other tasks were done mindlessly, because their focus, their only purpose, was to wait to hear something, anything about Dick. As the telegram boy’s bicycle was heard, her mother would say a prayer, “for someone, if not us, who is getting a telegram today — may it be good news.” More than once, their mother would remind them that “as long as there is waiting, there is hope for good news. Thank God, for the waiting.” Every night, she would stay up until the wee hours just to listen to the news on the radio.

It would be December 23, 1941, when they would finally hear the fate of their son and brother. It was not a telegram, but a “V-gram,” a small, one-piece envelope that was opened and read. It came through the slot in the door with the rest of the Christmas cards and letters. Jeannine remembers that her mother saw it, said a prayer, and kneeled down right in the hallway to read it.

OK

LOVE DICK

She sobbed over the tiny envelope as the kids circled around to read it for themselves. Bill took a soup pot and spoon from the kitchen and played a percussion celebration on the front porch. Neighbors came out up and down the street and cheered. They knew, just as Jeannine’s family knew about their hopes and fears.

My mom died this year in March — the day before St. Patrick’s Day because, God forbid, anything should ever mar the celebration of that day. This story, one of many, lives on in our family and is still cherished to this day.

How appropriate that in that awful time 76 winters ago, the best gift was being able to wait and hope for good news.

We are all blessed to still be able to celebrate that gift, even more so, now with Him.

Happy Advent.

Credits: The Catholic Stand

Stories to Come 

Justice

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JUSTICE

(Page 200) I. Justice is the second of the fundamental moral virtues, and enters into all our relations with God and our fellow-men. The basis of harmonious intercourse between intelligent beings consists in rights and duties. The fact of our being intelligent and masters of ourselves involves the right to certain things that are for the welfare of our life, and the right to act according to our will, except so far as this may conflict with the rights of mastery in others. To each right corresponds a duty upon others to refrain from encroachments. God possesses supreme rights of independent action and of ownership over all things. Our first duty then is to respect those supreme rights. Men, too, have rights either as individuals or in their corporate capacity, but not as against God. Many of these rights are assigned by Nature, i.e., by God as Author of the natural order; they accord with our natural needs, and so assert themselves spontaneously in us. All positive human law must respect these rights, and refrain from infringing them. Other rights rise out of the positive law of God, or are the creation of human law. Admire the moral and social harmony created by this system of rights and duties. Thank God for His wise dispositions. Remember that all rights rest on Him and are sacred; by respecting them you do homage to God and promote the general good order of the world.

II. The virtue which takes cognisance of rights and duties, and harmonizes the clash of contending interests is Justice. This virtue is so important, and enters so largely into all others, that its name is used as a general term that summarizes all virtues. Thus we are bidden to "accomplish all justice"; the commands of God are termed (Page 201) His "justices"; and sinners, of whatever kind their sins may be, are spoken of as the "unjust." Justice is manifested primarily in God's dealings with His creatures. He renders to each all that is its due according to His will, and all that it requires for the aim and object that He has appointed for it; and if we look below the surface of things and beyond the narrow span of the present life, we shall see that there is not only equity but a substantial equality in the dealings of the Lord with men. The justice of God is the rule of our relations with Him and with men. We enjoy a certain participation in it as one of our natural propensities; but beyond this, we receive with sanctifying grace a further supernatural infusion of it to perfect the natural virtue and make it current in the spiritual sphere. Pray that this justice may be accomplished in you, that it may influence all your actions, and become a leading quality in your character.

III. There are many forms of Justice, in accordance with the variety of persons who have rights, and of the debts which we owe of our substance, services, words, thoughts, esteem, love. We have duties of justice towards God, our parents, our country, our rulers, brethren, inferiors, those whom we have wronged, and those who have offended against us. There are duties of justice also which we owe to ourselves in the securing of our legitimate rights. Our law is to "render to all men their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. Owe no man anything" (Rom. xiii. 7, 8). Violations of justice are abominable to God, whether we filch from the holocaust that we offer to Him, or from our neighbours by fraudulent dealings or false weights and measures of any kind (Prov. xx. 10). Injustice is anti-social in a very high degree. Injustice breeds injustice, and retaliation, and loss of confidence, and loosens all social bonds. On the other hand, "The work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness and security for ever" (Isa. xxxii. 17)

November 27, 2021

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Morning Prayers. 

