January 11
“Good example is the most efficacious apostolate. You must be as lighted lanterns and shine like brilliant chandeliers among men. By your good example and your words, animate others to know and love God.”
-St. Mary Joseph Rossello
Yearly Archives: 2024
Find heaven in the saucepans
January 10
“I find a heaven in the midst of saucepans and brooms.”
-St. Stanislaus Kosta
Pope Condemns Surrogacy as a Violation of Woman and Child
During his annual address to the world’s ambassadors to the Vatican yesterday, Pope Francis called for an international ban on the “deplorable” practice of surrogacy, saying that it “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child.”
Don’t Substitute Eastern Meditation Techniques For Christian Prayer!
KB writes: “My husband practices this mindfulness type of meditation, including a body scan meditation. He does a shorter one in the morning, about 15 or 20 minutes, and the body scan in the afternoon, which takes about 45 minutes, for stress reduction and as a way of dealing with anxiety. The other day he chose to skip family prayer time in favor of this meditation . . . ” Read the rest…
Become a safe refuge for others
January 9
“God had not chosen her to be holy merely for her own advantage. Rather, the gifts he conferred upon her were to be for the spiritual and physical advantage of her neighbor…Divine power was present and working in her words, so that in a few sentences she could bring consolation to the afflicted and the anxious, calm the restless, pacify the angry, reconcile enemies and extinguish long-standing hatreds and animosities… For this reason, people flocked to Frances from all directions as to a safe refuge.”
-From the Life of Saint Frances of Rome
Receiving God’s mercy
January 8
“If we look forward to receiving God’s mercy, we can never fail to do good so long as we have the strength…With outstretched arms he begs us to turn toward him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors. Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.”
-St. John of God
The pure soul
January 7
“The pure soul is a beautiful rose, and the Three Divine Persons descend from Heaven to inhale its fragrance.”
-St. John Vianney
Lord, you know my weakness
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
The best kind of almsgiving
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
These Catholics Died for the Faith in 2023
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.
