Wisdom from the Writings of Saintly Souls (on a Range of Topics)

The Father’s Love for the Mystical Body, the Church

1. “The more God sees His Son in each one of us, the more abundantly He showers His gifts on us.” (p. 98, ‘The Spiritual Doctrine of Dom Marmion’)

Authentic Christianity: “For me, to live is Christ”

2. “A spiritual life which does not depend entirely on Christ is false, empty, absolutely useless; ‘Without Me you can do nothing.” (p. 54, ‘The Spiritual Doctrine of Dom Marmion’)

Without Jesus, We Cannot Bear the Cross

3. Sr. Jeanne Benigne Gojos: “… at the beginning of Mass I saw our Lord stooping, as if bearing a heavy burden, and He said to me, I take upon myself the suffering of My daughter.” (p. 402, Life)

The Delight of the Elect: Perfect Union with God

4. Sr. Jeanne Benigne Gojos: “One day the interior voice said to me: God renders the blessed like Himself; yes, Benigne, My elect by seeing Me are in such wise transformed in Me that they have no other will than Mine; their love springs from My Love.” (p. 341, Life)

The Alpha and the Omega

5. Our Lord to Ven. Louise Margaret: “Infinite Love envelops, penetrates, and fills all things. It is the only source of life and of all fertility; It is the eternal principle of beings and their eternal end. If you wish to possess life and not be sterile, break the bonds that bind you to yourself and to creatures and plunge into this abyss.” (p. 4, ‘The Love and Service of God, Infinite Love,’ TAN Books)

Hell Exists because God is Good

6. Ven. Louise Margaret: “No, if there were no Hell, I could not love Thee… If there were no Hell, three splendid jewels would be wanting to the crown of Thy sublime perfections; there would be wanting justice, power and dignity.” (p. 10, TLGIL)

“I desire mercy”

7. From the Life of Bl. Elizabeth Canori–Mora: “Another time He revealed to her and placed before her eyes the sins of His own Ministers and of the public Magistrates. Elizabeth was so much surprised that she was filled with profound indignation, and opened her lips to cry out for justice against these unknown delinquents; but Our Lord prevented her, and said in a tone of love and tenderness: “Ah! My daughter, cry for mercy, not for justice. I wish not the death of the sinner, but that he should be converted and live.” Whilst saying these ineffable words He directed upon her from His Heart a ray of pure and living light; then he added: “May this ray of light serve you to protect men against the anger of Divine Justice.” (p. 184)

The Blood of Jesus Cries for Mercy

8. St. Gemma’s Guardian Angel: “Look at what Jesus has suffered for men. Consider one by one these Wounds. It is Love that has opened them all. See how execrable sin is, since to expiate it, so much pain and so much love have been necessary.” (p. 194, Life)

Imperfections: A Treasure for the Soul of Good-Will

9. Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone: “… you will commit faults, infidelities, and imperfections; and these will help you to advance, for they will cause you to make many acts of humility.” (p. 41, JATTW)

The Cross is a Gift

10. Jesus to St. Gemma (appearing to her with the Cross on His shoulders): “Gemma, wilt thou have it, My Cross? See, this is the present I have prepared for thee.” (p. 174, Life)

A Model of Patience in Suffering

11. From the Life of Sr. Gertrude Mary: “On her bed of agony, coughing incessantly, she murmurs this word of love: Every fit of coughing is a cry to Heaven.”

Heaven on Earth

12. Sr. Gertrude Mary: “The air which I breathe near the Tabernacle is not the same as elsewhere, for it is already that of Paradise. I know this by experience.”

What the Damned Would Give to See God

13. From ‘The Dogma of Hell, Illustrated by Facts Taken from Profane and Sacred History,’ by Rev. F.X. Schouppe:

“A holy priest was exorcising a demoniac, and he asked the demon what pains he was suffering in Hell.

“An eternal fire,” he answered, “an eternal malediction, an eternal rage, and a frightful despair at being never able to gaze upon Him who created me.”

“What would you do to have the happiness of seeing God?”

“To see Him but for one moment, I should willingly consent to endure my torments for 10,000 years. But vain desires! I shall suffer forever and never see Him!”

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An Offering of Oneself to Merciful Love

“I thirst for your love, just as a parched man thirsts for a spring of fresh water!”

– Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone (p. 50, ‘Jesus Appeals to the World,’ St. Paul’s)

“Tell the world how good I am, how like a parent, and how in return I desire only love from My creatures.”

