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From the pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world of the Second Vatican Council

Peace is not the mere absence of war or the simple maintenance of a balance of power between forces, nor can it be imposed at the dictate of absolute power. It is called, rightly and properly, a work of justice.

It is the product of order, the order implanted in human society by its divine founder, to be realized in practice as men hunger and thirst for ever more perfect justice.

The common good of the human race is subject to the eternal law as its primary principle, but its requirements in practice keep changing with the passage of time. The result is that peace is never established finally and for ever; the building up of peace has to go on all the time. Again, the human will is weak and wounded by sin; the search for peace therefore demands from each individual constant control of the passions, and from legitimate authority untiring vigilance.

Even this is not enough. Peace here on earth cannot be maintained unless the good of the human person is safeguarded, and men are willing to trust each other and share their riches of spirit and talent. If peace is to be established it is absolutely necessary to have a firm determination to respect other persons and peoples and their dignity, and to be zealous in the practice of brotherhood. Peace is therefore the fruit also of love; love goes beyond what justice can achieve. Peace on earth, born of love for one’s neighbor, is the sign and the effect of the peace of Christ that flows from God the Father. In his own person the incarnate Son, the Prince of Peace, reconciled all men to God through his death on the cross. In his human nature he destroyed hatred and restored unity to all mankind in one people and one body. Raised on high by the resurrection, he sent the Spirit of love into the hearts of men.

All Christians are thus urgently summoned to live the truth in love, and to join all true peacemakers in prayer and work for peace. Moved by the same spirit, we cannot but praise those who renounce violence in defense of rights, and have recourse to means of defense otherwise available to the less powerful as well, provided that this can be done without injury to the rights and obligations of others or of the community.

There are 3 Main Goals of Evangelization

GOAL I:
To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others.

GOAL II:
To invite all people in the World, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic Faith.

GOAL III:
To foster Gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.

The Reluctance of Catholics to Evangelize
“Me? Evangelize? I’m Catholic!”

Something of this sort goes through the minds of most Catholics when they hear the word “evangelization.” Evangelizing is something Protestants do. Catholics are more private and do not wear their religion on their sleeves. Many Catholics even have a hard time saying right out loud that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Catholics have not learned that it is their tradition to express their faith openly.

     We do not typically engage in “God Talk.” How embarrassing to discuss God and salvation as though they were normal subjects of conversation like football, food, or the movies! The fear seems to be that people will call us naive or think we are trying to impose our morality or our religion on them. To many Catholics, evangelization is in poor taste. Some of this reticence is rooted in Catholic history in parts of the World. Today, the Church plays a vibrant role in our life and is, for the most part, well-known and respected. But it was not always that way. The Church came to ‘US’ as an “immigrant,” and frictions between the Church and society persisted. Some Catholics were persecuted. Catholics were in the society but not entirely of it. As a result, most Catholics did not share their faith with others. They did not believe that it was important to do so, and they felt ill-equipped whenever push came to shove and they had to discuss their faith even with those who shared the same beliefs. Catholics were generous and contributed to many just causes, as they do today, but most Catholics were tight-fisted when it came to sharing their faith.

     What is more, by and large, Catholics kept to themselves. Protestant children were okay to play with, as long as our parents knew their parents. Still, they were different, living in the shadows around our bright Catholic world. Catholics hugged their special faith like a life jacket, afraid they themselves would sink if they tried to share it with others.

  A deep international affection for Pope John XXIII, and the figurative window opened by the Second Vatican Council laid the groundwork for greater encounters between the Church and society. Today, Catholics have taken a place among the best-educated and most prosperous citizens of this country. Most of the barriers to full Catholic participation in life in most parts of the World have fallen away. But our reluctance to share our faith with others has not.

