From his Letters:
1.
Do not turn in on yourself as so often happens, unfortunately. In the
midst of trials which may afflict you, just place your confidence in
our Supreme Good in the knowledge that He takes more care of us than
a mother takes of her child. (Pg. 260, Letter 36, Pietrelcina,
26-11-14)
2.
Don’t allow any sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents
the Holy Spirit from acting freely. If ever you insist on being sad,
then let it be a holy sadness at the sight of the evil that is
spreading more and more in society nowadays. How many poor are every
day deserting God, our Supreme Good! (Pg. 260, Letter 36,
Pietrelcina, 26-11-14)
3.
To refuse to submit one’s own judgement to that of others,
especially to those who are quite expert in the field in question, is
a sign that we possess very little docility and an all too obvious
sign of secret pride. (Pg. 260, Letter 36, Pietrelcina, 26-11-14)
4.
The soul that is destined to reign with Jesus Christ in eternal
glory, then, must be remodeled by the blows of hammer and chisel. But
what are these blows of the hammer and chisel by which the divine
Artist prepares the stone, the chosen soul? These strokes of the
chisel are the shadows, fears, temptations, spiritual torments and
agitation, with a dash of desolation and even physical pain. (Pg.
97, Letter 8, Pietrelcina, 19-5-14)
5.
Never lie down to sleep without having first examined your conscience
on the way you have spent the day and without first turning your
thoughts to God. Then offer and consecrate your whole person and that
of every Christian.
Offer,
moreover, to the glory of His divine Majesty, the rest you are about
to take and never forget your Guardian Angel who is always close to
you, who never leaves you no matter how badly you treat him. O
unspeakable excellence of this good angel of ours! How many times,
alas, have I made him weep when I refused to comply with his wishes
which were also God’s wishes! May this most faithful friend of our
save from further unfaithfulness. (Pg. 292, Letter 41,
Pietrelcina, 17-12-14)
6.
Drive away what the enemy is whispering loudly in your when he wants
you to believe you are almost on the point of being lost. Despite
these evil insinuations, the Lord is with you as never before in your
tribulations. God tells us. Take heart, then, and don’t be afraid,
for it is quite certain that the one who fears to be lost will not be
lost and the one who fights with his eyes fixed on God will cry
victory and the triumphal hymn. There is nothing to be afraid, for
the heavenly Father has promised us the necessary help to prevent us
from being overcome by temptations. (Pg. 411, Letter 62, Piertelcina,
10-4-15)
7.
May Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, enable you to
understand all that is contained in the great secret of suffering
borne with a Christian spirit. May she obtain for you all the
strength you require to climb to the summit of Calvary loaded with
your own cross. Great strength is needed, unfortunately, to follow
this path, but take heart, for the Savior will never leave you alone
or without his help. (Pg. 487, Letter 79, Pietrelcina, 4-8-1915)
8.
No matter how great the trial to which the Lord is to subject you, no
matter how unbearable your spiritual desolation at certain moments of
your life, never lose heart. Have recourse with more childlike trust
to Jesus who will never be able to resist bestowing on you some
little solace and comfort. Turn to Him at all times even when the
devil tries to cast a pall over your life by showing you your sins
lift up your voice loudly to Him and let it express your spiritual
humility, your heartfelt contrition and your vocal prayer. It is true
that God’s power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering
prayer prevails over God Himself. (Pg. 504, Letter 82,
Pietrelcina, 7-9-1915.)
His Famous Quotes:
Prayer
is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God’s heart. You must
speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact
on certain occasions you should only speak to Him with your heart.
Some
people are so foolish that they think they can go through life
without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray
the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the
world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed
Mother.
Every
Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous
effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves,
do not know…It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun
than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
Pray,
Hope, and Don’t Worry.
Our
Lord loves you and loves you tenderly; and if He does not let you
feel the sweetness of His love, it is to make you more humble and
abject in your own eyes.
Go
to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it
as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it
is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains
necessary graces!
On
this earth everyone has his cross. But we must act in such a way
that we be not the bad, but good thief.
God
commands us to love Him, not as much as He deserves, because He
knows our capabilities and therefore He does not ask us to do what
we cannot do. But He asks us to love Him according to our strength,
with all our soul, all our mind, and all our heart.
You
must concentrate on pleasing God alone, and if He is pleased, you
must be pleased.
May
the Child Jesus be the star that guides you through the desert of
your present life.
Prayer
is the oxygen of the soul. Padre Pio
The
Lord is a Father, the most tender and best of fathers. He cannot
fail to be moved when His children appeal to Him.
Only
in Heaven will everything be as beautiful as spring, as pleasant as
autumn, and as full of love as summer.