 

(Page 198)

I. Every sin that man can commit is contrary to the dictates of true natural and supernatural prudence; but some sins are formally opposed to prudence, not merely as disobeying it, but as destroying it. There are offences against prudence by way of deficiency, viz., by the absence of some quality or action that is essential to perfect prudence. Such for instance would be, acting without due consideration, rashness and haste in execution, neglecting precautions, taking an important step while uncertain as to its lawfulness, anticipating the guidance of God by committing oneself blindly to a definite course, in order to escape somehow from the embarrassment of doubt and the weariness of waiting for enlightenment. Such also are carelessness and forgetfulness, indulging baseless prejudices without examining their foundations, remaining in a state of ignorance through fear of fuller knowledge or to avoid the trouble of investigation. Also indocility in following the suggestions of God as conveyed through one's own conscience or the advice of others; fickleness of mind is reconsidering a thing which has been decisively settled, and changing one's mind for trivial reasons. Consider how you habitually act in these different respects. See if you are prone to any of these forms of deficiency in prudence. Resolve to correct yourself, and solicit from God the infusion of this important virtue.

II. There are also contraventions of prudence by way of excess; that is to say, it is possible for us to do that which is substantially right, in a way that is irregular or excessive, through not taking account of the necessary limitations of even good actions. Thus St. Paul speaks of those who "have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge," and who in consequence "have not submitted themselves to the (Page 199)

justice of God" (Rom. x. 2, 3). Such was the zeal of the Apostles when they wished to call fire from heaven upon an offending city; and their Master said to them, "You know not of what spirit you are" (Luke ix. 55). The greatest crimes have at times been committed under a misguided or pretended zeal for liberty, learning, progress, country, religion, Scripture or God. An over-righteousness of this kind inspired the crimes of Scribes and Pharisees and chief-priests against the Son of God. They slew the living Word of God out of zeal for His written word and the glory of His temple. So also the prudence which is according to God is transgressed by an undue severity or an undue leniency, or by an injudicious exhibition of one's own virtue, or by a piety which makes itself obnoxious by exacting too much from the weakness of others. Take care that your virtues do not run to such extremes, and produce evil instead of good fruit.

III. A perversion or parody of divine prudence is found in that which is called the prudence of this world or prudence according to the flesh. This takes the form of an excessive solicitude about the things of this world or one s future prospects in life, instead of casting one's care upon the Lord. This is a prudence about worthless trifles and an imprudence as to one's best and permanent interests. Under its influence the great virtue of prudence degenerates into little more than animal cunning, and shows itself in greed, trickery, cruelty, irreligion. The more efficient this becomes in relation to individual interests, the more injurious it is to the larger natural interests of the community, and especially to those which are supernatural. Such prudence frustrates its own purposes, and proves itself in the long run to be fatal folly. The most honourable, unselfish Christian course of action will always prove to be, on the whole, the most prudent course, and will be justified by its results even in the natural sphere. Only "in Thy light shall we see light" (Ps. xxxv. 10).

Taking Counsel

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(Page 196)

I. "Lean not upon thine own prudence; . . . be not wise in thine own conceit" (Prov. iii. 5, 7). One important element in prudence is docility in taking counsel. No one is qualified to be judge in his own case; and this, which is true in natural affairs, is no less true in spiritual ones. Every one suffers at times from deficiency of information, or some failure of his faculties, or the impartiality of judgment is clouded by the unconscious intrusion of personal considerations. Points of view are numerous, and no one can grasp them all at once. The most self-reliant are the least qualified to judge alone; for the excess of self-reliance arises not from perfected capacity, but from inexperience, and from ignorance of personal deficiencies and external difficulties. Obstinacy increases with incapacity, and such pride is followed by a fall. The seeking of counsel is evidence of humility; and it is to the humble that God accords enlightenment and grace. How many troubles and catastrophes would be avoided if each remembered that he is not infallible and self-sufficing! "My son, do thou nothing without counsel, and thou shalt not repent when thou hast done" (Eccli. xxxii. 24).

