🧀The Cheese & Crackers = Quotes by St. John Damascene, St. Leo the Great, and Fr. Bill Peckman
🌽The Veggies = My 2💰
🍟The Potatoes = “Mystics At Prayer”: Gelasian Sacramentary, Coptic Apocrypha, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jan van Ruysbroeck, St. Heinrich Suso, Book of Christian Prayers, and Jacob Boehme
🍗The Meat = Book: “The Prayer of the Presence of God, A Dangerous Fire”, by Dom Augustin Guillerand, O. Cart
🍰The Dessert = YouTube Video: “God’s Presence In Holy Scripture”, by Fr. Jacques Philippe (Part 2 of 8)
▫️ “In rendering service to the grace of God, we are not only made subject to our King through obedience but are even joined to him through the will. If we are of one mind with him (willing what he wills, disapproving of what he disapproves), he himself will bring us victory in all our battles. He who has given the 'will' will bestow also the ability. In this way can we 'cooperate' with his works, speaking that prophetic utterance in the exultation of faith: 'The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defender of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? “. By St. Leo the Great
🔹 “Our society has become godless and exerts much pressure to make sure all are like-minded. The third commandment to keep holy the Sabbath is so forgotten as to be rarely practiced. Even Sunday morning has been taken over by sports, shopping, chores, and other things that turn Mass (if one goes at all) into something that is "fit in" instead of prioritized - as if the day of the Lord is instead the hour of the Lord. We will know if we have idols in our lives by merely looking at our choices when it comes to the day of the Lord. Is Mass the center of the day? It is what everything else is scheduled around? Is there rest? Or is the pursuit of honor, pleasure, money, or power more sought after? Chances are if the day of the Lord has been reduced to the hour of the Lord, and if that hour of the Lord is a lesser choice when given other options, than the rest of the week is likely just as godless”. By Fr. Bill Peckman
🦉Elizabeth = O Mystery in which the angels lose their way and cry,
👩🏼🎨tmm= In relief and contentment, being caught up in the mystery, comes forth my sigh
🦉Elizabeth = “Hail to Her Who bore the Salvation of the world.”
👩🏼🎨tmm= Graces galore around her did spin and twirl
🦉Elizabeth = Antiphon in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
👩🏼🎨tmm= The Blessed One who repels demons, for they find Our Lady quite scary
🦉Elizabeth= “The virgin shall be with child and bear a son” (Is 7:14) is the sign for which this icon is named.
👩🏼🎨tmm= To take time understand and deeply appreciate this, there will be no regrets for those having highly aimed
📖 Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel”
👩🏼🎨tmm= From thence it shall for all humanity be certainly well
🦉Elizabeth = The word “sign” is rich in meaning. God gives signs throughout the bible to manifest his presence and power, to carry his promises, and to show those promises are fulfilled.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Lord God that my life be lived as a sign of your love to and for others. That my example serve so that the soil of lives be spiritually tilled
🦉Elizabeth = A sign is a gift from God to the believer and the unbeliever for the purpose of drawing the recipient closer to Himself. Let us humble ourselves before the Handmaid of the Lord that the mysteries of the kingdom hidden in this sign may be revealed to us.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Yes, much can be revealed without drama when there is a sweet surrender, for under the cover of Our Blessed Mother’s mantle we’ll come into a glorious experience, minus fanfare or fuss
🦉Elizabeth = Lady of the Sign, you are the convergence of many signs, the sign of signs promised and fulfilled by our God. You are the Woman foretold in the garden whose descendant would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15).
👩🏼🎨tmm= Grateful and thankful, how happy we are that you were sent
📖 Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.”;
👩🏼🎨tmm= No revoking ever of this wondrous Divine deal
🦉Elizabeth = It was not the seed of the man, but of the woman to whom God entrusted this mission.