Who
can assure us that we will be alive tomorrow? Let us listen to the
voice of our conscience, to the voice of the royal prophet: “Today,
if you hear God’s voice, harden not your heart.” Let us not put
off from one moment to another (what we should do) because the (next
moment) is not yet ours.
Through
the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him.
See my books on Saint Padre Pio and others Here.
Our daily bread: “Our
daily need for it warns us that we should pour out this prayer
constantly, because there is no day on which it is not necessary.”
The
mind, having been dissolved and flung into love of Him, speaks most
familiarly and with particular
devotion to God as to its own father. […] We must tirelessly seek
this condition when it says: 'Our Father." When, therefore, we
confess with our own voice that the God and Lord of the universe is
our Father, we profess that we have in fact been admitted from our
servile condition into an adopted sonship.
Then
we add: 'Who art in heaven,' so that, avoiding with utter horror the
dwelling place of the present
life, wherein we sojourn on this earth as on a journey and are kept
at a far distance from our Father, we may instead hasten with great
desire to that region in which we say that our Father dwells and do
nothing that would make us unworthy of this profession of ours and of
the nobility of so great an adoption, or that would deprive us as
degenerate of our paternal inheritance and cause us to incur the
wrath of his justice and severity.
Having
advanced to the rank and status of sons, we shall from then on burn
constantly with that devotion which is found in good sons, so that we
may no longer expend all our energies for our own benefit but for the
sake of our Father's glory, saying to him: 'Hallowed be thy name.'
Thus we testify that our desire and our joy is the glory of our
Father, since we have become imitators of him who said: 'The one who
speaks of himself seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the
glory of Him who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in
him.
The
words, 'Hallowed be thy name' can also be quite satisfactorily
understood in this way – namely, that the hallowing of God is our
perfection. And so when we say to him: 'Hallowed be thy name,' we are
saying in other words: Make us such, Father, that we may deserve to
understand and grasp how great your hallowing is and, of course, that
you may appear as hallowed in our spiritual way of life. This is
effectively fulfilled in us when 'people see our good works and
glorify our Father who is in heaven.'
The
second petition of a most pure mind eagerly desires the kingdom of
its Father to come immediately. This means that in which Christ
reigns daily in holy persons, which happens when the rule of the
devil has been cast out of our hearts by the annihilation of the foul
vices and God has begun to hold sway in us through the good fragrance
of the virtues; when chastity, peace, and humility reign in our
minds, and fornication has been conquered, rage overcome, and pride
trampled upon. And of course it means that which was promised
universally to all the perfect and to all the sons of God at the
appointed time, when it will be said to them by Christ: 'Come,
blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.'
Desiring and hoping for this with
intent and unwavering gaze, we tell him: 'Thy kingdom come.' For we
know by the witness of our own conscience that when he appears we
shall soon be his companions. No sinner dares to say this or to wish
for it, since a person who knows that at his coming he will at once
be paid back for his deserts not with a palm or rewards but with
punishment has no desire to see the Judge's tribunal.
The
third petition is of sons: 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.' There cannot be a greater prayer than to desire that earthly
things should deserve to equal heavenly ones. For what does it mean
to say: 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' if not that
human beings should be like angels and that, just as God's will is
fulfilled by them in heaven, so also all those who are on earth
should do not their own but his will? No one will really be able to
say this but him who believes that God regulates all things that are
seen, whether fortunate or unfortunate, for the sake of our
well-being, and that he is more provident and careful with regard to
the salvation and interests of those who are his own than we are for
ourselves.
And
of course it is to be understood in this way – namely, that the
will of God is the salvation of all, according to the text of blessed
Paul: 'Who desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth.' Of this will the prophet Isaiah, speaking in the person
of God the Fathers, also says: 'All my will shall be done.' When we
tell him, then: 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' we
are praying in other words: Father, just as those who are in heaven
are saved by the knowledge of you, so also are those who are on
earth."
Then:
'Give us this day our "supersubstantial bread,"which
another evangelist has referred to as 'daily.' The former indicates
the noble quality of this substance, which places it above all other
substances and which, in the sublimity of its magnificence and power
to sanctify, surpasses every creature, whereas the latter expresses
the nature of its use and its goodness. For when it says 'daily' it
shows that we are unable to attain the spiritual life on a day
without it.
When
it says 'this day' it shows that it must be taken daily and that
yesterday's supply of it is not enough if we have not been given of
it today as well.
Our daily need for it warns us that we should pour out this prayer
constantly, because there is no day on which it is not necessary for
us to strengthen the heart of our inner man by eating and
receiving this. But the expression 'this day' can also be understood
with reference to the present life – namely: Give us this bread as
long as we dwell in this world. For we know that it will also be
given in the world to come to those who have deserved it from you,
but we beg you to give it to us this day, because unless a person
deserves to receive it in this life he will be unable to partake of
it in that life.
