Ijournal entry 082817 #34. August, Month of The Blessed Sacrament. The Rule of St. Benedict. Quotes by Cardinal Robert Sarah, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Francis De sales. Book: With God In America, the Spiritual Legacy of an Unlikely Jesuit", by WALTER J. CISZEK, S.J. Article: "The Last Words Of 25 Catholic Saints", from US Catholic. Audio presentation: "Refurbishing the Soul", Episode 3, by Babsie Bleasdell.
Twelve Biblical Reasons For Wanting To Spend One Hour With Jesus In The Blessed Sacrament (six shared in this entry)
7. Jesus will give you all the graces you need to be happy!
7. Jesus will give you all the graces you need to be happy!
8. Jesus is infinitely deserving of our unceasing thanksgiving and adoration for all he has done for our salvatio
9. For peace in our country!
10. Each hour you spend with Jesus on earth will leave your soul everlastingly more beautiful and glorious in heaven!
11. Jesus will bless you, your family and the whole world for this hour of faith you spend with Him in the Blessed Sacrament
12. Each moment you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament brings joy, pleasure, and delight to his Sacred Heart!
Info from this site: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/prayers/adoration-to-the-holy-sacrament/24-reasons-for-spending-a-holy-hour-before-the-blessed-sacrament/
The Rule of St. Benedict
"In the appointment of the abbot let this rule always be observed, that he be made abbot who is chosen unanimously in the fear of God by the whole community, or even by a minority, however small, if its counsel be more wholesome. Let him who is appointed be chosen for the merit of his life and the wisdom of his teaching, even though he be the last in order of the community. But if (which God forbid) the whole community should agree to choose a person who acquiesces in its evil ways, and if these come somehow to the knowledge of the bishop of the diocese, or become known to the neighbouring abbots or other christians, let them prevent the success of this conspiracy of the wicked, and set a worthy steward over God’s house. Let them be sure that they will receive a good reward if they do this with a pure intention and zeal for God; as, on the contrary, they will sin if they neglect it.
Let the abbot appointed consider always what an office he has undertaken and to whom he has to give an account of his stewardship; and let him know that it is his duty rather to profit his brethren than to preside over them. It behoves him, therefore, to be learned in the law of God, that he may have a treasure of knowledge whence he may bring forth things new and old; and to be chaste, sober and merciful. Let him always set mercy before justice, that he himself may obtain mercy. Let him hate evil, but love the brethren. In administering correction let him act prudently and not go to excess, lest being too zealous in removing the rust he break the vessel. Let him always distrust his own frailty and remember that the bruised reed is not to be broken. By this we do not mean that he should allow evils to grow, but that, as we have said above, he should eradicate them prudently and with charity, in the way which may seem best in each case.
And let him study rather to be loved than feared. Let him not be headstrong or anxious, extravagant or obstinate, jealous or over suspicious, for otherwise he will never rest. Let him be prudent and considerate in all his commands; and whether the work which he enjoins concern God or the world, let him always be discreet and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, who said: If I cause my flocks to be overdriven, they will all perish in one day. So taking these and other examples of discretion, the mother of the virtues, let him so temper all things that the strong may still have something to long after, and the weak may not draw back in alarm. And, especially, let him keep this present Rule in all things; so that having ministered faithfully, he may hear from the Lord what the good servant heard who gave his fellow- servants wheat in due season: Amen, I say unto you, he set him over all his goods.
MC= So many golden nuggets in this rule. Choosing to comment on not
being too zealous in removing the rust, thereby causing the vessel to break. God is so merciful, patient and kind in dealing with us who may at times be so slow in having a change of heart. Shouldn't that rub off on us in dealing with those who are most aggravating? You would think so, but for me at times it's operating so far from the ideal. It's to realize compounding blows are just as bad, may mercy be in the forefront of our every action.
"In the appointment of the abbot let this rule always be observed, that he be made abbot who is chosen unanimously in the fear of God by the whole community, or even by a minority, however small, if its counsel be more wholesome. Let him who is appointed be chosen for the merit of his life and the wisdom of his teaching, even though he be the last in order of the community. But if (which God forbid) the whole community should agree to choose a person who acquiesces in its evil ways, and if these come somehow to the knowledge of the bishop of the diocese, or become known to the neighbouring abbots or other christians, let them prevent the success of this conspiracy of the wicked, and set a worthy steward over God’s house. Let them be sure that they will receive a good reward if they do this with a pure intention and zeal for God; as, on the contrary, they will sin if they neglect it.