– Jesus to Sr. Consolata (p. 52, JATTW)

The following delightful prayer will surely please those who, like St. Therese, have, or desire to, offer themselves as a holocaust to Merciful Love:

An Act of Pure Love

“Jesus, God of infinite charity, Goodness inexhaustible, I, a miserable creature nothing worth, in order to honor Thy ineffable Mercy, offer myself, give and consecrate and abandon myself forever to the love of Thy most loving and tender Heart. My Jesus, as it is impossible that fire should not burn and consume a little blade of straw cast into it, so let Thy burning charity consume this poor little heart of mine, which wishes to be all Thine. Jesus, be to me a Jesus; Jesus, be to me a Jesus; Jesus, be to me a Jesus!” (Prayer given by Our Lord to Sr. Benigna Consolata Ferrero)

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Worth reading is St. Therese’s prayer, ‘Living on Love’:

Living on Love !…

On the evening of Love, speaking without parable, Jesus said : « If anyone wishes to love me All his life, let him keep my Word. My Father and I will come to visit him. And we will make his heart our dwelling. Comimng to him, we shall love him always. We want him to remain, filled with peace, In our Love !… » Living on Love is holding You Yourself. Uncreated word, Word of my God, Ah ! Divine Jesus, you know I love you. The Spirit of Love sets me aflame with his fire. In loving you I (…)

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“Finally I enkindle in the soul that loves Me such a fire of love, of desire of imitation,
that she can no longer live except to labor for God, to suffer for God, to immolate herself for God. Sacrifice is her life, as oil is the life of the burning flame.
(Jesus to Sr. Benigna Consolata, from ‘The Decalogue of Highest Perfection’)

“Free yourself of the burden of this world’s goods, and I will personally fill you with those which are heavenly unto your soul’s supreme consolation.”

– Jesus to Ven. Juan de Jesus Maria (p. 280, ‘The Principles of Monasticism’)

[Dear reader: I try to post weekly. Sometimes this is not possible. I will do my best. PAX!]

 

 

The Most Efficacious Remedy for the Evils of Today

A Sad State of Affairs

From a spiritual standpoint, what can be said about humanity in 2016? Is God loved and adored? Is wisdom sought? Is moral progress evident?

Rhetorical question. (Ironically, I would wager that most moral relativists would even answer “no” to the latter question.)

One has only to pick up a newspaper to behold but a few of the evils that afflict mankind today – or rather, that we afflict on ourselves; for evil, recall, enters the world through the door of the will. Even natural evils would not exist were it not for moral evils (c.f. the account of the Fall). (The materialist is really in a predicament here; for by denying immateriality, they at least implicitly deny free-will, without which there can be no morality at all. A universe without autonomous agents is an amoral universe.)

When I think of the prevalence of “sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance,” I ask myself: When, dear Lord, will enough be enough?

Perhaps you, too, are concerned, or even afraid, of the current state of affairs, and ask yourself: Is chastisement imminent? Teresa Neumann, the stigmatic, certainly thought so. But it is not all “bad”…

A Message of Hope from Saintly Souls

In fact, the “resurrection of society” that Our Lord spoke about to Sr. Benigna Consolata (d. 1916) will be “a work of love.” Similarly, Our Lord is alleged to have said to St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Catherine of Siena, Bl. Anna Maria Taigi, Bl. Elizabeth Canori-Mora, Ven. Philomena of St. Colomba (d. 1868), and others, that at some point in the future there will be a great triumph of the Catholic Faith; Jews, Muslims, pagans and Protestants will flock to the Church of Christ (i.e. the Catholic Church); God will be glorified, and many souls will be saved. In the words of Ven. Philomena of St. Columba, God will “fertilise the world” anew with an abundance of graces!

“If I permit so much sorrow in the world, it is for that one purpose, to save souls for eternity.”

– Jesus to Sr. Consolata (p. 20, Jesus Appeals to the World, St. Paul’s)

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: An Infinite Source of Goodness

Yes, there is much evil in the world today; yes, injustice abounds; yes, the Church contains many sinners. But hold on. That is not all. We have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; we have the Sacraments; we have the invincible weapon of prayer; we have the hope of eternity; we have the assurance from Our Lady of Fatima (1917) that, in the end, her Immaculate Heart will triumph (alongside the Sacred Heart of Jesus). In a word, we have a Saviour Who loves us infinitely – so much, in fact, that He does everything to win our love, even to the point of offering Himself daily on our Altars for our salvation! There alone can be found peace; there alone can be found a solid, unchanging ground for our hope, for peace and for joy. And to think that this Ocean of Goodness, namely, the Sacred Heart, is an inexhaustible Fountain!