II. God uses the instrumentality of His creatures for the accomplishment of His purposes, and He conveys His direction to us principally by means of other men. Moses, who spoke face to face with God and could consult Him at any moment in the Tabernacle, received with humility the counsel of Jethro who was not even of the chosen race. St. Paul had been converted by the voice of God Himself, yet he was made to submit himself to the hands of Ananias; he had been raised to the third heaven and had seen marvellous visions, yet he consulted with the Apostles as to his methods of action. God helps us directly with His grace, but He has appointed advisers whom we must consult in temporal and spiritual matters. The function of advising is (Page 197) committed chiefly to the Church which is "the pillar and the ground of truth" (1 Tim. iii. 15); also to parents, rulers, physicians, friends, who from their position or from their talents are evidently pointed out to us as worthy of our confidence, and endowed for our occasion with the gift of counsel. We must exercise much care in the selection of our advisers: "Be in peace with many, but let one of a thousand be thy counsellor" (Eccli. vi. 6). It falls to every one at some time to give counsel as well as to take it. Ask God in prayer to enlighten those from whom you seek advice, and to enlighten you for the benefit of those whom you advise. Help others in all sincerity and charity as being the minister of God to them; and show respect and confidence towards such as you have maturely chosen to be your advisers.

III. Great circumspection is required in the taking of counsel, on account of the multitude of false counsellors, and the plausible appearances with which they cover themselves. You must not trust the first that comes; but "try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John iv. 1). Our protection against them must come from God and our own good principles. If our minds and souls be sound, and if we truly seek after justice, we shall find in ourselves an antidote to the poison of false counsellors, an instinct that will aid us to detect their deceptions. On those who do not conscientiously seek true wisdom the care of God in providing true counsellors is thrown away. They have a predilection for evil, a predisposition to catch at once the germs of the infection of falsehood. So it was that Roboam rejected the counsel of the elders for that of his depraved companions, and thereby rent the unity of the kingdom for ever. So it was that lying spirits entered into the prophets of King Achab and led him to destruction. Pray God to discredit the false prophets who mislead His people, and to reveal their wickedness.

Adventures From the Cabin

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Prudence

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(Page 194)

I. After the theological come the moral virtues, which are concerned with the conduct of man in this world as regards God, himself and his fellow-men. The first among these are the Cardinal Virtues, which enter into all the others, or constitute the necessary conditions, or, as it were, the atmosphere in which they act. These are Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. They may exist in the natural form in any men; and brilliant examples of them were found among the cultivated heathen. But besides this, it is necessary that there should be a certain infused facility to enable them to be exercised in higher perfection and on supernatural objects. Prudence is a quality or virtue of the intelligence which guides our actions towards their object. It presides over our deliberations and decisions. It helps us to discern between good and evil, and to seek the one and avoid the other; it preserves us from excess or deficiency in our operations, it takes account of times and places, of aids and obstacles, and guides us accordingly. Prudence must control every other one of the virtues; it is like the salt which of old had to be used to season every sacrifice offered to God. Ask God to implant this ruling grace in you. "Give me wisdom that sitteth by Thy throne . . . that she may be with me and labour with me, that I may know what is acceptable with Thee" (Wisd. ix. 4, 10).

II. Prudence, when complete and efficient, involves a number of mental habits and actions. It includes the operation of the memory and intelligence in comparing different courses of action and deciding on them. It includes the virtue of docility, which excludes arrogant self-reliance and obstinacy, takes account of the opinions of others, and submits on due occasion to their guidance; zeal or eagerness in (Page 195) doing good, with deliberateness and caution which exclude haste and rashness; impartiality in allowing due weight to all considerations, and in excluding selfish motives and unreasonable prejudices; decision and promptitude in arriving at conclusions and carrying them out; tenacity in adhering firmly to what has been resolved upon; patience in biding the time and waiting for the moment appointed by God, and not attempting to hasten it by taking extreme measures. Shortcomings in any one of these respects may seriously obstruct the work of God and even imperil one's own salvation and that of other souls. Great harm is often done by persons of high virtue and of the best intentions through some slight failing in prudence. How difficult it is to be watchful and perfect at so many points! How much harm you may do even by your good qualities unless God guide you and protect you against yourself! Distrust your talents, your virtues and your good intentions.

