aeternus

“To keep ourselves in the presence of God and to place ourselves in the presence of God are, in my opinion, two different things. For to place ourselves in this presence it is necessary to recall our minds from every other object and render it actually attentive to the divine presence, as I say in my book.

But after placing ourselves in the presence of God, we keep ourselves there by making certain acts toward God, either by understanding or by will. We can make these acts by looking at Him or by looking at some other thing for love of Him.We can make them by looking at nothing, and instead by speaking to Him. Lastly, we can make them by neither looking nor speaking, but simply by staying where He has put us, like a statue in its niche.

When there is added to this simple staying some feeling that we belong completely to God, and that He is our all, we must indeed give thanks to His goodness. If a statue that had been placed in a niche in some room could speak and was asked, “Why are you there?” it would say, “Because my master has put me here.”

“Why don’t you move?”

“Because he wants me to remain immovable.”

“What use are you there; what do you gain by being so?”

“It is not for my profit that I am here; it is to serve and obey the will of my master.”

“But you do not see him.”

“No, but he sees me, and takes pleasure in seeing me where he has put me.”

“Would you not like to have movement, so that you could go nearer to him?”

“Certainly not, except when he might command me.”

“Don’t you want anything, then?”

“No; for I am where my master has placed me, and his good pleasure is the unique contentment of my being.”

My God! What a good prayer and a good way to keep in the presence of God, to keep ourselves in His will and His good pleasure! I think that Magdalen was a statue in her niche, when without speaking, without moving, and perhaps without looking at Him, she listened to what our Lord said, seated at His feet. When He spoke she heard; when He paused from speaking, she ceased to listen, and still stayed ever there.

A little child who is on the bosom of its sleeping mother is truly in its good and desirable place, although it says no word to her nor she to it.

My God! How glad I am, my child, to speak a little of these things with you! How happy we are when we will to love our Lord! Let us, then, love Him well. Let us not set ourselves to consider too exactly what we do for His love, provided we know that we will to do nothing but for His love.

For my part, I think we keep ourselves in the presence of God even while sleeping. For we go to sleep in His sight, by His will, and at His pleasure; and He puts us there like statues in a niche. And when we wake we find that He is there near us; He has not moved any more than we; we have then kept in His presence, but with our eyes shut and closed. . . .”

– By Saint Francis de Sales “We must remain in the presence of God” To Jane de Chantal, on prayer Letter 838 to Jane de Chantal, 1611-1612

This photographic work is dedicated to the Public Domain.

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In God alone is my soul at rest;
my help comes from him.

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I have been on an impromptu sojourn Eastward where at the last minute we decided to drive East to be with our families during Thanksgiving. It was so very wonderful to spend time together and be rejuvinated in each other’s spirits. Though it was a LONG drive, I am glad we decided to go. A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all and I hope you were all filled with peace and love with your families (because thats NOT always easy is it?!)

Before we left I was lucky enough to hear a conference by a most wonderful priest who spoke on many topics of prayer but did focus very much on the Our Father. It all boiled down to him repeating with great excitement over and over, “not MY will be done but YOUR WILL be done — not MY will be done but YOUR WILL be done — not MY will be done but YOUR WILL be done — not MY will be done but YOUR WILL be done — not MY will be done but YOUR WILL be done!” It did not take long to get the point of his homily!

This phrase has been turning over and over in my head (like a song you just can’t gete rid of) and I suppose it might be because someone is trying to tell me something. Nevertheless, it rang a loud bell in me yesterday as the phrase popped up when I was reading the introduction of Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri’s “Uniformity With God’s Will”. He writes:

“During our sojourn in this world, we should learn from the saints now in heaven, how to love God. The pure and perfect love of God they enjoy there, consists in uniting themselves perfectly to his will. It would be the greatest delight of the seraphs to pile up sand on the seashore or to pull weeds in a garden for all eternity, if they found out such was God’s will. Our Lord himself teaches us to ask to do the will of God on earth as the saints do it in heaven: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”"

I think I will continue to take this as my meditation of the day…

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Tomorrow would be the Feastday for St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne but since we will not celebrate it this year, I thought I would take today to remember her a bit. She is our “local” Saint here in St. Louis and we owe here a great deal in helping to make our little city a Catholic one. If you are ever driving through town, you can visit the Saint’s shrine here or just have a look at their website.

