St Thomas Aquinas: “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”

Church of St Augustine, Turin, Italy

On the Annunciation and the Perpetual Virginity

Dixit autem Maria ad angelum: Quomodo fiet istud, quoniam virum non cognosco? Mary said to the angel, How can that be, since I have no knowledge of man?

The tense used in verse 34, "I have no knowledge of man" is a present, which must in the nature of the case be translated either as a perfect or as a future. If the Angel had said anything to suggest (what was in fact, tradition assures us, the case) that the conception of our Lord in the womb was to take place immediately, it would have been natural to give the verb a past significance, "since I have never yet had knowledge of man". But there is no such indication given in verse 31; and the straightforward explanation of the Blessed Virgin's bewilderment is thereby automatically excluded.

It is unthinkable that an engaged woman should be puzzled by a prophecy, undated, about the future career of her son, merely on the ground that the marriage has not yet been consummated. Thus there can be no satisfactory explanation of the passage except a fixed determination on the part of the betrothed woman that her marriage shall not be consummated; "I have no intention of the kind," she says, using the same formula as that used by our Lord in John 7:8. That she had taken a vow of virginity is thus made extremely probable, without being actually asserted.

-Msgr Ronald Knox's Commentary on the Gospels (The Annunciation in the Gospel of St Luke Ch 2)

Today we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

«²⁸And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”»
Luke 1:28 (RSVCE)

«By the authority of Jesus Christ Our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful».
–Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854)

Catholics are Pro-Life!

"Only with prayer - prayer that storms the heavens for justice and mercy, prayer that cleanses our hearts and souls - will the culture of death that surrounds us today be replaced with a culture of life." U.S. Catholic Bishops

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Complain as little as possible about the harm they did to you; because complaining without sinning is a very rare thing; Our self-love always exaggerates in our eyes and in our hearts the injuries we receive. If there is a need to complain or to calm your spirit or to ask for advice, do not do so to people who are easy to get excited and to think and speak badly of others. But complain to people who are measured and fear God, because, on the contrary, far from calming your soul, you would disturb it even more and, instead of pulling the thorn out of your heart, you would drive it in even deeper.

Many people, when they are sick or in any other tribulation, refrain from complaining and showing their lack of virtue, knowing well (and this is true) that it would be weakness and lack of generosity; but they seek that others will pity them, complain of their sufferings and even praise them for their patience. In truth, we have here an act of patience, but certainly a false patience, which in reality is nothing more than a very subtle pride and refined vanity.

Yes, says the Apostle, there is something to boast about, but not before God. Truly patient Christians do not complain about their sufferings or wish others to lament them; if they are spoken about, it is with great simplicity and ingenuity, without making them bigger than they are; if others complain about them, they listen to them patiently, unless they have in mind a suffering that does not exist, because then they modestly tell them the truth; They thus maintain the tranquility of their soul between truth and patience, naively expressing their sufferings, without complaining.

In the setbacks that come your way on the path of devotion (for you will not lack them), remember that we can achieve nothing great in this world without first going through many difficulties, but that, once overcome, we soon forget about them. everything, for the intimate joy we then have of seeing our aspirations fulfilled. Well then, Philothea, you absolutely want to work to form Jesus Christ, as the Apostle says, in your heart, as in your works, through the sincere love of His doctrine and the perfect imitation of His life. It will cost you some pain, no doubt; but they will pass and Jesus Christ, who will live in you, will fill your soul with an ineffable joy, which no one will be able to steal from you.

If you fall into illness, offer your pains, your prostration and all your sufferings to Jesus Christ, begging Him to accept them in union with the merits of His passion. Remember the bile He drank for your love and obey the doctor, taking the medicine and doing everything He determines for the love of God. Desire health to serve Him, but do not refuse to remain ill for a long time to obey Him and even be willing to die, if it is His will, to go and enjoy His glorious presence eternally.

Remember, Philothea, that bees, while they make honey, live on a very bitter food, and that we can never more easily fill our hearts with this holy sweetness, which is the fruit of patience, than by patiently eating the bitter bread of the bees. tribulations that God sends us; and the more humiliating they are, the more precious and pleasant virtue will become to our hearts.

He often thinks of Jesus crucified; consider Him covered with wounds, saturated with opprobrium and pain, penetrated with sadness to the depths of His soul, in complete helplessness and abandonment, loaded with slander and curses; you will then see that your pains cannot compare to His, neither in quantity nor in quality, and that you will never suffer for Him anything similar to what He suffered for you.