Let the abbot appointed consider always what an office he has undertaken and to whom he has to give an account of his stewardship; and let him know that it is his duty rather to profit his brethren than to preside over them. It behoves him, therefore, to be learned in the law of God, that he may have a treasure of knowledge whence he may bring forth things new and old; and to be chaste, sober and merciful. Let him always set mercy before justice, that he himself may obtain mercy. Let him hate evil, but love the brethren. In administering correction let him act prudently and not go to excess, lest being too zealous in removing the rust he break the vessel. Let him always distrust his own frailty and remember that the bruised reed is not to be broken. By this we do not mean that he should allow evils to grow, but that, as we have said above, he should eradicate them prudently and with charity, in the way which may seem best in each case.
And let him study rather to be loved than feared. Let him not be headstrong or anxious, extravagant or obstinate, jealous or over suspicious, for otherwise he will never rest. Let him be prudent and considerate in all his commands; and whether the work which he enjoins concern God or the world, let him always be discreet and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, who said: If I cause my flocks to be overdriven, they will all perish in one day. So taking these and other examples of discretion, the mother of the virtues, let him so temper all things that the strong may still have something to long after, and the weak may not draw back in alarm. And, especially, let him keep this present Rule in all things; so that having ministered faithfully, he may hear from the Lord what the good servant heard who gave his fellow- servants wheat in due season: Amen, I say unto you, he set him over all his goods.
MC= So many golden nuggets in this rule. Choosing to comment on not
being too zealous in removing the rust, thereby causing the vessel to break. God is so merciful, patient and kind in dealing with us who may at times be so slow in having a change of heart. Shouldn't that rub off on us in dealing with those who are most aggravating? You would think so, but for me at times it's operating so far from the ideal. It's to realize compounding blows are just as bad, may mercy be in the forefront of our every action.
2 Timothy 2:23-26 "Avoid foolish and ignorant debates, for you know that they breed quarrels. A slave of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth, and that they may return to their senses out of the devil’s snare, where they are entrapped by him, for his will". |
💭 "What men possess in themselves, they find nowhere else. Unless silence dwells in man, and unless solitude is a state in which he allows himself to be shaped, the creature is deprived of God. There is no place on earth where God is more present than in the human heart. This heart truly is God’s abode, the temple of silence. No prophet ever encountered God without withdrawing into solitude and silence. Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist encountered God in the great silence of the desert. Today, too, monks seek God in solitude and silence. I am speaking, not just about a geographical solitude or movement, but about an interior state. It is not enough to be quiet, either. It inecessary to become silence". By Cardinal Robert Sarah
⭕️ “Therefore [the fact] that He was of us, and of our substance, and of the Virgin’s womb, is manifest from these things, and from others beside; but how, is not also manifest. Do not either thou then inquire; but receive what is revealed, and be not curious about what is kept secret". By St. John Chrysostom
🌍Be assured that all disturbing, upsetting thoughts do not come from God, Who is the Prince of Peace. They come either from the devil, or from our self-love, or from the high opinion we entertain of ourselves. These are the three fonts of all our troubles. When such thoughts come to our mind, w should banish them immediately and pay no attention to them.” St. Francis de Sales
⭕️ “Therefore [the fact] that He was of us, and of our substance, and of the Virgin’s womb, is manifest from these things, and from others beside; but how, is not also manifest. Do not either thou then inquire; but receive what is revealed, and be not curious about what is kept secret". By St. John Chrysostom
🌍Be assured that all disturbing, upsetting thoughts do not come from God, Who is the Prince of Peace. They come either from the devil, or from our self-love, or from the high opinion we entertain of ourselves. These are the three fonts of all our troubles. When such thoughts come to our mind, w should banish them immediately and pay no attention to them.” St. Francis de Sales
Two birds down with one stone, Laudate Dominum. This results from sharing here my comments posted to the blog: "Neal Obstat Theological Opining". Here is the link to the post entitled: "Slaying in me all resistance"
nealobstat.wordpress.com/2017/08/19/slaying-in-me-all-resistance/
My comments were as follows:
Thank you Dr. TJN for the wonderful spiritual fodder that is serving as an afternoon meditative snack. Munching on your words (with joy):
"In the end it’s not the harshness of self-denial or steely-willed determination that sets you running, it’s the other whom you love who draws you out of yourself after them; after Him"
Those words are helping to further weave the spiritual tapestry that the Lord is beautifully creating. It was given to me to always pray the following after receiving Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist: "That I may be demagnetized to all that is not of the Lord". Over the course of several years, the Holy Spirit have given me about a dozen or so "ACP's (After Communion Pleas) to pray from the heart. To tie loose ends together, it becomes clear that an easy way to answer the call from God to "get out my myself" in order to will what He wills, as He wills, and how He wills, is to allow the magnet of love to draw me out of myself. On the lookout, kind of like being on a witch hunt, to identify all that can operate in a manner similar to your mention of the "harshness of self-denial and steely-willed determination". The purpose in doing so is to create a spiritual magnetic field that repels rather than attracts the graces necessary to allow God's will to be done always and in all ways.