👩🏼🎨tmm= A super sign of the equality and importance of both men and women regarding the great commission
🦉Elizabeth = You are the fulfillment of the promise to David that his descendant’s kingdom and throne (2 Sam. 7:11-19) would stand firm
👩🏼🎨tmm= No doubt it’s never about man’s plans, but things always unfold on God’s term
📖 2 Samuel 7:11-29 “and from the day when I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you: when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and with human punishments; but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from Saul who was before you. Your house and your kingdom are firm forever before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever. In accordance with all these words and this whole vision Nathan spoke to David. David’s Thanksgiving. Then King David went in and sat in the LORD’s presence and said, “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you should have brought me so far? And yet even this is too little in your sight, Lord GOD! For you have made a promise regarding your servant’s house reaching into the future, and giving guidance to the people, Lord GOD! What more can David say to you? You know*your servant, Lord GOD! For your servant’s sake and as you have had at heart, you have brought about this whole magnificent disclosure to your servant. Therefore, great are you, Lord GOD! There is no one like you, no God but you, as we have always heard. What other nation on earth is there like your people Israel? What god has ever led a nation, redeeming it as his people and making a name by great and awesome deeds, as you drove out the nations and their gods before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt? You have established for yourself your people Israel as your people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God. Now, LORD God, confirm the promise that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house forever. Bring about what you have promised so that your name may be forever great. People will say: ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel,’ when the house of your servant David is established in your presence. Because you, LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, ‘I will build you a house,’ your servant now finds the courage to make this prayer before you. Since you, Lord GOD, are truly God and your words are truth and you have made this generous promise to your servant, do, then, bless the house of your servant, that it may be in your presence forever—since you, Lord GOD, have promised, and by your blessing the house of your servant shall be blessed forever.”
👩🏼🎨tmm= Not so for the enemies who have lost favor, ever so cunning and thinking they are most clever
🦉Elizabeth = You are the Mother of the Messiah, he whose days are from eternity and who will call back the scattered children of God (Mi 5:1-2).
👩🏼🎨tmm= His precious little peas in a pod
📖 Micah 5:1 “But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathaha But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathaha least among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times”
👩🏼🎨tmm= Unfolding right before us are glorious reasons and rhymes
📖 Micah 5:2 Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, Then the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel.
👩🏼🎨tmm= It all appears so unbelievable, but in truth, time will most surely tell
🦉Elizabeth = You are God’s dwelling place on earth, the living Ark of the covenant who contains the Giver of the Law and the life-giving bread from heaven.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Blest is our generation, for daily we can partake of the that most precious Holy bread which is unleavened
🦉Elizabeth = O new Eve, you are the Mother of all those who live in Christ and by His sacrifice. You are the great sign, the Woman clothed with the sun (Rev 12:1-2, 5)
👩🏼🎨tmm= Oh highly favored one
📖 Revelation 12:1-2 “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth”
👩🏼🎨tmm= To us would come down the Saviour of the world to earth
📖Revelation 12:5 “She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne”
👩🏼🎨tmm= His blessings to never cease, they will continue going on and on
🦉Elizabeth = to whom the battle against evil has been entrusted. And to you, the victory has been given. You are the definitive sign of the triumph of Divine Love.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Our place secure is at your feet with your mantle hovering above
🦉Elizabeth = You are Blessed Mary, Mother of Jesus. Virgin Mother of the Sign, you are seated, hands raised in adoration and praise.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Let us take note to follow suit to do the same all of our living days
🦉Elizabeth = On your mantle is revealed the child of your womb.
👩🏼🎨tmm= He who will one day, rise and ascend from His tomb
🦉Elizabeth = The Son of David holds a scroll in one hand and blesses with the other.
👩🏼🎨tmm= His love is for the heart, it’s such a warm cover
🦉Elizabeth = His face is sober as he sits upon the royal throne of His Mother’s lap, the seat of wisdom.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Always in the forefront is the fact that His priority is coming of the Father’s kingdom
🦉Elizabeth = He is surrounded by stars and eclipses the sun.