ROSE PHILIPPINE DUCHESNE (1769-1852) religious, of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was born August 29, 1769 in Grenoble, France. She was baptized in the Church of St. Louis and received the name of Philip, the apostle, and Rose of Lima, first saint of the new continent. She was educated at the Convent of the Visitation of Ste. Marie d’en Haut, then, drawn to the contemplative life, she became a novice there when she was 18 years old.

At the time of the Revolution in France, the community was dispersed and Philippine returned to her family home, spending her time nursing prisoners and helping others who suffered. After the Concordat of 1801, she tried with some companions to reconstruct the monastery of Ste. Marie but without success.

In 1804, Philippine learned of a new congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and offered herself and the monastery to the Foundress, Mother Madeleine Sophie Barat. Mother Barat visited Ste. Marie in 1804 and received Philippine and several companions as novices in the Society.

Even as Philippine’s desire deepened for the contemplative life, so too her call to the missions became more urgent - a call she had heard since her youth. In a letter she wrote to Mother Barat, she confided a spiritual experience she had had during a night of adoration before the Eucharist on Holy Thursday: “I spent the entire night in the new World … carrying the Blessed Sacrament to all parts of the land … I had all my sacrifices to offer: a mother, sisters, family, my mountain! When you say to me ‘now I send you’, I will respond quickly ‘I go”‘. She waited, however, another 12 years.

In 1818 Philippine’s dream was realized. She was sent to respond to the bishop of the Louisiana territory, who was looking for a congregation of educators to help him evangelize the Indian and French children of his diocese. At St. Charles, near St. Louis, Missouri, she founded the first house of the Society outside France. It was in a log cabin - and with it came all the austerities of frontier life: extreme cold, hard work, lack of funds. She also had difficulty learning English. Communication at best was slow; news often did not arrive from her beloved France. She struggled to remain closely united with the Society in France.

Philippine and four other Religious of the Sacred Heart forged ahead. In 1820 she opened the first free school west of the Mississippi. By 1828 she had founded six houses. These schools were for the young women of Missouri and Louisiana. She loved and served them well, but always in her heart she yearned to serve the American Indians. When she was 72 and no longer superior, a school for the Potawatomi was opened at Sugar Creek, Kansas. Though many thought Philippine was too sick to go, the Jesuit head of the mission insisted: “She must come; she may not be able to do much work, but she will assure success to the mission by praying for us. Her very presence will draw down all manner of heavenly favors on the work”.

She was with the Potawatomi but a year; however, her pioneer courage did not weaken, and her long hours of contemplation impelled the Indians to name her, Quah-kah-ka-num-ad, “Woman-Who-Prays-Always”. But Philippine’s health could not sustain the regime of village life. In July 1842, she returned to St. Charles, although her heart never lost its desire for the missions: “I feel the same longing for the Rocky Mountain missions and any others like them, that I experienced in France when I first begged to come to America…”.

Philippine died at St. Charles, Missouri, November 18, 1852 at the age of 83.

There are two short quotes that the school uses to remember her which I think wonderful.  I really must try to get a book about her to know more.   She said:

Let us bear our cross and leave it to God to determine the length and the weight.

and

Humility is the virtue that requires the greatest amount of effort.

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I love today’s Saint, Margaret of Scotland, a woman who emulates the virtues of charity and familial love. She was a woman of such great influence to her people and who taught her husband by her own great example how to lead a life of holiness. A very honorable woman, and in St. Louis we have one of the greatest parishes in the city dedicated to her. They have a choir which is absolutely wonderful and no one can deny their outstanding quality of musicianship. They are an inspiration to all the mass goers there for sure!

