Witness to Truth

2007-03-06T09:47:00.000-08:00

Saint Padre Pio da Pietrelcina

Our present life is given only to gain the eternal one and if we don't think about it, we build our affections on what belongs to this world, where our life is transitory. When we have to leave it we are afraid and become agitated. Believe me, to live happily in this pilgrimage; we have to aim at the hope of arriving at our Homeland, where we will stay eternally. Meanwhile we have to believe firmly that God calls us to Himself and follows us along the path towards Him. He will never permit anything to happen to us that is not for our greater good. He knows who we are and He will hold out His paternal hand to us during difficulties, so that nothing prevents us from running to Him swiftly. But to enjoy this grace we must have complete trust in Him.

As gifts increase in you, let your humility grow, for you must consider that everything is given to you on loan…You must always humble yourself lovingly before God and before men, because God speaks only to those who are truly humble and He enriches them with His gifts.

Keep your eyes fixed on Him who is your guide to the heavenly country, where He is leading you. What does it matter to you whether Jesus wishes to guide you to Heaven by way of the desert or by the meadow, so long as He is always with you and you arrive at the possession of a blessed eternity?

2006-09-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

St. John Vianney

On the Way of the Cross, you see, my children, only the first step is painful. Our greatest cross is the fear of crosses. . . . We have not the courage to carry our cross, and we are very much mistaken; for, whatever we do, the cross holds us tight -- we cannot escape from it. What, then, have we to lose? Why not love our crosses and make use of them to take us to Heaven? But, on the contrary, most men turn their backs upon crosses, and fly before them. The more they run, the more the cross pursues them, the more it strikes and crushes them with burdens. . . . If you were wise, you would go to meet it like Saint Andrew, who said, when he saw the cross prepared for him and raised up into the air, "Hail O good cross! O admirable cross! O desirable cross! receive me into thine arms, withdraw me from among men, and restore me to my Master, who redeemed me through thee. "

Listen attentively to this, my children: He who goes to meet the cross, goes in the opposite direction to crosses; he meets them, perhaps, but he is pleased to meet them; he loves them; he carries them courageously. They unite him to Our Lord; they purify him; they detach him from this world; they remove all obstacles from his heart; they help him to pass through life, as a bridge helps us to pass over water. . . . Look at the saints; when they were not persecuted. they persecuted themselves. A good religious complained one day to Our Lord that he was persecuted. He said, "O Lord, what have I done to be treated thus?" Our Lord answered him, "And I, what had I done when I was led to Calvary?" Then the religious understood; he wept, he asked pardon, and dared not complain any more. Worldly people are miserable when they have crosses, and good Christians are miserable when they have none. The Christian lives in the midst of crosses, as the fish lives in the sea.

2006-09-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Saint Dominic (Painting by El Greco)

"A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil."

"Arm yourself with prayer rather than a sword; wear humility rather than fine clothes."

2006-08-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Pope John XXIII

From Ad Petri Cathedram:

All the evils which poison men and nations and trouble so many hearts have a single cause and a single source: ignorance of the truth-and at times even more than ignorance, a contempt for truth and a reckless rejection of it. Thus arise all manner of errors, which enter the recesses of men's hearts and the bloodstream of human society as would a plague. These errors turn everything upside down: they menace individuals and society itself.

And yet, God gave each of us an intellect capable of attaining natural truth. If we adhere to this truth, we adhere to God Himself, the author of truth, the lawgiver and ruler of our lives. But if we reject this truth, whether out of foolishness, neglect, or malice, we turn our backs on the highest good itself and on the very norm for right living.

From Pacem in Terris:

Any well-regulated and productive association of men in society demands the acceptance of one fundamental principle: that each individual man is truly a person. His is a nature, that is, endowed with intelligence and free will. As such he has rights and duties, which together flow as a direct consequence from his nature. These rights and duties are universal and inviolable, and therefore altogether inalienable.

