" Consider gold : the oftener it is melted the more pure does it become ; continue to melt it and every imperfection is destroyed. This is the effect of fire on all materials. The soul, however, cannot be annihilated in God, but in herself she can, and the longer her purification lasts the more perfectly does she die to herself, until at length she remains purified in God."
[St. Catharine of Genoa – XV-XVI Century AD; Genoa, Republic of Genoa] " The great importance of Purgatory, neither mind can conceive nor tongue describe. I see only that its pains are as great as those of hell ; and yet I see that a soul, stained with the slightest fault, receiving this mercy, counts the pains as nought in comparison with this hindrance to her love. And I know that the greatest misery of the souls in Purgatory is to behold in themselves aught that displeases God, and to discover that, in spite of His goodness, they had consented to it. And this is because, being in the state of grace, they sec the reality and the importance of the impediments which hinder their approach to God. " From that furnace of divine love I sec rays of fire dart like burning lamps towards the soul ; and so violent and powerful are they that both soul and body would be utterly destroyed, if that were possible. These rays perform a double office ; they purify and they annihilate. " Consider gold …More
"Now the sufferings of Christ had become very vivid and real to the minds of the hermits. Just as we instinctively shrink from laughter when one who is very dear to us lies dying, so they, because they loved Him greatly, desired to deny themselves pleasure and even to accept the burden of pain."
Chapter I, Point VII “How a man cannot possess the heavenly treasure and at the same time cling to the pleasures of earth. The abbot Arsenius was once asked by the abbot Mark why he fled from the society of men. He replied, "God knows it is not that I hate men. I love them well. But I cannot dwell both with God and with men. There are multitudes of heavenly beings and many virtues, but all their wills are one, and they come of one will. Among men it is otherwise. Their wills are many, and they pull us different ways. I am in this strait. I cannot leave God, for that is how I think of it, to dwell with men." Chapter II - On Being Crucified with Christ If any man will come after Me, let him take up his cross, and follow Me. —St. Matt., xvi 24. He who enters upon the way of life in fear bears the cross patiently. He who advances in hope bears the cross readily. He who is perfected in charity embraces the cross ardently. —St. Bernard, Sermon I. on St. Andrew's Day. I have received the …More
[Blaise Pascal – XVII Century AD; Clermont-Ferrand, France/Paris, France; Mathematics/Physics/Theology] “16. Eloquence is an art of saying things in such a way (1) that those to whom we speak may listen to them without pain and with pleasure; (2) that they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads them more willingly to reflection upon it. It consists, then, in a correspondence which we seek to establish between the head and the heart of those to whom we speak, on the one hand, and, on the other, between the thoughts and the expressions which we employ. This assumes that we have studied well the heart of man so as to know all its powers and, then, to find the just proportions of the discourse which we wish to adapt to them. We must put ourselves in the place of those who are to hear us, and make trial on our own heart of the turn which we give to our discourse in order to see whether one is made for the other, and whether we can assure ourselves that the hearer will be, as it …More
"He /Nestorius/ admitted that there were two natures in Christ, which acted in concert. " Jesus Christ," said he, " as man, was born of the Blessed Virgin, suffered and died; but Christ, as God, directed the man Jesus, with whom he was joined by a moral union only."
[Collin de Plancy – XVIII-XIX Century AD; Demonologist – Converted to the Catholic Faith] "THE following is more properly a page from ecclesiastical history than a legend. But we have thought that a rapid sketch of the council held at Ephesus might occupy a most appropriate place in a volume devoted to the relation of the wonders wrought through the intercession of the ever Messed " Mother of God." The council, in confirming this sublime title to the Blessed Virgin, has taught us that we can never conceive too high a notion of the power and majesty of her to whom we fly in our necessities. In the fifth century, whilst illustrious doctors were contending against Arianism, and all the other little sects which attacked the impregnable rock on which is placed the chair of Peter, there appeared among the defenders of the Church, a man of great merit, powerful in speech, rich in learning, and honoured for the austerity of his life ; he was called Nestorius, and became patriarch of Constantinople …More
"Whence God, wishing to repair what was wanting, made a flood, and bade righteous Noah go up into the ark. He, as the flood abated, sent forth first a raven, which did not return ; then he sent forth a dove which, we read, returned with an olive branch. Thou seest the water, thou seest the wood, thou beholdest the dove, and dost thou doubt the mystery ?"