     These days, despite this reluctance, there is a growing number of Catholics who realize their faith is not a treasure to be jealously guarded lest someone snatch it away. Rather, they are looking for concrete ways to share a treasure which only grows richer the more people partake of its truth, love, and grace. Catholic evangelizers take the most precious gift they have in their hands and offer it to other people. They let their light shine.

~~~

Conversion Within the Individual
To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others.

Go and Make Disciples concerns the ongoing conversion and reform of the individual Catholic: To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others.

The enthusiastic embrace of Catholicism is the way to grow in intimate love of Jesus Christ, to be personally converted to him, and to follow him as faithful disciples. All authentic evangelization, in fact, everything we do as Christians, flows from this personal relationship with Jesus, which is a response of a person in faith to the kerygma, the proclamation of Christ’s saving love. Everything flows from this personal turning to Jesus and the decision to pattern one’s life on him. It follows that the first objective is to foster an experience of conversion and renewal in the heart of every believer.

Catholics must to continue to hear the Good News at ever-deeper levels. The call to holiness, given to every Catholic through Baptism, consecrates each one to God and to the service of the kingdom.

The strategy is to so deepen the sense of Scripture and sacrament that Catholics will pray more fully, and, with a greater understanding of Christ’s call, live as disciples at home, at work, and in today’s many cultural settings. It seeks a greater openness to physical, mental, and cultural diversity among Catholics.

It entails the following objectives:

• To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in the heart of every believer, leading to a more active living of Catholic life.
• To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in every parish.
• To foster an appreciation of God’s Word in the lives of all Catholics.
• To make the evangelizing dimension of the Sunday Eucharist more explicit.
• To foster an appreciation of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and all of the Sacraments, the sacred signs of our Catholic life.
• To foster a greater appreciation of the power of God’s Word in our worship.
• To foster an even deeper sense of prayer among our Catholic people.
• To foster a renewed understanding of faith among Catholics.
• To foster a sense of discipleship among Catholic adults and children.
• To foster active and personal religious experience through participation in small-group and other communal experiences in which the Good News is shared, experienced, and applied to daily life.
• To foster a sense of the domestic Church within households in which families, individuals and groups reside.
• To promote and develop a spirituality for the workplace.
• To foster greater appreciation of cultural and ethnic spirituality.

 Clearly, unless we continue to be evangelized ourselves, with renewed enthusiasm for our faith and our Church, we cannot evangelize others. Priority must be given to continued and renewed faith formation in faith as the basis of our deepening personal relationship with Jesus.

Conversion to the Church Community

To invite all people in the World, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.

Catholic evangelization never considers Jesus apart from the Church. Pope Paul VI insists that there is a “profound link between Christ, the Church, and evangelization.” (On Evangelization in Modern World, #16). Catholics believe they embrace the fullness of the Incarnation when they embrace Jesus in the most intimate communion with His body, the Church. Goal Two offers the following challenge to Catholics across the country: To invite all people in the World, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so that they man come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.

Only a Church renewed in spirit can pursue so grand a purpose. The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. There is a great need to work at becoming more welcoming, less anonymous, more active in seeking new members and reconciling old ones. Welcome, acceptance, the invitation to conversion and renewal, reconciliation and peace, beginning with worship, must characterize the whole tenor of the parishes.

This means that we are to invite effectively every person to come to know the Good News of Jesus proclaimed by the Catholic Church. It means not only that people are invited but also that an essential welcoming spirit is present in Catholic homes and in all our Catholic institutions.

The strategy behind this goal is to create a more welcoming attitude toward others in our parishes so that people feel at home, to create an attitude of sharing faith and develop greater skills to do this, and to undertake activities to invite others to know the Catholic people better.

It entails the following objectives:

• To make every Catholic institution, especially our parishes, more welcoming.
• To help every Catholic feel comfortable about sharing his or her faith and inviting people to discover Christ in our Catholic family of believers.
• To develop within families and households the capacity to share the Gospel.
• To equip and empower our active Catholic members to exercise their baptismal call to evangelize.
• To use special times in parish and family life to invite people to faith.
• To cultivate an active core of the baptized to serve as ministers of evangelization in their parishes, dioceses, neighborhoods, workplaces and homes.
• To effectively invite people to our Church.
• To design programs of outreach for those who have ceased being active in the Church.