👩🏼🎨tmm= What else can you expect when He is indeed the Chosen, Only Begotten One
🦉Elizabeth = We are in the presence of the Lord of all creation, the Word made flesh through whom and for whom all was created, the Son of the Eternal Father (Col 1:15-20).
👩🏼🎨tmm= What a privilege as an inheritance we can become a beloved son or daughter
📖 Colossians1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross [through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven”
👩🏼🎨tmm= All encompassing, the fullness and completeness, yes, it’s most perfect without end, considered a seven
🦉Elizabeth = The golden haloed head of the child is at the level of the Mother’s heart. Your love, Blessed Mary, drew the Most High to your heart where your Son was conceived.
👩🏼🎨tmm= A place of refuge reserved for the coming generation, a would be reality for those who this would be a truth to be believed
🦉Elizabeth = The golden light of the Son of God issuing from your heart is of the same color as the background.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Those in darkness coming near, it will surely surround
🦉Elizabeth = The overshadowing Spirit still hovers about you, Virgin of Nazareth.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Protecting from the sting of sin that brings spiritual death
🦉Elizabeth = Your own halo of the same color extends into the frame, showing the fullness of grace the Triune God has granted you from the moment of your immaculate conception.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Without a doubt, Divine predilection
🦉Elizabeth = You are the new creation in whom heaven and the Lord of Heaven are present.
👩🏼🎨tmm= All are welcomed and invited to be an indwelling resident
🦉Elizabeth = You are the true Temple of the Living God, the Ark of the Covenant in whom is hid the Giver of the Law, the Word made flesh.
👩🏼🎨tmm= A wonderful dwelling among us, with whom we wish to totally mesh
🦉Elizabeth = When God commissioned Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God gave this sign to Moses, “you will worship God on this holy mountain,” (Ex 3:12).
👩🏼🎨tmm= An exemption is given to none
📖 Ezekiel 3:12 “Then the spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling noise as the glory of the LORD rose from its place:”
👩🏼🎨tmm= What a beautiful moment of amazing grace
🦉Elizabeth = All the signs in Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea were for unbelievers and the children of Israel.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Kind of like God’s grand show and tell
🦉Elizabeth = Moses’ sign was to adore the living God on His holy mountain once Moses had obediently fulfilled God’s commission. It was on the holy mountain that Moses received the law.
👩🏼🎨tmm= His emotions were probably so, so, raw
🦉Elizabeth = It was with loving obedience that Moses built the Ark and the meeting tent where the Lord was pleased to dwell among the children of Israel and to be ministered to by His priests.
👩🏼🎨tmm= What a privilege to be counted in that number and be allowed to celebrate those glorious feasts
🦉Elizabeth = True Daughter of Jerusalem, you became a temple worthy of the Lord of Hosts by your loving faith filled “let it be done to me according to your word.”
👩🏼🎨tmm= So humbly you responded to the request that you heard
🦉Elizabeth = In you we find him whom we seek.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Our strength for the times when we feel so weak
🦉Elizabeth = You are the sign of God’s presence among us as the ark covered by the pillar of fire and the column of cloud were for the Israelites.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Unfailing help for us in our dark days or even for coming darker nights
🦉Elizabeth = Royal Queen, your face is filled with the dignity of your state;
👩🏼🎨tmm= Something to truly contemplate
🦉Elizabeth = you understand the weight of responsibility that is yours as Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the new creation.
👩🏼🎨tmm= For all, you shine and are hands down, a great inspiration
🦉Elizabeth = The fringe of the mantle that frames your face begins and ends with the child of your womb.