As the evening rolled on, no witch hunt was necessary, no laborious undertaking needed, because the Servant of God, Fr. Walter Ciszek, Johnny on the spot. A damsel in distress with him to the rescue. Haven't read for months in the book: "WITH GOD IN AMERICA, the Spiritual Legacy of an Unlikely Jesuit Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., but led by the Holy Spirit to do so today. Yes, reading for a very good reason. Truly God is so wonderful good, He helps stumblers get on their feet.
The potato dish will be helpful in finding out how to enhance your spiritual magnetic field so as to be drawn to love.
nealobstat.wordpress.com/2017/08/19/slaying-in-me-all-resistance/
My comments were as follows:
Thank you Dr. TJN for the wonderful spiritual fodder that is serving as an afternoon meditative snack. Munching on your words (with joy):
"In the end it’s not the harshness of self-denial or steely-willed determination that sets you running, it’s the other whom you love who draws you out of yourself after them; after Him"
Those words are helping to further weave the spiritual tapestry that the Lord is beautifully creating. It was given to me to always pray the following after receiving Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist: "That I may be demagnetized to all that is not of the Lord". Over the course of several years, the Holy Spirit have given me about a dozen or so "ACP's (After Communion Pleas) to pray from the heart. To tie loose ends together, it becomes clear that an easy way to answer the call from God to "get out my myself" in order to will what He wills, as He wills, and how He wills, is to allow the magnet of love to draw me out of myself. On the lookout, kind of like being on a witch hunt, to identify all that can operate in a manner similar to your mention of the "harshness of self-denial and steely-willed determination". The purpose in doing so is to create a spiritual magnetic field that repels rather than attracts the graces necessary to allow God's will to be done always and in all ways.
As the evening rolled on, no witch hunt was necessary, no laborious undertaking needed, because the Servant of God, Fr. Walter Ciszek, Johnny on the spot. A damsel in distress with him to the rescue. Haven't read for months in the book: "WITH GOD IN AMERICA, the Spiritual Legacy of an Unlikely Jesuit Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., but led by the Holy Spirit to do so today. Yes, reading for a very good reason. Truly God is so wonderful good, He helps stumblers get on their feet.
The potato dish will be helpful in finding out how to enhance your spiritual magnetic field so as to be drawn to love.
Book: With God In America, the Spiritual Legacy of an Unlikely Jesuit", by Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.
Excerpts:
"The first and the greatest commandment: we are to love God, not because we fear him, not even because of what he has done or will do for us, not just because his commandment insists that we love him, not just because he is Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, but, because he, God Almighty, thought enough about us—about you and me—to love us first . And love demands love in return, for he loved us first . This love of God that I am talking about is not a mere sentiment or an emotional feeling (somewhat like the feeling we might have after reading a particularly warm book or seeing a sentimental movie or television show), nor is it the sentimental love of two young lovers. No, true love of God is a deeper and stronger thing than just feelings. Feelings and emotions pass away, but true love lives on. For real love of God is anchored deep in the mind and heart of a person, set so deeply that no thing, no person here on earth can ever destroy it. [It is] set in wisdom and knowledge, the wisdom that life’s whole reason is to love God, and the knowledge that he deserves to be loved because he first loved us . Love like this, though it sometimes experiences good feelings and deep emotions, lives beyond these feelings, beyond these emotions in the very bedrock of our being.
