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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 1, 2020 17:08:59 GMT
St. Alphonsus Liguori - Holiness from Day to Day is a French book that has a meditation for each day taken from the works of St. Alphonsus. I am translating them to share with everyone.
St. Alphonsus Liguori - Holiness from Day to Day
MONTH OF APRIL
April 1st - Saint Hugh, Bishop
What's the point? What is the use of riches at the time of death, when all that is taken away is the coffin board and a few rags wrapped around a corpse? What is the use of honors, when all that is left is the pomp of the funeral procession and the marble of the tomb, which are useless to those who have lost their souls? What is the beauty of this body, which will be nothing but a heap of worms, horrible and foul? Ah, my Redeemer, I say to Thee as St. Ignatius did: "Give me Thy grace and Thy love and I am rich enough". O Mary, my Mother, obtain for me detachment from all things.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 3, 2020 3:03:52 GMT
April 2 - St. Francis of Paola, confessor
Humility: not to be exalted
St. Francis of Paola was so far from glory that he considered himself the last of all; he wanted his religious to take the name of Minimalists. Let us never glory in our talents, in our works, in the position of our family or in anything else. For example, we should not talk about ourselves except to confess our faults. Again, it would be best not to speak of ourselves either rightly or wrongly; for often what we say against ourselves gives rise to the desire that we be held humble, so that this humility becomes pride. Humble St. Francis of Paola, obtain for me to know and love my own lowliness.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 5, 2020 18:24:40 GMT
April 3 - Saint Richard, Bishop
The King’s audience
Our Lord in the Eucharist gives audience to all. It is necessary, said St. Therese, that everyone may speak to the princes of the earth! It is with great difficulty that the poor send their supplications to them through the intervention of a third person. But with the King of Heaven there is no need for an intermediary: everyone can speak to Him face to face in the Blessed Sacrament; He wants us to approach Him there as a friend approaches a friend. O beloved Savior! Since Thou are there to hear the prayers of the unfortunate who have recourse to Thee, deign to listen to mine. Give me Thy love, O Jesus. This love, O Mary, I hope from Thy intercession.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 5, 2020 18:25:28 GMT
April 4 - St. Isidore, Bishop, doctor
Sin outrages the greatness of God
What kind of God is this God despised by men? He is the Creator of heaven and earth, the Creator of infinite goodness; He is so great that before Him all men and all angels are like a drop of water, like a speck of dust, and all creatures ``as if they were not``. My God behold at Thy feet the foolhardy one who had the audacity to despise Thy adorable Majesty. But if Thy Majesty is infinite, Thy mercy is no less infinite. Have mercy on me, O Lord; and Thou, O Mary, refuge of sinners! Help a poor sinner.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 5, 2020 18:27:10 GMT
April 5 - Saint Vincent Ferrer, confessor
We must hear the word of God
"It is by hearing the word of God," writes St. Paul, "that faith is acquired and preserved.” Besides, if there is an obligation for the priest to preach, there is an obligation for us to hear the preaching as much as it is necessary for us to live as good Christians. Those who affect to go only to Masses where no one preaches could end up being gravely guilty. This can lead to not knowing the things that are necessary for salvation. "Because you have rejected the true knowledge of the faith," says the Lord, "I reject you." Also disgust for the word of God is regarded as a sign of reprobation ( disapproval). Let us ask the great missionary, St. Vincent, called the "Trumpet of God", to obtain for us the love of the divine word.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 7, 2020 2:07:11 GMT
April 6 - St. Celestine, pope
The necessity of contrition
Contrition is the repentance and detestation of sins committed, repentance and detestation with the resolution to sin no more in the future. This repentance is necessary for anyone who wishes to receive absolution, for God cannot forgive any sin to one who does not repent of having committed it. Sometimes forgiveness can be obtained without examination and even without confession. For example, a dying person who, not having a priest to hear him, would have perfect contrition, that dying person would be forgiven and saved. But without contrition, there is never forgiveness. O my God, how many times, perhaps, I have confessed without making assurance of my repentance! Lord, I will not fail in it from now on. But Thou, O Mary, remind me of this vital obligation.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 8, 2020 2:35:10 GMT
