Lord, give me grace and strength of character to tear myself away promptly from what, if not bad, is less good, and to give myself earnestly, self-denyingly, perseveringly, to the better and the best. COMMENT: Fr Doyle wrote this prayer in August 1915. It sums up the spirituality of the saints – yes, it is good to be good, but we must keep on striving, keep on aiming for to …
Prayer
August 18, 2011
28 July 1907, Miltown Park, Dublin. Fr Doyle is marked with an X. My loving Jesus, on this the morning of my Ordination to the priesthood, I wish to place in Your Sacred Heart, in gratitude for all that You have done for me, the resolution from this day forward to go straight to holiness. My earnest wish and form resolve is to strive with might and main to become …
July 28, 2011
Mary Magdalene meditating on the Crucifixion. (Pedro de Mena,1664) July 22 – Feast of St Mary Magdalen Jesus allowed her to wash His feet but knew well what those eyes had looked on. He allowed her lips to kiss His feet knowing what sinful words had fallen from them. He did not shrink from the touch of hands which had served Satan so long. He even welcomed the love of …
July 22, 2011
The Moment of Benediction. The priest turns and raises aloft the Sacred Host. In loving adoration, in reverent awe, the invisible angels fall prostrate. The bell tinkles softly, fragrant clouds of sweet-smelling incense ascend on high, and in the remotest corner of the vast church every head is bowed in adoration. It is a solemn moment, a moment when the silent streams of grace pour down upon our souls. …
June 13, 2011
Real devotion to the Blessed Sacrament is only to be gained by hard, grinding work of dry adoration before the Hidden God. But such a treasure cannot be purchased at too great a cost, for once obtained, it makes of this life as near an approach to heaven as we can ever hope for. COMMENT: Fr Doyle shows us that the encounter with Christ in prayer is not primarily emotional, …
June 10, 2011
We must be intellectually pious, that is, our piety should rest on the bedrock of principle, and not on mood, on sentiment, on spiritual consolation. COMMENT: In the Gospel of St Matthew Jesus tells us that it is an unfaithful and wicked generation that looks for a sign. But despite this, how many of us continue along this path, seeking consolations and signs in all sorts of ways? There are …
May 30, 2011
After a slightly prolonged hiatus following my recent trip to Rome, we recommence today with some thoughts Fr Doyle wrote in his diary on this day in 1914. The past few weeks have been weeks of extraordinary grace and light and strength. I see clearly what He wants from me as clearly and as certainly, I think, as if I had received a written message from His own hand. For …
May 7, 2011
Make your prayer simple, as simple as you can; reason little, love much, and you will pray well. COMMENT: There is perhaps a danger in presenting this quote from Fr Doyle today. I am not exactly sure who Fr Doyle was writing to when he wrote these lines, but almost certainly it was somebody in religious life, probably a nun. The spirituality of 100 years ago was somewhat different …
March 27, 2011
What I look upon as a grace was told to me yesterday. A little child speaking of the missioners here said: ‘I like Fr Doyle best because he is holy’. The words cut me like a knife and wound round and round my soul till I could have cried with the pain of it. And this because of the loving compassion of Jesus who covers over my wretched faults …
March 16, 2011
St Francis Xavier Vince teipsum – conquer yourself. This is the secret of the Spiritual Exercises. “I learnt no other lesson from my master Ignatius,” said St. Francis Xavier, referring to his first retreat at Paris. Here we all fail good men, zealous men, holy men. Prayer is easy, works of zeal attractive; but going against self, till grace and perseverance give facility, is cruel work, a hard battle. COMMENT: …
March 12, 2011