But let me put that aside and focus instead on another “Saint of the day” because today is also the feast of a great mystical Saint, Getrude the Great.

Gertrude’s life was not lead out on the open as a ruler of a country like Margaret. Instead she lead a hidden life of mystical prayer in a Benedictine cloister uniting herself with Jesus through His Sacred Humanity and had a great devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Gertrude was so loved by St. Teresa of Avila that Teresa took this mystic as her devotional and spiritual exemplar. Both women were so entranced in the mystery of our Lord’s most Sacred Heart.

In a prayer Gertrude wrote:

O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
fountain of eternal life,
Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love.
You are my refuge and my sanctuary.

O my adorable and loving Saviour,
consume my heart with the burning fire
with which Yours is aflamed.
Pour down on my soul those graces
which flow from Your love.
Let my heart be united with Yours.
Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things.
May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions.

Amen.

In a book entitled: “Spiritual Works of Louis of Blois” by Louis of Blois he writes of Gertrude:

The Lord sensibly imprinted on her heart the glorious stigmata of His five Wounds, and He prepared for Himself in her so pleasing a dwelling, and so sweetly manifested to her His Heart, that if men did not know the power and goodness of the Lord to be boundless, they could hardly believe that He had shown as much familiar friendship to His most holy Mother on the earth as He showed to her.

Gertrude indeed had many mystical dreams and visions one of which I will include here below. It is from the same book by Blois:

St. Gertrude saw the soul of a certain man of a religious order well known to her, as it were sitting at a table, sad, and with a dejected countenance, as not being yet purified nor worthy to enjoy the blissful contemplation of God. On this table were presented all the Masses, the Office of the Church, the prayers, and other pious works that were offered for that soul, and by these the soul was wonderfully strengthened. The Lord also, moved by his own loving-kindness, and the supplication of intercessors, always added something, in virtue of which that soul rejoiced, being greatly strengthened and relieved. In like manner the Blessed Virgin Mary seemed to place something upon it, that the soul might receive more consolation, which had, while it was in the body, worshipped her with especial devotion. Those also of the Saints whom the soul had more particularly venerated on earth, added to the table in proportion as the soul being in the body had deserved by its greater or less labour and devotion. By all which means the soul, becoming more and more soothed from hour to hour, began more and more to lift its eyes to the most sweet light of the Divinity, which to behold in open vision is in truth to have laid aside the sad memory of all sorrows, and to have found the abundance of all good and of all joy.

Chapter XIII. On the Pains of Purgatory.
Spiritual Works of Louis of Blois by Blois, Louis

Now, most importantly for us today is to remember the prayer our Lord gave to Gertrude. I think you will obviously recognize parts of this prayer which were given to her in the early part of the 14th century because they are so similar to those he gave to dear Saint Faustina in the early middle of the 20th century!

“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”

Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that this prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said. O.K. like that is 1,000 souls! So, for the love of these souls I am sure you will write this prayer down and say it MANY times today and each day thereafter! (Of course, this is no magical incantation. The prayer, as all prayers, must come from the depths of your heart united to His most Sacred Heart…)

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Just as the love of Christ and the service of the Blessed Virgin Mary have brought us together in a single family, fraternal charity unites those of us still striving to lead a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ in this world, and the dead already awaiting the vision of God. Today the whole Order commends our departed brothers and sisters to God’s mercy through the intercession of Our Lady, sure sign of hope and consolation, and begs for their admission to the courts of heaven.