When, furthermore, we consider man's personal dignity from the standpoint of divine revelation, inevitably our estimate of it is incomparably increased. Men have been ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace has made them sons and friends of God, and heirs to eternal glory.

2006-08-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

St. Edmund Campion

You own to us, and would not dare to do otherwise, that for a time the Roman Church was holy, Catholic, Apostolic. Certainly then, when it deserved those holy praises of the Apostle (Rom. i. xv. xvi.): Your faith is spoken of in the whole world. I make it a commemoration of you always. I know that when I come to you I shall come in the abundance of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. All the Churches of Christ salute you. For your obedience is published in every place; then, when S. Paul, in prison free, sowed the Gospel; when S. Peter was governing the Church assembled in Babylon; when Clement, so highly praised by the Apostle, was stationed at the rudder; when the profane Caesars, like Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Antoninus, were massacring the Bishops of Rome; yea and then also when Damasus, Siricius, Anastasius, and Innocent were holding the Apostolic helm: this on the testimony of Calvin himself, for he freely confesses that at that time they had not yet strayed from the Evangelic doctrine. Well then, when was it that Rome lost this widely renowned faith? When did it cease to be what it had been? at what time? under what bishop? by what means? by what force? by what steps did the strange religion take possession of the City and of the whole world?-what protest, what troubles, what lamentations did it evoke? How! was everybody asleep throughout the whole world, while Rome, Rome I say, was forging new Sacraments, new Sacrifices, and new doctrines? Is there not to be found one single historian, either Greek or Latin, friend or stranger, to publish or leave behind some traces of his commentaries and memoirs on so great a matter?

2006-06-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

St. Anthony of Padua

Sweet Jesus, is there anything sweeter than you? To remember you is more delightful than everything else. Your name is joy; it is the true gate of our salvation.

2006-05-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Paul Hewson (Bono) of U2

"Joy is a subject I go on and on about. It's one of the only emotions you can't contrive. It's impossible. Despair and anger are easier to convey. Great rock 'n' roll, the raw stuff, is pure joy. It's that sense of being alive, of being grateful for your pulse."

"The truth is when that singer is saying something that comes from right down within him, and it affects you right down within you. That's when you start talking about great music, as distinct from nice music."

"But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths, all ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and the poor. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house... God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives... God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war... God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."

2006-05-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

G.K. Chesterton

"To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless."

2006-03-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

The Original St. Michael Prayer

O Glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of the
heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare
which we carry on against principalities and powers,
against the rulers of this world of darkness, and
spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God
created immortal, made in His own image and likeness,
and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the
devil. Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together
with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the
leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate
host, who were powerless to resist Thee, nor was there
place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that
ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who
seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with
his angels.

Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has
taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he
wanders about with all the multitude of wicked
spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the
name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and
cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the
crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out,
as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on
men; his depraved mind, corrupt heart, his spirit of
lying, impiety, blasphemy, his pestilential breath of
impurity and of every vice and iniquity. These most
crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall
and bitterness the Church, the Spouse of the
Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her
most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself,
where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter
and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world,
they have raised the throne of their abominable
impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the
Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.

Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against
the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God,
and give them the victory. They venerate Thee as their
protector and patron; in Thee Holy Church glories as
her defense against the malicious power of hell; to
Thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be
established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God
of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far
conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in
captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in
the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly
conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down
the dragon, the ancient serpent who is the devil and
Satan, do Thou again make him captive in the abyss,
that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V. Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered, hostile
powers.
R. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, the
root of David.
V. Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord
R. As we have hoped in Thee.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto Thee

LET US PRAY
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon
Thy holy name, and we humbly implore Thy clemency,
that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin
Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious
Archangel St. Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us
against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who
wander about the world for the injury of the human
race and the ruin of souls. Amen.

Pope Leo XIII, 1888
Raccolta 1933 (Partial Indulgence)

2006-03-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

St. Patrick of Ireland

Excerpt from �St. Patrick�s Breast Plate�, a prayer composed by St. Patrick.

