Thursday, April 23, 2009
Seven Joys of Our Lady
I.
Rejoice ! O sinless child of Eve,Who didst at Gabriel's word conceive
The Saviour of our race.
II.
Rejoice ! O prodigy of earth !
Tho' poor, yet painless, was the birth
Of Christ, thy Child of Grace.
III.
Rejoice ! for lo, the Eastern kings
In homage bring their offerings ;
The choicest of the land.
IV.
Rejoice ! O thou with sorrow torn :
Behold, at length, thy lost first born
Amidst the Doctors' band.
VI.
Rejoice ! thy Child ascends on high,
And gains His palace in the sky,
Our guilty souls to save.
VII.
Rejoice ! to thee at length 'twas given
To mount the clouds. O Queen of Heaven,
We thy protection crave.
Source
Rejoice ! O prodigy of earth !
Tho' poor, yet painless, was the birth
Of Christ, thy Child of Grace.
III.
Rejoice ! for lo, the Eastern kings
In homage bring their offerings ;
The choicest of the land.
IV.
Rejoice ! O thou with sorrow torn :
Behold, at length, thy lost first born
Amidst the Doctors' band.
V.
Rejoice ! not long the parting dread :
For He, whom thou didst mourn as dead,
Has risen from the grave.
Rejoice ! not long the parting dread :
For He, whom thou didst mourn as dead,
Has risen from the grave.
VI.
Rejoice ! thy Child ascends on high,
And gains His palace in the sky,
Our guilty souls to save.
VII.
Rejoice ! to thee at length 'twas given
To mount the clouds. O Queen of Heaven,
We thy protection crave.
Source
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Why we say the Angelus
S
I would gladly know, wherefore it Page 110 ring to the Aue Maria, three times in the day, to wit, in the morning, at midday, and in the euening.
M
To the end we may vnderstand, that we haue need to make recourse often to the helpe of God, and of the Saints: being in the middest of ene|mies visible & inuisible. And that we ought not to thinke it sufficient to haue recourse to the armour of praier in the beginning of our works but that we must do the same in the progresse and in the end. There is also an other mysterie in this ringing thrise to the Aue Maria. That is, ho|lie Church would haue vs continu|ally to remember the three principal mysteries of our Redemptiō, the In|carnation, the Passion, and the Re|surrection. And therfore willeth that wee salute our B. Ladie in the mor|ning, in memorie of the Resurrecti|on of our lord: at midday, in memo|rie of the passion: & at night, in me|mory Page 111of the Incarnation. Because as we are certaine that our Lord was mayled on the Crosse at midday, & rose in the morning, so it is probably thought, that the Incarnation was in the night.
Catechism of St. Robert Bellarmine
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
do all the good you can
Do good then. Not to do it is to do
evil. A useless life is a sinful life. Act
up to the measure of your light. According
to your light shall be the rigour of your
judgment. Do as much good as you have
done evil, and you will do much. Do all
the good you can. Limit the good you do,
and you limit your love to God, and His
goodness to you.
The Hidden Life, by Fr. Nepveu
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
vain reading begets vain thoughts and extinguishes devotion
Preaching by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
Fathers should not allow their children to read
romances. These sometimes do more harm than even
obscene books; they put fantastical notions and affections into young persons heads,
which destroy all devotion, and afterwards impel them to give themselves
up to sin. "Vain reading," says St. Bonaventure,
"begets vain thoughts and extinguishes devotion."
Make your children read spiritual books, ecclesiastical histories, and the lives of the saints.
And here I repeat:
Do not allow your daughters to be taught their lessons
by a man, though he be a St. Paul or a St. Francis of
Assisi. The saints are in heaven.
5. Be careful, also, not to permit your sons to act
plays, nor even to be present at an immodest comedy. St.
Cyprian says: "Who went chaste to the play, returned
unchaste." A young man or woman goes to the play
full of modesty and in the grace of God, and returns
home without modesty and at enmity with God.
Monday, April 6, 2009
What a parent must do to eliminate occasions of sin for children
Preaching by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
1. A father must prevent his children from associating with bad company, or with ill-conducted servants, or with a master who does not give a good example.
2. He must remove from his house any male or female servant that may be a source of temptation to his daughters or sons. Virtuous parents do not admit into their house young female servants when their sons are grown up.
3. He should banish from his house all books that treat on obscene subjects, or on profane love, romances, and all similar works; such books are the ruin of innocent young persons. Videumaun tells us of a young man who was an example to all his fellow-citizens. He accidentally read an obscene book, and fell into such horrid crimes that he became the scandal of the entire people. His conduct was so scandalous that the magistrates were obliged to banish him from the city. Another young man, who had failed in his efforts to seduce a woman, put a book in her way that treated on love, and thus he made her lose her honor and her soul. A parent is still more strictly bound to remove the class of books that has now become so common, which, besides the other poison, contains also errors against faith or against the Church.