Lord, you are the glory of those Who serve You. Look lovingly on our departed brothers and sisters, united in following Christ and His Mother by the waters of baptism and the bonds of Carmel. In Your mercy grant them everlasting sight of You, their Creator and Redeemer. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

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What a beautiful mass we had at the chapel this morning for the celebration of the Eucharist in memory of All Carmelite Saints. As the weather has been unseasonably warm and the fall foliage is at its beautiful peak, all morning has been glorious. I was struck unaware as I walked past the statue of Saint Teresa after the Eucharist just how much I owe to these wonderful Saints of Carmel. How my whole life seemed a strange ocean where one minute I was struggling to tread water and the next I was floating serenely upon the gentle swells of a tranquil sea. It was Teresa of Jesus who helped me understand what was “going on” in my soul and though I was never afraid of my interior life, I will say sometimes it could un-nerve me a bit! After study and meditation upon the spiritual writings of such great souls as Therese, Teresa de los Andes, Teresa Benedicta, John of the Cross and of course Teresa of Avila I have found a great company of elder Sisters and Brothers who help to guide my path and help me not be afraid or worried about what lies ahead. For whatever trials are ahead in this life count all as nothing, nothing, nothing compared to what beauty is to be discovered beyond them! What a great lot I owe these saints…I thank you with every beat of my heart!!!

Here is a reading from the Carmelite Proper which is a passage from Terersa of Avila…

The whole family of Carmel in the homeland, with Mary
its mother at its head, is the reason for our joy and praise to
the Father on this day. We recall our brothers and sisters
who once dedicated their lives to continual prayer on earth
and now share in the worship of heaven. We unite ourselves
spiritually to their glory, all the while journeying along the
paths they traveled with courage, as they lived in obedience
to Christ and followed in the footsteps of Our Lady.

From the works of St. Teresa of Jesus

All of us who wear this holy Carmelite habit are called to
prayer and contemplation. This is what we were founded
for. We are descended from those holy fathers of ours on
Mt. Carmel, those who went in search of that treasure
–the priceless pearl we are talking about –in such solitude
and with such contempt for the world.

We must remember those holy fathers of ours who have
gone before us, the hermits whose lives we are trying to
imitate. We must remember our real founders, those holy
fathers whose descendants we are. It was by way of
poverty and humility, we know, that they came to the
enjoyment of God.

On the subject of the beginnings of orders, I sometimes
hear it said that the Lord gave greater graces to those saints
who went before us because they were the foundations.
Quite so, but we too must always bear in mind what it
means to be the foundations for those who will come later.
For if those of us who are alive now have not fallen away
from what they did in the past, and those who come after
us do the same, the building will always stand firm. What
use is it to me for the saints of the past to have been what
they were, if I come along after them and behave so badly
that I leave the building in ruins because of my bad habits?
For obviously those who come later don’t remember those
who have died years before as they do the people they see
around them. A fine state of affairs it is to insist that I am
not one of the first, and do not realize what a difference
there is between my life and virtues and the lives of those
God has endowed with such graces!

Any of you who sees your Order falling away in any
respect must try to be the kind of stone the building can be
rebuilt with –the Lord will help to rebuild it.

For love of our Lord I beg them to remember how
quickly everything comes to an end, and what a favor the
Lord has done in bringing us to this Order, and what a
punishment anyone who starts any kind of relaxation will
deserve. They must always look at the race we are
descended from–that race of holy prophets. What a num-
ber of saints we have in heaven who have worn this habit
of ours! We must have the holy audacity to aspire, with
God’s help, to be like them. The struggle will not last long,
but the outcome will be eternal.

photo of St. Michael the Archangel guarding the entrance at the Carmel of St. Joseph

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Here is an interesting post I read today from the Pentimento blog about a musical Carmelite Friar. I tried to leave a thank you comment at her blog but was unable so a thank you to her for posting about him.