Such love gives us the power to say and to mean, “God, I love you” when sorrow has torn all joy from our hearts, when pain is like a living thing in our lives, and when the hatred and unkindness and treachery of so-called friends and even irreligious [people] has sickened the very core of our souls. Such a love gives us the power to say, “God, I love you” when it seems that he, yes, even he has abandoned us, and when the devil has made our lives his plaything and has tortured us with every imaginable temptation. This is real love of God, a love that is not measured by fervor and piety in prayers but by a faithful daily devotion to prayers that may seem cold and lifeless things. [It is a] love that is measured by doing things for God when discouragement and even despair and disgust and all types of shame have made it almost impossible to do anything for anyone. This is real love of God, a love that is constantly and completely a devoted love : with a willingness to give God everything, even life itself, just for him, just for his glory; with a willingness to forget oneself, one’s own needs, one’s own desires out of love for him; with a willingness to do anything he wants, just because he wants it and to see him loved and glorified and praised above everything else in life; a willingness to love him deep, deep in your inmost soul, to want him in your life, sincerely and truly, more than you want comfort, or respect, or success, or health, or human love or anything else this world can give to you.
This is real love of God, to love him without measure, without stinting, without ever considering how much it will cost you to love him. For true love never considers cost, never says, It is enough. We are [only] beginning somewhat to love God when we can say and truly mean, “My love of God is never enough.” Obviously, of course, the first requirement for the love of God in our hearts is that we be friends of love, that we be in the state of sanctifying grace, that we be free of all sin that is serious. For a person cannot say, “God, I love you!” with her lips, and mean this, when her heart and mind and soul are turned to sin relative to some person or thing. Herein lies the real evil of mortal sin; it destroys the very reason for our existence and makes a heart that was made to sing a song of love for God mute and silent and useless. For in dying and in suffering, our dedicated souls can still sing their songs of love; but in sinning mortally, we make our hearts as silent as the corridors of hell.
The next greatest enemies to God’s love in our life are the so-called “little sins,” the little venial sins of gossip, unkindness, lying, impatience, envy, anger, disobedience, criticism, and the so many little faults we scarcely even notice in our daily life. We can also add to this list our constant lack of thoughtfulness. Yet, these “little sins” chip and bite away at our love of God. They gradually but, oh so surely, push him and his love into a small corner of our life. A little lie told to avoid difficulty in the community, or with a superior, a word of anger or of impatience with the young people you teach, a word of unkindness to a fellow sister, and carelessness in your daily prayer: all these “little sins” are the greatest evil in the world, next to the evil of mortal sin. But avoiding mortal sin and avoiding, at least, all deliberate venial sin is only the beginning of our love.
Our love of God becomes real when we do everything out of love for him. When you teach a child that two and two are four or teach a college philosophy major that the ontological proofs for the existence of God are more existential than they are essential; when you wash the face of a hospital patient or administer the whole complex organization of a hospital; when you put a new light bulb in an older sister’s room or lecture brilliantly on atomic fission; when you do all—great things and little things, big things and little things—when you do all just and only out of love for God , then your love of God is real. Every simple act of every day, and every great act of every day, done out of love, can grow because we love God, can be changed into so great an act of love that the angels themselves will be dazzled by the light of this one little act. The more that you do everything for your God, the more do you love him. The more you offer every act of kindness, every pain, every sorrow, every smile, every tear, every joy, every worry, every good thing to him, the more you love him. Each time you say throughout the day, “God, I love you!” the song of your love of God fills the halls of Heaven itself. It is not easy to love God with such a devoted and selfless love. For we are born with selfish hearts, and there is constant pressure to put our pleasures, our comforts, our needs, and our desires above everything and everyone else, even God himself.
One of the most terrible effects of venial sin is this: it turned the heart of man, which was made to be God-centered, into a self-centered heart. God made us to love him. Sin turned us from him. This means that every time we want to love God and not ourselves, every time we want to do something for God, such as avoid mortal sin or venial sin, say some special prayers, be kind or patient or understanding, each time we will have to do violence to our own human nature. We will have to take our lives and our hearts in hand and turn them forcibly away from what we want, to what God wants. This is what Christ meant when he said, “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent bear it away.” The violent ones are those who constantly say no to themselves and to their wants in life, who pull themselves filially and violently from what they want in life to what God wants in life. You see, this is the reason there is, and must be, penance in our lives. For the only way we can do constantly what God wants us to do, the only way we can do things for God and for his children and not for ourselves, is by constantly practicing penance in small things, by constantly saying no to our own desires. And this is penance, as you all know so well. This is why Christ told us, “If any man will come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me.” [This is] why St. Paul said, “They who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh” and, “If any man love the world, the love of God is not in him.”