III. The infusion of supernatural prudence is necessary, not only for supernatural virtues, but also for many of the natural duties of life. And yet, how few think of guiding themselves by anything higher than the dictates of natural prudence. But Holy Writ tells us that "the wisdom of the flesh is death " (Rom. viii. 6); and God says "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject" (1 Cor. i. 19). This is what continually happens in human affairs. The prudence of the flesh overreaches itself. It knows that the violation of natural laws induces inevitable calamity; but it ignores the fact that natural and supernatural laws are harmonious; it commences by violating all divine principles of truth and morality, and then discovers that some natural law has been violated which brings unforeseen failure upon the best-laid plans. Be sure that "the learning of wickedness is not wisdom, and the device of sinners is not prudence" (Eccli. xix. 19). "Bless God at all times, and desire of Him to direct thy ways, and that all thy counsels may abide in Him" (Prov. iv. 20).

Ave Maria - Sophia Mutter on the Violin

Immaculate Mary Our Hearts are on Fire

November 24, 2021

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(Page 190)

I. The love of God, or absorption into His supreme life, is the last link of the great chain of being which was started at first by God, and which, after long evolution, returns to Him again. The Creation, the arrangement and development of the universe, life, instinct, and reason, the fall and restitution, the Incarnation, the discrimination of men by trial, the law, the Church, the Sacraments, the Resurrection end in this one thing, the return of all being in man to God. The propension of man towards the Supreme Life and his fruition of it are equally the operation of the same vital energy; in other words, Charity abides, it is the same thing in this world and in the next; it is the attainment of God, it is the exercise of our vital energy in the supernatural sphere, it is the accomplishment of the law of our being. Thus Charity, or the love of God, is of its own nature the first and the greatest of all laws; it will be the spontaneous action of life, the first and necessary form of that action, when, through our free choice here, we shall have arrived at the clear vision and full understanding of the Supreme Life in heaven. Regard the love of God as the great purpose of your existence. Let it be your habitual state. Let it be the guiding principle of all your actions, and the measure of all things. So let it be to you the fulfilment of the law.

II. Charity or the love of God does not by any means consist in the mere inward sentiment or cleaving of the affections to God and delight in Him. The craving after life and the realization of life involves the operation of all the forces and faculties of the being aspiring towards that which is their full satisfaction and perfection; it includes, therefore, besides the sentiment of love, all the intellectual, imaginative, moral and corporal activities. The (Page 191) propension towards the divine life leads us to do everything that gravitates towards God, that is in accordance with His nature and perfections, and that makes like unto God. Most of this is embodied in the positive statute law of God as given in the Old and New Testament. That law is the law of life as being the outward expression for man of the Supreme Life from which it proceeds, as being the condition of our participating in that life under every one of its forms. The observance of the commandments, then, is involved in adhesion to God as the Supreme Life, or again, in other words, "Love is the fulfilment of the law" (Rom. xiii. 10). Your love, if true, must be both affective and effective. You can love God whom you see not, because He is revealed in Jesus Christ, true God and true Man: you can learn the law of life from His word and example, and carry it out by the aid of His grace.

III. The attainment to the fulness and perfection of life is worked out by elevating ourselves here, under conditions of difficulty and partial obscurity, to the supernatural plane on which the future life lies. The perfect life of the here after is only the continuation and legitimate development of the present life. The same principles prevail in both. It is one and the same vital impulsion which actuates the supernatural action of man in the present and in the future kingdom of God. If, therefore, during this era we have not acquired the habitual communication in supernatural life as it is in God, we shall find ourselves after death incapable of understanding, enjoying, or even desiring the higher life of union with God in which the happiness of heaven consists. Without this propension of love or charity, all natural endowments, and virtues, and even the knowledge and belief in God are but a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. We must have the infused facility and the acquired habits of divine love. Holy Communion is our chief means of participation in the divine life; it is the Sacrament of union, love and life.