4. He is bound to remove from his house immodest pictures, particularly if they are obscene. Father Rho tells us that Cardinal Bellarmine went into a private gentleman s house, where he happened to see some immodest pictures; so he said to him: "My friend, I am come to entreat you for God s sake to do a work of charity in clothing the naked." The gentleman promised to do so; so the Cardinal pointed to the picture, saying- "There are the naked people I mean." Oh, how delighted is the devil when he sees in any house an immodest picture ! It is related in the life of Father John Baptist Vitelli that a troop of devils was once seen in the hall of a certain nobleman offering incense to an immodest picture that hung there, in return for the souls which they gained by it.
5. A parent should forbid his children to frequent masquerades or public dancing-houses, or to act a part in comedies. He should not allow his daughters to be taught by any strange man. Oh, how dangerous is it for young women to receive instructions from men! Instead of learning to read, they learn to commit mortal sins. A parent should get his daughters instructed by a woman, or by a little brother; I say little, for even in a brother, when he is grown up, there is some danger.
Parents must be very particular never to allow their sons and daughters to sleep in the same bed, and much less in the same bed with their father and mother. They should also take care not to permit their daughters to converse alone and familiarly with any man, though he be the first saint in the world. The saints in heaven only are incapable of falling; but the saints on earth are flesh like others, and if they do not avoid the occasions of sin, may become devils. Hence, a father will do well to recommend the most virtuous and steady of his daughters to let him know secretly whenever she sees any of her sisters keep up such familiarity, or when she sees any other disorder in the family. II. With regard to the advancement of piety.
Disrespectful tone of voice to parents is sin
Preaching by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
Hence it is a sin to reply to parents in a tone of resentment, or in a loud, disrespectful tone of voice. It is a greater sin to deride them, to mock them, to utter imprecations against them, to insult them by calling them fools, beasts, robbers, drunkards, sorcerers, miscreants, or any such opprobrious names. Words of this kind, when uttered in their presence, are mortal sins. In the Old Law, they who injured their father or mother were condemned to death. He that cursed his father or mother shall die the death? At present they are not punished with temporal death, but they are accursed by God and condemned to eternal death. He is cursed of God that angereth his mother.
Hence it is a sin to reply to parents in a tone of resentment, or in a loud, disrespectful tone of voice. It is a greater sin to deride them, to mock them, to utter imprecations against them, to insult them by calling them fools, beasts, robbers, drunkards, sorcerers, miscreants, or any such opprobrious names. Words of this kind, when uttered in their presence, are mortal sins. In the Old Law, they who injured their father or mother were condemned to death. He that cursed his father or mother shall die the death? At present they are not punished with temporal death, but they are accursed by God and condemned to eternal death. He is cursed of God that angereth his mother.
avoid even the remote occasion of sin such as looking in the face, saluting with affection
Preaching by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
St. Francis of Assisi, speaking of persons who have the fear of God, gives an excellent advice concerning remote occasions: he says that for persons who fear to lose God, the devil, in the occasions, does not at first excite them to grave faults; he begins by attaching them with a hair, which afterwards, in time, may through his suggestions become a chain, and he thus succeeds in dragging them into mortal sin. Hence in our relations with persons of the other sex, we should take care to break off from the beginning every kind of attachment, however feeble it may be, by avoiding even the remote occasions, such as looking them in the face, saluting them with affection, receiving notes or presents from them, and much more, saying tender words to them.
St. Francis of Assisi, speaking of persons who have the fear of God, gives an excellent advice concerning remote occasions: he says that for persons who fear to lose God, the devil, in the occasions, does not at first excite them to grave faults; he begins by attaching them with a hair, which afterwards, in time, may through his suggestions become a chain, and he thus succeeds in dragging them into mortal sin. Hence in our relations with persons of the other sex, we should take care to break off from the beginning every kind of attachment, however feeble it may be, by avoiding even the remote occasions, such as looking them in the face, saluting them with affection, receiving notes or presents from them, and much more, saying tender words to them.
Rosary book recommended by St. Charles Borromeo
PDF: Instructions on How to meditate upon the mysteries of the Rosary of the holy Virgin MARY. by Fr. Gaspar Loarte
Pages in PDF:15 Incarnation
20 Visitation
24 Nativity
29 Presentation
35 Finding
40 Prayer
47 Whipping
52 Crown of Thorns
59 Carrying of the Cross
67 Crucifixion
75 Resurrection
84 Ascension
94 Pentecost
102 Assumption
106 Coronation
115 Litany of Loretto
118 The manner how we ought to examine our conscience
119 Meditations for the seven evenings and mornings of the week contained shortly in verse, for the better remembering of them.
Text version (old spelling)
St. Aloysius decided to make his vow of virginity while reading this book:
He acquired especially such a devotion
to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin, that when he talked about
her or meditated on the Mysteries of her life, he seemed to
melt with holy tenderness. What helped much to this his
devotion to her was the memorable picture in the Annunziata
at Florence, and a little book on the Mysteries of the Rosary
written by Father Gaspar Loarte S. J. While reading it
one day he felt inflamed with the desire of doing some
thing pleasing to Our Lady. Then the thought came to him
that it would be most pleasing and acceptable to the most
holy Queen of Heaven, if he offered and dedicated his
virginity to her by vow, thus to imitate her purity as far as
possible.
