A Joyful Heart

A joyful heart is more easily made perfect that one that is cast down. ~St. Philip Neri

Seeking Knowledge

"Some seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that is curiosity. Others seek knowledge that they may themselves be known: that is vanity. But there are still others who seek knowledge in order to serve and edify others, and that is charity." 

~St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Evangelism

Evangelism is not what we tell people, unless what we tell is totally consistent with who we are. It is who we are that is going to make the difference....If we do not have love in our hearts, our words of love will have little meaning. If we do not truly enjoy our faith, nobody is going to catch the fire of enjoyment from us. If our lives are not totally centered on Christ, we will not be Christ-bearers for others, no matter how pious our words. ~Madeleine L'Engle

Where Happiness Cannot Be Found

God is now showing men what a great mistake they make when they try to do without Him, when they regard earthly enjoyment as their highest good, and thus reverse the whole scale of values, or, as the ancient philosophers put it, the subordination of ends. As though in the hope of compensating for the poor quality of earthly goods, men are striving to increase their quantity; they are trying to produce as much as possible in the order of material enjoyment. They are constructing machinery with the object of increasing production at a greater profit. This is the ultimate objective. But what is the consequence ? The surplus cannot be disposed of; it is wasted, and unemployment is the result. The worker starves in enforced idleness while others die of surfeit. The present state of the world is called a crisis. But in fact it is more than a crisis; it is a condition of affairs which, if men only had eyes to see, ought to be revealing, it ought to show men that they have sought their last end where it is not to be found, in earthly enjoyment -- instead of God. They are seeking happiness in an abundance of material possessions which are incapable of giving it; possessions which sow discord among those that seek them, and a greater discord according as they are sought with greater avidity. ~ Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

And Then God Said....

So, in light of all the fuss surrounding the recent fall from grace of a certain well-known Catholic evangelist and my sometimes rather uncharitable comments regarding his demise, the Lord directed me to the following few lines from St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church:

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Those in union with God, when aware of the sins of others, live in this gentle light... Therefore they are always peaceful and calm, and nothing can scandalize them because they have done away with what causes them to take scandal, their self-will... Even when they see something that is clearly sinful, they do not pass judgment, but rather feel a holy and genuine compassion, praying for the sinner. ~ St. Catherine of Siena

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And then God said unto me: "Please shut up!" 

"Cor Meum Est Templum Sacrum"
[My Heart Is a Holy Place]
by Patricia Van Ness

My heart is a holy place
Wiser and holier than I know it to be
Wiser than my lips can speak
A spring of mystery and grace.

You have created my heart
And have filled it with things of wonder.
You have sculpted it, shaped it with your hands
Touched it with Your breath.
In its own season it reveals itself to me.
It shows me rivers of gold
Flowing in elegance
And hidden paths of infinite beauty.

You touch me with Your stillness as
   I await its time.
You have made it a dwelling place
   of richness and intricacies
Of wisdom beyond my understanding
Of grace and mysteries, from your hands.

Praying in the Spirit

Do not imagine, my beloved, that prayer consists solely of words, or that it can be learned by means of words. Listen to the truth of the matter from our Lord! Spiritual prayer is not learned and does not reach fullness as a result of learning, for it is not to a person that you are praying, before whom you can repeat a well-composed speech. It is to him who is Spirit that you are directing the movements of prayer. You should pray, therefore, in spirit, seeing that God is Spirit. ~Abraham of Nathpar  (6th century)