• To design programs that reach out in particular ways to those who do not participate in a church community or who seek the fullness of faith.
• To foster the cultural diversity of the Church.
• To deepen ecumenical involvement.

Conversion of Society

To foster gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.

This addresses evangelization’s impact on culture and society: To foster Gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.

Catholics must affirm what is good in their culture, not unduly emphasizing the negative. Today, the Church stands among the most ardent defenders of immigrants, refugees, the elderly, the unborn, and the poor and the marginalized in general. Evangelization aims to build on this foundation to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth.

Catholic evangelization is a counter-cultural activity that confronts disrespect for life, injustices, prejudices, divisions, loss of the sense of the transcendent, and many other ills in modern times. Nevertheless, the evangelization of culture remains a fundamental goal.

This goal follows upon the other two: The appreciation of our faith and its spread should lead to the transformation of our society. The pursuit of this goal, however, must accompany the pursuit of the other two because evangelization is not possible without powerful signs of justice and peace, as the Gospel shapes the framework of our lives.

This goal means supporting those cultural elements in our land that reflect Catholic values and challenging those that reject it. Catholics, who today are involved in every level of modern life in their country , have to address their society as a system and also in particular situations. This goal requires the strategy of strengthening our everyday involvement with those in need, of reflecting on the workplace and media, and of encouraging Catholic involvement in areas of public policy as a way of having greater impact on society’s values.

This entails the following objectives:

• To involve parishes and local service groups in the needs of their neighborhood.
• To foster the importance of the family.
• To develop groups to explore issues of the workplace and lay spirituality.
• To encourage Catholic witness in the arts and in the intellectual community.
• To involve every Catholic, on different levels, in areas of public policy.
• To involve the Catholic Church, on every level, in the media.
• To involve Catholics, at every level, in questions of economic systems.

Adapted From The US Bishops Notes For Evangelisation

From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement, pope

Dear friends, take care that God’s blessings, which are many, do not become the condemnation of us all; we must live lives worthy of him and in mutual harmony do what is good and acceptable in his sight. He tells us: The Spirit of the Lord is a lantern, searching the hidden places of our inmost being.

We must remember how near he is and that no thought of ours, no conversation we hold is hidden from him. It is right, therefore, that we should not turn our backs and flee from God’s will. We should rather give offense to stupid and foolish men, puffed up and taking pride in their boastful speech, than give offense to God.

Let us reverence the Lord Jesus, whose blood was shed for us. Let us respect those in authority, let us honor the presbyters. Let us train the young in the fear of God. Let us lead our wives toward all that is good. Let them show by their conduct that they are lovers of chastity; by their gentleness let them reveal a pure and sincere disposition; by their silence let them manifest the control they have over their tongues; let them bestow an equal charity, without respect for persons, on all who have a holy fear of God.

Your children must share in the way of discipleship in Christ. They must learn how effective humility is before God, what chaste love can accomplish with God, how good and noble is the fear of God, for it brings salvation to all who possess it and who live holy lives with a pure heart. The one whose Spirit is in us is the searcher of our thoughts and of counsels of our hearts. At his will, he shall take that Spirit from us.

All this is strengthened by the faith that comes to us in Christ. He himself addresses us through the Holy Spirit and says: Come, my children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Is there a man who wants life, desiring to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking what is false. Turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and go in pursuit of it.

The Father is merciful in all he does and full of generosity; he is loving to those who fear him. In goodness and gentleness he gives his graces to those who approach him with undivided hearts. We must then put away all duplicity and not be distrustful in the face of his excelling and ennobling gifts.

From a letter to Proba by Saint Augustine, bishop

You may still want to ask why the Apostle said: We do not know what it is right to pray for, because, surely, we cannot believe that either he or those to whom he wrote did not know the Lord’s Prayer.

He showed that he himself shared this uncertainty. Did he know what it was right to pray for when he was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to bruise him, so that he might not be puffed up by the greatness of what was revealed to him? Three times he asked the Lord to take it away from him, which showed that he did not know what he should ask for in prayer. At last, he heard the Lord’s answer, explaining why the prayer of so great a man was not granted, and why it was not expedient for it to be granted: My grace is sufficient for you, for power shines forth more perfectly in weakness.

