Quote for the Afternoon

[odhiambo]

"Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds Him"
Padre Pio

[odhiambo]

"Don't you long to shout to those youths who are bustling around you: Fools! Leave those worldly things that shackle the heart - and very often degrade it - leave all that and come with us in search of Love!"
St. Josemaria Escriva

[odhiambo]

"Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven?...What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven"
St. John Chrysostom

[Shin]

'Take care, my brothers and sisters, for the Evil One wars against spiritual strugglers in sundry ways. He works againt man with unimaginably hypocritical cleverness. Thus, before a sin is committed, the Enemy diminishes its significance in the eye of strugglers. More than any other sin, he puts before them the desire for fleshly pleasure as such a small thing, that, prior to succumbing to it, it appears as insignificant to the conscience of a brother or sister as throwing a glass of cold water on the ground. When, however, the fleshly desire is fulfilled, then the Evil One greatly puffs up the sin in the conscience of the sinner, kindling in his soul numberless thought of despair, like black waves from Hell, so that the brother's good thoughts of repentance are submerged and he is hurled into the depths of hopelessness. Seeing from the foregoing, my brothers and sisters, the machinations of the Enemy, take care not to be duped in some misdeed, persisting in it and despairing of your salvation; rather, after rising from your fall, return to the Lord your God.'

St. Ephraim

[odhiambo]

'Take care, my brothers and sisters, for the Evil One wars against spiritual strugglers in sundry ways. He works againt man with unimaginably hypocritical cleverness. Thus, before a sin is committed, the Enemy diminishes its significance in the eye of strugglers. More than any other sin, he puts before them the desire for fleshly pleasure as such a small thing, that, prior to succumbing to it, it appears as insignificant to the conscience of a brother or sister as throwing a glass of cold water on the ground. When, however, the fleshly desire is fulfilled, then the Evil One greatly puffs up the sin in the conscience of the sinner, kindling in his soul numberless thought of despair, like black waves from Hell, so that the brother's good thoughts of repentance are submerged and he is hurled into the depths of hopelessness. Seeing from the foregoing, my brothers and sisters, the machinations of the Enemy, take care not to be duped in some misdeed, persisting in it and despairing of your salvation; rather, after rising from your fall, return to the Lord your God.'

St. Ephraim

So true!

[Shin]

'Our struggle is not waged for money, which if one loses he is able to acquire again. The peril which we confront relates to the soul, which, when we lose it, cannot be recovered. . .'

St. Ephraim

'And while physical bodies, the heavens and the earth, shall pass away and disappear, the glory of the Saints will have no end.'

St. Ephraim

[James - a humble servant]

'Our struggle is not waged for money, which if one loses he is able to acquire again. The peril which we confront relates to the soul, which, when we lose it, cannot be recovered. . .'

St. Ephraim

'And while physical bodies, the heavens and the earth, shall pass away and disappear, the glory of the Saints will have no end.'

St. Ephraim

Amen. 

[Shin]

'Very few, however, are they who supply a good beginning with a good end, and come through to the end without falling, with no love but one, for God only, and detached from all else.

Many are pricked at heart, and many become partakers of heavenly grace, and are smitten with divine passion; but because of the conflicts and struggles and labours and divers temptations of the devil to be borne on the way, they do not hold out, but are occupied with divers and sundry worldly desires, because every one has some worldly thing that he chooses to love, and has not detached his affections all round, and so they have stopped short, and have been plunged in the deeps of the world, through the feebleness and slackness and cowardice of their own wills, or through some worldly affection. For those who wish really to come through to the end in good living must not willingly admit and combine any other love or affection with that heavenly one, for fear of being hindered from spiritual things, and turning backward, and at last being exiled from life.

Great and unspeakable and inestimable are the promises made by God; and in proportion to them great faith and hope and labours and conflicts are required, and much trial. The blessings for which a seeker of the kingdom of heaven hopes are no trifle. Thou desirest to reign with Christ through ages without end; wilt thou not readily welcome the conflicts and labours and temptations of this short span of life, even unto death?

The Lord cries, any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily rejoicing and follow Me; [Luke 9:23] and again, any man hate not father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. [Luke 14:26] But most men wish to attain the kingdom, and would like to inherit eternal life, but do not refuse to live to their own wills and to follow them out. Not denying themselves, they wish to inherit eternal life; and this is impossible.'

St. Macarius the Great

[James - a humble servant]

THAT is a GREAT meditation !!! 

[Shin]

'One day, two Protestant ministers came here, who did not believe in the Real Presence of Our Lord. I said to them, "Do you think that a piece of bread could detach itself, and go, of its own accord, to place itself on the tongue of a person who came near to receive it?" "No." "Then it is not bread." There was a man who had doubts about the Real Presence, and he said, "What do we know about it? It is not certain. What is consecration? What happens on the altar at that moment?" But he wished to believe, and he prayed the Blessed Virgin to obtain faith for him. Listen attentively to this. I do not say that this happened somewhere, but I say that it happened to myself. At the moment when this man came up to receive Holy Communion, the Sacred Host detached Itself from my fingers while I was still a good way off, and went off Itself and placed Itself upon the tongue of that man.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

[Shin]

'Man is like a tree, bodily asceticism is the foliage, interior vigilance the fruit. According to that which is written, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire" (Matt. 3:10) it is clear that all our care should be directed toward the fruit, that is to say, guard of the spirit; but it needs the protection and the embellishment of the foliage, which is bodily asceticism.'

St. Agathon

[odhiambo]

"But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway."
1 Corinthians 9:27

This quote has helped me in early rising. Getting up in the morning has always been difficult for me. I keep allowing myself " 5 more minutes" !

[Shin]

Yes, I know how that feels! St. Patrick, pray for us! 

[Shin]

'Silence is not a virtue when charity calls for speech.'

St. Poemen

[Shin]

'We must know how to confide. There is the fear of God and the fear of a Judas. Too much fear makes one labour without love, and too much confidence prevents from considering the danger which we must overcome.'

St. Padre Pio

[odhiambo]

'Many cry to God, but not with the voice of the soul, but with the voice of the body; only the cry of the heart, of the soul, reaches God.'
St. Augustine