St John the Baptist by Titian c. 1542 The Birthday of St John the Baptist Today the Church celebrates the feast of the birth of St John the Baptist. Fr Doyle does not seem to have written about St John very much, but in one letter to his sister, a nun, written on 19th December 1916, alludes to the similarities between the harshness of his own life and that of …
Self-conquest
June 24, 2010
In the matter of suffering I think you are inclined to confound the act of the will with feeling. You do not really “draw back” when suffering comes, since you have the will to bear all things for the love of Jesus; but nature shrinks from pain and at times makes our “will to suffer” give way. COMMENT: It is clear from the Fr Doyle’s notes that he had absolutely …
June 22, 2010
"Kiss His feet as a token of your regret" I fear you are allowing the devil to score off you by getting so much upset over these bothersome, but harmless, temptations. You must let our Lord sanctify you in His own way. Were we to pick our own trials and modes of sanctification, we should soon make a mess of things. The net result of your temptations is a deeper …
June 22, 2010
Irish soldiers preparing for WWI. Christ expects His army to be "absolutely and lovingly devoted to Him" I have long had the feeling that, since the world is growing so rapidly worse and worse and God has lost His hold, as it were, upon the hearts of men, He is looking all the more earnestly and anxiously for big things from those who are faithful to Him still. He cannot, …
June 20, 2010
Icon of Christ as the Suffering Servant You need not fear whatever He may send you to bear, since His grace will come with it ; but you should always try to keep in mind your offering, living up to the spirit of it. Hence endeavour to see the hand of God in everything that happens to you now; e.g. if you rise in the morning with a headache, thank …
June 20, 2010
A great desire to know our Lord better, His attractive character, His personal love for me, the resolve to read the life of Christ and study the Gospels. I feel also a longing to love Jesus passionately, to try my very best to please Him, and to do all I think will please Him. I see nothing will be dearer to Him than my sanctification, chiefly attained by the …
June 18, 2010
A typical WWI trench. It was faithfulness to the "narrow path" of ordinary duties that prepared Fr Doyle to adhere to the "narrow path" of the trenches I feel also a great longing to love Jesus very, very much, to draw very close to His Sacred Heart, and to be ever united to Him, always thinking of Him and praying. I long ardently to do something now to make up …
June 16, 2010
One of the obstacles to my leading a fervent life is the thought of what others may think. I would often wish to do some act of mortification, but I am prevented because I know others will see it. Again, I desire to keep certain rules which I have broken (e.g. Latin conversation), but a false shame, a fear of what others may say, stops me. I know this is …
June 16, 2010
Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David, 1801. I feel that I could go through fire and water to serve such a man as Napoleon, that no sacrifice he could ask would be too hard. What would the army think of me if Napoleon said, “I want you to do so and so”, and I replied “But, your Majesty, I am very sensitive to cold, I want to have a …
June 14, 2010
The Third Degree of Humility. 1. Accepto. I will receive with joy all unpleasant things which I must bear : (a) pain, sickness, heat, cold, food ; (b) house, employment, rules, customs ; (c) trials of religious life, companions ; (d) reprimands, humiliations ; (e) anything which is a cross. 2. Volo et desidero. I will wish and desire that these things may happen to me, that so I …
June 12, 2010