God’s gift of Himself in the Eucharist is a reality though hidden under the appearance and likeness of bread; but in heaven God will give Himself to us unveiled.
The most Holy Eucharist is the sun of all spiritual exercises. It is the focal point of the Christian religion and the heart of devotion. The Mass is the soul of piety.
Through Holy Communion, the Lord harmonizes everything, he purifies, prunes and gives new life. He becomes all in all, and thus we live, no longer ourselves but Jesus Christ begins to live in us.
Following the Lord’s exhortation, let us simply, humbly and devoutly practice the little virtues. These are: patience, good-naturedness, and mortifications of the heart, humility, obedience, poverty, chastity, tenderness towards our neighbour, bearing their imperfections, diligence and holy fervour.
Patience, gentleness, simplicity and humility are virtues that worldly people hold as mean and abject, while they highly appreciate the virtues of prudence, courage and generosity. Even among deeds emanating from one and the same virtue, these are some which are held in contempt and others in honour. For example, almsgiving and compassion are both acts of charity. However, former is held in honour by everyone whereas the latter is looked down upon by the world.
As bees at the time of making honey feed and survive on very bitter food, so are we unable to dispense the honey of the excellent virtues of gentleness and patience without partaking of the bread of suffering and living amidst trials.
Though charity is the pre-eminent virtue, surpassing all others in dignity and excellence, humility is the basis of all virtue. The two have such mutual affinity that one is never found without the other.
When a religious submits to harsh rebuke from the superior or a child from its father, this is called mortification, obedience, wisdom.
Be patient and walk with small steps, until you have legs for running or wings for flying. Be satisfied to dwell in your hive as a young bee. Soon you will become a honey-producing bee.
The essence of chastity lies in simplicity and purity of heart.
Humility is the virtue of virtues, because it is she that attracts, encourages and preserves all other virtues.
The scorpion that stings us is poisonous when it does so. But made into oil it becomes a powerful remedy against its sting. Sin is shameful only at the time we commit it. Changed into confession and repentance, it is honourable and brings salvation.
13 . As the morning grows brighter, we see more clearly in the mirror the stains and dirt on our face. In the same way, the more the interior light of the Holy Spirit shines upon our consciences the more distinctly and clearly we see the sins, inclinations and imperfections which can prevent us from acquiring true devotion. The same light, which shows us these defects and failures, inflames us with the desire to cleanse and purify ourselves from them.
Dying flies, says the Wise Man (Sir 10:1) spoil the quality of the ointment. He means that flies settling on the ointment for a moment eat it in passing, spoiling only what they take and the rest remains good. But when they die in the ointment they make it lose its value and it is rejected. Similarly, venial sins touching a devout person, for only a short while, do not cause much harm. But if these same sins remain in the person, due to attachment to them, they certainly spoil the quality of the ointment, that is, of holy devotion.
Never confuse your mistakes with your value as human being. You’re perfectly valuable, creative worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumph or tribulation can ever change that.
Humility repulses Satan and preserves us in the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. For this reason all the saints, and especially the King of Saints and His Mother, ever honoured and cherishes this virtue above all others.
Spiders do not kill bees, but they spoil and contaminate their honey. They entangle the honeycombs with the webs they spin, so that the bees cannot carry on their work. This happens when the spiders stay around the hive. In the same way, venial sin does not take away our spiritual life but it spoils devotion. It so entangles the powers of the spirit with evil habits and inclinations that we can no longer practice charity with promptness in which devotion consists. This happens when venial sin dwells in our heart by the attachment we have for it.
Be patient with everyone but above all with thyself. Do not be disheartened by your imperfections but always rise up with fresh courage.
When stags have put on too much flesh, they move away and hide in the bushes. They are aware that they are burdened with fat and would not be able to run fast if they happen to be attacked. So when our heart is burdened with these useless, irrelevant and dangerous attachments, we surely cannot run towards God promptly, joyfully and easily, which is the true sign of devotion.
When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.
Put aside all anxious thoughts and be at Peace.
Go to prayer in faith, Remain there in hope. Go out only by love.
True virtue has no limits, but goes on and on, and especially holy charity, which is the virtue of virtues.
The bee gathers from the flowers the dew of heaven as well as the most delicious juice of the earth and changing them into honey carries it to the hive. In the same way, the priest takes from the altar the Saviour of the world, true Son of God, who like dew has come down from Heaven, and true Son of the Virgin Mary, who like a flower has sprung from the earth of our humanity, and places him as a delightful food in your mouth and in your body.
Receive Communion frequently, Philothea. The hares on our mountains become white in winter. I assure you that similarly by repeatedly adoring and feeding in this divine Sacrament, on him who is beauty, goodness and purity, you will become completely beautiful, completely good and completely pure
The end of love is no other thing than the union of the lover and the thing loved.
The Holy spirit teaches that the lips of the Spouse, that is the Church, resemble scarlet and the dropping honeycomb, to let everyone know that all the doctrine which she announces consists in sacred love.
Man is the epitome of the world; he is a little world in himself, in which all that is to be found in the great world of the universe is found.
God is in you as the heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit.
Sometimes we so much occupy ourselves with being good angels that we neglect to be good men and women.
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