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Post by Elizabeth on May 4, 2020 2:51:22 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.
MONTH OF MAY
Consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary
May 1st - St. Joseph, Our Lady's Spouse
The three prerogatives
Foster father of Jesus, husband and protector of the Immaculate Virgin, privileged object of the solicitude of Jesus and Mary at the moment of his death, since he had the happiness of dying in their arms, St. Joseph is proposed to us as the guardian of the three most precious treasures we have. To Jesus' nurturer, let us entrust our piety, begging him to nourish it and make it grow; to the protector of the Virgin, let us entrust our purity, begging him to keep it without stain; to the happiest of the dying, let us entrust our death, begging him to make it holy and sweet through the assistance of Jesus and Mary. Good St. Joseph, I place myself, today and forever, under thy patronage: help me to live fervently and pure, and to die predestined.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 4, 2020 2:52:21 GMT
May 2 - St. Athanasius, Bishop, Doctor
Month of Mary
The Blessed Virgin Mary, always so good, is disposed, during this beautiful month, to grant us the greatest favors, if we faithfully pray to Her. Let us resolve, from today, to attend, as far as possible, all the exercises that will be held in the church in Her honor. Let us adorn with flowers the most beautiful image of Mary that we possess; before this image, let us go and pray more often; let us gather, at least once a day, as a family to pray. Let us propose to obtain, through these tributes, a special grace, the grace we need the most. O Beautiful Flower of Paradise, O Mary, draw me to Thy service by Thy charms and Thy heavenly perfumes.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 4, 2020 2:53:56 GMT
May 3 - The Finding of the Holy Cross
Devotion to the crucifix
When, through the care of the pious Empress St. Helen, the true cross was found, the East and the West were thrilled. We cannot treat with indifference the image of this cross on which a God died for us. A Christian family should have a crucifix in every room. To relegate the crucifix to a secluded apartment, to banish it from the dining room and living room so as not to expose it to the eyes of visitors, is a laxity and a type of apostasy. Women would do well to wear the crucifix openly on their chests. Let us all carry it on us in one way or another; let us kiss it from time to time; let us press it into our hands when temptation persists. Let us respectfully greet the crosses we encounter on our way and then make an act of love. Hail, O cross, my only hope: increase grace in the righteous, erase the crimes of the sinner.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 5, 2020 2:31:28 GMT
May 4 - Saint Monique, widow
Prayer must be persistent
Often God does not immediately grant the grace that is asked of Him. He always grants something excellent; but, for this particular grace, He wants to be prayed for, in order to excite our desires and to test our perseverance. St. Monica had to pray for seventeen years to obtain the conversion of her Augustine. In this sense, therefore, our prayer must often be persistent. But above all it must be persevering in order to finally ensure our salvation. For if it is true that each of our prayers, made with humility and trust, obtains for us, each time, the particular graces necessary for the moment, it is also true that to obtain these graces until death, we must pray until death. Therefore, Jesus Christ declared "that you must never stop praying"; as for the body, you must never stop eating. When we no longer eat, we die. Likewise, in a soul, grace ceases as soon as prayer has ceased. O Mary, may I die on the eve of the day when I should give up prayer.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 7, 2020 2:24:44 GMT
May 5 - Saint Pius V, Pope
War on venial sin
It is wrong to call venial sin a little evil. How can one call a small evil that which offends God? The person who does not care to avoid venial sins is, in reality, speaking this language: "Provided I do not damn myself, that is enough." But I answer, "If you continue to live like this, you risk damning yourself, for you will always fall deeper until you reach the point of mortal sin." In order to persevere in the state of grace, we need a special help from God. But we make ourselves unworthy of this special help when we willfully offend God by venial sin without seeking to correct it. Blessed Virgin, obtain for me that I may never live in peace with the smallest faults.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 7, 2020 2:26:31 GMT
May 6 - Saint John in front of the Latin Gate
Christian virginity
