ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

Who is the one that is rich towards God? Clearly it is the one who loves virtue instead of wealth, for whom a few things are sufficient. It is the one whose hand is open to the needs of the poor, comforting the sorrows of those in poverty as fully as he is able. It is the one who gathers in the storehouses above, and lays up his treasures in heaven. Such a person will find that his investments have gained interest, a reward for his upright and blameless life. SAINT CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA  Commentary on Luke

The most obvious danger which worldly possessions present to our spiritual welfare is that they become practically a substitute in our hearts for that one object to which our supreme devotion is due. They are present; God is unseen. They are means at hand of effecting what we want: whether God will hear our petitions [or not]…they minister to the corrupt inclinations of our nature; they promise and are able to be gods to us, and such gods too as require no service, but, like dumb idols, exalt the worshipper, impressing him with a notion of his own power and security. ST. JOHN HENRY NEWMAN Parochial and Plain Sermons

Few persons comprehend what God would effect in their souls if they gave themselves up entirely into his hands and allowed his grace to act within them. The rough and shapeless trunk of a tree, if it were capable of thought, could never believe that it might be formed into a statue, a miracle of sculpture; neither would it place itself under the hands of the sculptor, who by the knowledge of his art, judges what he can form it into. Thus many persons, who hardly live as Christians, are far from realizing that they might become great saints, if they allowed themselves to be molded by the grace of God, and did not resist his beneficent influence. SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA  Maxims of Ignatius

Jesus concludes his teaching this morning, and the synagogue at Capernaum is hushed. Then sudden chaos, as a man possessed by a demon shrieks at Jesus in fury, as if to pick a fight with him. “ What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are… ” Born in a Bethlehem cave, raised in obscurity in that nowhere place called Nazareth, Jesus has slipped in behind the scenes. But the demon is well aware of who he is, jealous of his Godly beauty and holiness, and the demon wants Jesus out, he wants Jesus to go back where he belongs, far away in heaven not here of all places.   The evil one thinks the “flesh-and-blood life” of humanity is his private territory, that’s why he uses the plural “us.” He is outraged by God’s presence among us; the Incarnation drives him absolutely crazy. The demon wants separateness and division. But God is not having any of that. His delight is to dwell here; God with us. He has come to heal, to free, and to conso...

If we are the sons of God then we are “joint heirs” (Rom. 8:17), co-heirs with Christ our brother. The heir is one who has a right to his Father’s possessions. Whoever has the fulness of Christian life is no longer a dog eating the crumbs under the father’s table, but a son who sits and banquets with the Father. This is precisely the lot of the mature Christian, for by the Ascension of Christ, as St. Paul says, “[God] seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” THOMAS MERTON The New Man

“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ,” specifically the law of love. But if loving one’s neighbor fulfills the Law and the love of one’s neighbor is especially urged in the Old Testament also (in which love, the same Apostle says elsewhere, all the commandments of the Law are summed up), then it is clear that the Scripture given to the earlier people is also the law of Christ, which he came to fulfill by love when it was not being fulfilled by fear. The same Scripture and the same commandment, then, is called the Old Testament when it weighs down slaves panting for earthly goods, and the New Testament when it lifts up free people ardent for eternal goods. SAINT AUGUSTINE  Commentary on Galatians

We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness… POPE FRANCIS Misericordiae Vultus

Christ is living now! He is teaching now, governing now, sanctifying now—as he did in Judea and Galilee. His mystical Body or the Church existed throughout the Roman Empire before a single one of the Gospels had been written. It was the new Testament that came out of the Church, not the Church which came out of the NewTestament. FULTON SHEEN Life of Christ

Saint Francis de Sales was born in 1567 near Annecy, of noble and pious parents, and studied with brilliant success at Paris and Padua. On his return from Italy he gave up the grand career which his father had destined for him in the service of the state, and became a priest. When the duke of Savoy resolved to restore the shattered Church in the Chablais, Francis offered himself for the work and set out on foot with his Bible and breviary, accompanied by one companion, his cousin Louis of Sales. It was a work of toil, privation and danger. Every door and every heart was closed against him. He was rejected with insult and threatened with death, but nothing could daunt him or resist him indefinitely. And before long the Church blossomed into a second spring. It is said that he converted 72,000 Calvinists. He was compelled by the Pope to become Coadjutor Bishop of Geneva, and succeeded to that see in 1602. Saint Vincent de Paul said of him, in praise of his gentleness, How good God must b...

