You Can Say That Again!

[franciscanheart]

"To live by love is to banish all fear, all remembrance of past faults."
-- St Therese of the Child Jesus

[Tindomiel]

Here's another:

"Be not afraid to tell Jesus that you love Him; even though it be without feeling, this is the way to oblige Him to help you, and carry you like a little child too feeble to walk."
~St. Therese of Lisieux

[phatcatholic]

for more, go here:
[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/780"]http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/780[/url]

[Era Might]

"It is not among the palm trees that I wish to die, but among the poor who are Jesus Christ."

--St. Luigi Orione

[missionseeker]

Does our life become from day to day more painful, more oppressive, more replete with afflictions? Blessed be He a thousand times who desires it so. If life be harder, love makes it also stronger, and only this love, grounded on suffering, can carry the Cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Love without egotism, without relying on self, but enkindling in the depth of the heart an ardent thirst to love and suffer for all those around us: a thirst that neither misfortune nor contempt can extinguish... I believe, O Lord; but strengthen my faith... Heart of Jesus, I love Thee; but increase my love. Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee; but give greater vigor to my confidence. Heart of Jesus, I give my heart to Thee; but so enclose it in Thee that it may never be separated from Thee. Heart of Jesus, I am all Thine; but take care of my promise so that I may be able to put it in practice even unto the complete sacrifice of my life.

Blessed Miguel Pro.
That's one of my favorite prayers. This one too.


Let me live my life at your side, my Mother, and be the companion of your bitter
solitude and your profound pain. Let my soul feel your eyes’ sad weeping and the
abandonment of your heart.

On the road of my life I do not wish to savor the happiness of Bethlehem, adoring
the Child Jesus in your virginal arms. I do not wish to enjoy the amiable presence
of Jesus Christ in the humble little house of Nazareth. I do not care to accompany
you on your glorious Assumption to the angels’ choir.

For my life, I covet the jeers and mockery of Calvary; the slow agony of your Son,
the contempt, the ignominy, the infamy of His Cross. I wish to stand at your side,
most sorrowful Virgin, strengthening my spirit with your tears, consummating my
sacrifice with your martyrdom, sustaining my heart with your solitude, loving my
God and your God with the immolation of my being.

March 13, 1927
Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.

[Guest JeffCR07]

I do not seek to understand in order that I might believe, but I believe so that I might understand. For this also I believe: that unless I believe, I shall not understand

- St. Anselm of Canterbury

[Tindomiel]

"In the fulfillment of your duties, let your intentions be so pure that you reject from your actions any other motive than the glory of God and the salvation of souls."
~Angela Merici

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.
– St. Anthony of Padua

True charity consists in putting up with all one's neighbor's faults, never being surprised by his weakness, and being inspired by the least of his virtues.
– St. Therese of Lisieux

[Fides_et_Ratio]

[quote name='JeffCR07' post='1013788' date='Jun 28 2006, 10:58 AM']
I do not seek to understand in order that I might believe, but I believe so that I might understand. For this also I believe: that unless I believe, I shall not understand

- St. Anselm of Canterbury
[/quote]
He's partially quoting St. Augustine there.

The WHOLE chapter where that quote comes from is awesome, and one of my favorite prayers:

[quote]Come now, insignificant mortal. Leave behind your concerns for a little while, and retreat for a short time from your restless thoughts. Cast off your burdens and care; set aside your labor and toil. Just for a little while make room for God, and rest a while in Him. "Enter into the chamber" (Matthew 6:6) of your mind, shut out everything but God and whatever helps you to seek Him, and seek Him "behind closed doors" (Matthew 6:6). Speak now, my whole heart: say to God, "I seek Your face; Your face, Lord, do I seek" (Psalm 27:8).

Come now, O Lord my God. Teach my heart where and how to seek You, where and how to find You. Lord, if You are not here, where shall I seek You, since You are absent? But if You are everywhere, why do I not see You, since you are present? Truly "You dwell in inaccessible light" (1 Timothy 6:16). And where is this "inaccessible light"? How am I to approach an inaccessible light? Who will lead me to it, so that I can see You in it? And by what signs am I to seek You? Under what aspect? I have never seen You, O Lord my God; I do not know Your face. What shall he do, O Lord Most High? What shall he do, this distant exile from You? What shall your servant do, deeply troubled by his love for You and "banished far from Your face" (Psalm 51:11)? He longs to see You, but Your face is too far away from him. He desires to enter Your presence, but Your dwelling is inaccessible. He wants to find You, but he does not know where You are. He aspires to seek You, but he does not know Your face. Lord, you are my God, and you are my Lord, but I have never seen You. You have made me and remade me, You have given me every good thing that is mine, and still I do not know You. I was created so that I might see You, but I have not yet done what I was created to do.