 

The Companions of Charity

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Morning Prayers. 

 

(Page 188)

I. The first two companions of Charity, most closely associated with it, are Faith and Hope. These precede it and prepare the way before its face; being temporary themselves, they lead onto that which is final and enduring. As the supernatural life of Charity in God is beyond the range of our faculties on earth, we need to be informed of it by Faith before we can voluntarily merge ourselves in it. The world indeed manifests God's life to us, but only in so far as He is the fount of natural life. He has a more recondite perfection as the fount of supernatural life. All this, besides being made known to our intelligence, must be set before us as an object for our attainment, promised by God and placed within our reach. The soul then, before entering into the full enjoyment of that life, aspires to it, wishes for it, expects it with confidence. These two impulsions are completed in Charity, or the love of God, or vital union with Him in a preliminary form on earth and in its perfect form hereafter. After this life Faith and Hope cease. The knowledge on hearsay passes into the knowledge of vision, and expectation into possession; Charity alone remains as an accomplished and eternal adhesion to life without any further need for preliminaries and gradual approaches. Your Charity and your participation in God depend on your Faith and Hope. Take care that natural science and earthly expectations do not obscure that which is super natural, and alienate your love from it.

II. There are other companions of Charity, viz., the various affections of the mind in which the propension towards life expresses itself. These expressions of love or accompaniments of Charity are principally as follows. Satisfaction and delight in God at the sight of His supreme (Page 189) excellence; conformity of ideas and will and feeling with Him in all the manifestations of His Providence; benevolence, by which we desire all good to the object of our love, and rejoice in His perfections, happiness, and glory; beneficence, by which we bestow of our own upon Him, our possessions, our services and ourselves; hatred of that which opposes Him or deprives us of the possession of Him. These sentiments extend to all that is related to God, that resembles Him, or recalls Him to our mind. Thus it is that divine Charity or love for God embraces creatures also, and especially men who are made in His image. While philanthropy and humanity draw us towards our fellow-men on account of their community of life with us, Charity draws us to them on account of their community of life with God, the Supreme Life. These acts are not spontaneous as is the case with natural love, and as will be the case with beatific love hereafter; but they are the result of voluntary correspondence with grace and voluntary acceptance of the knowledge of Faith.

III. There are yet other companions of Charity which follow in its train. The love and possession of God in this life casts out all servile fear and bestows an unspeakable peace and joy, which raise men superior to all the trials of this world. It subdues the impulse to selfishness, and helps us to promote the advantage of all those whom God loves. It is a chief source of the generosity and self-sacrifice which are the leaven of this world; and it takes form chiefly in the seven corporal and seven spiritual works of mercy. These consequences of Charity command the admiration of all, so that men try to reproduce them sporadically and apart from the supernatural system. But those efforts must fail. The real flower can live only when it proceeds from the tree in its completeness with root, trunk, branches and leaves; i.e., from God in His Charity. "Other foundation no man can lay but that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. iii. 11).

 

Feast of Christ the King

 

The Kingdom of Christ in Souls

Christ must reign in our hearts, and all within us must be subject to Him. Since the day of Christ's triumph, He gloriously lives and reigns in God, in the bosom of the Father: Vivit et regent Deus. Christ only lives where He reigns, and He lives in us in the same degree as He reigns in our soul. He is King as He is High priest. When Pilate asked Him if He was a King, Our Lord answered Him: Tu dicis quit rex sum ego. "I am, but my kingdom is not of this world." "The kingdom of God is within you"; Regnum Dei intra vos est.The Father wills to glorify Christ, because Christ is His Son, because He humbled Himself; the Father wills that every knee should bend at the name of Jesus; in heaven, upon earth, in hell; all, too, in each one of us; will , intelligence, imagination, energies.

This dominion of Christ must, day by day, be further extended in our souls, it is that that we ask of God; Adveniat regnum tuum! Oh! may it come, Lord, that day when truly, Thou wilt reign in us by Thy Christ!