April 7 - Saint Donatus, martyr
Patience in poverty
If we fall into poverty, if we even happen to lack the necessities of life, let us resign ourselves to God's will by making this double reflection: God alone is enough! God will take care of me! And if He doesn't send us all the help we want, let's be happy with what He sends us; He wants to enrich us with greater merits here on earth and make us collect greater treasures up there! O Jesus and Mary, poor for my love, let me be a true poor man, loving the privations of the earth, only aspiring towards the riches of Heaven.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 9, 2020 2:54:02 GMT
April 8 - Saint Albert, Bishop
At death, everything will end
"Behold, where the greatness and the crowns of this world lead!" This was the cry of St. Francis of Borgia, when he saw the body of the Empress Isabel, who died in her prime. It was this thought that made him decide to leave the world and give himself entirely to God: "I want," he said, "to serve a master who can never fail." How foolish it is to lose oneself for goods that we will have to leave behind! O my Jesus, tell me what I have to do to remedy the disorders of my life: I am ready for anything. And Thou, O Mary! Help me to do it at all costs.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 10, 2020 3:17:15 GMT
April 9 - Saint Marcel, Bishop
Bad reading
It is forbidden to read any book, magazine or newspaper that is seriously dangerous without a serious reason: it is a bad occasion. Such are, in general, newspapers which tend to oppose the Catholic Church and the clergy, magazines in which ungodly writers collaborate, and novels containing dangerous plots. Curiosity and the desire to be entertained are no excuse. Apart from a serious reason, special permission from Rome is required to read and keep books listed in the catalogue of bad books. All books and novels dealing with obscene things are condemned outright; they cannot even be preserved, even if they are bookbinding jewels. They must be destroyed. You say: "You must know the for and against." Read the books of Christian controversy and you'll find the for and against. If, out of necessity, you need to make some special studies, ask permission. "I read without malice." It is forbidden to be poisoned without malice. "But it does me no harm!" The Church cries out to you that bad reading is a plague; you see that all readers of bad newspapers think, speak, and act ungodly; all confessors recognize at once a reader of novels: dubious faith, dilapidated religion, distorted judgment, softened heart, withered innocence, often unapproachable habits, a crazy mind, and an extravagant manner of life... And you say, it doesn't hurt me? "I don't see any wrong in it." When a newspaper insults my Father, God; insults my mother, the Church; makes a derision of my Brother, Jesus Christ, His faith and His priests, if I don't see any wrong in it, I am no longer a son in the Christian family, I am a monster. If I read the licentious novel, I no longer feel, I woman, I young girl, that it is wrong... then I am jaded: it is infamy on my forehead. "Yet it amuses me." Go and weep at the foot of the crucifix; ask Him for the grace to know how to blush again. Finally, even though a bad book, newspaper or leaflet would do you no harm (which is wrong), your example, if you read it, allows your sons and daughters, your entourage and friends, to do the same: it is a scandal. By giving your subscription and your money to the wrongdoers who write it and to the booksellers who sell it, you are contributing to the work of Satan: this is another scandal.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 14, 2020 2:36:11 GMT
April 10 - Saint Fulbert, Bishop
Lukewarmness is repulsive to God
The lukewarm soul fears the truth of falling into mortal sin; but it pays little heed to venial sins, even deliberate ones, and makes little effort to correct them. So, God said to it, "Because you are lukewarm, I will vomit you." This is, therefore, God's forsaking, for what is rejected out of the mouth is no longer taken back. Lukewarmness causes God this deep repulsion, because it seems to tell Him that it does not deserve to be served with such care. No, my God, I don't want to provoke Thy disgust in this way. I want to make war on the smallest faults, to avoid at least every deliberate sin. Blessed Virgin Mary, support me in the fight against lukewarmness.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 14, 2020 2:38:58 GMT
