Pope St Pius X
Monthly Archives: August 2024
St Bernard of Clairvaux
“Let us affectionately love His angels as counselors and defenders appointed by the Father and placed over us. They are faithful; they are prudent; they are powerful; Let us only follow them, let us remain close to them, and in the protection of the God of heaven let us abide.”
“Let your prayer for temporal blessings be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary.”
“Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love.”
“Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, Thou fount of life, thou Light of men, From the best bliss that earth imparts We turn unfilled to Thee again. We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread, And long to feast upon Thee still: We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, And thirst our souls from Thee to fill. O Jesus, ever with us stay, Make all our moments calm and bright; Chase the dark night of sin away, Shed o’er the world Thy holy light.”
St Bernard of Clairvaux
There are Battles ahead but we are not alone
from a Letter by St Ignatius of Antioch
All things have an end, and two things, life and death, are side by side set before us, and each one will go to his own place. Just as there are two coinages, one of God and the other of the world, each with its own image, so unbelievers bear the image of this world, and those who have faith with love bear the image of God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Do your utmost to stand firm in the precepts of the Lord and the Apostles, so that you may prosper in all that you do in the flesh and in the spirit, in faith and love, in the Son and the Father and the Spirit, at the beginning and at the end.
I am writing this from Smyrna and the Ephesians here send you their greeting. They, like you, are here for the glory of God and have in all things given me comfort, as has Polycarp, the bishop of the Smyrnaeans. The other Churches also greet you in honour of Jesus Christ. Farewell. See that there is a godly unity among you and an unhesitating spirit; for this is Jesus Christ.
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From a letter attributed to Barnabas
Hope of life is the beginning and end of our faith.
Greetings, sons and daughters. In the name of the Lord
who loves us, peace be to you.
Because the Lord has granted you an abundance of blessings,
I rejoice immeasurably in your blessed and glorious company.
The Lord has given us these three basic doctrines: hope for eternal life, the beginning and end of our faith; justice, the beginning and end of righteousness; and love, which bears cheerful and joyous witness to the works of righteousness.
When evil days are upon us and the worker of malice gains power, we must attend to our own souls and seek to know the ways of the Lord. In those times reverential fear and perseverance will sustain our faith, and we will find need of forbearance and self-restraint as well. Provided that we hold fast to these virtues and look to the Lord, then wisdom, understanding, knowledge and insight will make joyous company with them.
Pray for us o Holy Mother of God
A Monk shares his story
the Monks and the Culture Project . VID
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Beloved Young People and Dear Friends in Christ,
Today the Church finds herself, with Mary, on the threshold of the house of Zechariah in Ain–Karim. With new life stirring within her, the Virgin of Nazareth hastened there, immediately after the Fiat of the Annunciation, to be of help to her cousin Elizabeth.
It was Elizabeth who first recognized the “great things” which God was doing in Mary. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth marvelled that the mother of her Lord should come to her (Cfr. Luc 1,43). With deep insight into the mystery, she declared: “Blest is she who believed that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled” ( Luc 1,45). With her soul full of humble gratitude to God, Mary replied with a hymn of praise: ” God who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name” ( Luc 1,49).
On this Feast the Church celebrates the culmination of the “great things” which God has done in Mary: her glorious Assumption into Heaven. And throughout the Church the same hymn of thanksgiving, the “Magnificat”, rings out as it did for the first time at Ain–Karim: All generations call you blessed (Cfr. Luc 1,48).
The Liturgy presents you, Mary, as the Woman clothed with the sun (Cfr. Apoc 12,1). But you are even more splendidly clothed with that Divine Light which can become the Life of all those created in the image and likeness of God himself: “this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Io 1,4-5).
O woman clothed with the sun, the youth of the world greet you with so much love … Your spirit rejoices, O Mary, and our spirit rejoices with you because the Mighty One has done great things for you and for us, – for all these young people gathered here in Denver, for all of us, for all the young people of the world, for all the young people, this generation, the future generation. The Mighty One has done great things for you, Mary, and for us. For you and for us, for us with you. The Mighty One – and holy is his name!
His mercy is from age to age.
From a Homily of Pope Saint John Paul II
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Almighty, ever-living God,
you have taken the mother of your Son,
the immaculate Virgin Mary,
body and soul into the glory where you dwell.
Keep our hearts set on heaven
so that, with her, we may share in your glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,(one) God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
St Maximilian Kolbe
“No one in the world can change Truth.
What we can do and and should do is to seek truth
and to serve it when we have found it”
“The Immaculate will conquer, through us, the whole world and every single soul.”
“But grace, for ourselves and for others, is obtained by humble prayer, by mortification, and by fidelity in the accomplishment of our own ordinary duties, including the simplest ones.”
“For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.”
St Maximilian Kolbe
Blessed McGivney
Holy Day on Thursday
St Clare of Assisi
Love Him totally, who gave Himself totally for you
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation.
Our labor here is brief, but the reward is eternal. Do not be disturbed by the clamor of the world, which passes like a shadow. Do not let false delights of a deceptive world deceive you.
Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others.