Love of God is not an easy thing in our life. It demands suffering and penance, much, much prayer, a constant repeating of the good intention—telling God that you want to do everything for him. For the more you repeat your good intention, the easier it is to do things for him. Love of God demands giving up the many comfortable “little sins” of our life. But all that you do to make your song of love echo through the streets of Heaven will be well worth it. You will still want success in your work, and health, and human love because you are human, but you will begin to want them, really, only if God wants them. You will be able to say, and really mean it, “God, anything you want is all right by me. I’ll do my best,” and the rest is up to our lover, God. Humiliations, failures, and the unkind actions or words of fellow sisters will still hurt, because you are still human, but they will never hurt enough to make your soul sick and disgusted with life or with your vocation in life, because in all these things you will truly possess your God. For when you love him, then you truly possess him, and possessing him, you will be able to say with St. Paul,
Excerpts:
"The first and the greatest commandment: we are to love God, not because we fear him, not even because of what he has done or will do for us, not just because his commandment insists that we love him, not just because he is Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, but, because he, God Almighty, thought enough about us—about you and me—to love us first . And love demands love in return, for he loved us first . This love of God that I am talking about is not a mere sentiment or an emotional feeling (somewhat like the feeling we might have after reading a particularly warm book or seeing a sentimental movie or television show), nor is it the sentimental love of two young lovers. No, true love of God is a deeper and stronger thing than just feelings. Feelings and emotions pass away, but true love lives on. For real love of God is anchored deep in the mind and heart of a person, set so deeply that no thing, no person here on earth can ever destroy it. [It is] set in wisdom and knowledge, the wisdom that life’s whole reason is to love God, and the knowledge that he deserves to be loved because he first loved us . Love like this, though it sometimes experiences good feelings and deep emotions, lives beyond these feelings, beyond these emotions in the very bedrock of our being.
Such love gives us the power to say and to mean, “God, I love you” when sorrow has torn all joy from our hearts, when pain is like a living thing in our lives, and when the hatred and unkindness and treachery of so-called friends and even irreligious [people] has sickened the very core of our souls. Such a love gives us the power to say, “God, I love you” when it seems that he, yes, even he has abandoned us, and when the devil has made our lives his plaything and has tortured us with every imaginable temptation. This is real love of God, a love that is not measured by fervor and piety in prayers but by a faithful daily devotion to prayers that may seem cold and lifeless things. [It is a] love that is measured by doing things for God when discouragement and even despair and disgust and all types of shame have made it almost impossible to do anything for anyone. This is real love of God, a love that is constantly and completely a devoted love : with a willingness to give God everything, even life itself, just for him, just for his glory; with a willingness to forget oneself, one’s own needs, one’s own desires out of love for him; with a willingness to do anything he wants, just because he wants it and to see him loved and glorified and praised above everything else in life; a willingness to love him deep, deep in your inmost soul, to want him in your life, sincerely and truly, more than you want comfort, or respect, or success, or health, or human love or anything else this world can give to you.
This is real love of God, to love him without measure, without stinting, without ever considering how much it will cost you to love him. For true love never considers cost, never says, It is enough. We are [only] beginning somewhat to love God when we can say and truly mean, “My love of God is never enough.” Obviously, of course, the first requirement for the love of God in our hearts is that we be friends of love, that we be in the state of sanctifying grace, that we be free of all sin that is serious. For a person cannot say, “God, I love you!” with her lips, and mean this, when her heart and mind and soul are turned to sin relative to some person or thing. Herein lies the real evil of mortal sin; it destroys the very reason for our existence and makes a heart that was made to sing a song of love for God mute and silent and useless. For in dying and in suffering, our dedicated souls can still sing their songs of love; but in sinning mortally, we make our hearts as silent as the corridors of hell.