How wretched human beings are! They have lost the very thing for which they were created. Hard and terrible was their fall! Alas! Think what they have lost and what they have found; think what they left behind and what they kept. They have lost the happiness for which they were created and found an unhappiness for which they were not created. They left behind the only source of happiness and kept what brings nothing but misery. Once "human beings ate the bread of angels" (Psalm 78:25), for which they now hunger; now they "eat the bread of sorrows" (Psalm 127:2), which once they did not know. Alas for the common lamentation of human beings, the universal outcry of the children of Adam! He was satisfied to the full; we sigh with hunger. He had everything he needed; we go begging. He happily possessed those things and abandoned them in misery; we unhappily do without them and miserably desire them, but alas, we remain empty-handed. Why did he not preserve for us, as he could easily have done, what we so woefully lack? Why did he thus shut us out from the light and cover us with darkness? Why did he take away our life and inflict death upon us? What wretches we are! Think whence we have been cast out, whither we have been driven; thrown down from so great a height, and buried so deep. From our homeland into exile; from the vision of God into our blindness; from the joy of immortality into the bitterness and terror of death. What a wretched change! From such great good into such great evil! O woeful loss, woeful sorrow, all is woeful!

Alas, wretched man that I am, one of the wretched children of Eve, far from the presence of God. What have I undertaken, and what have I accomplished? Where was I heading, and where have I come to? What was I reaching toward, and what do I long for? "I have sought the good" (Psalm 122:9), and "behold, confusion!" (Jeremiah 14:19). I was heading for God but stumbled over myself. I sought rest in my solitude but "found trials and sorrows" (Psalm 116:3) deep within. I wanted to laugh as my mind rejoiced, but I am forced to "cry out as my heart weeps" (Psalm 38:8). Joy was hoped for, but look where the sighs are closing in.

"How long, O Lord?" (Psalm 6:3) "How long, O Lord, will you forget us? How long will You turn Your face from us?" (Psalm 13:1). When will You look favorably upon us and hear us? When will You "enlighten our eyes" (Psalm 13:3) and "show us Your face"? (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19). When will You give Yourself to us again? Look favorably upon us, O Lord; hear us, enlighten us, show Yourself to us. Give Yourself to us again, that it might go well for us; for without You it goes so badly for us. Take pity upon our toils and strivings after You, for without You we can do nothing. You call us; come to our aid. I beseech You, Lord: my heart is made bitter with its desolation; sweeten it with Your consolation. I beseech You, Lord: in my hunger I began to seek You; let me not depart from You empty. I have come to You starving; let me not leave unsatisfied. I have come as a beggar to One who is rich, as a pitiful wretch to One who has pity; let me not go back penniless and despised. If indeed "I sigh before I eat" (Job 3:24), grant that I might eat after I sigh. Lord, I am bent double; I can only look down. Raise me up so that I can turn my gaze upwards. "My sins are heaped up over my head" and entangle me; "like a heavy burden" they weigh me down (Psalm 38:4). Extricate me; lift my burdens, "lest like a pit they swallow me up" (Psalm 69:15). Let me look up at Your light, whether from afar or from the depths. Teach me how to seek You, and show Yourself to me when I seek. For I cannot seek You unless You teach me how, and I cannot find You unless You show Yourself to me. Let me seek You in desiring You; let me desire You in seeking You. Let me find You in loving You; let me love You in finding You.

I acknowledge, Lord, and I thank You, that You have created in me this image of You so that I may remember You, think of You, and love You. Yet this image is so eroded by my vices, so clouded by the smoke of my sins, that it cannot do what it was created to do unless You renew and refashion it. I am not trying to scale Your heights, Lord; my understanding is in no way equal to that. But I do long to understand Your truth in some way, Your truth which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand in order to believe; I believe in order to understand. For I also believe that "Unless I believe, I shall not understand" (St. Augustine). [/quote]
~St. Anselm, Proslogion, Chapter 1

[Guest JeffCR07]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' post='1014402' date='Jun 29 2006, 07:03 AM']
He's partially quoting St. Augustine there.

The WHOLE chapter where that quote comes from is awesome, and one of my favorite prayers:
~St. Anselm, Proslogion, Chapter 1
[/quote]

Anselm's passage isn't exactly Augustine's [i]Credo ut Intelligam[/i], but considering that Anselm is the great systematizer of Augustine, you're definately right that it is within the Augustinian tradition :

Oh, and the last part that is in quotes - that is a quote from Isaiah 7:9, not Augustine.

And yea, that first chapter of the Prosologion [i]rules[/i]

Edited June 29, 2006 by JeffCR07

[Fides_et_Ratio]

ha, I took the parathesis directly from the book... you'll have to call up the translators on that mishap.

so much for believing the translators..

[Guest JeffCR07]

which translator was it, do you know?

[Fides_et_Ratio]

umm... it was hackett publishing, so I think it was Thomas Williams.. but I don't have the book with me at the moment.

[Guest JeffCR07]

gotcha, thats not a bad translation

[got2luvjc]

a classic I always enjoy:

"Preach the gospal If necessary, use words."
~St. Francis of Assisi~