Christ in His Mysteries

D. Columba Marmion, p. 295

The Order of Charity

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I. There is an order of priority in the exercise of charity towards the different objects of our love: this order extends to natural and supernatural love, and corresponds to the order of our adhesion to the different forms of life. God has "ordered all things in measure, number and weight" (Wisd. xi. 21). We must first adhere to the supreme and universal Life, as being the first and the only absolutely necessary life. Then we must seek the perfection of life in the sphere which is our special care; that is, we must love ourselves with a well-ordered love, for our personal salvation is above all other things, and the supernatural love of self is therefore above all love of other creatures, and above the love of our natural life. As regards our fellow-men, their supernatural life is much more than our own natural life, and we should be ready to make a sacrifice accordingly, whenever these two come into competition. If the choice is between the natural life of oneself and one's neighbour, the claims are equal, for we have to love our neighbour as ourselves; but, according to Christian law, it is a more perfect expression of well-ordered love if we give our life for our friends; and this is rational too, for it accords with those provisions of nature in the lower order which make for the maintenance of the life of the species in preference to individual life. Adhere above all to the supreme Life, and this will guide the order of your love in all its other degrees.

II. The supernatural order is not the destruction but the perfecting of the natural order. The vital forces and attractions of the natural sphere indicate in certain cases an order in love which is supernaturally correct. There is community of life in varying degrees between husband and (Page 187) wife, parents and children, between brethren, fellow-country men and fellow-men. These bonds are very close, but those more exclusively supernatural are closer still. The love of God and care for our salvation are above all earthly claims. "He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me" (Matt. x. 37). In God we are further united in the one Church as brethren; with them we "share in community of faith, of ideas, of worship, of persecution and calumny, of the breaking of bread in Holy Communion. We are bound to love the Church our spiritual mother, and the general life of that community, and each of our fellow-members in a special degree. Union in Jesus Christ is more than union of nationality or blood. Remember the duty imposed by the Apostle: "Work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith" (Gal. vi. 10).

III. The order of Charity in heaven will be the same as its order on earth. The propension of being towards life will become an actual adhesion to life and fruition of it in all its forms. The sentiment of love will therefore be much stronger there than here, and there will be so much more delight in its fulfilment. We shall first be sensible of the infinite vigour of the divine life in its propension towards us, and we shall be drawn in return towards it, and, more fully than now, shall be "made partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. i. 4). The first natural law of self-preservation thus becomes identical with the first supernatural law of adhesion to God; and the love of God will include in itself the well-ordered love of self. Then, too, we shall love all our fellow-creatures in God, and by reason of our adhesion to the life in Him which overflows upon them. And doubtless those who have been associated with our supernatural life in this world will receive a proportionate recognition and love. Enter as fully as you can now into participation in the divine life as it is in God, in the Church, in your fellow-men, that you may participate fully in it hereafter.

 

November 21, 2021

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I. The law of Moses allowed men and women to make a vow and dedicate themselves, for a time or for life, to the service of God. So did Anna lend her son Samuel to the Lord to be employed about the Tabernacle. The Blessed Virgin also was presented in the temple by another Anne, her mother, in pursuance of a vow. At the age of three she was offered, and till her fifteenth year she remained in the quarters set apart for the widows and young maidens, "who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day" (Luke ii. 37). The traditions of the Eastern Churches record that this child of grace was, as a special privilege, allowed to pray in the Holy of Holies, where no other but the High Priest once in the year could enter. Those Churches from the earliest times kept up the memory of these events in the Feast of the entry of Mary into the Temple; the Western Church celebrates it as the Presentation. Holy Scripture says: "After her shall virgins be brought to the King . . . they shall be brought into the temple of the King" (Ps. xliv. 15, 16). In imitation of the Blessed Virgin, hundreds of thousands of other virgins have sought a refuge from the world near the tabernacle of God, and dedicated their whole lives to the practice of austere virtue, and the service of God and man. How blessed is the Church in the holy example given by Our Lady, and in the inspiration and strength from the Holy Ghost which have enabled so many to follow in her foot steps! Thank God for the abundant benefits resulting from this devotedness.