The next greatest enemies to God’s love in our life are the so-called “little sins,” the little venial sins of gossip, unkindness, lying, impatience, envy, anger, disobedience, criticism, and the so many little faults we scarcely even notice in our daily life. We can also add to this list our constant lack of thoughtfulness. Yet, these “little sins” chip and bite away at our love of God. They gradually but, oh so surely, push him and his love into a small corner of our life. A little lie told to avoid difficulty in the community, or with a superior, a word of anger or of impatience with the young people you teach, a word of unkindness to a fellow sister, and carelessness in your daily prayer: all these “little sins” are the greatest evil in the world, next to the evil of mortal sin. But avoiding mortal sin and avoiding, at least, all deliberate venial sin is only the beginning of our love.
Our love of God becomes real when we do everything out of love for him. When you teach a child that two and two are four or teach a college philosophy major that the ontological proofs for the existence of God are more existential than they are essential; when you wash the face of a hospital patient or administer the whole complex organization of a hospital; when you put a new light bulb in an older sister’s room or lecture brilliantly on atomic fission; when you do all—great things and little things, big things and little things—when you do all just and only out of love for God , then your love of God is real. Every simple act of every day, and every great act of every day, done out of love, can grow because we love God, can be changed into so great an act of love that the angels themselves will be dazzled by the light of this one little act. The more that you do everything for your God, the more do you love him. The more you offer every act of kindness, every pain, every sorrow, every smile, every tear, every joy, every worry, every good thing to him, the more you love him. Each time you say throughout the day, “God, I love you!” the song of your love of God fills the halls of Heaven itself. It is not easy to love God with such a devoted and selfless love. For we are born with selfish hearts, and there is constant pressure to put our pleasures, our comforts, our needs, and our desires above everything and everyone else, even God himself.
One of the most terrible effects of venial sin is this: it turned the heart of man, which was made to be God-centered, into a self-centered heart. God made us to love him. Sin turned us from him. This means that every time we want to love God and not ourselves, every time we want to do something for God, such as avoid mortal sin or venial sin, say some special prayers, be kind or patient or understanding, each time we will have to do violence to our own human nature. We will have to take our lives and our hearts in hand and turn them forcibly away from what we want, to what God wants. This is what Christ meant when he said, “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent bear it away.” The violent ones are those who constantly say no to themselves and to their wants in life, who pull themselves filially and violently from what they want in life to what God wants in life. You see, this is the reason there is, and must be, penance in our lives. For the only way we can do constantly what God wants us to do, the only way we can do things for God and for his children and not for ourselves, is by constantly practicing penance in small things, by constantly saying no to our own desires. And this is penance, as you all know so well. This is why Christ told us, “If any man will come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me.” [This is] why St. Paul said, “They who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh” and, “If any man love the world, the love of God is not in him.”
Love of God is not an easy thing in our life. It demands suffering and penance, much, much prayer, a constant repeating of the good intention—telling God that you want to do everything for him. For the more you repeat your good intention, the easier it is to do things for him. Love of God demands giving up the many comfortable “little sins” of our life. But all that you do to make your song of love echo through the streets of Heaven will be well worth it. You will still want success in your work, and health, and human love because you are human, but you will begin to want them, really, only if God wants them. You will be able to say, and really mean it, “God, anything you want is all right by me. I’ll do my best,” and the rest is up to our lover, God. Humiliations, failures, and the unkind actions or words of fellow sisters will still hurt, because you are still human, but they will never hurt enough to make your soul sick and disgusted with life or with your vocation in life, because in all these things you will truly possess your God. For when you love him, then you truly possess him, and possessing him, you will be able to say with St. Paul,
Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or the sword? But in all these things, we overcome because of him who has loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor the powers of hell, nor the things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” |
Article: "The Last Words Of 25 Catholic Saints", from US Catholic
Info from this site: http://www.ucatholic.com/blog/the-last-words-of-25-catholic-saints/
🗣1. Saint Joan of Arc = Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!"
🗣2. Saint Thomas More = "I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first."
🗣3. Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro = "Viva Cristo Rey! (Long live Christ the King) "
🗣4. Saint John Paul II = "Let me go to the house of the Father."
🗣5. Saint Therese of Lisieux = "I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to me. My God, I love You."
🗣6. Saint Padre Pio = "Jesus. Maria."
🗣7. Saint Thomas à Becket = "For the Name of Jesus and the protection of the Church I am ready to embrace death."
🗣8. Saint Stephen = "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
🗣9. Saint Bernadette = "Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me!"
🗣10. Saint Charles Borromeo = "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."
🗣11. Saint Teresa of Avila = "My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may Your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time for us to meet one another."