And
‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us.' Oh, the unspeakable mercy of God! It has not merely given us a
form of prayer and taught us how to act in a manner acceptable to
him, uprooting both anger and sadness through the requirements of the
formula that he gave, by which he ordered that we should always pray
it. It has also conferred on those who pray an opportunity by
disclosing to them the way that they may bring upon themselves the
merciful and kind judgment of God, and it has conferred a certain
power by which we can moderate the sentence of our Judge, persuading
him to pardon our sins by the example of our own forgiveness, when we
tell him: 'Forgive us as we forgive.'
[…]
some of us – which is bad – are accustomed to show ourselves mild
and very merciful with respect to things that are committed to God's
disadvantage, although they may be great crimes, but to be very harsh
and inexorable exactors with respect to the debts of even the
slightest offenses committed against ourselves.
Whoever,
then, does not from his heart forgive the brother who has offended
him will, by this entreaty, be asking not for pardon but for
condemnation for himself, and by his own say-so he will be requesting
a harsher judgment for himself when he says: Forgive me as I also
have forgiven. And when he has been dealt with according to his own
petition, what else will the consequence be that that, following his
own example, he will be punished with an implacable anger and an
irremissible condemnation? Therefore, if we wish to be judged
mercifully, we must ourselves be merciful toward those who have
offended us. For we shall be forgiven to the degree that we have
forgiven those who have injured us by any wrongdoing whatsoever.
Some
people fear this, and when this prayer is recited together in church
by the whole congregation they pass over this line in silence, lest
by their own words they obligate rather than excuse themselves. They
do not understand that it is in vain that they contrive to quibble in
this way with the Judge of all, who wished to show beforehand how he
would judge his suppliants. For since he does not wish to be harsh
and inexorable toward them, he indicated the form that his judgment
would take. Thus, just as we want to be judged by him, so also we
should judge our brothers if they have offended us in anything,
'because there is judgment without mercy for the one who has not
acted mercifully.'
Next
there follows: 'And subject us not to the trial. In this regard there
arises a question of no small importance. For if we pray not to be
allowed to be tried, how will the strength of our steadfastness be
tested, according to the words: 'Whoever has not been tried has not
been proven?' And again: 'Blessed is the man who undergoes trial?'
Therefore, the words 'Subject us not to the trial' do not mean: Do
not allow us ever to be tried, but rather: Do not allow us to be
overcome when we are tried.
For
Job was tried, but he was not subjected to the trial. For he did not
ascribe folly to God, nor did he as a blasphemer, with wicked tongue,
accede to the will of the one trying him, to which he was being
drawn. Abraham was tried and Joseph was tried, but neither of them
was subjected to the trial, for neither of them consented to the one
trying them.
Then
there follows: 'But deliver us from evil.' This means: Do not allow
us to be tried by the devil 'beyond our capacity, but with the trial
also provide a way out, so that we may be able to endure.'
You
see, then, what sort of measure and form for prayer have been
proposed to us by the Judge who is to be prayed to by it. In it there
is contained no request for riches, no allusion to honors, no demand
for power and strength, no mention of bodily health or of temporal
existence. For the Creator of eternal things wishes nothing
transitory, nothing base, nothing temporal to be asked for from
himself. And so, whoever neglects these sempiternal petitions and
chooses to ask for something transitory and passing from him does
very great injury to his grandeur and largesse, and he offends rather
than propitiates his Judge with the paltriness of his prayer.
St.
John Cassian was an Eastern monk and theological writer. He went to
Palestine in 380 with a companion, Germanus, and became a monk in
Egypt. In 400 he entered into the discipleship of St. John
Chrysostom, going to Rome to defend the much-oppressed saint before
Pope Innocent I. Ordained in Rome, John started monasteries in
southern France, near Marseilles, thus helping to pioneer monasticism
in Europe. His two main writings, Institutes of the Monastic Life and
Conferences on the Egyptian Monks, were much praised by St. Benedict
and were long influential; the former had a direct impact upon
Benedict during the time that he was composing his famed Rule. John
also authored the work De Incarnatione Domini, in seven books, at the
behest of Pope Leo I the Great so as to inform the Western Church of
the details of the teachings of the heresiarch Nestorius. While never
canonized officially in the West, John has long been considered a
saint among the Eastern Churches.
View
my Catholic books HERE.
Love
everyone, hate no one. Forgive everyone, judge no one.
Holy Mass Reading
for September 12, 2024: The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6, 27-38.