[St. Ambrose – IV Century AD; Augusta Treverorum, Gallia Belgica, Roman Empire/Mediolanum, Italia, Western Roman Empire – Resting Place – Crypt of basilica Sant’Ambrogio – One of the Great Four Latin Church Fathers – Doctor of the Church – made Bishop by popular acclamation] “Chapter III - The operation of the Divine power in baptism is illustrated by Old Testament types. 8. What sawest thou? Water, to be sure, but not water only ; levites ministering there, the high priest questioning and consecrating. First of all, the Apostle has taught thee that we must not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal ; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For elsewhere too thou readest that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are comprehended by the things which are made ; his eternal power and divinity also are understood from his works. Whence also the Lord himself *says, If ye believe not …More
"Now look into hell and see what she saw. Look at the floor of hell. It is red hot like red hot iron. Streams of burning pitch and sulfur run through it. Is. xxxiv The floor blazes up to the roof. Look at the walls, the enormous stones are red hot; sparks of fire are always falling down from them. Lift up your eyes to the roof of hell; it is like a sheet of blazing fire."
“V. The First Look Into Hell When the gates of hell had been opened, St. Francis, with her angel, went forward. She stood on the edge of the abyss. She saw a sight so terrible that it cannot be told. She saw that the size of hell was immense. Neither in height, nor in depth, nor in length, nor in breadth, could she see any end of it. Is. xxxiv. None shall ever pass through it. She saw that hell was divided into three immense places. These three places were at a great distance from one another. There was an upper hell, and a middle hell, and a lower hell. Wisd. 17. "Night came upon them from the lowest and deepest hell." She saw that in the upper hell, the torments were very grevious. In the middle hell they were still more terrible. In the lowest hell the torments were above all understanding. When she had looked into this terrible place, her blood was frozen with fright! VI. Fire Now look into hell and see what she saw. Look at the floor of hell. It is red hot like red hot iron. Streams …More
"St. Augustine tells us that those who go to dances truly renounce Jesus Christ in order to give themselves to the Devil. What a horrible thing that is! To drive out Jesus Christ after having received Him in your hearts! "Today," says St. Ephraim, "they unite themselves to Jesus Christ and tomorrow to the Devil." Alas! What a Judas is that person who, after receiving our Lord, goes then to sell Him to Satan in these gatherings, where he will be reuniting himself with everything that is most vicious!"
[St. Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure d’Ars – XVIII-XIX Century AD; Dardilly, Kingdom of France/Ars-sur-Formans, French Empire – Priest] “Ah, you say, you are making more of it than there really is! I say too much about it? Very well, then. Listen. Did the Holy Fathers of the Church say too much about it? St. Ephraim tells us that dancing is the perdition of girls and women, the blinding of men, the grief of angels, and the joy of the devils. Dear God, can anyone really have their eyes bewitched to such an extent that they will still want to believe that there is no harm in it, while all the time it is the rope by which the Devil pulls the most souls into Hell? . . . Go on, poor parents, blind and lost, go on and scorn what your pastor is telling you! Go on! Continue the way you are going! Listen to everything and profit nothing by it! There is no harm in it? Tell me, then, what did you renounce on the day of your Baptism? Or on what conditions was Baptism given to you? Was it …More
"7. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." He says that they are blessed who relieve the miserable, for it is paid back to them in such a way that they are freed from misery."
