January 6
"…dear Lord, you know my weakness. Each morning I resolve to be humble, and in the evening I recognize that I have often been guilty of pride. I wish, therefore, O God, to build all my trust upon Thee. Deign to implant in my soul this virtue which I desire. And to obtain it from Thy Infinite Mercy, I will often say to Thee: Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, make my heart like unto Thine."
-St. Therese of Lisieux
January 5
"To pray for those who are in mortal sin is the best kind of almsgiving. For the love of God, always remember such souls when you pray."
-St. Teresa of Avila
Catholics are still dying for the Faith. In 2023, 20 men and women from nearly every continent laid down their lives for Christ, including a mother and daughter who were killed in Gaza as they walked into a Catholic church, two young students who were killed when a bomb was detonated at a Mass in the Philippines, and a Nigerian priest who was burned alive in his rectory.
BS write: "I read your article that stated the Vatican considers Chiropractic new age. You give the history of chiropractic treatment and it’s definitely a concern to me after reading it. Do you really consider Chiropractic dangerous? My Chiropractor is a practicing Christian and never talks about any energy fields or healing touch which would have definitely been a red flag for me. I have been helped so much by Chiropractic. But want to know if you really think I am playing with the occult."
January 4
"If a man possesses any strong attachment to the things of this earth, he cannot possess true charity. For anyone who really loves God prefers to know and experience God rather than his creatures. The whole set and longing of his mind is ever directed toward him."
-St. Maximus the Confessor
January 3
"How long will the sun and moon, the stars continue to give forth light? Who can tell? Of one thing alone we are sure. In God’s own time – then shall come the Son of Man in great power and majesty to render to each according to his works. The question alone important, the solution of which depends upon how I have spent my life, is the state of my soul at the moment of death. Infinite misery or infinite happiness! There is no half and half, either one or the other."
-St. Katherine Drexel
KM writes: "I have tried to teach my children, the prayer of silence, where I ask them to sit and close their eyes and just to focus on God and to try not to think of anything else. Is that O.K? I thought that was what contemplation was, but sometimes it’s difficult to figure out. I hope that is not the Catholic equivalent of mind-blanking."
January 1
"The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire.
You do not see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when he comes you may see and be utterly satisfied."
-St. Augustine
January 1
Act of Consecration to Our Blessed Lady
Recite the Hail Mary and then pray:
My Queen! My Mother! I give you all
Myself, and, to show my devotion to you,
I consecrate to you my eyes, my ears, my mouth,
My heart, my entire self.
Wherefore, O loving Mother, as I am your own,
Keep me, defend me, as your property
And possession.
Mother of Sorrows, pray for us.
Amen.
December 31
Eve of the Feast of Mary, Mother of God
Mother benign of our redeeming Lord,
Star of the sea and portal of the skies,
Unto thy fallen people help afford –
Fallen, but striving still anew to rise.
Thou who dids’t once, while wond’ring
worlds adored,
Bear thy Creator, Virgin then as now,
O by thy holy joy at Gabriel’s word,
Pity the sinners who before thee bow.
-Roman Breviary, Antiphon of the Blessed Virgin
