A Garland of Short Meditations
WE shall advance more by contemplating the Divinity than by keeping our eyes fixed on ourselves. We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness. His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how far we are from being humble.—St. Teresa.
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I am but the basket of the Sower, that is, of Christ; He has deigned to
place the seed in me which I scatter to you. Look not to the vileness of
the basket, but
to the dignity of the Sower.—St. Augustine.
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Live in the world as if God and your soul only were in it ; so shall your
heart never be made captive by any earthly thing.
St. John of the
Cross.
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It is not enough that thou shouldst accuse thyself, but thou shouldst
accuse thyself first, nor wait for others to bring the charge against
thee.
St. John Chrysostom.
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Following her, thou strayest not ; thinking of her, thou errest not ; asking of her, thou wilt never despair ; clinging to her, thou wilt never fall. If she be with thee thou halt all, and wilt thyself feel how true the words " and the name of the Virgin was Mary."—St- Bernard.
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Fear of God is lhe basis of salvation ; if we fear, we shall beware ; if we beware, we shall save our souls.— Tertullian.
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If we are able, however vile or unworthy, to enter the church day and night and implore of God to hear our prayers, how careful should we be to hear and grant the petitions of our fellow-creatures. — St. John the Almoner.
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All devotion which leads to sloth is false. We must love work—St. Zita.
|
Jesus!, My Lord, My God, My All!
JESUS! my Lord, my God, my
Had I but Mary's sinless heart,
Sound, sound His praises higher stiIl, |
Always give the preference to charity towards your neighbour, unless the love you owe to God should be diminished by it.—St- Nilus.
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IT is easy for me to test my love for Jesus. Do I love what He loved and
came down from heaven to find--suffering, humiliation, contempt, want of
all things, inconveniences, hunger, weariness, cold ? The more I seek for
and embrace these things the nearer am I drawing to Jesus and the
deeper is my love for Him.—W. Doyle, S.J.
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We honour the relics of the martyrs, that we may adore Him, whose martyrs they are. We honour the servants, that the honour of the servants may redound to the Lord, who says " He that receiveth you, receiveth Me."—St. Jerome.
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The most perfect weapon against the devils is an earnest life and a
pure trust in God.
St. Antony.
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Let us mark well when the devil first casteth any proud, vain thought into
our mind, and let us forthwith make a cross on our breast, and bless it
out by-and-by, and cast it at his head again. For if we gladly take in one
such guest of his he shall not fail to bring in two of his fellows soon
after.
B. Thomas More.
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Look upon the causes of joy or of sadness in this life as a shadow, or as
a wheel. The shadow vanishes and the wheel ceases not to turn.
St. Nilus.
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Fear and love God. With all watchfulness keep thy heart ; in all places take heed that thou keep it pure ; be always solicitous lest thou offend God by sin. But yet if thou has sinned, distrust not His mercy. However many and enormous may have been thy sins, thou shouldst never despair of pardon.—Blosius.
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It is a greater miracle, by the word of preaching or by the aid of prayer, to convert a sinner from his sin than to raise the dead to life.—St. Gregory.
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Those who abide in obedience to their clergy inherit honour and glory from God. He exalts them and writes them in the book of His memorial for ever and ever.—St. Clement.