[St. Augustine of Hippo – IV-V Century AD; Thagaste, Roman Empire/Hippo, Western Roman Empire – Church Father – Doctor of the Church – Blessed; Resting Place – Pavia, Italy] “Chapter II 4. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall by inheritance possess the earth:" that earth, I suppose, of which it is said in the Psalm, "Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." For it signifies a certain firmness and stability of the perpetual inheritance, where the soul, by means of a good disposition, rests, as it were, in its own place, just as the body rests on the earth, and is nourished from it with its own food, as the body from the earth. This is the very rest and life of the saints. Then, the meek are those who yield to acts of wickedness, and do not resist evil, but overcome evil with good. Let those, then, who are not meek quarrel and fight for earthly and temporal things; but "blessed are the meek, for they shall by inheritance possess the earth," from which they cannot be …More
"For the true pattern of the soul is God, with whom it must be imprinted, like wax with a seal, and carry the mark of his impress. But this can never be complete until the intellect is perfectly illuminated, according to its capacity, with the knowledge of God, who is perfect truth, until the will is perfectly focused on the love of the perfect good, and until the memory is fully absorbed in turning to and enjoying eternal happiness, and in gladly and contentedly resting in it."
[St. Albert the Great – Albertus Magnus – XIII Century AD; Duchy of Bavaria/Cologne, Holy Roman Empire – Doctor of the Church] “Chapter 3 - What the perfection of man consists of in this life Now the more the mind is concerned about thinking and dealing with what is merely lower and human, the more it is separated from the experience in the intimacy of devotion of what is higher and heavenly, while the more fervently the memory, desire and intellect is withdrawn from what is below to what is above, the more perfect will be our prayer, and the purer our contemplation, since the two directions of our interest cannot both be perfect at the same time, being as different as light and darkness. He who cleaves to God is indeed translated into the light, while he who clings to the world is in the dark. So the supreme perfection of man in this life is to be so united to God that all his soul with all its faculties and powers are so gathered into the Lord God that he becomes one spirit with him …More
"They have not the guilt of sin ; and it is this latter which constitutes the malignant will of the damned, who are excluded from sharing in the goodness of God, and therefore remain in that hopeless malignity of will by which they oppose the will of God.”"
[Catherine of Genoa ~ XV-XVI Century; Genoa, Republic of Genoa] “Chapter III - SEPARATION FROM GOD IS THE GREATEST PUNISHMENT OF PURGATORY WHEREIN PURGATORY DIFFERS FROM HELL ALL the pains of purgatory take their rise from sin, original or actual. God created the soul perfectly pure and free from every spot of sin, with a certain instinctive tendency to find its blessedness in Him. From this tendency it is drawn away by original sin, and still more by the addition of actual sin ; and the farther off it gets, the more wicked it becomes, because it is less in conformity with God. Things are good only so far as they participate in God. To irrational creatures God communicates Himself, without fail, as He wills, and as He has determined ; to the rational soul more or less, according as He finds it purified from the impediment of sin ; so that, when a soul is approaching to that state of first purity and innocence which it had when created, the instinctive desire of seeking happiness in God …More
TREATISE ON THE MOST HOLY TRINITY (QQ[27]-43) THE PROCESSION OF THE DIVINE PERSONS (FIVE ARTICLES) Having considered what belongs to the unity of the divine essence, it remains to treat of what belongs to the Trinity of the persons in God. And because the divine Persons are distinguished from each other according to the relations of origin, the order of the doctrine leads us to consider firstly, the question of origin or procession; secondly, the relations of origin; thirdly, the persons. Concerning procession there are five points of inquiry: (1) Whether there is procession in God? (2) Whether any procession in God can be called generation? (3) Whether there can be any other procession in God besides generation. (4) Whether that other procession can be called generation? (5) Whether there are more than two processions in God? 1-Whether there is procession in God? Objection 1: It would seem that there cannot be any procession in God. For procession signifies outward movement. But in God …More
'May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, You know that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!' & 'Viva Cristo Rey' - Fr. Miguel Pro, 1927
PSALM 9 I will praise thee, O Lady, with my whole heart: and I will declare among the nations thy praise and glory. For to thee is due glory, and thanksgiving, and the voice of praise. May sinners find grace with God by thee, the finder of grace and salvation. May the humble penitents hope for pardon: heal thou the bruises of their hearts. In the beauty of peace and wealth rest: thou shalt feed us after the toil of our pilgrimage. Glory be to the Father, etc.