For further reading, here are a few lines from the Mother of the Carmelite reform, St. Teresa of Avila. She talks about her early life and how she came to “know herself” and “know our Lord”. Through this examination she was able to see the path to Eternity with greater clarity as she humbled herself for love of Him. What a great inspiration she is to us who are on this Earth but a short while as we journey towards our home…

I began, then, to indulge in one pastime after another, in one vanity after another and in one occasion of sin after another. Into so many and such grave occasions of sin did I fall, and so far was my soul led astray by all these vanities, that I was ashamed to return to God and to approach Him in the intimate friendship which comes from prayer. This shame was increased by the fact that, as my sins grew in number, I began to lose the pleasure and joy which I had been deriving from virtuous things. I saw very clearly, my Lord, that this was failing me because I was failing Thee. The devil, beneath the guise of humility, now led me into the greatest of all possible errors. Seeing that I was so utterly lost, I began to be afraid to pray. It seemed to me better, since in my wickedness I was one of the worst people alive, to live like everyone else; to recite, vocally, the prayers that I was bound to say; and not to practise mental prayer or hold so much converse with God, since I deserved to be with the devils, and, by presenting an outward appearance of goodness, was only deceiving others. No blame for this is to be attributed to the house in which I lived, for I was clever enough to see to it that the nuns had a good opinion of me, though I did not do so deliberately, by pretending to be a good Christian, for in the matter of vainglory and hypocrisy — glory be to God! — I do not remember having even once offended Him, so far as I am aware. For if ever I perceived within myself the first motions of such a thing, it distressed me so much that the devil would depart confounded and I would be all the better for it; so he has very seldom tempted me much in this way. Perhaps, if God had permitted me to be tempted as severely in this respect as in others, I should have fallen here too, but so far His Majesty has kept me from this. May He be for ever blessed. In reality, therefore, I was very much troubled that they should have such a good opinion of me, as I knew what sort of person I was inwardly…

… I was once in the company of a certain person, right at the beginning of my acquaintance with her, when the Lord was pleased to make me realize that these friendships were not good for me, and to warn me and enlighten my great blindness. Christ revealed Himself to me, in an attitude of great sternness, and showed me what there was in this that displeased Him. I saw Him with the eyes of the soul more clearly than I could ever have seen Him with those of the body; and it made such an impression upon me that, although it is now more than twenty-six years ago, I seem to have Him present with me still…

… But now that I had fallen away so far, and no longer practised prayer, I could not bear him to think, as I saw he did, that I was still just as I used to be; so I had to undeceive him. For I had been a year or more without praying, thinking that to refrain from prayer was a sign of greater humility. This, as I shall afterwards explain, was the greatest temptation I had: it nearly brought about my ruin. For during the time I practised prayer, if I had offended God one day, I would recollect myself on the following days and withdraw farther from occasions of sin.

… Charity grows when it is communicated to others and from this there result a thousand blessings. I should not dare to say this if I had not had a great deal of experience of its importance. It is true that of all who are born I am the weakest and wickedest; but I believe that anyone, however strong, who humbles himself and trusts not in himself but in someone who has experience, will lose nothing. As regards myself, I can say that, if the Lord had not revealed this truth to me and given me the means of speaking very frequently with people who practise prayer, I should have gone on rising and falling again until I fell right into hell. For I had many friends who helped me to fall; but, when it came to rising again, I found myself so completely alone that I marvel now that I did not remain where I was, and I praise the mercy of God, Who alone gave me His hand. May He be blessed for ever. Amen.


Excerpts from St. Teresa of Avila — Autobiography CHAPTER VII

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The joy I find in today’s Carmelite Feast, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, comes in reading how she writes about the abyss. Maybe it is something in that word. It is a little word with a giant meaning to me it is a measurement not too short of eternity.

When Elizabeth prays that the “abyss of her nothingness” be ever united to God’s “abyss of mercy” I find myself wrapped in an inspiration for great contemplation. I mean really, you could really “swim around” inside that consciousness of thought for a very, very long time.

I remember the first time I read these words, it was years ago on a rainy cold winter day. I was waiting for my son to be dismissed from kindergarten and was reading Volume II of her writings. When I got to the abyss part I thought I would drown. How beautiful and how wonderfully she was able to contemplate the mystery of the Triuune God and I thank her for her gift to all of us for writing some of it down!