The God of the philosophers lives in the mind that knows him, receives life by the fact that he is known, lives as long as he is known, and dies when he is denied. But the true God (whom the philosophers can truly find through their abstractions if they remember their vocation to pass beyond abstractions) gives life to the mind that is known by him… Therefore Jesus said: “The God of Abraham, the God Isaac, and the God of Jacob…is God not of the dead, but of the living.” So true is it that the Lord is the “living God” that all those whose God he is will live forever, because he is their God. Such was the argument that Jesus gave to the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. If God was the “God of Abraham” then Abraham must rise from the dead: no one who has the living God for his Lord can stay dead. He is our God only if we belong entirely to him. To belong entirely to life is to have passed from death to life. THOMAS MERTON No Man is an Island

Cleanse your cup, that you may receive grace more abundantly. For though remission of sins is given equally to all, the communion of the Holy Spirit is given in proportion to each man’s faith. If you have labored little, you receive little; but if you have done much, the reward is great. You are running for yourself; see to your own interest. ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM Catechetical Lectures

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  ( Mark 1:14–15) Jesus begins His public ministry immediately after being tempted by the devil while in the desert for forty days. As He begins His ministry, He declares: “This is the time of fulfillment.” First, the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry was, historically speaking, the “time of fulfillment,” in that the new era of the Gospel and grace had just begun. But the “time of fulfillment” of which Jesus speaks also refers to each and every time that we hear the Gospel and respond. We do this by sincerely repenting of our sins and by becoming a fuller member of God’s Kingdom. But ponder for a moment the specific word “fulfillment.” What does this mean? The word “fulfilled” can be contrasted with its opposite “unfulfilled.” To be unfulfilled is always undesirable. In this world, many people find t...

"I believe that it is impossible to grasp all the different forms of prayer without great purity of heart and soul. There are as many forms of prayer as there are states of soul. A person pays in a certain manner when cheerful and in another when weighed down by sadness or a sense of hopelessness. When one is flourishing spiritually, prayer is different from when one is oppressed by the extent of one's struggles."  -   John Cassian "Any concern too small to be turned into prayer is too small to be made into a burden." -   Corrie Ten Bloom "God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer."  -   Mother Teresa "And so I urge you: carry on an ongoing conversation with God about the daily stuff of life, a little like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. For now, do not worry about 'proper' praying, just talk to God."  -   Richard J. Foster

The divine apostle says: ‘Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature…has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made’ (Romans 1.20). If the invisible things are seen by means of the visible, the visible things are perceived in a far greater measure through the invisible by those who devote themselves to contemplation. For the symbolic contemplation of spiritual things by means of the invisible is nothing other than the understanding in the Spirit of visible things by means of the invisible. MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR Mystagogia , 2 (PG 91,669)

Title:   Saint Anthony the Abbot in the Wilderness Artist:   Osservanza Master (Italian, Siena, active second quarter 15th century) Date:   ca. 1435 On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in   Gallery 956 Used with permission Saint Anthony was born in the year 251, in Upper Egypt. Hearing at Mass the words, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, he gave away all his vast possessions — staying only to see that his sister's education was completed — and retired into the desert. He then begged an aged hermit to teach him the spiritual life, and he also visited various solitaries, undertaking to copy the principal virtue of each. To serve God more perfectly, Anthony immured himself in a ruin, building up the door so that none could enter. Here the devils assaulted him furiously, appearing as various monsters, and even wounding him severely; but his courage never failed, and he overcame them all by confidence in God and by the sign of the cross. On...

By prayer I mean not that which is only in the mouth, but that which springs up from the bottom of the heart. In fact, just as trees with deep roots are not shattered or uprooted by storms…in the same way prayers that come from the bottom of the heart, having their roots there, rise to heaven with complete assurance and are not knocked off course by the assault of any thought. That is why the psalm says: ‘Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord’ (Psalm 130.1). JOHN CHRYSOSTOM On the Incomprehensibility of God , Sermon 5

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” — which is translated Christ —. Then he brought him to Jesus.   John 1:40–42 Andrew was a follower of Saint John the Baptist until John directed him to Jesus. One day John saw Jesus walk by and pointed to Jesus, telling Andrew and another disciple, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples followed after Jesus. After spending the day with Jesus, Andrew was so impressed that the next day he excitedly went to find his brother, Simon Peter, to tell him about Jesus. As is mentioned in the passage above, he enthusiastically tells Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” Then, once Peter meets Jesus, Peter also becomes His disciple. A similar experience occurs between the brothers Philip and Nathanael (see   John 1:43–51). Jesus calls Philip to follow Him, and he does. After coming to believe that Jesus is the Messiah,...

Virgin and Child Workshop of Gerard David Netherlandish 1490–1523 From the Met Collection: Used with permission "When you no longer see how to continue on your life's path, when every chance seems lost, when your efforts seem to be in vain, then be silent. Let yourself be carried on by silence, let yourself be lifted up by love, without resistance, without interference of the tumult of your thoughts. Then you will find the way to follow and in it you will catch a glimpse of my face, and by following it you will radiate my peace." D. BERNADUS PEETERS, OCSO

“ No medicine is more valuable , none more efficacious, none better suited to the cure of our temporal ills than a friend to whom we may turn for consolation in time of trouble, and with whom we may share happiness in time of joy. ” “ Friendship is that virtue by which spirits are bound by ties of love and sweetness and out of many are made one. ” “Moreover, one should so respect a friend's presence that he dare not perform anything shameful or speak any unbecoming word, since any fault so reflects on a friend that the friend not only blushes and grieves inwardly but also reproaches himself with what he sees or hears, as if he had committed the sin himself.” “Here we are, you and I, and I hope that Christ makes a third with us. No one can interrupt us now... So come now, dearest friend, reveal your heart and speak your mind."