🗣12. Pope Saint Gregory VII = "I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile.”
🗣13. Saint John Bosco = "Love each other as brothers. Do good to all and evil to none... Tell my boys that I wait for them all in Paradise."
🗣14. Saint Teresa of Calcutta = "each other as brothers. Do good to all and evil to none... Tell my boys that I wait for them all in Paradise."
🗣15. Saint Anthony of Padua = "I see my Lord."
🗣16 Saint Catherine of Siena = "Beloved, You call me, I come. Not through any service of mine, but through Your mercy and the power of Your blood. Blood, blood! Father into Your hands I commend my spirit."
🗣17 Saint Monica = "Lay this body anywhere, and take no trouble over it. One thing only do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be."
🗣18 Saint Augustine of Hippo "Your will be done. Come, Lord Jesus!"
🗣19 Saint Anthony The Great. = "And now God save you, children, for
Antony departs and is with you no more."
🗣20. Saint Dominic Savio = "I am seeing the most wonderful things!"
🗣21. Pope Saint Pius X = "I was born poor, I have lived poor, I wish to die poor." (From his last will and testament)
🗣22. Saint Maria Goretti = "I forgive Alessandro Serenelli [her murderer] … and I want him with me in Heaven forever."
🗣23. Saint Boniface = "Cease, my sons, from fighting, give up warfare, for the witness of Scripture recommends that we do not give an eye for an eye but rather good for evil. Here is the long awaited day, the time of our end has now come; courage in the Lord!"
🗣24. Saint Maximillian Kolbe = "Ave Maria!”
🗣25. Saint Lawrence = "Turn me over, I'm done on this side!"
Info from this site: http://www.ucatholic.com/blog/the-last-words-of-25-catholic-saints/
🗣1. Saint Joan of Arc = Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!"
🗣2. Saint Thomas More = "I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first."
🗣3. Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro = "Viva Cristo Rey! (Long live Christ the King) "
🗣4. Saint John Paul II = "Let me go to the house of the Father."
🗣5. Saint Therese of Lisieux = "I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to me. My God, I love You."
🗣6. Saint Padre Pio = "Jesus. Maria."
🗣7. Saint Thomas à Becket = "For the Name of Jesus and the protection of the Church I am ready to embrace death."
🗣8. Saint Stephen = "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
🗣9. Saint Bernadette = "Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me!"
🗣10. Saint Charles Borromeo = "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."
🗣11. Saint Teresa of Avila = "My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may Your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time for us to meet one another."
🗣12. Pope Saint Gregory VII = "I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile.”
🗣13. Saint John Bosco = "Love each other as brothers. Do good to all and evil to none... Tell my boys that I wait for them all in Paradise."
🗣14. Saint Teresa of Calcutta = "each other as brothers. Do good to all and evil to none... Tell my boys that I wait for them all in Paradise."
🗣15. Saint Anthony of Padua = "I see my Lord."
🗣16 Saint Catherine of Siena = "Beloved, You call me, I come. Not through any service of mine, but through Your mercy and the power of Your blood. Blood, blood! Father into Your hands I commend my spirit."
🗣17 Saint Monica = "Lay this body anywhere, and take no trouble over it. One thing only do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be."
🗣18 Saint Augustine of Hippo "Your will be done. Come, Lord Jesus!"
🗣19 Saint Anthony The Great. = "And now God save you, children, for
Antony departs and is with you no more."
🗣20. Saint Dominic Savio = "I am seeing the most wonderful things!"
🗣21. Pope Saint Pius X = "I was born poor, I have lived poor, I wish to die poor." (From his last will and testament)
🗣22. Saint Maria Goretti = "I forgive Alessandro Serenelli [her murderer] … and I want him with me in Heaven forever."
🗣23. Saint Boniface = "Cease, my sons, from fighting, give up warfare, for the witness of Scripture recommends that we do not give an eye for an eye but rather good for evil. Here is the long awaited day, the time of our end has now come; courage in the Lord!"
🗣24. Saint Maximillian Kolbe = "Ave Maria!”
🗣25. Saint Lawrence = "Turn me over, I'm done on this side!"
Audio presentation: "Refurbishing the Soul", Episode 3, by Babsie Bleasdell
Audio link:
listen.ewtn.com/~IJ/~IJ000006.mp3
Audio link:
listen.ewtn.com/~IJ/~IJ000006.mp3