Here is a short but mighty quote…

“Remain in Me.” It is the Word of God who gives this order, expresses this wish. Remain in Me, not for a few moments a few hours which must pass away, but “remain…” Permanently, habitually, Remain in Me, pray in Me, adore in Me, love in Me, suffer in Me, work and act in Me. Remain in Me so that you may be able to encounter anyone or anything; penetrate further still into these depths. This is truly the “Solitude” into which God wants to allure the soul that He may speak to it,” as the prophet sang.

In order to understand this very mysterious saying, we must not, so to speak, stop at the surface, but enter ever deeper into the divine Being through recollection. We descend daily this pathway of the Abyss which is God; let us slide down this slope in wholly loving confidence. “Abyss calls to abyss. It is there in the very depths that the divine impact takes place, where the abyss of our nothingness encounters the Abyss of mercy, the immensity of the all of God. There we will find the strength to die to ourselves and, losing all vestige of self, we will be changed into love…”

FromHeaven in Faith, Day 1, Second Prayer, Elizabeth of the Trinity – Carmelite, I Have Found God, Complete Works Volume I Translated by Aletheia Kane, O.C.D. ICS Publications 1984 Edition realized, presented, annotated by Conrad De Meester, Carmelite. Copyright by Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc. 1984 (page 94)

Here is a great resource website for more about Blessed Elizabeth…

And of course, you can navigate to the Meditations from Carmel podcast and listen to some reflections by Blessed Elizabeth:

MP3 Files of Meditations by Blessed Elizabeth:

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity - Letter 129
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity - Letter 156
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity - Letter 184
Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity - prayer to the Holy Trinity
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity - Letter 1273

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There is a short story and some photographs of the Carmelite Monastery in Preston, U.K. that is worth a quick look by following THIS LINK. While the photographs are not the worlds greatest, they offer a small little glimpse into thier life of prayer.

The story from the Lancashire Evening Post is here…

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This meditation is from an old book “Reflections and Prayers for Holy Communion” is just absolutely wonderful. It has inspired me so much. It is too bad it is out of print, but you can see it via the Google Book search. The link is below.

BY WHAT TITLES OUGHT WE TO ADDRESS OURSELVES 
TO JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT?

THE relations which we contract with our Lord in 
the Holy Eucharist are assuredly the most signal 
favours that man can possibly receive, and also the 
most easy to be obtained. St . Paul exhorts us to 
come to Jesus Christ that we may obtain mercy. 
Observe that by this expression the Apostle means 
that we should ask with full confidence that we shall 
receive. Come to Jesus, and address him by all those 
titles which best describe His kindness to us. If 
you dwell especially upon the tenderest, you will most 
surely touch His Heart.

Come to Jesus as to a skilful Physician. 
Jesus when upon earth manifested His power in 
such a variety of ways, and exercised it for the 
healing of so many different infirmities, that He 
showed plainly that for Him there exists no incurable 
malady. He can and will heal all our sicknesses. 
Let us then bring them all to Him with simplicity, 
humility, and confidence. He will lay His hand 
upon our wounds, whether it be to heal or to enlarge 
them. Whatever His course of treatment may be, let 
us have resignation, peace, and confidence.

O my God, I speak to Him who knoweth all, who 
seeth all, who can do all, who beholdeth all, even the 
most secret, the most sorrowful thoughts of my heart. 
My soul shrinks alike from the retrospect of the past, 
and from the prospect of what may await it in the 
future. Take pity on the miseries which are not 
incurable to an Almighty Physician.
I thank Thee, O Jesus, because the miseries, which 
seem to weaken the vigour of my will, serve to lead 
me unto Thee; because when I behold them in the 
sight of Thy holiness, I feel a more ardent desire 
to be delivered from them.
I fear to wound Thy love far more than any 
personal sorrow, and not to receive Thee with the 
purity and fervour which is due to Thy presence 
in the Holy Eucharist.