Compare yourself to the martyrs, or, without going so far, to people who currently suffer more than you, and exclaim, praising God: Ah! my thorns seem to me like roses and my pains like consolations, if I compare myself to those who live without help, without assistance and without relief, in a continuous death, oppressed by pain and sadness.

Saint Francis de Sales in Introduction to the Devout Life (Philoteia)

Saturday marked 438 years of the Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, a devout Catholic at Fotheringhay Castle. Her unwavering faith was evident throughout her life, and she maintained that her imprisonment and ultimate execution were due to her Catholic beliefs. On the scaffold, Mary displayed remarkable courage and dignity. She wore a crimson petticoat, the liturgical color symbolising martyrdom in the Catholic Church. Before her execution, she forgave her executioners, embodying the charity and magnanimity of a martyr. After her death, many Catholics regarded Mary as a martyr who suffered for her faith. Her execution was seen by her enemies as driven by hatred of the Catholic faith. She was involved in the Babington Plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I.

From a sermon by Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot
The pre-eminence of love

Why, my brethren, are we so little concerned with finding opportunities to advance each other’s salvation, responding to greater need with greater help and bearing each other’s burdens? This is what St Paul advised: Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ – or, again, forbearing each other in love. For that is most definitely the law of Christ.
When I notice something wrong in my brother that cannot be corrected – either because it is inevitable or because it comes from some weakness of his in body or character – why do I not bear it patiently and offer my willing sympathy? As scripture says, their children will be carried on their shoulders and comforted on their laps. Could it be because there is a lack in me, a lack of that which bears all things and is patient enough to take up the burden, a lack of the will to love?
This is what the law of Christ is like, of Christ who bore our griefs in his passion and carried our sorrows in his compassion for us, loving those whom he carried and carrying those whom he loved. On the other hand, whoever turns on his brother in the brother’s time of need, who exploits his weakness, whatever that weakness may be – without doubt he has subjected himself to the law of Satan and is carrying it out. Let us have compassion for each other and love the brotherhood we share, bear each other’s weaknesses and fight against each other’s vices.
Whatever religious practice or observance it leads to, any teaching or discipline that fosters a stronger love of God and, through God, of our neighbours, is most acceptable to God for that reason. This love is the reason why things should be or not be, why they should remain the same or be changed. This love should be the reason why things are and the end to which all things are directed. For nothing can be considered wrong that is truly directed towards and according to that love.
Without such love we cannot be pleasing to God, and without it we cannot achieve anything at all. May God choose to grant it to us, he who lives and reigns through the undying ages. Amen!

"Let your prayer be completely simple. For both the publican and the prodigal son were reconciled to God by a single phrase."

+ St John Climacus

"The fast of Lent does us no good unless it promotes our spiritual renewal. It is necessary, while we fast, to change our whole life and practice.

To turn away from wickedness means to keep our tongue under control, to restrain our anger, to avoid all murmuring, lying, and swearing. To abstain from these things—that is where the true value of fasting lies."

+ St. John Chrysostom

"The enemy can arouse the impulse of temptation, but it rests with you, if you choose, to give or to refuse consent... you alone can refuse your consent, and as many times as you resist so many times will you be crowned."
— St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for Lent and the Easter Season

"Repentance is the voluntary endurance of all afflictions. A penitent is the inflicter of his own punishments. Repentance is the mighty persecution of the stomach, and a striking of the soul into vigorous awareness."

St. John Climacus, Ladder Step 5.1 in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, trans. Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers), 98

Soul of Christ, sanctify me;
Body of Christ, save me;
Blood of Christ, inebriate me;
Water from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion of Christ, strengthen me;
O good Jesus hear me;
Within your wounds hide me;
separated from you, let me never be;
From the evil one protect me;
At the hour of my death, call me;
And close to you bid me;
That with your saints,
I may be praising you forever and ever.
Amen.

The sight of Mary at the foot of the Cross makes the lesson of the Cross less hard and less bitter; her maternal example encourages us to suffer (with her) and makes the road to Calvary easier. Let us go then with Mary, to join Jesus on Golgotha; let us go with her to meet our own cross, and sustained by her, let us embrace it willingly, uniting it with her Son’s Cross.

(Fr. Gabriel of St Mary Magdalen O.C.D.)

And one of the two thieves who hung there fell to blaspheming against him; Save thyself, he said, and us too, if thou art the Christ. But the other rebuked him; What, he said, hast thou no fear of God, when thou art undergoing the same sentence? And justly enough; we receive no more than the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing amiss. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him, I promise thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. -The Gospel According to St Luke (Knox Translation)