Don’t be one of those who give God everything but one little corner of their heart on which they put up a notice board with the inscription: “Trespassers not allowed.” COMMENT: Perhaps Fr Willie’s lines today get to the heart of the difference between the saints and the rest of us. We may want to love God and we may try our best, albeit with many falls and weaknesses. Yet …
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March 8, 2024
He loves your soul dearly, cling to Him, and trust Him, He so longs to be trusted. COMMENT: Many of us have a very weak trust in God. The saints were not like us. Their faith and trust in God’s Providence was simple and profound and it was this reliance on God that allowed them to achieve so much. Lent is a time for spiritual discipline. This discipline is not …
March 7, 2024
Passion of Christ, comfort me! Comfort me, for the day is long and weary; comfort me as I fight my way up the path of life safe to the haven of Thy Sacred Heart, comfort me in sorrow, in pain, in sickness. Comfort me when temptation rages around me and every hope seems lost, and when the last dread hour has sounded and my eyes are closing on this world …
March 6, 2024
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. An indiscreet or unbalanced zeal should be amended with fraternal correction. But sometimes …
March 4, 2024
A special request from Patrick Kenny, President, Father Willie Doyle Association and Fr. John S. Hogan, Postulator. Today is Fr Willie’s birthday. He was born into this world on 3rd March 1873. Through the example of his life, and the impact of his writings, he is still making an impact 151 years later… Will you give him a special birthday present? Perhaps Fr Willie’s story has inspired you? Or …
March 3, 2024
It is useful from time to time to pause and ask ourselves if we are, like the child Jesus, growing in wisdom and grace. Does each evening see us farther on the path of perfection? When we lie down to rest, is it with the feeling that the day just passed has been one of progress in the spiritual life, of merit and victory over self? Have we crushed the …
March 2, 2024
Surely, my child, you are not surprised to find that you have broken your resolution, or rather, that the devil has gained a victory over you. I am convinced from a pretty big experience that perfection, that is sanctity, is only to be won by repeated failures. If you rise again after a fall, sorry for the pain given to our Lord, humbled by it, since you see better your …
March 1, 2024
Abandon yourself completely into the hands of God, and take directly from Him every event of life, agreeable, or disagreeable. Only then can God make you really holy. COMMENT: We love to stay in control. We find it hard to no longer be in charge of our own affairs. This is part of the natural human condition. But we are called to go beyond the natural level and to live …
February 29, 2024
The merit of living under religious rule may be gathered from the difficulty of always and faithfully keeping that rule. Holiness and deliberate violation of our rules are a contradiction. COMMENT: Fr Doyle was known for his close adherence to the Jesuit rule, and the faithful fulfilment of its precepts is a recurring theme in his resolutions and notes. Adhering to a religious rule is tough, and because of this …
February 28, 2024
Over and over again I asked myself, when reading that book, was it not strange that I should come across the very ideas which had been in my mind so long: namely, the longing of our Lord for more souls who would be absolutely at His mercy, His pleasure and disposal; souls in whom He could work at will, knowing that they would never resist Him, even by praying to …
February 27, 2024