Suffer me in the Communion to touch Thee in 
such an humble manner, as once drew miraculous 
virtue from Thy sacred Person. Many receive Thee 
in Holy Communion, but few touch Thee with that 
lively faith which renders their touch efficacious. Let me 
not be of the number of these careless ones. Shed 
upon my soul that Divine virtue which healed so 
many diseases of the body, and which is still more 
directly efficacious in its influence upon the soul.

We should come to Jesus as the discreet confidant of 
our troubles, The most perfect earthly enjoyment is unquestionably 
to be found in the mutual confidence of two 
loving hearts, which have not a thought hidden from 
each other. The Christian life is exactly that! Only 
the relations between God and the creature are different. 
The Heart of Jesus condescends to us; and the heart 
of man, borne up on the wings of faith and prayer, 
aspires towards heaven. This continual intercourse, 
which keeps alive our hopes of heaven, is of the 
sweetest kind in the Holy Eucharist, because in it 
Christ visits our souls in a specially direct and intimate 
manner, and reveals Himself to us with almost unimaginable 
tenderness and delicacy.

The more frequent and intimate this intercourse 
between Jesus Christ and my soul becomes, the greater 
will be my happiness. But it is my duty to increase 
it by my confidence in Him. Our Lord will not suffer 
me to have any secrets from Him. If He were to 
read in my countenance any sorrow which I had not 
brought to Him to be relieved, or in my heart any 
offence which I had not confessed to Him, He would 
be sorrowful! I owe it to His Heart to tell Him all 
the truth. Ah, if I had always reposed full confidence 
in Jesus, what errors, what regrets might have been 
spared me!

My beloved Saviour, I come to confide all my trials 
to Thee, for Thou hast said, ‘ Come unto Me, all ye 
that are weary and heavy laden.’ 
Suffering and sadness give me double cause to 
come to Thee. I will tell Thee all my daily trials; 
Thou knowest how much I suffer from such a thing, 
from such a person. Thou knowest how much I am 
afflicted by such an event: how deeply such words have 
wounded me. These are my outward trials, but I 
have inward ones also. Lay thine healing hand upon them all, O Lord, and if Thou dost not see fit to deliver 
me from them, enable me at least to endure, for Thy 
glory, that which I could not endure for a moment 
without Thee.

We must come to Jesus as our pattern, whom we are 
to strive most earnestly to resemble. 
God has granted me a very close connection witli 
the Sacred Humanity of His Son. I have a certain 
natural resemblance to His sacred Body; I ought 
then to regulate my actions by those of our Lord, and 
use my senses in a measure answering to the use 
which He made of His. It is easy to see with what 
discretion and modesty I should order my exterior 
motions.

I have also a spiritual resemblance to Jesus by reason 
of the immortal mind with which God has endowed 
me. I ought to adopt in every particular the thoughts 
and feelings of Jesus. This is precisely my most difficult 
task, because I am so apt to judge according to 
my feelings, my tastes, and my inclinations. But by 
His grace, by the help of Holy Communion, I may 
acquire a more perfect supernatural resemblance to 
Jesus. If I were ignorant of all the other advantages 
I receive in the Holy Eucharist, this last would be 
sufficient to make me love it. How many are the 
motives which attract me to the Holy Table ! I know 
not which to prefer. .