II. The presentation of this blessed child in the temple was an act of admirable devotion on the part of SS. Joachim and Anne. They sacrificed that which was most precious to them in the world, the brightness of their home, and the comfort of their declining years. It was an act of generosity to God which cost them many pangs of heart. On the part of the child, consider the ardour with which she abandoned (Page 339) her father's house for the house of God, and consecrated her virginity and her life to His service. "How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord . . . .  Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house" (Ps. Ixxxiii. 2, 3, 5). As she prayed there, she thought of the past glories of the first temple erected by Solomon, of the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God, of the greater glories yet to come which the prophets had foretold ; and by her fervent desires she hastened the accomplishment of those promises, little knowing the great part she was to have in them. The presentation to God of His predestined daughter was an offering more pleasing than that of Samuel. She was indeed a lamb without blemish, more worthy of His acceptance than all the sacrifices of preceding centuries. Offer God what you have. Your heart indeed is far from spotless; but if it be contrite and humbled, God in His goodness will not despise it.

III. God had appointed this as the fitting preparation of the Blessed Virgin for the great duties that were before her. "In silence and in hope shall your strength be" (Isa. xxx. 15). Samuel had been prepared in the tabernacle for his work in Israel. St. John the Baptist was in retirement, in the desert, fasting and praying for thirty years, in preparation for his brief ministry on the banks of the Jordan. The Mother of the Lord needed in like manner to be withdrawn from the contaminations and distractions of a world that was not worthy of her. She belonged entirely to the Lord, and was not to be engaged in any other service. She had to exercise herself in daily communion with God, in view of her further union with the Word of God as her Son. She had to perfect herself and advance from step to step in sanctification, till she attained the degree which was worthy of the Divine Maternity. So have all the works of God to be prepared. Retirement from the world, self-abnegation and prayer, are the great sources of spiritual strength and efficiency.

 

Meditations on Christian Dogma, Volume 1 

The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1961

November 21, 2021

Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House in the Big Woods

 

THE holy child Mary, having hardly arrived at the age of three years, entreated her parents that she might be placed in the temple according to the promise which they had made. The day appointed having arrived, the immaculate young Virgin leaves Nazareth with St. Joachim and St. Anne, accompanied by a host of angels who attend that holy child who was destined for the mother of their Creator. Go, says St. Germanus, go, oh blessed Virgin, to the house of the Lord, to await the Holy Spirit, who is to corne to render thee mother of the eternal Word.

The holy company having arrived at the temple in Jerusalem, the holy child turns to her parents, and kneeling, kisses their hands, asks their blessing, and then, without looking back, ascends the steps of the temple. There renouncing entirely the world and all things that the world could give her, she offers and consecrates herself wholly to God. Henceforth the life of Mary in the temple was but one continual exercise of love, and the offering of her whole self to her Lord. She increased from hour to hour, nay, from moment to moment, in holy virtues, sustained indeed by divine grace, but always endeavoring, with all her powers, to correspond with grace. Mary herself revealed this to St. Elizabeth, the virgin, saying: "Do you think that I obtained the graces and virtues without an effort? Know that I received from God no grace without great effort, continual prayer, an ardent desire, and many tears and penances."

Thus Mary, a young virgin in the temple, did nothing but pray. And seeing the human race lost and hateful to God, she especially prayed for the coming of the Messias, desiring then to be the servant of that happy Virgin who was to be the mother of God. Oh, who would have said to her then: Oh holy Lady, know that already through thy prayers the Son of God is hastening to come and redeem the world; and know that thou art the blessed one chosen to be the mother of thy Creator. Oh beloved of God, most holy child, thou prayest for all, pray also for me. Thou hast consecrated thyself wholly even from infancy, to the love of thy God; ah, obtain for me at least that during the remaining years of my life I may live for God alone. Today together with thee, I renounce all creatures, and consecrate myself to the love of my Lord. I also offer myself to thee, oh my queen, to serve thee forever. Accept me for thy special servant and obtain for me the grace to be faithful to thee and to thy Son, that I may come one day to praise thee and love thee eternally in paradise.

The Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus Liguori, 1888

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