April 11 - St. Leo the Great, Pope, Doctor
Effects of Communion
Holy communion, pouring into our soul the life and virtues of Jesus Christ: 1. increases in us Christian life and virtues; 2. weakens our evil inclinations; it is like a tranquilizer against the fever of evil passions; 3. purifies us from venial sins, as a flame consumes the straw as it passes; 4. stirs up in us the fire of God’s love. The disciples of Emmaus felt their hearts burning as Jesus spoke to them. And this same Jesus, the Christian has Him in him when he receives communion; 5. each time It deposits in our bodies a seed of blessed immortality, a new assurance of glorious resurrection. These, O my God, are the admirable fruits of which I deprive myself by my indifference! O Mary, give me the eagerness of the saints for communion.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 14, 2020 2:47:09 GMT
April 12 - Saint Julius, Pope
One day I'll be judged
Imagine being in your last hour. Think that, in a moment, you will appear before Jesus Christ to give Him an account of your life. What a frightening subject is the sight of your sins! Ah, my Redeemer, forgive me before calling me to Thy court. I don’t want to present myself guilty before Thy justice, but repentant and absolved. I repent therefore, O my God, for having offended Thy infinite goodness. O Mary, commend me to Jesus, Thy son.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 14, 2020 2:48:32 GMT
April 13 - Saint Hermenegilde, Martyr
The family scandalized
There are fathers, eldest sons, sometimes mothers, who no longer pray, no longer go to Mass, work on Sundays, blaspheme, speak badly of religion, bring home the bad newspaper. What is to be thought of this scandal given to a whole family by the very people who should be building it up and saving it? The miserable people! By their ungodliness and indifference, they teach these poor children, without taking care, contempt for God and His law. And these children, too, will become heads of a family without God. Who knows if the faith will not be forever extinguished in this race? How many souls in the centuries to come will go to hell because of the scandal you give today! Children, if your father or one of your own is no longer practicing, pray and weep for him to be converted before malediction befalls him. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, spread among the heads of families the zeal of good example.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 15, 2020 2:07:09 GMT
April 14 - St. Justin, Martyr
Prayer must be confident
In order for prayer to obtain God`s help each time and finally salvation, it must be confident. It will be, if we are fully confident that we will be answered in everything that is useful for our salvation. "Ask," says St. James, "in all confidence, without any doubt." The firmer your confidence, the more your prayer will obtain, even if you are in sin; but on one condition: that you at least have the desire to come out of sin and flee from it. For to love sin so much that you don't even have the desire to get out of it or to avoid it, and to pretend that God will give you the graces to get to Heaven, despite your obstinacy to follow the way of hell, would be a foolhardy confidence, the only one that gets you nothing. On the contrary, even if you were the greatest sinner in the world, but with the sincere desire to correct yourself, you must have the confidence to be answered.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2020 2:23:58 GMT
April 15 - Saint Maximus, martyr
Choice of confessor
This is a very serious matter and is of the utmost importance to us. It is pleasing to God that we take as much care in it as in choosing our doctor! This choice should not be made at random, nor by purely natural inclination. Pray to God to enlighten you; then go to the confessor whom you believe, by his knowledge, experience, firmness and, above all, his piety, to be the most capable of doing good to your soul. There is no worse confessor than one who rebukes seldomly. Therefore, it is not the most forgiving one that you should choose. If yours severely humiliates you when you fall into willful misconduct, consider him a most valuable guide. When the choice between different priests is not possible, keep quiet; obey the priest that Providence has given you. If he does not have all the desirable qualities for the guidance of your soul, God will supply them; and he will be as profitable as any other. O my God, enlighten me and give me the right intentions in this vital matter.
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