O Lord, my God, by this Communion I ask that I 
may be enabled to do more than resemble Thee. I 
desire to lose myself, only to find myself again in 
Thee. May Thy adorable Person, at this hour united 
to my being, absorb my feelings and affections, and 
transform me according to Thy good pleasure. Sanctify 
my heart, so that I may not love any created being, 
except with that pure, angelic love, with which they 
love in heaven. Bring my dispositions nearer to perfection, and give me strength to be willing to do for 
Thy glory, all that grace alone can enable me to 
perform. We should come to Jesus, as to the Victim offered 
for our salvation. 
You should be present at Mass with the same 
feelings of gratitude and love, as if you were seeing 
our Lord hanging upon the Cross. From the altar, 
He says to you, in showing you His Blood in the 
chalice: ‘ See what I have suffered for you; behold 
My Wounds, and My love. What will you do for Me?’ 
Do not answer vaguely, but specify with generous 
willingness the sacrifice that you will make to-day. 
Jesus did not put off His sacrifice until to-morrmi’, do 
not defer yours. You cause sorrow to His Heart every 
day in some particular, and every day He gives you 
His Blood to wash away your sins. Would you ever 
have thought of asking our Lord to die upon the Cross, 
to place in your hands His adorable Flesh to be the 
Food of your soul which has derived life from His 
death ? If His Heart did not refuse to suffer and die 
for your sake, will you refuse to make one single 
sacrifice for Him? Love will make your desire 
to please Him stronger far, than your selfish fear of 
suffering.

Make here a short examination of your feelings with 
respect to such and such an occasion, which may 
present itself in the course perhaps of the next few 
hours.

Question your heart as well as your conscience; and 
pray that you may not fall short of your present 
resolutions. Remember that, upon the altar, Jesus 
offers Himself, is a Victim for us.

What an instructive lesson ! The Sacrifice is consummated 
by the destruction of the sacramental state 
of our Lord. After Communion His sacramental 
being disappears!
Let us not receive with lukewarmness the Bread 
which makes us partakers of the Divine nature. 
To receive Holy Communion with little faith, little 
recollectedness, shows we are forgetting that it unites 
us to our Lord. Let us remember well that our Lord 
does not love the profane heart, the frivolous mind, 
and that He can take no pleasure in a state of 
internal agitation and excitement. Let us leave all 
for Jesus, and be assured that He will repay us a 
hundred-fold for all our sacrifices.
from:

Reflections and Prayers for holy Communion
Translated from the French
with Preface by His Eminence
The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster
1876

Public domain photo of Nevada Desert.

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My dear friend who lives in Fiji (imagine that! Paradise!) sent me this email. It is one of those “chain” type messages, but it is so good I thought I would share it…

Relax your mind and humble your heart to focus on Christ. Allow God to be the only person on your mind while you read this prayer. If we can take the time to read long jokes, stories, etc., we should give the same respect to this prayer. Friends, who pray together, stay together.

If you pray this prayer, change the number in the subject box before forwarding the message so people can SEE how many people have done so.

Dear Lord,

I thank you for this day. I thank You for my being able to see and to hear this morning. I’m blessed because You are a forgiving God and an understanding God. You have done so much for me and You keep on blessing me. Forgive me this day for everything I have done, said or thought that was not pleasing to you. I ask now for Your forgiveness.

Please keep me safe from all danger and harm. Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude. Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so tha t I can hear from You.

Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things.

Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over.

Let me continue to see sin through God’s eyes and acknowledge it as evil.

And when I sin, let me repent, and confess with my mouth my wrongdoing, and receive the forgiveness of God.

And when this world closes in on me, let me remember Jesus’ example — to slip away and find a quiet place to pray. It’s the best response when I’m pushed beyond my limits. I know that when I can’t pray, You listen to my heart. Continue to use me to do Your will.

Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others.

Keep me strong that I may help the weak.

Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others.

I pray for those who are lost and can’t find their way. I pray for those who are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for those who don’t know You intimately. I pray for those who will delete this without sharing it w ith others. I pray for those who don’t believe. But I thank you that I believe.

I believe that God changes people and God changes things. I pray for all my sisters and brothers. For each and every family member in their households. I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes that they are out of debt and all their needs are met.

I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem, circumstance, or situation greater than God. Every battle is in Your hands for You to fight. I pray that these words be received into the hearts of every eye that sees them and every mouth that confesses them willingly..

This is my prayer.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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