Oh smallest of human creatures, do you want to find life? Preserve in yourself faith and humility and…in them you will find the one who protects you and dwells secretly with you. When you come before God in prayer, be in your thought like an ant, like something crawling on the ground, like a child lisping. And in his presence make no pretense of knowledge. Approach God rather with the heart of a child. Go into his presence to receive the loving care with which fathers look after their little children. It has been said, ‘The Lord protects little children.’ When God sees that in all purity of heart you are trusting in him more than in yourself…then a strength unknown to you will come to make its dwelling in you. And you will feel in all your senses the power of him who is with you. ISAAC OF NINEVEH Ascetic Treatises , 19

What came about in bodily form in Mary, the fullness of the godhead shining through Christ in the Blessed Virgin, takes place in a similar way in every soul that has been made pure. The Lord does not come in bodily form, for ‘we no longer know Christ according to the flesh’, but he dwells in us spiritually and the Father takes up his abode with him, the Gospel tells us. In this way the child Jesus is born in each one of us. GREGORY OF NYSSA On Virginity (PG 46, 324 & 838) In order that the dispositions of the Gospel and the things of the Holy Spirit may develop in us, their author has to be born in us. GREGORY OF NYSSA Against Eunomius (PG 45, 585)

The deepest love cannot be boring. The vision of Beauty can never be dull. Finite experiences become commonplace, stale, flat, wearying, but never this one. If the mystic cannot find words to describe his enthrallment on earth, who is going to find words to speak of what eye has not seen nor ear heard? But babble on we must. The weariness and eventual satiety that arise in extended sense pleasures are due to an overstimulation of an expendable (because material) power. Such overstimulation, however, is impossible in any purely intellectual activity because there is nothing expendable in it, and especially is it impossible in the purely intellectual activity of the beatific vision. Even on the natural level of everyday life the more one understands anything the more is his mind vigorous and strong. The intellect is not hurt by its light–it only grows in it. God seen cannot weaken our minds or weary them. Satiety never comes. FATHER THOMAS DUBAY, S.M. God Dwells Within Us; Chapter 8, Tra...

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a liturgical bridge that connects the Christmas season to Ordinary Time. During the Christmas season we pondered the Incarnation, Nativity, Presentation in the Temple, and Epiphany. Today, we see Jesus manifesting Himself to the world as He began His three years of public ministry. Jesus begins His ministry through an act of deep solidarity with the fallen human race. John the Baptist had been preaching in the desert and offering a baptism of repentance. John’s baptism was not the same as our baptism today. Instead, it was only a sign of one’s willingness to turn away from sin and turn toward God. Jesus, of course, had nothing to repent of. He was sinless in every way. But that didn’t stop Him from freely choosing to receive the baptism of repentance. Why would He do that? Simply put, Jesus chose to unite Himself with fallen humanity, taking upon Himself our own sins and suffering their consequences. He humbly allowed Himself to be identified as ...

He was born Alfred Bessette in Saint-Grégoire d’Iberville, Quebec, Canada, and was the eighth of twelve children. His father was crushed by a falling tree and died when Alfred was only three. His mother died three years later of tuberculosis, leaving him and his siblings orphans. From birth, Alfred was a sickly child and remained so throughout his life. Most people thought he would die at a young age, but he lived until he was ninety-one! Alfred had a distinct smile. It was serious, warm, welcoming, pleasant, and calming. He was a hard worker, but his poor health made it difficult for him to maintain a steady job. At the age of twenty-five, Alfred sought spiritual direction from his pastor, who encouraged him to present himself to the Congregation of the Holy Cross in Montreal for acceptance into religious life. The pastor sent along a letter to the superior, which said in part, “I am sending you a saint.” The problem was that Alfred could hardly read, and the order was a teaching orde...

Behold peace, not promised but present, not deferred but conferred, not prophesied but presented. Behold, God the Father has sent to the earth, as it were, a sack filled with his mercy, a sack that must be cut to pieces in the passion so that it can pour out what is concealed in it for our ransom; a small sack, indeed, but stuffed full. A child has been given us, but in him dwells the whole fullness of divinity. He came in the flesh so that in this way he might be shown to those made of flesh, and in the likeness of humanity so that his graciousness might be recognized. When God’s humanity becomes known, his graciousness can no longer be concealed. ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first citizen of the United States to be canonized a saint. She was born in New York into a prestigious and loving Anglican family of strong faith just two years before the Declaration of Independence was written. Her father was a well-respected physician. Unfortunately, her mother died when Elizabeth was only three. One of her sisters would die a year later. Her father remarried shortly after, and he and his new wife had seven children. Elizabeth was very fond of her stepmother and often accompanied her on charitable rounds caring for the poor. Sadly, when her stepmother and her father eventually separated, Elizabeth’s stepmother abandoned her, leaving young Elizabeth without a mother once again. After a materially comfortable but difficult childhood, Elizabeth entered into a beautiful marriage at the age of nineteen with a wealthy shipping magnate named William Seton, with whom she had five children. While Elizabeth was pregnant with their third chil...