I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop [deck],
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity ,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

2006-02-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Trust: Seeing God's Providence at Work

One question is never asked by Love, and that is "Why?" That word is used only by the three d's of doubt, deceit and the devil. The happiness of the garden of paradise, founded on trusting love, cracked under the satanic query: "Why has God commanded you?" To true love, each wish of the beloved is a dread command - the lover even wishes that the requests were multiplied, that there might be more frequent opportunities of service. Those who love God do not protest, whatever He may ask of them, nor doubt His kindness when He sends them difficult hours. A sick person takes medicine without asking the physician to justify its bitter taste, because the patient trusts the doctor's knowledge; so the soul that has sufficient faith accepts all the event of life as gifts of God, in the serene assurance that God knows best.
(excerpt from "From the Angel's Blackboard")

2006-02-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

Jim Caviezel

"What was it like to play this role? Unquenchable fire. There was no comfort. There was no peace," the actor said. He explained how he had been whipped twice while filming the scourging scene that took seven weeks to shoot. The lashes left him breathless, in severe, shocking pain, and with a 14-inch welt that would become the model the make-up artist used to create the additional wounds on his body.

"The second strike came with such velocity that I tore the flesh on my hands and wrists, yanking them out of the chains. I tasted two lashes of the whip. Some mystics think Jesus may have endured more than 5,000 blows. This was no mere man."

During the five weeks taken to shoot the crucifixion, he experienced hypothermia from the blood-chilling November winds of Matera, Italy. The actor explained how the winds came up the canyon like "knives" as he hung on the cross, with only a loincloth for protection against the cold. The cross, which stood on the edge of the canyon, swung back and forth with the real possibility of snapping and dropping him into a nine-foot ravine, he said.

To warm him, large heaters were used. Unfortunately, the heaters burned his toes and melted the latex makeup, but if they weren't close enough, the winds just blew the hot air away from him. Caviezel would oftentimes go home and try to sleep in the makeup that otherwise took eight hours to apply. His legs cramped, his limbs convulsed, and the makeup all over his body itched. He inhaled fumes from the heater, he had one eye shut and the other hyper-focused, while the crown of thorns caused him severe migraines, he said. "You know I'm just an actor pretending this is happening to me. It helps you appreciate what Jesus actually did continuously for every one of us."
In addition to the pain and the exhaustion, he recalled how waiting on the cross between takes became tedious. To fight the boredom, he listened to music on headphones. One particular song called "Above All" by Michael W. Smith helped him through his most difficult moments.

"It arrived when I was confused and angry. I didn't think I could go on. The song described how Jesus was rejected and alone. That thought took me to a place - it opened an interior door that held me while on the cross," an emotional Caviezel explained. "The experience of feeling rejected and alone as all those around me laughed while drinking their hot coffees, oblivious to what was occurring. Jesus must have felt like this - forsaken, rejected, alone, and despised. It helped me pray in a very deep way - to pray without words, to pray from the heart. The discomfort, the loneliness, the split shoulder, the raw flesh all forced me into the arms of God because I had nowhere else to go for a performance I knew I was unable to create."

Caviezel emphasizes that anything good about his performance was born out of the fasting, the prayers, and the daily Masses.

"As I hung there I thought about all the twists of providence that brought me to that cross." The truth was that Caviezel had been chosen and he knew it had not been a coincidence.

2006-02-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

Pius XII

"Meminisse Iuvat"

There must, then, be a return to Christian principles if we are to establish a society that is strong, just, and equitable. It is a harmful and reckless policy to do battle with Christianity, for God guarantees, and history testifies, that she shall exist forever. Everyone should realize that a nation cannot be well organized or well ordered with religion.

As a matter of fact, religion contributes more to good, just, and orderly life than it could if it had been conceived for no other purpose than to supply and augment the necessities of mortal existence. For religion bids men live in charity, justice, and obedience to law; it condemns and outlaws vice; it incites citizens to the pursuit of virtue and thereby rules and moderates their public and private conduct. Religion teaches mankind that a better distribution of wealth should be had, not by violence or revolution, but by reasonable regulations, so that the proletarian classes which do not yet enjoy life's necessities or advantages may be raised to a more fitting status without social strife.