👩🏼🎨tmm= The fruit of your womb, but the time is coming when there will be a period resembling doom and gloom
🦉Elizabeth = Your whole purpose and mission is to be the handmaid of the Lord.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Something we to should aspire to and be with with you on one accord
🦉Elizabeth = You lead all who come to you to Jesus.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Yes, the Redeemer, our Saving Lord the Christus
🦉Elizabeth = The triangular closure at the neckline of your robe reiterates this pointing to the child as does the circle of your halo that lines up with the neckline.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Let us realize the Christ that is all yours, can be all mine
🦉Elizabeth = Every gift God has given to you is for the purpose of serving your Son and accomplishing the Father’s will.
👩🏼🎨tmm=Something we ought ourselves want to do, a goal to heartedly fulfill
🦉Elizabeth = You, Mother, told us to do whatever your Son tells us. Those who are born of the will of God live by every word that comes from His mouth.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Because rooted trust, there is no need or room for any doubt
🦉Elizabeth = This word does not return to God void, but accomplishes the end for which He sent it, making the earth fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. How truly this fruitfulness is accomplished in you who give us the Jesus, the Living Bread.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Exclamation point and amen, for regarding this, nothing better can be said
🦉Elizabeth = The Father’s will is perfectly suited to remedy our weakness: the Son’s sacrifice on the cross.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Darkness shamed in every way, a proof of who is the supreme boss
🦉Elizabeth = You shared in this sacrifice through your love and compassion as you stood beneath the cross. Here you became the new Eve, the Mother of all born of the Spirit.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Your love was pure and strong enough, so that’s why you could bear it
🦉Elizabeth = You were prepared for the Son’s sacrifice by the many sacrifices required throughout your life.
👩🏼🎨tmm= No stranger were hardships, at times all around you in some firm or fashion at times you witnessed strife
🦉Elizabeth = Did not Simeon prophesy that your Son would be a sign of contradiction and that a sword would pierce your heart that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed?
👩🏼🎨tmm= Now that was something that could not or would not be repealed
🦉Elizabeth = Looking again at this beautiful image, Mother, we see this sign of contraction.
👩🏼🎨tmm= In no way is it a part of what is fiction
🦉Elizabeth = Your robe falls like a cloth wound round and round about your arms and lap.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Serving for your Son as a protective flap
🦉Elizabeth = Your upraised arms are firm like pillars while your brownish red mantle with its white fringe spans the space between your arms and frames the One dwelling in your womb as if to emphasize the limits the Lord of All imposed upon himself in taking the form of a slave by being born in human form (Phil 2:7).
👩🏼🎨tmm= That all might subject themselves to the will of the Father finding that’s the norm
📖 Philippians 2:7 “Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance”
👩🏼🎨tmm= Now it’s our turn to Him who is, to offer our deference
🦉Elizabeth = You welcomed Jesus’ conception and birth with unspeakable joy as you wrapped him in swaddling clothes and offered praise to God. Your faith and love formed the warp and weft that supported the life of the Incarnate Son of the Father.
👩🏼🎨tmm= The same you offer to each one of us, when from the foot of the cross we each became yours, resulting from your precious Son’s slaughter
🦉Elizabeth = Your hope and trust remained firm in unfathomable pain of the crucifixion and death of your Son and King, even as you wrapped Him in his burial shroud and placed his body in the tomb.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Never mind the sorrow that your heart did swallow up and consume
🦉Elizabeth = O Hope of the hopeless, fill us with your unshakeable trust in the promises of God.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Might that not to us appear strange or odd
🦉Elizabeth = Your sacrifice reveals a depth of love and pain that are beyond our understanding.
👩🏼🎨tmm= The flame burning in your heart, the Holy Spirit is forever fanning
🦉Elizabeth = You clothed in flesh the Son of God. This is the same flesh that He offered on the altar of the Cross and that He gives us in the Blessed Eucharist.
