“God is the brightest of lights which can never be extinguished, and the choirs of angels radiate light from the divinity. Angels are pure praise without any trace of a bodily deed.”
St. Hildegard of Bingen
We are celebrating the feast of the cross which drove away darkness and brought in the light. As we keep this feast, we are lifted up with the crucified Christ, leaving behind us earth and sin so that we may gain the things above. So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure.
St Andrew of Crete
“When we are overcome by sadness, fear, or suffering; when the pains of loss overwhelm us; when evil seems to have taken power; let us look to the cross and be filled with peace, knowing that Christ has walked this road and walks it now with us and with all our brothers and sisters.”
St Teresa of Avila
“O souls! seek a refuge, like pure doves, in the shadow of the crucifix. There mourn the Passion of your divine Spouse, and drawing from your hearts flames of love and rivers of tears, make of them a precious balm with which to anoint the wounds of your Saviour.”
St Paul of the Cross
There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us. And on the far side of every cross we find the newness of life in the Holy Spirit, that new life which will reach its fulfillment in the resurrection. This is our faith. This is our witness before the world.
St John Paul II
Notburga was an Austrian peasant from Tyrol
and was born in 1265 at Rattenberg on the Inn river.
She was a cook in the household of Count Henry
of Rattenberg and gave food to the orphans of the town.
Notburga then worked for a farmer in Eben Austria.
The farmer came upon her in the field one evening
as she was setting down her sickle.
The bell had rung for vespers and
the vigil for Sunday had just begun.
The farmer wanted her to continue working
but she insisted that no Christian should harvest
during the vigil in good weather.
Perhaps she declared that she should let her sickle decide.
She tossed it in the air and it hung there like a crescent moon,
a harbinger of good weather. And so Notburga went off
to vespers and kept the Sunday vigil.
“The name of Mary is free from all vice
and resplendent with every virtue”
“Dei matris nomen sit mihi ultimus linguae loquentis motus,”
“May the name of the Mother of God be for me the last movement of my tongue!”
Blessed Bartolomo
“Let us pray, then, my devout reader, let us pray God to grant us
this grace, that the last word we pronounce at death may be the name of Mary.”
St Alphonsus Liguori
“May Jesus Christ, thy son, bestow the gifts of his grace on thy servants, w
ho invoke the sweet name of Mary.”
St Bernard
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean.
But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
I alone cannot change the world
but I can cast a stone across the waters
to create many ripples.
The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue.
Therefore, if you want to be rich, beloved, love true riches. If you aspire to the heights of real honor, strive to reach the kingdom of Heaven. If you value rank and renown, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the Angels.
The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind’s eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making.
Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending.
You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds?
Lay first the foundation of humility.
Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention
to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances,
are brought into closer connection with you.
Our Lord’s words teach us that though we labour among the many distractions of this world, we should have but one goal. For we are but travellers on a journey without as yet a fixed abode; we are on our way, not yet in our native land; we are in a state of longing, not yet of enjoyment. But let us continue on our way, and continue .. that we may ultimately arrive at our destination.