Christmas Has Become A Season Of Material Excess, For Children And Adults

http://www.thestationofthecross.com/material-discomforts/

Hope Is The Power Of Being Cheerful In Desperate Circums

Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate. – G. K. Chesterton

An Age Prospers Or Dwindles In Proportion To Its Devotion To The Holy Eucharist

Let us never forget that an age prospers or dwindles in proportion to its devotion to the Holy Eucharist. This is the measure of its spiritual life and its faith, of its charity and its virtue. – Saint Peter Julian Eymard

The Soul Clouded By The Desires Is Darkened In The Understanding

The soul that is clouded by the desires is darkened in the understanding and allows neither the sun of natural reason nor that of the supernatural Wisdom of God to shine upon it and illumine it clearly. At the same time, when the soul is darkened in the understanding, it is benumbed also in the will, and the memory becomes dull and disordered in its dire operation. The intellect cannot get the illumination of God’s wisdom, the will cannot get the love of God, and the memory cannot get God’s image. Darkness and coarseness will always be with a soul until its appetites are extinguished. The appetites are like a cataract on the eye or specks of dust in it; until removed they obstruct vision. The affections and appetites deprive them of a treasure of divine light. Any appetite, even one that is but slightly imperfect, stains and defiles the soul. - Saint John of the Cross, 'Ascent of Mount Carmel,' Bk. 1. Ch. 8. No. 2, 4, 6, 7

There Is Nothing More Nauseating Than A Fickle, Frivolous, Haughty Woman

‎There is nothing more nauseating than a woman, especially if she is married, who is fickle, frivolous and haughty. The Christian wife must be woman of sound piety towards God, an angel of peace in the family, dignified and pleasant towards others. - Saint Padre Pio

Adapt Yourself With Gracious And Charitable Compliance To All Your Neighbor's Weaknesses

Adapt yourself with gracious and charitable compliance to all your neighbor’s weaknesses. In particular, make a rule to hide your feelings in many inconsequential matters. Give up all bitterness toward your neighbor, no matter what. And be convinced that your neighbor is in everything better than you. This will not be difficult if you keep even a little aware of yourself. It will give you the ability to overcome your feelings of resentment. Each day look for every possible opportunity to do a kindness for those you do not like. After examining yourselves on this matter every morning, decide what you are going to do, and do it faithfully with kindness and humility. - Saint John Baptist de la Salle

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To Have A Blessed Home In Myself

Humility is perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised.. to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and to be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness when all around and about is seeming trouble.

Discipline Is Needed, Not Eloquence; Character, Not Cleverness

Isn't it absurd to send children out to jobs and to school, and to do all you can to prepare them for these, and yet not to "bring them up in the chastening and admonition of the Lord" [Eph. 6:4]?... Discipline is needed, not eloquence; character, not clevernes; deeds, not words. These gain a man the kingdom. - Saint John Chrysostom (347-407AD)

The Reign Of Life Has Begun, The Tyranny Of Death Is Ended

The reign of life has begun, the tyranny of death is ended. A new birth has taken place, a new life has come, a new order of existence has appeared, our very nature has been transformed! This birth is not brought about by human generation, by the will of man, or by the desire of the flesh, but by God. If you wonder how, I will explain in clear language. Faith is the womb that conceives this new life, baptism the rebirth by which it is brought forth into the light of day. The Church is its nurse; her teachings are its milk, the bread from heaven is its food. It is brought to maturity by the practice of virtue; it is wedded to wisdom; it gives birth to hope. Its home is the kingdom; its rich inheritance the joys of paradise; its end, not death, but the blessed and everlasting life prepared for those who are worthy. - Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop, (330-395)

The Call To Martydom Of Witness Is Ever More Urgent

Given the breakdown in family life, the wholesale attack on innocent and defenseless human lives, and the violation of the integrity of the union of marriage in our society, the call to the martyrdom of witness is ever more urgent. - Cardinal Burke

Looking Through This Distorted World's Lenses

The world in which we now live is a world whose outlook is so distorted that we absolutize what is relative (money-making, power, success) and relativize what is absolute (truth, moral values, and God). Power, riches, fame, success, and dominance are idolized; humility, chastity, modesty, self-sacrifice, and service are looked down upon as signs of weakness. - Doctor Alice von Hildebrand

There Are Going To Be A Lot Of 'Nice' People In Hell

‎'Nice' is a very trite word and there are going to be a lot of 'nice' people in Hell because they didn't want to stand up for anything; they just wanted to be nice. - Father Tony Stephens

Man Finds Himself Betwixt A Twofold Gravitational Force

The Fathers of the Church maintained that human beings stand at the point of intersection between two gravitational fields. First, there is the force of gravity which pulls us down – towards selfishness, falsehood and evil; the gravity which diminishes us and distances us from the heights of God. On the other hand there is the gravitational force of God’s love: the fact that we are loved by God and respond in love attracts us upwards. Man finds himself betwixt this twofold gravitational force; everything depends on our escaping the gravitational field of evil and becoming free to be attracted completely by the gravitational force of God, which makes us authentic, elevates us and grants us true freedom. - Pope Benedict XVI

How Many There Are Who Shrink From Whatever Requires Manhood

How many there are, who love to live delicately and shrink from whatever requires manhood. - Pope Leo XIII

The World Is Rotten Because Of Silence

Enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues; the world is rotten because of silence. - Saint Catherine of Siena

Holy Communion Assures Me That I Will Win The Victory

Every morning during meditation, I prepare myself for the whole day's struggle. Holy Communion assures me that I will win the victory; and so it is. I fear the day when I do not receive Holy Communion. - Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

God Wills The Lofty Mountains of Our Lives be Made Low

God wills the lofty mountains of our lives be made low. These mountains take the forms of pride, fear, resentment, and anxiety. They prevent us from seeing the light of Christ inviting us to taste of His goodness. Christ wants to level our mountains, and fill our empty valleys with His river of Love. We should simply stop paying attention to our failings and problems and look at Christ as our solution - Brother Cassian Sama, O.P.

Virtues Are Formed by 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. - Saint Ephraem of Syria

Abuses Are Done Away With by Teaching Rather Than Commanding

‎Be assured that abuses are done away with by teaching rather than by commanding. If we make threats, let it be done sorrowfuly, 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. - Saint Augustine

Holy Purity is a Jewel So Precious That Those Who Possess it Become Like Angels of God

‎Every virtue in your soul is a precious ornament which makes you dear to God and to man. But holy purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like the angels of God in Heaven, even though clothed in mortal flesh. - Saint John Bosco