👩🏼🎨tmm= A source for sweet bliss that our spirits interiorly can’t resist
🦉Elizabeth = The circles of the halos and the circle of the womb call to mind the Sacred Host.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Sublime and truly most Holy, yes indeed, “most” often “most”
🦉Elizabeth = Every time we participate in the sacrifice of the Mass, we have you to thank, O Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, for making it possible for us to receive the incarnate Son of God.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Who can not say yes, yes, yes, each accompanied by with a reverent head nod
🦉Elizabeth = Living Ark of the new and eternal covenant, how can we ever thank you enough for your fiat?
👩🏼🎨tmm= We can try to show our appreciation by living our lives in a way that crosses every “t” and every “i”with diligence and care we dot
🦉Elizabeth = The living bread come down from heaven is the sign of eternal life. All who eat this bread will live forever.
👩🏼🎨tmm= To die the second death, no, never
🦉Elizabeth = All the sacred signs we call sacraments come from the heart of God to us through the Son of God made flesh in the Incarnation.
👩🏼🎨tmm= To the soul bringing much spiritual jubilation
🦉Elizabeth = O Blessed Lady, please teach us to surrender totally to our Creator, Savior and God. Share with us your Immaculate Conception and all the love of your heart that we may love Jesus with you and in you.
👩🏼🎨tmm= With a love that is tried and true
🦉Elizabeth = Let us join the holy angels as they offer their prayer and praise to God with you, great Queen.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Worshiping and adoring, saying from the heart exactly what we mean
🦉Elizabeth = Your hands form a unity with the wings of the seraphim who unceasingly adore the true God. Your praise and worship were steadfast like Moses who hands were raised aloft until the battle against Amalek was won.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Happily we join in, and unified may we in the Lord all become as one
🦉Elizabeth = The mighty seraphs wait to do your will, majestic Queen, as they worship the God hidden in your womb.
👩🏼🎨tmm= That our fiats might upwards, zoom, zoom, zoom
🦉Elizabeth = Isaiah beheld the seraphim with faces covered before the majesty of the Holy One of Israel, but here, the fiery seraphim receive a blessing from the Mother of the Incarnate Son.
👩🏼🎨tmm= Blessings like so for us, when all is said and done
🦉Elizabeth = They look upon the face of God, as we will, with unveiled faces and are transformed from glory to glory by Christ who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).
👩🏼🎨tmm= That the truth of this might be witnessed by those with ears to hear, processing the good news as they hear it
📖 2 Corinthians 3:18 “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit”
👩🏼🎨tmm= Alleluia, alleluia, a revolutionizing transformation happening lil bit by lil bit
🦉Elizabeth = Our Lady of the Sign, lead us continuously to God, the living God
👩🏼🎨tmm= We want to be wrapped up in Him forever, abiding and residing, practicing the presence till the day we die and are pushing up daisies in the sod
1️⃣. Gelasian Sacramentary
△ △ △ “O GOD of unchangeable Power, let the whole world feel and see that things which were cast down are being raised up, that those which had grown old are being made new and that all things are returning to perfection”. △ △ △
2️⃣. Coptic Apocrypha
△ △ △ “Glory be to THEE, PROPITIATOR. Glory be to THEE, UNDYING ONE. Glory be to THEE, KING of PEACE. Glory be to THEE, WHO was not born. Glory be to THEE, the INCORRUPTIBLE. Glory be to THEE, KING of GLORY. Glory be to THEE, the HEAD of the UNIVERSE. Glory be to THEE, HOLY and PERFECT ONE. Glory be to THEE, THOU TREASURY of GLORY. Glory be to THEE, THOU true Light. Glory be to THEE, DELIVERER of the UNIVERSE. Glory be to THEE, THOU WHO art indeed the GOOD ONE.
