Kneeling at the altar steps, Jesus told me to devote one day of each week to the work of sanctification and reparation for His priests in each part of the world, e.g. Monday for the priests of Europe, etc. COMMENT: Fr Doyle wrote these words in his diary on April 12, 1917. I had intended to publish them yesterday, on April 12, but decided to prioritise Fr Emil Kapaun instead …
Saints
April 13, 2013
The Servant of God Fr Emil Kapaun Some readers may be aware of the Servant of God, Fr Emil Kapaun – we have mentioned him in the past, and he is probably very familiar to readers from the United States. He was a military chaplain in the Korean War, and he died in a prison camp. The similarities between his service as a military chaplain and Fr Doyle’s are startling, …
April 12, 2013
O my God, pour out in abundance Thy spirit of sacrifice upon Thy priests. It is both their glory and their duty to become victims, to be burnt up for souls, to live without ordinary joys, to be often the objects of distrust, injustice, and persecution. The words they say every day at the altar, “This is my Body, this is my Blood,” grant them to apply to themselves: …
April 11, 2013
“Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to Him.” (Psalm 106: 21). Jesus during His mortal life practised many virtues; but none is more conspicuous, none appeals more strongly to us, than His infinite mercy, His tender forgiveness of all injuries. A vile sinner is brought before Him, her very mien proclaims her crime. “Have none condemned thee? Neither shall I. Go, sin no more.” Magdalen, the bye-word …
April 7, 2013
If my resurrection is to be a real one and is to produce fruit, it must be external, so that all may see I am not the same man, that my life is changed in Christ. COMMENT: Just as Christ rose from the dead, in a sense we too much continuously rise from sin, from spiritual death. Fr Doyle makes an extremely important point in today’s quote – if …
April 1, 2013
The greatest thirst of Jesus on the Cross was His thirst for souls. He saw then the graces and inspirations He would give me to save souls for Him. In what way shall I correspond and console my Saviour? COMMENT: Once again, there are so many things that one could meditate on today. The Passion is a rich and inexhaustible source of meditation for us. It has converted many …
March 29, 2013
The death of St Joseph With great earnestness recommend to His mercy the poor souls who are in their agony. What a dreadful hour, an hour tremendously decisive, is the hour of our death! Surround with your love these souls going to appear before God, and defend them by your prayers. COMMENT: Today is the feast of St Joseph. We traditionally pray to St Joseph for many things – …
March 19, 2013
I beg of God whom I love to grant me that I may shed my blood with those strangers and captives for His name’s sake, even though I be without burial itself, or my corpse be most miserably divided, limb by limb, amongst dogs and fierce beasts, or the birds of the air devour it. I think it most certain that if this happens to me, I shall have …
March 17, 2013
St John Vianney Press on bravely and don’t mind the scratches, even when they come from human nails! COMMENT: We must always push on in our spiritual lives. Often this will involve some difficulty, not least difficulty in overcoming ourselves! But there is also a particular kind of difficulty that comes from others, namely criticism or jokes about religious zeal. Naturally an indiscreet or unbalanced zeal must be controlled …
March 4, 2013
St Peter Damian The great light of this retreat, clear and persistent has been that God has chosen me, in His great love and through compassion for my weakness and misery, to be a victim of reparation for the sins of priests especially; that hence my life must be different in the matter of penance, self-denial and prayer, from the lives of others not given this special grace. COMMENT: Fr …
February 21, 2013