May 28, 2012

Let us admire the promptness with which the Blessed Virgin went to visit her cousin St. Elizabeth as soon as she learned the will of God. Her promptness drew down God’s blessings on her visit. We should consider ourselves blessed when we are visited by God through his inspirations.

Since you have the honor of being visited by God every day in prayer and often by Jesus in Holy Communion, make sure that their visits to you are not useless.

May 21, 2012

It is this sacrament and the reception of the Eucharist that will support you in your difficulties, and you should regard it as a great happiness to receive the Eucharist frequently. You should take steps to correct yourself of your faults, but it would be an even greater fault not to receive Communion.

May 14, 2012

This holy disciple was admitted among the number of the apostles only after a common prayer was recited publicly by St. Peter in the name of all the apostles and disciples who were praying together in the same place.

This shows us that in all we do for the glory of God, we should undertake nothing without praying to ask God for the light and grace we need to succeed in whatever we undertake for him.

May 7, 2012

When you find the practice of virtue difficult, you must strive to make it become easy by applying yourself to prayer.

Prayer, says St. Chrysostom, is a divine medicine which drives out of our hearts all the malice it finds there and fills them with all justice.

This is why, if we wish to deliver ourselves from sin, we cannot do anything better than to devote ourselves to prayer.

April 30, 2012

Ask and you shall receive. Since God wants to give us his grace, he has provided us with a sure means to obtain them, namely, prayer.

We are so subject to temptation that as Job says, our life is a constant temptation. This made St. Peter say that the demon, our enemy, like a roaring lion, is always roaming around us seeking endlessly some way to devour us. It is prayer that puts us in a position to resist him.

April 23, 2012

You share in the ministry of the Guardian Angels by making known to children the truths of the Gospel, which you have been chosen by God to announce.

Your zeal must go so far in this that in order to achieve it, you are ready to give your very life, so dear to you are the children entrusted to you.

It is your duty, then, to admonish the unruly, and to do this in such a way that they give up their former way of life; you must rouse up those who lack courage, support the weak, and be patient toward all.

April 16, 2012

Decorum requires that as a Christian you should never utter a single word which is contrary to the truth or to sincerity, or which shows disrespect for God or a lack of charity for your neighbor.

April 9, 2012

Be convinced that it is a great misfortune not to experience any temptation, because this is a sign that you do not overcome yourself in any way.

April 2, 2012

Each mystery, has a spirit which is special to it.

The spirit of the mystery of the Incarnation, for example, is charity, since it is through charity and love for us that the eternal Father has given us his only Son, that the Son himself has become incarnate, and that the Holy Spirit has brought about this mystery.

The Spirit of the mystery of the Birth of Our Lord is the spirit of childhood. The Son of God having come into this world, as St. John says, has given to all who have received him, the power of becoming children of God.

March 26, 2012

Jesus Christ was not content with having a lifelong desire to die for us. When he saw the time of his death approaching, he testified to his joy. This is what made him say to the apostles when he celebrated the Last Passover with them. He knew that this was to be the last meal he would eat with his apostles before suffering and dying for us.

March 19, 2012

Teachers will always use a moderate tone when they give any instructions, as well as on all other occasions when they need to speak to all of the students together. They will never speak either to any student in particular or to all in general until they have carefully thought about what they have to say and unless they consider it necessary.

March 12, 2012

You realize how important it is to follow the inspirations that come to you from God. They are precious and it is to them that God ordinarily attaches his graces. He does not mean for them to be given to you for no purpose. So those inspirations that God gives us are to be valued, and he grants his graces only insofar as we are faithful in following them.

March 5, 2012

When we find ourselves in some particular and extraordinary need, or in some violent temptation, it is a great and powerful means, in this need, and to conquer the temptation by which we are strongly assailed, to address ourselves to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Feb. 27, 2012

Since you are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ himself. He wants your disciples to see him in you and receive your instructions as if he were giving them to them. They must be convinced that your instructions are the truth of Jesus Christ, who speaks with your mouth, that it is only in his name that you teach, and that it is he who has given you authority over them.

Feb. 20, 2012

The effect that the reception of the ashes should produce in you is to make penance a part of all your behaviour, to make you fast with your eyes, your tongue, and your heart:

·your eyes, by great recollection;

·your tongue, by an exact silence,

·your heart, by renouncing all thoughts which might draw you away from communing with God.

Feb 13, 2012

Those who teach are only God’s voice. The word which makes God known to those whom they instruct must come from him. It is he who speaks in teachers when they explain him and what is related to him. This is why St. Peter says, if any speak, let it always be clear that God is speaking by their mouth.

Feb. 6, 2012

Take care never to let anything harsh be seen in your appearance; you should rather manifest wisdom, kindness, and good will.

Jan. 30, 2012

If we have esteem for worldly things, it should only be in so far as they relate to God, because we are rightly convinced that God is present in all things and that all things are nothing except in so far as God dwells in them. 

Jan. 23, 2012

To live in a community that is faithful to the Rule is to live in the boat with Jesus and his disciples. There they are protected from the waves of the stormy sea of this world. Still, they are not entirely safe from all difficulties and temptations. Of these, the most dangerous and most hurtful are those which lead us to fail in obedience, or to obey in a faulty manner.

Jan. 16, 2012

The more anxiety and temptation you experience, the more you should have recourse to Communion, which is a sure remedy to ease your anxiety and weaken your temptations.

Jan. 9, 2012

Teachers: You will do well to work hard at your lessons in religious instruction. To give them well, you must begin courageously, even giving them poorly, for no one does anything well the first time. As long as you teach your students to the best of your ability, you can have a clear conscience in the matter.

Jan. 2, 2012

Bad companions are so dangerous, especially in youth, that there is nothing to which you should pay more attention than to prevent those you teach from keeping such company. Nor is there anything you should recommend more strongly to them than to become close friends with the best of their companions, the most pious and the best behaved. 

Dec. 12, 2011

We make an act of adoration by recognising God as our Creator and sovereign Lord. And by keeping ourselves in a profound respect in His holy presence, conscious of our baseness and even of our nothingness, of our dependence on God, of our unworthiness to enjoy the advantage and happiness of His holy presence.

Dec. 5, 2011

You are under the obligation to instruct the children of the poor. You should, therefore, cultivate a very special tenderness for them and supply their spiritual needs as far as you are able.

Nov. 29, 2011

The main reason why the just themselves will fear while awaiting the Last Judgement is that we will have to give an account not only of the idle words we have spoken, but even of the good works we have performed. God will probe them to see if they were truly good, and whether anything defective can be found in them.

Who of us, then, will not fear God’s Judgment? Let us constantly strive to free ourselves of our defects, for we cannot know either the day or the hour when we shall die. Those whose life span is so uncertain should not delay to take the steps needed to insure their salvation.

Nov. 14, 2011

Consider that the fruit you will derive from holy Mass will depend very must on the dispositions with which you assist at it. Purity of heart and of the affections is the best disposition we can bring to this action.

Oct. 24, 2011

There are many people who demand miracles and prodigies from themselves. They would like to do everything well and without reproach. But they do not want to take the trouble to attain this.

Whenever they have to do violence to themselves to realize their grand plan, they lose breath, so to speak, at the first step they take in the path of perfection. They would want God to carry them without their having to advance. That certainly would be a great miracle.

Oct. 17, 2011

Spoken words pass on and touch hearts only once and momentarily, but written words which last forever are able to convert a great number of souls.