We have here an astonishing little old Father; little by name and little by stature. He is 85; but is active as a man of 30 – and he never stops preaching retreats. Several times I have tried to get to the Chapel before him at 4:00 AM, but he is always there first. He is a kindly and holy old man, whose faith and simplicity are quite extraordinary. In …
Virtues
May 20, 2024
A devotion which does not consist in any special form of prayer nor in doing anything in particular more than to listen to inspirations, is devotion to the Holy Spirit of God…For, as the work of Creation belongs preeminently to the Father and that of the Redemption to the Son, so the work of our Sanctification and Perfection is the work of the Holy Ghost. We honour Him when we …
May 19, 2024
If there is any certain mark of the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost in the soul, if there is any visible pledge of future happiness destined for man, assuredly it is lightness of heart and joy of spirit. COMMENT: One of the most striking things about O’Rahilly’s biography of Fr Willie was the level of detail he revealed about his asceticism. It is debateable whether it was good to …
May 18, 2024
Are you weary of the fight already and willing to give in to the enemy? Never mind, come back, begin again, Jesus wants you. There are millions of pagans to be saved, a hundred thousand dying sinners every day to be rescued. COMMENT: Today’s quote captures the essence of Fr Willie’s spirit – he was a real fighter given over to spiritual combat, and he was a true missionary …
May 16, 2024
I feel ashamed at times that I do not profit more by His nearness, but I know that he makes allowances for weak, inconstant nature. COMMENT: Fr Willie occasionally wrote about what he called the “abuse of grace” – the idea that we fail to profit from all of the graces that God gives us. We are all almost certainly guilty of this failing to one degree or another. In …
May 15, 2024
You would throw up your hands in horror were you to see my room at the present moment. It is a scene of chaos and disorder that would discourage and frighten even that patient and persevering arranger of confusion and disorder, the Little Mother (Fr Doyle’s nickname for his mother). For the past week examinations have been in full swing. Now it is a comparatively easy task to sit down …
May 14, 2024
I saw many interesting places and things during my weeks of travel. But over all hung a big cloud of sadness, for I realised as I never did before how utterly the world has forgotten Jesus except to hate and outrage Him, the fearful, heart-rending amount of sin visible on all sides, and the vast work for souls that lies before us priests. My feelings at times are more than …
May 13, 2024
I think our Lord wants your whole day to be one continued act of love and union with Him in your heart, which has no need of words to express it. Your attitude ought to be that of the mother beside the cot of her babe, lost in love and tenderness, but saying nothing, just letting the heart speak, though the wee one cannot know it as Jesus does. There …
May 11, 2024
O eternal Lord . . . provided it be for Thy greater service and praise . . . and if Thy most Holy Majesty be pleased to choose and receive me for such a life and state, I offer myself to Thee for the Congo Mission. Thy will be done. Amen. COMMENT: Fr Willie had long felt a call become a missionary in the Congo. He struggled for some time …
May 10, 2024
We love our life, cling to it, hug it, study how to prolong it, rebel if God thinks fit to shorten its span, nay, when we have run our scriptural appointed course – “three score and ten and what is more of them is labour and sorrow” (Psalm 89) – we hunger for more. But do we ever seriously ask ourselves: “Does this life carry any responsibility with it?” …
May 9, 2024