In the kind of affliction, then, which can bring either good or ill, we do not know what it is right to pray for; yet, because it is difficult, troublesome and against the grain for us, weak as we are, we do what every human would do, we pray that it may be taken away from us. We owe, however, at least this much in our duty to God: if he does not take it away, we must not imagine that we are being forgotten by him but because of our loving endurance of evil, must await greater blessings in its place. In this way, power shines forth more perfectly in weakness. These words are written to prevent us from having too great an opinion of ourselves if our prayer is granted, when we are impatient in asking for something that it would be better not to receive; and to prevent us from being dejected, and distrustful of God’s mercy toward us, if our prayer is not granted, when we ask for something that would bring us greater affliction, or completely ruin us through the corrupting influence of prosperity. In these cases we do not know what is right to ask for in prayer.

Therefore, if something happens that we did not pray for, we must have no doubt at all that what God wants is more expedient than what we wanted ourselves. Our great Mediator gave us an example of this. After he had said: Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me, he immediately added, Yet not what I will, but what you will, Father, so transforming the human will that was his through his taking a human nature. As a consequence, and rightly so, through the obedience of one man the many are made righteous.

Encourages Perceiving the Beautiful Things That Come From the Lord

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 12, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says we should more frequently recall how God has protected and guided us, noting that this exercise not only helps in “times of darkness” but also fills with joy.

The Pope said this today during the general audience in St. Peter’s Square. He took up his series of catechesis on prayer, turning to a psalm of joy, Psalm 126.

The Holy Father used the psalm to offer specific suggestions for prayer.

“Dear brothers and sisters,” he said, “in our prayer we should look more often at how, in the events of our own lives, the Lord has protected, guided and helped us, and we should praise him for all he has done and does for us. We should be more attentive to the good things the Lord gives to us.”

The Pontiff noted how “we are always attentive to problems and to difficulties,” but there is almost an unwillingness “to perceive that there are beautiful things that come from the Lord.”

Attention to the good, “which becomes gratitude,” he said, “is very important for us; it creates in us a memory for the good and it helps us also in times of darkness.”

“God accomplishes great things, and whoever experiences this — attentive to the Lord’s goodness with an attentiveness of heart — is filled with joy,” the Pontiff affirmed.

Interwoven

The Pope also noted how Psalm 126 “opens to broader, theological dimensions.”

He illustrated its theme of “already” and “not yet”: The psalm “uses distinctive imagery that in its complexity calls to mind the mysterious reality of redemption, in which the gift received and yet still to be awaited, life and death, joys dreamed of and painful tears, are interwoven.”

The Holy Father explained the psalm’s references to agriculture, the difficult moment of sowing, and the subsequent unbridled joy of the harvest: “It is a sowing in tears, since one casts to the ground what could still become bread, exposing it to a time of waiting that is full of uncertainty: The farmer works, he prepares the earth, he scatters the seed, but as the parable of the Sower illustrates well, one never knows where the seed will fall — if the birds will eat it, if it will take root, if it will become an ear of grain.

“To scatter the seed is an act of trust and of hope; man’s industriousness is needed, but then one must enter into a powerless time of waiting, well aware that many deciding factors will determine the success of the harvest, and that the risk of failure is always lurking.

“And yet, year after year, the farmer repeats his gesture and scatters the seed. And when it becomes an ear of grain, and the fields fill with crops, this is the joy of he who stands before an extraordinary marvel.”

In this regard, the Pope affirmed how “when divine help is manifested in all its fullness, it has an overflowing dimension, like the watercourses of the Negeb and like the grain of the fields.”

Personal history of salvation

Continuing with the verses later in the psalm, Benedict XVI encouraged praying “open to hope, and firm in our faith in God.”

“Our personal history — even if often marked by suffering, uncertainty and moments of crisis — is a history of salvation and of the ‘restoring of fortunes,'” he reflected. “In Jesus our every exile ends and every tear is wiped away in the mystery of his cross, of death transformed into life.”

The Pope said that in the dark nights, we mustn’t forget that “the light is there, that God is already in the midst of our lives and that we can sow with the great trust in the fact that God’s ‘yes’ is stronger than us all.”

“It is important not to lose the memory of God’s presence in our lives,” he said, “this profound joy that God has entered into our lives, thus freeing us: It is gratitude for the discovery of Jesus Christ, who has come among us. And this gratitude is transformed into hope; it is a star of hope that gives us trust; it is light, since the very pains of sowing are the beginning of new life, of the great and definitive joy of God.”

From a treatise on John by Saint Augustine, bishop