Those who have frequent recourse to Jesus, Who remains night and day in our Tabernacles, will soon discover that all their troubles melt away in the Light that shines forth from the Holy Face of Eternal Love Incarnate.

‘For Thou, my Lord, art very admirable, and Thy Face is full of graces.’

(Esther 15:17)

If you want happiness both in this life and the next; if you want to cooperate in the salvation of many souls, there is but one thing to do: strive to be a Eucharistic Soul. Center your life around the Most Blessed Sacrament; live for Jesus and by Him, that is, by His very Life. “The soul,” writes Sr. Jeanne Benigne, “does truly derive invincible strength from Holy Communion, when it understands the sense of those words of our Lord: ‘As I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me.’ Now, the mortal and corruptible creature cannot by its own power raise itself, the Saviour must by Holy Communion descend into the soul to make it a partaker of His life and of Himself; by this divine participation His grace and love establish in it a new life, new affections all holy and pure, giving it a strong aversion to the very name of sin, however slight, and new inclinations to good and to doing all things according to the good pleasure of God and for His glory, from the sole motive of pure love.”

“In whatever state a soul may be when I favor her with special graces, I attract her to the imitation of My Eucharistic Life.

It is a life of death that I inspire the soul to live.

To have eyes, and see only for the service of Love; to have ears, and no longer hear aught but what can augment Love; to have a mouth, and not use it except to speak of Love; to have hands,feet, heart, body, and no longer use them but as Love wills.

To depend on Love for everything as a little babe depends on its mother.”

– Jesus to Sr. Benigna Consolata Ferrero

Just How Great is the Value of the Mass?

“The value of the Mass is infinite.” (St. Thomas) “The sacrifice of Calvary,” writes Rev. Garrigou-Lagrange, “which was offered up for all men, was no less profitable to the good thief than if it had been offered up for him alone.” (p. 316, ‘Our Saviour and His Love for Us,’ TAN Books)

“This sacrifice possesses an infinite potency to obtain what we ask,because of the infinite value of the Victim, the infinite dignity of the Priest [Jesus]. There is no gift, no grace, whichit does not avail to obtain. However numerous are the persons for whom it is offered, this sacred Victim can procure the fulfilment of their petitions; and for these reasons: because Christ, the great High Priest, is infinitely well-pleasing to God; because the merits which He offersto God the Father are infinite; because His passion, His
blood, His wounds, are all-prevailing.”

– Marchantius

The Great Cause of Evil in Our Day

The evils that beset the world today are due, in large part, to ignorance or neglect of the things of God. Those who fail to consider the gifts of God cannot be thankful for them, nor will they seek God with fervour… Jesus came to bring fire!

“Souls aflame with love,” said Jesus to Yvonne-Aimee, “aim solely at pleasing God” – something that implies a more-or-less constant consideration of God. If Jesus is to establish His Kingdom in souls, souls must know where to find His throne (i.e. the Altar).

When the Liturgy is treated with the dignity and respect that it deserves, and when souls communicate frequently and fervently, the world will completely change.

A Prophecy from Sr. Mary Cherubina (d. 1871), A Heroic Soul who Offered Herself for Unworthy Priests

“Make known to all Catholics that God wills that His priests should lead more holy lives, for, although many of them are in the grace of God, yet even they approach the holy Altar with extraordinary coldness, and as if it were an every–day thing. It was not thus that Jesus went to Calvary! He went with a burning love, and priests should offer the Holy Sacrifice with a pure conscience, an immaculate heart, and a lively faith; let them present this Divine Victim to the Eternal Father for the salvation of souls, and especially for the conversion of so many scandalous and apostate priests. They are the crying evil of these days: yet the arms of Jesus are open to receive them. Let them ask of our merciful Jesus, by the merits of His precious Blood, the grace of conversion for these unhappy men, and they will surely obtain this favour when they hold the Divine Victim in their hands. Make known that God is about to send other terrible chastisements upon the world; but they will be lessened if priests offer worthily the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Do not delay to make known all that I have told you.” (pp. 185-186)

“Fill yourself with this love and diffuse it over the world.”

– Jesus to Ven. Louise Margaret after she received Him in Holy Communion, describing her experience as being like “a sponge plunged into water” (p. 23, ‘The Love and Service of God, Infinite Love,’ TAN Books)