Glory be to THEE, ALPHA of the UNIVERSE. Glory be to THEE, LIFE of the UNIVERSE. O SWEET NAME. O THOU, WHO art at the head of the Universe. O THOU Beginning and End of everything Amen”. △ △ △
3️⃣ St. Thomas Aquinas
△ △ △ “Give me, O LORD, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give me an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give me an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon me also, O LORD, my GOD, understanding to know THEE, diligence to seek THEE, wisdom to find THEE, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace THEE.” △ △ △
4️⃣ St. Jan van Ruysbroeck
△ △ △ “O LORD, I gasp in my desire for THEE, yet can I not consume THEE. The more I eat—the fiercer is my hunger; the more I drink—the greater is my thirst. I follow after that which flieth from me, and as I follow, my desire groweth greater. O LORD, THOU desirest my spirit in the inward parts, that I may see THEE as THOU seest me, and love THEE as THOU lovest me.” △ △ △
6️⃣ St. Heinrich Suso
△ △ △ “THOU hast granted my heart’s desire—Most blest of the blessed is he Who findeth no rest and no sweetness Till he rests, O LORD, in THEE. It is meet that I should be enamoured of THEE, and whatever I shall know to be THY dearest will that I will always do. Gentle LORD, cause some sweet fruit of good instruction to issue forth from our sharp thorns of sufferings, that we may suffer more patiently, and be better able to offer up our sufferings to THY praise and glory.” △ △ △
7️⃣ Book of Christian Prayers
△ △ △ “O Light which does lighten every man that cometh into the world, without whom all is most dark darkness, by whom all things are most splendent; Lighten our minds, that we may only see those things that please THEE and may be blinded to all other things.” △ △ △
Lagniappe
8️⃣. Jacob Boehme
△ △ △ “O THOU great incomprehensible GOD. Who fillest all, be THOU indeed my heaven. Let my spirit be indeed the music and the joy of THY spirit. Do THOU make music in me and may I make harmony in the Divine Kingdom of THY joy, in the great love of GOD, in the wonders of THY glory and splendour, in the company of THY holy angelic harmonies.” △ △ △
“There is in the soul of man a fire of concupiscence constantly burning, inherited from our first parents. It spreads its noxious heat to the soul's powers; it gives rise to sensuality in the flesh under a thousand varying forms; to error and illusion in the mind, so that we mistake what is not for the God who is. It causes us to seek as our good what in fact draws us away from it, while the will finds itself drawn to the transient pleasures offered us by our senses, leaving us powerless to follow its deeper urge to seek its true spiritual good.
In the course of time, successive generations have greatly increased these tendencies, whilst our personal sins add to the burden daily. As a result, our whole being has been reduced to a state of disorder and anarchy, from which we continue to suffer so long as we retain any sense of order and discipline. We can unfortunately end up by becoming more or less accustomed to this state of affairs, and this is the worst misery of all.
We walk on a downward and dangerous slope, and have done so ever since we were born. All our energies are inclined towards evil, and are drawn by it. Our mind is distorted and no longer faithfully reflects the truth. All too readily, ignorance, the love of falsehood and vain curiosities find a welcome in it. Our will is weakened and no longer takes command. Badly enlightened by the mind enticing it in wrong directions, and carried away by unchecked passions inflamed by external objects, at every moment it is mastered by servants who have ceased to obey, if they have not actually gone so far as to subject the will entirely to their caprices.
What hope is there for us without help from on high, opposing its higher movement to this lower movement? We must pray, therefore, for this aid that we need so badly; for the forgiveness of our sins, and for that true contrition which blots them out. We must pray for the graces of expiation which offers all the reparation of which we are capable, and for that charity which gives us new life. We must have the courage to welcome that divine light which shows up our sins, more numerous than the sands of the shore, weighing us down with their load and crushing us like the suffocating air which presages a storm. Like the snows of an avalanche and the rocks they bring with them, our sins pile up one on the other, erecting a barrier between the soul and heaven, until we forget that there is a heaven at all! We must pray that we may realize all the horror of one single sin, and the great number of which we have been guilty. We must ask for that frightening light which reveals them all-the sins we have committed knowingly and those, far more numerous, which we have committed almost unconsciously, just as we take in the germs which fill the air we breathe.”
Video link: https://youtu.be/5wy9be1tMkc