No one comes to me unless the Father draws him. Do not think that you are drawn against your will; the will is drawn also by love. We must not be afraid of men who weigh words but are far from understanding what belongs above all to divine truth. They may find fault with this passage of Scripture and say to us: “How can I believe of my own free will if I am drawn to believe?” I answer: “It is not enough that you are moved by the will, for you are drawn also by desire.”

What does this mean, to be drawn by desire? Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. The heart has its own desires; it takes delight, for example, in the bread from heaven. The poet could say: “Everyone is drawn by his own desire,” not by necessity but by desire, not by compulsion but by pleasure. We can say then with greater force that one who finds pleasure in truth, in happiness, in justice, in everlasting life, is drawn to Christ, for Christ is all these things.

Are our bodily senses to have their desires, but not the will? If the will does not have its desires, how can Scripture say: The children of men will find their hope under the shadow of your wings, they will drink their fill from the plenty of your house, and you will give them drink from the running stream of your delights, for with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we shall see light.

Show me one who loves; he knows what I mean. Show me one who is full of longing, one who is hungry, one who is a pilgrim and suffering from thirst in the desert of this world, eager for the fountain in the homeland of eternity; show me someone like that, and he knows what I mean. But if I speak to someone without feeling, he does not understand what I am saying.

You have only to show a leafy branch to a sheep, and it is drawn to it. If you show nuts to a boy, he is drawn to them. He runs to them because he is drawn, drawn by love, drawn without any physical compulsion, drawn by a chain attached to his heart. “Everyone is drawn by his own desire.” This is a true saying, and earthly delights and pleasures, set before those who love them, succeed in drawing them. If this is so, are we to say that Christ, revealed and set before us by the Father, does not draw us? What does the soul desire more than truth? Why then does the soul have hungry jaws, a spiritual palate as it were, sensitive enough to judge the truth, if not in order to eat and drink wisdom, justice, truth, eternal life?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, that is, here on earth.They shall be satisfied, that is, in heaven. Christ says: I give each what he loves, I give each the object of his hope; he will see what he believed in, though without seeing it. What he now hungers for, he will eat; what he now thirsts for, he will drink to the full. When? At the resurrection of the dead, for I will raise him up on the last day.

I really like this adaptation written by Patrick Madrid, it really makes for a great Catholic Mission Statement!

I AM A PART of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God’s hands. I am finished and done with low living, small planning, the bare minimum, smooth knees, mundane talking, frivolous living, selfish giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, applause, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, the best, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith. I lean on Christ’s presence. I love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with the power of God’s grace.

My face is set. My gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, and my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up or slow up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and spoken up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I am a Catholic. I must go until He comes, give until I drop, speak out until all know, and work until He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no difficulty recognizing me. My banner is clear: I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

Adapted from the original (author unknown) by Patrick Madrid

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot

The child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God, the fountain of wisdom, the Word of the Father on high. Through you, blessed Virgin, this Word will become flesh, so that even though, as he says: I am in the Father and the Father is in me, it is still true for him to say: “I came forth from God and am here.”

In the beginning was the Word. The spring was gushing forth, yet still within himself. Indeed, the Word was with God, truly dwelling in inaccessible light. And the Lord said from the beginning: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. Yet your thought was locked within you, and whatever you thought, we did not know; for who knew the mind of the Lord, or who was his counselor?

And so the idea of peace came down to do the work of peace: The Word was made flesh and even now dwells among us. It is by faith that he dwells in our hearts, in our memory, our intellect and penetrates even into our imagination. What concept could man have of God if he did not first fashion an image of him in his heart? By nature incomprehensible and inaccessible, he was invisible and unthinkable, but now he wished to be understood, to be seen and thought of.

But how, you ask, was this done? He lay in a manger and rested on a virgin’s breast, preached on a mountain, and spent the night in prayer. He hung on a cross, grew pale in death, and roamed free among the dead and ruled over those in hell. He rose again on the third day, and showed the apostles the wounds of the nails, the signs of victory; and finally in their presence he ascended to the sanctuary of heaven.

How can we not contemplate this story in truth, piety and holiness? Whatever of all this I consider, it is God I am considering; in all this he is my God. I have said it is wise to meditate on these truths, and I have thought it right to recall the abundant sweetness, given by the fruits of this priestly root; and Mary, drawing abundantly from heaven, has caused this sweetness to overflow for us.

