Soldiers cooking Christmas dinner at the front Fr Doyle wrote the following letter to his sister from the trenches on 19th December 1916, 100 years ago today. It gives some insight into the hardship of his life, the humour and humanity with which he greeted these hardships, and his constant supernatural outlook. I want to have a little chat with you but you must promise to keep to yourself what …
Virtues
December 19, 2016
“I have called upon Thee in the day of my trouble” (Psalm 85. 7). Jesus is our comforter. What burden is there which He cannot lighten? What cross that He cannot make sweet? Be our troubles what they may, if only we will call on Jesus and implore His aid, we shall find our sufferings lessened and the rough ways smoothed for our bleeding feet. COMMENT: Fr Doyle knew what …
December 18, 2016
A want of will is the chief obstacle to our becoming saints. We are not holy because we do not really wish to become so. We would indeed gladly possess the virtues of the saints – their humility and patience, their love of suffering, their penance and zeal. But we are unwilling to embrace all that goes to make a saint and to enter on the narrow path which leads …
December 17, 2016
St Laurence, who joked “turn me over, I’m done on this side” while being burned Avoid worry, anxiety, uneasiness about anything. “The devil’s boiling pot” expresses this state of mind; one trouble ended, another crops up to take its place; the soul never at rest; there is no peace, no calm, and also no real holiness. COMMENT: The saints always tended to be at peace, even in the midst of …
December 16, 2016
On this day in 1917, Major General Hickie paid another tribute to Fr Doyle. Writing to his father, Hugh Doyle, General Hickie said: I could not say too much about your son. He was loved and reverenced by us all; his gallantry, self-sacrifice, and devotion to duty were all so well known and recognised. I think that he was the most wonderful character that I have ever known. Major General …
December 15, 2016
God has many gifts to bestow upon us, but none more precious than time. Yet how we abuse this royal gift! How little we think of it! How we despise these golden moments, moments whose true value we shall not really prize till alas! too late – when time shall be no more to us. COMMENT: Time is a precious gift. When it comes to time, every one is, in …
December 15, 2016
St John of the Cross Surely you are not right in trying to keep our Lord away from you, or in thinking that He looks upon you with displeasure. When sin in the past is repented for, the poor soul who once strayed from Him has a strange attraction for His gentle Heart. You pain Him intensely if you think He does not love you now, nor wish for your …
December 14, 2016
St Lucy It is scarcely necessary to state that deliberate sin in any shape or form utterly destroys the interior life. COMMENT: It is a well accepted principle of Catholic spirituality that we must fight against sin. Naturally we must exert all of our will in the battle against deliberate mortal sin, which utterly destroys the life of grace in our soul and puts our salvation in jeopardy. But we …
December 13, 2016
St Maravillas of Jesus I want to be generous with God and to refuse Him nothing. I do not want to say, “I will go just so far and no farther.” COMMENT: Today is the feast of St Maria Maravillas of Jesus, a Discalced Carmelite who died in 1974 and was canonised in 2003, making her canonisation one of the fastest in the Church. Despite this, she is unfortunately little …
December 11, 2016
If there is any certain mark of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit 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. On some souls the black clouds of despondency and gloom never settle, sorrow may touch them with her sable wings, grief may blanch the hair and early care rob the step …
December 11, 2016