St. John of the Cross

Let my soul live as if separated from my body.

ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Today is the Feast day of St. John of the Cross. He is a Carmelite reformer of the 16th century who tried to simplify the life of the Carmelite Order that had become caught up in an aristocratic mentality. The life of the monks resembled more the life of aristocracy rather than being a simple and powerful witness to the Gospel through a radical expression of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.

St. John was a poet of the first degree, indeed the Patron of Spanish Poets, and he wrote many marvelous texts that have both puzzled and astounded the men and women who have studied them through the centuries. The depth of apprehension of the love of God and his mystery is probably very difficult for most of us to understand and comprehend as we have not known the difficulty and experiences that engendered such insight in the life of John. Yet his poetry and writings afford us a unique and compelling entry point to the mystical life. The degree to which we are able to avail of this opportunity will largely depend upon, of course, the grace of the Holy Spirit, but also our own willingness to enter into our own Calvary experience – coming to know personally that experience of suffering that unites us with Jesus in His passion and death.

We have to be willing to go anywhere and everywhere the Spirit leads us. This is part of the mystery of embracing a vocation to follow God’s will; it is the only path to union with Him.

The challenge we face in our world today is how to put aside the materialism and consumerism that command our every attention and replace it with a concern for the spiritual life that will eventually become everything to us. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus today. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are you willing to leave behind the cares of the world and focus your life upon the promises of the Spirit?

Holy Spirit, help me to overcome the cares of the world in my heart and mind so that I can better focus upon the truths of the Spirit that will endure forever.

Entries:12/6/12-6:46AM

SAINT AUGUSTINE

This very moment I may, if I desire, 

become the friend of God.

POWER OF WORDS
Be assured that abuses are done away with by teaching rather than by commanding. If we make threats, let it be done sorrowfully, in the words of Scripture, and in terms of the world to come. In this way it is not we who are feared because of our power, but God because of our words.

THE MIGHTY PHYSICIAN
So mighty is the physician who has come to us that he has healed all our sins! If we choose to be sick once again, we not only harm ourselves, but show ingratitude to the physician as well. Yes he gave us a path of humility. If we keep to it we shall confess our belief in the Lord and have good reason to sing: We shall praise you, God, we shall praise you and call upon your name.

Entries: 7/28/12-5:40 AM

SAINT EPRAEM THE SYRIAN

PRAYER
Virtues are formed by prayer.
Prayer preserves temperance.
Prayer suppresses anger.
Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy.
Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.

TRANSGRESSIONS
What leper, when he has been healed, turns again and desires to have his leprosy back?
You have put off your transgressions in Baptism....forsake them! (October 1, 2010)

ST. DOROTHEOS OF GAZA

-- St. Dorotheos of Gaza

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dorotheus of Gaza (505-565 or 620,^[1] alternative spelling Dorotheos) or Abba Dorotheus, was a Christianmonk

and abbot.^[1] He joined the monasteryAbba Serid (or Abba Sveridus) near Gaza through the influence of elders Barsanuphius and John. Around 540 he founded his own monastery nearby and became abbot there. He wrote instructions for monks of which a considerable number have survived and have been compiled into Directions on Spiritual Training. Abba Dorotheus (St. Dorotheus the Hermit of Kemet) is recognized as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church^[2] with his Feast Day on June 5 in the Roman Catholic Church^[3] and June 18 (June 5 old style) in Churches of Eastern Orthodox tradition.^[4]

Feast
18 June (Orthodox); 5 June (Roman Catholic)




VIRTUE

No wickedness, no heresy, not even the Devil himself can deceive anyone without counterfeiting virtue.

PERFECT LOVE

Perfect love leads a man on to perfect fear. Such a man fears and keeps to God's will, not from fear of punishment, not to avoid condemnation, but because he has tasted the sweetness of being with God; he fears he may fall away from it.

Saint Bernard

LOVE GOD

God must be loved first, in order that one's neighbor, too, may be loved in God.

SHARE IN THE LORD'S PASSION

We read in the gospel that when the Lord was teaching his disciples and urged them to share in his passion by the ministry of eating his body, some said: This is a hard saying; and from that time they no longer followed him. When he asked the disciples whether they also wish to go away, they replied: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

I assure you my brothers that even to this day it is clear to some that the words which Jesus speaks are spirit and life, and for this reason they follow him. To others these words seem hard, and so they look elsewhere for some pathetic consolation. Yet wisdom cries out in the streets, in a broad and spacious way that leads to death, to call back those who take this path.

"PRAY, HOPE, AND DON'T WORRY"

Saint Pio (Pius) of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap., (25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968) was a Capuchin Catholic priest from Italy who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He was born Francesco Forgione, and given the name Pius (Italian: Pio) when he joined the Capuchins, thus he was popularly known as Padre Pio. He became famous for his bearing the stigmata. On 16 June 2002, he was canonized by Pope John Paul II.


STOP ENTERTAINING VAIN FEARS

Stop entertaining those vain fears. Remember it is not feeling which constitutes guilt but the consent to such feelings. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virtue. -- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

FIX THE TIME AND LENGTH OF YOUR MEDITATION

The field of battle between God and Satan is the human soul. It is in the soul that the battle rages every moment of life. The soul must give free access to the Lord so that it may be fortified by Him in every repect and with all kinds of weapons; that His light may enlighten it to combat the darkness of error; that it may be clothed with Jesus Christ. To be clothed with Jesus Christ it is necessary to die to oneself. That which comes from Satan begins with calmness and ends in storm, indifference, and apathy. In the spiritual life he who does not advance goes backward. It happens as with a boat which always must go ahead. If it stands still the wind blows it back. Fix the time, the length of your meditation, and do not rise from your place until you have finished even at the cost of being crucified. -- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

SAY LESS
If we say less than we should, it is easy to add. But having said too much, it is hard to take it away.

CHARITY
God does not want each person to keep all the counsels, but only those appropriate to the diversity of persons, times, opportunities, and strengths, as charity requires; for it is charity, as queen of all virtues, all commandments, all counsels, and, in short, of all laws and all Christian actions that gives to all of them their rank, order, time, and value.

Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs

Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, killing hundreds of thousands. Three and a half centuries before, twenty-six martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children—all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his church.

Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: "The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain."

When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862.

O God, strength of all the Saints, who through the Cross were pleased to call the Martyrs Saint Paul Miki and companions to life, grant, we pray, that by their intercession we may hold with courage even until death to the faith that we profess. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

CONTEMPLATE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT

To be removed from things of the senses is to contemplate things of the spirit.

-- St. John Climacus

"My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD (Isa 59:21).

God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7). You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father" (Rom 8:15).

He, the Spirit of truth, will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come (Jn 16:13). It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor 1:30).

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him--the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD (Isa 11:12).

Glorious Father, give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that I may know you better (Eph 1:17). I pray also that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened in order that I may know the hope to which you have called me, the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints (Eph 1:18). All these I humbly ask and pray in Jesus Name. Amen.

GRACE OF GOD

If we have obtained the grace of God, none shall prevail against us, but we shall be stronger than all who oppose us.

-- St John Chrysostom