There is a class of people that we should particularly value: those who live piously in virginity or Christian celibacy. Marriage is a blessed state from God; the state of virginity is more perfect and secure when it is embraced out of love for God. It is more perfect because of the renunciations it requires. Therefore, Our Lord has a marked predilection for virgin hearts. Because he was a virgin, St. John was, above all, the "disciple whom Jesus loved". It is also a safer state, because a married person almost necessarily has a shared heart; the one who is not married can freely give himself to the care of his soul and to the practice of virtue. Let us honor those elite souls whom the world takes great pleasure in belittling; let us look at our own shortcomings; we will lose sight of their little shortcomings and we will only perceive their great merits. Very Pure Virgin, inspire many souls to give themselves to God alone.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 10, 2020 2:36:28 GMT
May 7 - Saint Stanislaus, bishop, martyr
The end of greatness
Men come into the world in unequal conditions: rich or poor, in nobility or among the people. But when they leave this world, death makes them all equal. Enter a cemetery and, among the corpses, see if you can distinguish the master from the servant, the king from his subject. Death, says Horace, puts the scepter and the hoe, the ploughman and the monarch, on the same level. My God, I willingly forsake to the worldly all the riches of the earth; for me, I want no other goods but Thy grace. O Mary, obtain for me holy perseverance.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 10, 2020 2:37:51 GMT
May 8 - The Appearance of the Archangel Saint Michael
The Church is immortal
The Church is the great family of the disciples of Jesus Christ, a divine society founded by Him, governed by the pope, His vicar, and by the bishops, successors of the apostles. Like Peter`s boat, She can be stirred by the storm, fought by the wicked; She has been so in all ages; it is so today. That is why God gave Her heavenly protectors to support the courage of Her children. St. Michael the Archangel is one of the principal ones. But the Church will not perish; She will remain until the end of the world; "the powers of hell shall not prevail against it": God has promised it. When therefore we see the ungodly rush upon the Church, already prophesying their coming triumph, let us have pity on their blindness, and let us confidently sing our chorus: "The powers of hell shall not prevail." O Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of the Church, and thou, blessed St. Michael, who are Her defender, sustain my courage in the struggle, give my heart confidence, until the day of final victory.
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Post by Elizabeth on May 10, 2020 2:39:20 GMT
May 9 - Saint Gregory of Nazianzen, bishop
The concern for perseverance
"He will be saved who has persevered to the end" in the grace of God. This is the oracle of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, we must persevere, that is, carefully avoid all mortal sin. Above all, we must persevere until death; this is called final perseverance. Perseverance is a gift that is surely obtained if one asks for it every day. Ask Jesus and Mary every day, even several times a day, for the supreme gift, perseverance. To this end, recite a special prayer every night as a family to obtain this perseverance. O Mary, O Mother of perseverance, may I never fail, even at the hour of agony, to pray for perseverance and a good death!
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Post by Elizabeth on May 11, 2020 1:36:09 GMT
May 10 - Saint Antoninus, Bishop
Abandonment of Communion
Dear reader, if there is an unfortunate person in your entourage who no longer receives communion, have great compassion! It is very sad that it took a commandment to make some Christians decide to receive Jesus Christ in their hearts. But in spite of this, some Christians are stubbornly refusing to receive Him; see how distressing it is! Insolent rebellion against the Church who orders to take communion under penalty of grave sin; bloody insult to Our Lord Who complains and says with sadness: "Why then do you not want to come, that I may give you life?"; defiance to the wrath of God Who threatens, declaring to "he who does not eat His flesh that he shall not have life in him"; scandal given to the family and the parish; an evil death after a life of indifference, for how can God reunite with Jesus Christ in Heaven, him who would not have wanted Jesus Christ on earth? These are the crimes and misfortunes of the Christian who no longer makes his Easter devotions. Fill me with zeal, O Mary, that I may bring back to Jesus the sinners of my family who stand far from Him.
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