Jesus
said to his disciples : "To you who hear I say, love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one
cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes
your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.
Give
to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours
do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even
sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do
good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If
you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit
(is) that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same
amount.
But
rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting
nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children
of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the
wicked. Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful. Stop
judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not
be condemned.
Forgive
and you will be forgiven.
Give
and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together,
shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the
measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to
you."
Copyright
© Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB
View
my web page Here.
Whenever
Saint Mechtilde (a mystic nun 1241 -1298) recited this prayer, she
saw legions of souls from Purgatory ascend to Heaven.
OUR
FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, I beseech You, O Heavenly Father, pardon
the Souls in Purgatory, for they did not love You sufficiently, nor
render to You all the honor which is Your due, due to You their Lord
and Father, Who, by pure grace, have adopted them as Your children.
By their sins, rather, have they driven You from their souls, where
You none the less wished always to live. In reparation for these
faults, I offer You the love and veneration which Your Incarnate Son
showed You all during His earthly life, and I offer all the acts of
penance and satisfaction which He performed and by which He effaced
and atoned for the sins of men.
HALLOWED
BE THY NAME, I beg You, O Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in
Purgatory, for they did not honor, always and fittingly, Your Holy
Name, but often they took It in vain and proved unworthy of the name
"Christian", by their lives of sin. In reparation for their
faults, I offer to You all the honor which Your Well-Beloved Son
rendered to Your Name by His words and deeds.
THY
KINGDOM COME; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in
Purgatory, for they did not always seek or adore Your Kingdom with
enough fervor and diligence; this Kingdom, the only place where true
rest and peace reign. In reparation for their omissions, through
indifference to do what is good, I offer You the Most Holy Desire of
Your Son, by which He wished that they also might become heirs of His
Kingdom.
THY
WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN; I pray You, Father Most
Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, for they did not always submit
their will to Your Will. In reparation for their disobedience, I
offer You the perfect conformity of the Heart, full of love, of Your
Divine Son with Your Holy Will and the most profound submission which
He showed in obeying You unto death on the Cross.
GIVE
US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the
Souls in Purgatory, for they did not always receive the Holy
Sacrament of the Eucharist with enough desire, but often without
contemplation, or love, or even unworthily, or they neglected to
receive It. In reparation for these faults, I offer You the
outstanding Holiness and the great contemplation of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Your Divine Son, addressed to You in favor of His enemies
when He was on the Cross.
FORGIVE
US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US; I pray
You, Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, all the faults
of which they have been guilty through succumbing to the Seven deadly
Sins and also in not having wished either to love or pardon their
enemies. In reparation for these faults, I offer You the out-standing
Holiness and the great contemplation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your
Divine Son, addressed to You in favor of His enemies when he was on
the Cross.
AND
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the
Souls in Purgatory, because too often they did not resist the
pitfalls of the devil and the flesh, but they followed the Enemy of
all goodness. In reparation for all these sins, in thought, word, and
deed, I offer You the glorious victory which Our Lord won against the
world, as well as His Most Holy Life, His Work and Sorrows, His
Suffering and His Most Cruel Death.
BUT
DELIVER US FROM EVIL; and from all punishments through the Infinite
Merits of Your Well-Beloved Son and lead us, as well as the Souls in
Purgatory, into Your Kingdom of eternal glory. Amen.
St.
Mechtilde was born Matilda von Hackenberg-Wippra around the year
1240. She came from a noble family in Saxony, and when she was seven
years old, she was so inspired by the lives of the nuns that she went
to live at the convent of Helfta. She learned a great deal there, and
was known for her humility and her fervent love for God.
Mechtilde was
close with the child who would become St. Gertrude the Great, who was
given to the nuns at Helfta when she was five. Mechtilde was 15 years
older, and took Gertrude under her wing. They shared a strong
spirituality and devotion to Christ’s humanity and the Eucharist.
Both nuns were
known to be mystics. Mechtilde had her first mystical vision when she
received Holy Communion. Jesus appeared to her and held her hands.
She said he left an imprint on her heart “like a seal in wax,”
and gave her his own heart in the form of a cup, saying, “By my
heart you will praise me always; go, offer to all the saints the
drink of life from my heart that they may be happily inebriated with
it.”
In another
vision, Mechtilde wrote that she had seen that “the smallest
details of creation are reflected in the Holy Trinity by means of the
humanity of Christ, because it is from the same earth that produced
them that Christ drew his humanity.”
Because of her
visions, Mechtilde was highly revered by her community, and
considered a prophet and counsellor. St. Gertrude recorded her
teachings and visions in the “Book of Special Grace.”
St. Mechtilde
died on Nov. 19, 1298.
View
my Catholic books HERE.