...
Gaspar Loarte, a Spaniard of good family, entered the--Life of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
Society of Jesus in 1552, and died Oct. 8th 1578. He was Rector of
the College at Genoa, and later, of that at Messina. He was a man of
great learning and still greater virtue and received many special favours
from God. The title of the little book mentioned in the text is
"Instruzione e avvertimenti per meditar i misterii del Rosario delle SS ma Vergine Madre."
S. Charles Borromeo thought very highly of this work of Loarte.
In his Instructions for Confessors, when speaking of the pious books
which they should recommend to their penitents for their own use and
that of their families, this little book is one of the few he mentions by
name.
Loarte published several other spiritual works which were very popular.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Important passages from Fr. Jean Croiset's meditation on small number of those who are saved
The greatest Saints were always afraid. S. Paul himself was never exempt from this saving Fear, yet we are free from it; for it is impossible to fear only, and not mend our Lives.
'Tis likewise certain, that the Work of Salvation is our greatest Business; that we are sent into the World for this End alone; that we must employ our whole Lives in it, and that, after all, we cannot be sure of it; yet how few Christians do indeed make this their great and only Business?
Hear what S. Chrysostom says to the great City of Constantinople; how many (says he) do you think will be Saved out of this vast City? (one of the greatest and most populous in the World) I shall terrify you by my answer, and yet I am bound to tell you, that of so many Thousand Inhabitants there will hardly be One Hundred Saved; nay, I doubt even of the Salvation of these.
And yet this Imperial City was then as well regulated as any of those wherein we live, full of those we call honest Men; its inhabitants were reputed devout, frequented the Sacraments, and lived as we generally do: Let this great Saint's Decision, who would never have spoken so positively without an extraordinary Light, give us an idea of the small Number of the Elect.
Of the Small Number of Those that are Saved. By Fr. Jean Croiset
Saturday, April 4, 2009
carefully guard the faith
See, then, how carefully thou oughtest to preserve this faith. Doubtless, thou must also watch over other virtues, over charity, patience, prudence, temperance, just as thou dost over the other members of the body, which do their part also in giving life to it; but thou art bound in an especial manner to watch over faith, because it may be described as the heart of the soul: " With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it."4 Oh, how carefully shouldst thou drive away every little temptation against faith ! I know that when any temptations which disturb thee are involuntary, thou needest not be greatly concerned about them. Every day renew thy promises to God; invoke Him, embrace Him, adore Him : tell Him that thou swearest allegiance to Him in spite of all His enemies, and then do not trouble thyself about anything to the contrary which may be suggested by thy thoughts. But thou must be careful never to give admission to these dangerous thoughts. Thou must have a horror of associating with those who now and then make use of free, not to say rash, expressions in matters of faith. Avoid them, flee from them. Do not allow thy mind to become entangled in those difficult questions which thou mayest indeed be clever enough to take in to a certain point, but which thou art certainly too ignorant to explain. Bow thy head reverently in the obedience of faith, and acknowledge that the vision of many saints of eminent learning, of a St. Jerome, an Ambrose, an Augustine, a Thomas, penetrated where thine cannot: "They that go down to the sea in ships (not in a little boat like thine) doing business in the great waters, these have seen the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep."1
The Manna of the Soul
The Manna of the Soul
Friday, April 3, 2009
though the sinner's departure was gradual, his return must be immediate
VI. Consider sixthly, that although the sinner's departure from God was gradual, his return must not be so, but immediate ; for the particle as is not used here to denote proportion of similarity, but of quantity: and therefore it is not said, "Return as you had revolted," in which case the conversion would have to be of the same kind as the revolt; but it is said, "Return as you had deeply revolted," showing that the conversion should be in proportion to the depth of the revolt. There would be very little hope of any one succeeding in gradually climbing up so steep a precipice, since for each step that he made forward he would slip back more than one, so great is the power of inveterate habit, unless destroyed by acts which amount to the heroic. And, therefore, it will not do to walk up, he must run—he must fly; he must " take wings as eagles."1 Divine grace is waiting to supply him with them. With wings like these—wings not of nature but of grace, a Pelagia, a Thais, a Theodora, a William of Aquitaine flew swiftly to the summit of the most perfect virtue ; and shouldst thou require them, they will be ready for thee too if only thou trustest God as they did. All that He requires of thee is to set thy face resolutely towards Him, with the intention of drawing as near to Him as thou hast gone far from Him : "Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel." It rests with Him to give thee such grace as will enable thee at once to accomplish what thou intendest. Thou mayest infer this, if thou art afraid, from the invitation which He gives thee. Does not He know that of thyself thou canst do nothing ? And yet He bids thee take a step of exceeding difficulty. This is a proof, then, that He has the grace ready for thee to enable thee to take it. Otherwise, what sort of an invitation would it be which He gives thee ? Not certainly that of so tender a lover as He is, but of one who mocks.
The Manna of the Soul
The Manna of the Soul
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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