"[St. Bonaventure – XIII Century AD; Papal States/Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles] PSALM 8 O Lady, Our Lord has become our brother and our Savior. Like the flame in the burning bush, and the dew in the fleece: the Word of God descends into thee forever. The Holy Spirit hath made thee fruitful: the power of the Most High hath overshadowed thee. Blessed be thy most pure conception: blessed be thy virginal bringing forth. Blessed be the purity of thy body: blessed be the sweetness of the mercy of thy heart. Glory be to the Father, etc. PSALM 9 I will praise thee, O Lady, with my whole heart: and I will declare among the nations thy praise and glory. For to thee is due glory, and thanksgiving, and the voice of praise. May sinners find grace with God by thee, the finder of grace and salvation. May the humble penitents hope for pardon: heal thou the bruises of their hearts. In the beauty of peace and wealth rest: thou shalt feed us after the toil of our pilgrimage. Glory be to the Father, etc. …More
"Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is devilish. Pride only, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory."
[St. Bernard of Clairvaux – XI-XII Century AD; Burgundy, Kingdom of France/Clairvaux, Kingdom of France] “ We must be on our guard against this ignorance. We must not rank ourselves too low; and with still greater care we must see that we do not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, as happens when we foolishly impute to ourselves whatever good may be in us. But far more than either of these kinds of ignorance, we must hate and shun that presumption which would lead us to glory in goods not our own, knowing that they are not of ourselves but of God, and yet not fearing to rob God of the honor due unto Him. For mere ignorance, as in the first instance, does not glory at all; and mere wisdom, as in the second, while it has a kind of glory, yet does not glory in the Lord. In the third evil case, however, man sins not in ignorance but deliberately, usurping the glory which belongs to God. And this arrogance is a more grievous and deadly fault than the ignorance of the second …More
"One day while she was repeating the Rosary, and praying Mary to assist her in that persecution, she saw a letter fall from above. On the outside were written these words: "Mary, mother of God, to her daughter Jane, greeting;" and within : "My dear child, continue to say my Rosary ; withdraw from conversation with those who do not help you to live well ; beware of idleness and vanity ; take from your cell two superfluous things, and I will be your protectress with God."
[St. Alphonsus de Liguori ~ XVII-XVIII Century A.D.; Kingdom of Naples] “6. The daughter of a certain prince had entered a monastery, where the discipline was so relaxed, that, although she was a young person of good dispositions, she advanced but little in virtue. By the advice of a good confessor, she began to say the Rosary with the mysteries, and became so changed that she was an example to all. The other religious, taking offence at her for withdrawing from them, attacked her on all sides, to induce her to abandon her newly-begun way of life. One day while she was repeating the Rosary, and praying Mary to assist her in that persecution, she saw a letter fall from above. On the outside were written these words: "Mary, mother of God, to her daughter Jane, greeting;" and within : "My dear child, continue to say my Rosary ; withdraw from conversation with those who do not help you to live well ; beware of idleness and vanity ; take from your cell two superfluous things, and I will be …More
Working with a musician for a period, I realized that it is easier than we think. It is based on strict rules of 1/2 or whole notes above or below the melody note. Use the rules and it sounds great. A lot of fun too.
"For God is good--or rather, of all goodness He is Fountainhead, and it is impossible for one who is good to be mean or grudging about anything. Grudging existence to none therefore, He made all things out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ and of all these His earthly creatures He reserved especial mercy for the race of men. Upon them, therefore, upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked--namely the impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise."