2006-02-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

C.S. Lewis

Need-love cries to God from our poverty; Gift-love longs to serve, or even to suffer for, God; Appreciative love says: "We give thanks to thee for thy great glory." Need-love says of a woman "I cannot live without her"; Gift-love longs to give her happiness, comfort, protection - if possible, wealth; Appreciative love gazes and holds its breath and is silent, rejoices that such a wonder should exist even if not for him, will not be wholly dejected by losing her, would rather have it so than never to have seen her at all.

In a good friendship, each member often feels humility towards the rest. He sees that they are splendid and counts himself lucky to be among them�When we see the face of God, we shall know that we have always known it.

-The Four Loves

2006-02-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

Pope Benedict XVI

"Deus Caritas Est"

Nowadays Christianity of the past is often criticized as having been opposed to the body; and it is quite true that tendencies of this sort have always existed. Yet the contemporary way of exalting the body is deceptive. Eros, reduced to pure �sex�, has become a commodity, a mere �thing� to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity. This is hardly man's great �yes� to the body. On the contrary, he now considers his body and his sexuality as the purely material part of himself, to be used and exploited at will. Nor does he see it as an arena for the exercise of his freedom, but as a mere object that he attempts, as he pleases, to make both enjoyable and harmless. Here we are actually dealing with a debasement of the human body: no longer is it integrated into our overall existential freedom; no longer is it a vital expression of our whole being, but it is more or less relegated to the purely biological sphere. The apparent exaltation of the body can quickly turn into a hatred of bodiliness. Christian faith, on the other hand, has always considered man a unity in duality, a reality in which spirit and matter compenetrate, and in which each is brought to a new nobility. True, eros tends to rise �in ecstasy� towards the Divine, to lead us beyond ourselves; yet for this very reason it calls for a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing.

2006-01-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

Bl. Cardinal Newman

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission- I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good. I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it- if I do but keep His commandments.

2006-01-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

Peter Kreeft

If God is not a Trinity, God is not love. For love requires three things: a lover, a beloved, and a relationship between them. If God were only one person, he could be a lover, but not love itself. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, and the Spirit is the love proceeding from both, from all eternity. If that were not so, then God would need us, would be incomplete without us, without someone to love. Then his creating us would not be wholly unselfish, but selfish, from his own need.

2006-01-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

St. Therese of Lisieux

The only grace I ask, O Jesus, is never to offend Thee. By love and not by fear, does a soul avoid committing the least fault. Yes, even if I have on my conscience every possible crime, I should lose none of my confidence; my heart breaking with sorrow, I should go and throw myself into the arms of my Savior. The remembrance of my faults humbles me and makes me afraid to rely on my own strength, which is nothing but weakness.

2005-12-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

St. Thomas Aquinas

All Things Desire

All things desire to be like God,
and infinite space is a mirror
that tries
to reflect His
body.

But it can't.
All that infinite existence can show us of Him
is only an atom of God's
being.

God stood behind Himself one night and cast a
brilliant shadow from which creation
came.

Even this shadow is such a flame that
moths consume their selves in it every second -
with their sacred passion to possess
beautiful
forms.

Existence mirrors God the best it can,
though how arrogant for any image in that mirror,
for any human being, to
think they know
His will;

for His will has never been spoken,
His voice would ignite
the earth's wings

and all upon
it.

We invent truths about God to protect ourselves
from the wolf's cries we hear
and make.

All things desire to be like God,
all things desire to
love.

2005-12-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

Midnight Mass

Homily of John Paul II
Friday 24 December 2004

"Adoro te devote, latens Deitas."

"Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore." On this Night, the opening words of this celebrated Eucharistic hymn echo in my heart. These words accompany me daily in this year dedicated to the Eucharist .
In the Son of the Virgin, "wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:12), we acknowledge and adore "the Bread which came down from heaven" (Jn 6:41, 51), the Redeemer who came among us in order to bring life to the world.
Bethlehem! The city where Jesus was born in fulfilment of the Scriptures, in Hebrew means "house of bread." It was there that the Messiah was to be born, the One who would say of himself: "I am the bread of life" (Jn 6:35, 48).
In Bethehem was born the One who, under the sign of broken bread, would leave us the memorial of his Pasch. On this Holy Night, adoration of the Child Jesus becomes Eucharistic adoration.
We adore you, Lord, truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar, the living Bread which gives life to humanity. We acknowledge you as our one God, a little Child lying helpless in the manger! "In the fullness of time, you became a man among men, to unite the end to the beginning, that is, man to God" (cf. Saint Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, IV, 20, 4).
You are born on this Night, our divine Redeemer, and, in our journey along the paths of time, you become for us the food of eternal life.
Look upon us, eternal Son of God, who took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary! All humanity, with its burden of trials and troubles, stands in need of you.
Stay with us, living Bread which came down from heaven for our salvation! Stay with us forever! Amen!

Merry Christmas! From OraProNobis

2005-12-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Sermon: "The Whole World Awaits Mary's Reply"

You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.
The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.
Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.
Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.
Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.

2005-12-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

Pope St. John Paul the Great

When you wonder about the mystery of yourself, look to Christ, who gives you the meaning of life. When you wonder what it means to be a mature person, look to Christ, who is the fullness of humanity. And when you wonder about your role in the future of the world look to Christ.

2005-12-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

George Weigel

Contemporary Western culture doesn't have much truck with suffering. We avoid it if possible. We sequester it when it becomes unavoidable: How many of us will die at home? Embracing suffering is a concept alien to us. And yet suffering embraced in obedience to God's will is at the center of Christianity. The Christ whose passion more than a billion and a half Christians commemorate this week is not portrayed in the Gospels as someone to whom suffering just happened -- a prophet with the typical prophet's run of bad luck. The Christ of the Gospels reaches out and embraces suffering as his destiny, his vocation -- and is vindicated in that self-sacrifice on Easter.

From an article on Pope Saint John Paul II

2005-12-21T13:46:00.001-08:00

St. Augustine of Hippo

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.

2005-12-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

Blessed Mother Theresa

God has created each one of us, every human being, for greater things - to love and to be loved. But why did God make some of us men and others women?
Because a woman's love is one image of the love of God, and a man's love is another image of God's love. Both are created to love, but each in a different way.
Woman and man complete each other, and together show forth God's love more fully than either can do alone.

That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood is the gift of God to women.
How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike!
Yet we can destroy this gift of motherhood, especially by the evil of abortion, but also by thinking that other things like jobs or positions are more important than loving, than giving oneself to others.
No job, no plans, no possessions, no idea of "freedom" can take the place of love. So anything that destroys God's gift of motherhood destroys His most precious gift to women - the ability to love as a woman.

2005-12-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

Pope Paul VI

"Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practice them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator".

Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 27

2005-12-15T07:17:00.000-08:00

St. John of the Cross

Love's Living Flame

(Songs that the soul sings in her intimate union with God, her beloved Bridegroom.)

O Love's living flame,
Tenderly you wound
My soul's deepest center!
Since you no longer evade me,
Will you, please, at last conclude:
Rend the veil of this sweet encounter!

O cautery so tender!
O pampered wound!
O soft hand!
O touch so delicately strange,
Tasting of eternal life
And canceling all debts!
Killing, death into life you change!

O lamps of fiery lure,
In whose shining transparence
The deep cavern of the senses,
Blind and obscure,
Warmth and light,
with strange flares,
Gives with the lover's caresses!

How tame and loving
Your memory rises in my breast,
Where secretly only you live,
And in your fragrant breathing,
Full of goodness and grace,
How delicately in love you make me feel!