St Charles Borrowmeo : “The candle that gives light to others must itself be consumed. Thus we also have to act. We ourselves are consumed to give a good example to others.”

We must therefore let Jesus teach us what father really means.  In Jesus’ discourse, the Father appears as the source of all good, as the measure of the rectitude (perfection) of man…. The love that endures “to the end” (JN 13:1), which the Lord fulfilled on the cross in praying for his enemies, shows us the essence of the Father.  He is this love.  Because Jesus brings it to completion, he is entirely “Son”, and he invites us to become “sons” according to this criterion…

The Lord reminds us that fathers do not give their children stones when they ask for bread.  He then goes on to say: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (LK 11:13).  This means that the gift of God is God himself.  The “good things” that he gives us are himself.  This reveals in a surprising way what prayer is really all about: it is not about this or that, but about God’s desire to offer us the gift of himself – that is the gift of all gifts, the “one thing necessary”.  Prayer is a way of gradually purifying and correcting our wishes and of slowly coming to realise what we really need: God and his Spirit.

Pope Benedict XVI

     All those men and women who are not living in penance, who do not receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who practise vice and sin and walk after the evil concupiscence and the evil desires of their flesh, who do not observe what they have promised to the Lord, and who in their body serve the world through the desires of the flesh, the concerns of the world and the cares of this life: They are held captive by the devil, whose children they are, and whose works they do.  They are blind because they do not see the true light, our Lord Jesus Christ.  They do not possess spiritual wisdom because they do not have the Son of God, the true wisdom of the Father.  It is said of them: “Their wisdom has been swallowed up and cursed are those who turn away from your commands.”  They see and acknowledge, know and do evil, and knowingly lose their souls.  See, you blind ones, deceived by your enemies: the flesh, the world, and the devil, because it is sweet for the body to sin and it is bitter to serve God, for every vice and sin flow and “proceed from the human heart” as the Lord says in the Gospel.  And you have nothing in this world or in that to come.  And you think that you will possess this world’s vanities for a long time, but you are deceived because a day and an hour will come of which you give no thought, which you do not know, and of which you are unaware when the body becomes weak, death approches, and it dies a bitter death.  And no matter where, when, or how a person dies in the guilt of sin without penance and satisfaction, if he can perform an act of satisfaction and does not do so, the devil snatches his soul from its body with such anguish and distress that no one can know [what it is like] except the one receiving it.  And every talent, ability, knowledge, and wisdom they think they have will be taken away from them….

     In the love which is God we beg all of those whom these words reach to receive those fragrant words of our Lord Jesus Christ written above with divine love and kindness.  And let whoever does not know how to read have them read to them frequently.  Because they are spirit and life, they should preserve them together with a holy activity to the end.

Saint Francis Of Assisi

+1226

 Do not believe that I am swimming in consolations; oh,no! my consolation is to have none on earth.  Without showing himself, without making his voice heard, Jesus teaches me in secret.  It is not by means of books, for I do not understand what I am reading, but at times a word like this one that I drew out at the end of prayer (after having remained in silence and aridity) comes to console me: ” Here is the Master I am giving you; he will teach you all you must do.  I want to have you read in the book of life wherein is contained the science of love.”  The science of love, oh! yes, this word resounds sweetly in the ear of my soul.  I desire only this science. Having given all my riches for it, I look upon this as having given nothing, just as the spouse in the sacred canticles…. I understand so well that it is only love that can make us pleasing to God that this love is the only good that I ambition.  Jesus is pleased to show me the only road which leads to this divine furnace, and this road is the abandonment of the little child who sleeps without fear in his Father’s arms… “Whoever is a little one, let him come to me,” said the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Solomon, and this same Spirit of Love has said again: “Mercy is granted to little ones.” In his name, the prophet Isaiah reveals to us that on the last day: “The Lord will lead his flock into pastures, he will gather together the little lambs and will press them to his bosom, and as though all these promises were not enough, the same Prophet, whose inspired glance was already plunged into the eternal depths, cried out in the Lord’s name: “As a mother caresses her child, so will I comfort you; I will carry you on my bosom, and I shall rock you on my knees.”… After language like this, there is nothing to do but be silent and weep in gratitude and love… Ah! if all weak and imperfect souls felt what the littlest of all souls feels, the soul of your little Therese, not one would despair of reaching the summit of the mountain of love, since Jesus does not ask for great actions but only abandonment and gratitude.

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus

+1897 Doctor of the Church