[St. Athanasius – III-IV Century A.D.; Alexandria, Roman Egypt] “(3) Such are the notions which men put forward. But the impiety of their foolish talk is plainly declared by the divine teaching of the Christian faith. From it we know that, because there is Mind behind the universe, it did not originate itself; because God is infinite, not finite, it was not made from pre-existent matter, but out of nothing and out of nonexistence absolute and utter God brought it into being through the Word. He says as much in Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;” and again through that most helpful book The Shepherd, "Believe thou first and foremost that there is One God Who created and arranged all things and brought them out of non-existence into being." Paul also indicates the same thing when he says, "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which we see now did not come into being out of things which had previously …More
"And this St. Peter more clearly teaches where he says: " Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the soul." (1 Epist. ii.) Thus the most glorious prince of the apostles wishes us, so to live in our own house and city as if we dwelt in another’s, being little solicitous whether there is abundance or scarcity of provisions."
[St. Robert Bellarmine – XVI-XVII Century A.D.; Grand Duchy of Tuscany/Papal States] “To live in the world, and to despise the pleasures of the world, is very difficult: to see beautiful objects, and not to love them; to taste sweet things, and not to be delighted with them; to despise honours, to court labours, willingly to occupy the lowest place, to yield the highest to all others in fine, to live in the flesh as if not having flesh, this seems rather to belong to angels than to men; and yet the apostle, writing to the Church of the Corinthians, in which nearly all lived with their wives, and who were therefore neither clerics, nor monks, nor anchorets, but, according to the expression now used, were seculars still, he thus addresses them: "This therefore I say, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth, that they also who have wives be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they …More
"The saints, when adversities befall them, unite themselves with the divine will, and suffer them with patience; but how can the sinner calm himself by recollecting the divine will, when he is living at enmity with God? The pains of the enemies of God are unmixed pains, pains without relief. Wherefore St. Teresa was accustomed to say "that he who loves God embraces the cross, and thus does not feel it; while he who does not love him drags the cross along by force and thus cannot but feel it."
[XVII-XVIII Century A.D. - St. Alphonsus de Liguori; Kingdom of Naples] ‘III Jesus Carries His Cross The cross began to torture Jesus Christ before he was nailed upon it; for after he was condemned by Pilate, the cross on which he was to die was given to him to carry to Calvary, and, without refusing, he took it upon his shoulders. Speaking of this, St. Augustine [261] writes: "If we regard the wickedness of his tormentors, the insult was great; if we regard the love of Jesus, the mystery is great"; for in carrying the cross, our Captain then lifted up the standard under which his followers upon this earth must be enrolled and must fight, in order to be made his companions in the kingdom of heaven. St. Basil, speaking of the passage in Isaiah, A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder, says "that earthly tyrants load their subjects with unjust burdens, in order to increase their own power; but Jesus Christ chose to take upon himself the …More
"10. “Because I love My Father, I do always the things that are pleasing to Him.” (Jn 14:31 and 8:29) Thus spoke our holy Master, and every soul who wants to live close to Him must also live this maxim. The divine good pleasure must be its food, its daily bread; it must let itself be immolated by all the Father’s wishes in the likeness of His adored Christ."
/St. Elisabeth of the Trinity - XIX-XX Century A.D.; France/ Third Day “First Prayer 9. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home in him.” (Jn 14:23) The Master once more expresses His desire to dwell in us. “If anyone loves Me”! It is love that attracts, that draws God to His creatures: not a sensible love but that love “strong as death that deep waters cannot quench.” (Ct 8:6-7) 10. “Because I love My Father, I do always the things that are pleasing to Him.” (Jn 14:31 and 8:29) Thus spoke our holy Master, and every soul who wants to live close to Him must also live this maxim. The divine good pleasure must be its food, its daily bread; it must let itself be immolated by all the Father’s wishes in the likeness of His adored Christ. Each incident, each event, each suffering, as well as each joy, is a sacrament which gives God to it; so it no longer makes a distinction between these things; it surmounts them, goes …More