St Peter Claver SJ September 9 Feast of St Peter Claver St. Peter Claver was one of those generous heroic souls whom God sends upon this earth to serve as a stimulus to our zeal, to urge us on to dare and do great things for His glory. Alone he stood upon the beach of that reeking haunt of sin, Cartagena, and saw the galley-ship vomit forth its human living …
Saints
September 9, 2010
St Ignatius To be indifferent does not mean to desire things which are hard to nature, but a readiness and determination to embrace them when once the will of God is known. In this sense I think I am indifferent about going to the Congo. But I must force myself to be willing to accept the way of life which God seems to be leading me to and wants me …
September 7, 2010
How little I think of committing venial sin, and how soon I forget I have done so! Yet God hates nothing more than even the shadow of sin, nothing does more harm to my spiritual progress and hinders any real advance in holiness. My God, give me an intense hatred and dread and horror of the smallest sin. I want to please You and love You and serve You as …
September 6, 2010
I stumbled across the above image by accident a few weeks ago. It was published in an Irish newspaper at the end of 1916. The priest is unidentified, but could it be Fr Doyle? This thought occurred to me not just because it was an Irish military chaplain, but because of the date depicted – 2nd September 1916. Fr Doyle and his men had to suddenly march to the …
September 3, 2010
Blessed Bartolo Longo, a former satanic priest You must absolutely drive away all despondency or useless pining or regrets about the past. It does not please God and it only injures your spiritual life. COMMENT: Worrying about the past, and about our sins that we have already confessed, is one symptom of suffering from scruples. Fr Doyle had great concern for the scrupulous, so much so that he wrote a …
September 2, 2010
St Teresa Margaret Redi Reasons why our Communions and Masses do not make us Saints. 1. Want of preparation, through sloth, carelessness, or absorption in other things; no thought of the greatness and immense dignity of the act, no stirring up of fervour. 2. No pains to examine our conscience carefully, to destroy affection to venial sin, and to root out faults often unrecognized for years. A soul filled with …
September 1, 2010
St Raymond Nonnatus By entering religion and taking my vows I have given myself over absolutely to God and His service. He, therefore, has a right to be served in the way He wishes. If then He asks me to enter on a hard, mortified life and spend myself working for Him, how can I resist His will and desire? What is God asking from me now? Shall I go …
August 31, 2010
St Margaret Clitherow Why are we not saints? Want of courage and want of patience. We give up, we have not the strength of will and determination to succeed which the saints had. Another point is that our notion of sanctity is adding on, instead of making perfect what we already do. COMMENT: There are two points worth considering in today’s quote from Fr Doyle. Firstly is the fact that …
August 30, 2010
Salome with the head of John the Baptist by Caravaggio There is one thing we need never be afraid of, namely, that the devil will ever tempt us to be humble. He may delude us in the practice of other virtues; indiscreet zeal, for instance, or the desire to devote our time solely to prayer. But we need never be in doubt as to whether it would be better to …
August 29, 2010
St Augustine, Doctor of the Church August 28 Feast of St Augustine Doctor of the Church How many wish to belong entirely to Jesus without reserve or restriction? Most want to serve two masters, to be under two standards. A union of wordliness and devotion; a perpetual succession of sins and repentance; something given to grace, more to nature; fervour and tepidity by turns. Such is the state of many …
August 28, 2010