St Raymond Nonnatus By entering religion and taking my vows I have given myself over absolutely to God and His service. He, therefore, has a right to be served in the way He wishes. If then He asks me to enter on a hard, mortified life and spend myself working for Him, how can I resist His will and desire? What is God asking from me now? Shall I go …
August 25th, 2011
August 31, 2011
St Margaret Clitherow Why are we not saints? Want of courage and want of patience. We give up, we have not the strength of will and determination to succeed which the saints had. Another point is that our notion of sanctity is adding on, instead of making perfect what we already do. COMMENT: There are two points worth considering in today’s quote from Fr Doyle. Firstly is the fact that …
August 30, 2011
Salome with the head of John the Baptist by Caravaggio There is one thing we need never be afraid of, namely, that the devil will ever tempt us to be humble. He may delude us in the practice of other virtues; indiscreet zeal, for instance, or the desire to devote our time solely to prayer. But we need never be in doubt as to whether it would be better to …
August 29, 2011
A newly discovered painting of St Augustine by Caravaggio How many wish to belong entirely to Jesus without reserve or restriction? Most want to serve two masters, to be under two standards. A union of wordliness and devotion; a perpetual succession of sins and repentance; something given to grace, more to nature; fervour and tepidity by turns. Such is the state of many religious. Obligations are whittled down; rules are …
August 28, 2011
St Monica Don’t be stingy in giving praise, particularly with the young. If in a community there is some sister not as edifying as she might be, but who after a retreat makes an effort to rise, be ever the one to encourage and to hold out a helping hand. Many a first attempt has been crushed in the bud by the contemptuous look or sneering remark as to how …
August 27, 2011
Feast of the Transverberation of the Heart of St Teresa of Avila Even as a child I longed and prayed to be a saint. But somehow it always seemed to me as if that longing could never be realised, for I felt there was some kind of a barrier like a high wall between myself and God. What it was, I cannot say even now. But recently this obstacle appears …
August 26, 2011
I am truly glad you are looking to the perfection of your daily actions; it is the simplest, yet perhaps hardest, way of sanctification, with little fear of deception. It is the certain following of Christ: “He hath done all things well.” (Mark 7:37) COMMENT: Performing all of our daily actions well, and doing so with love, as a constant theme of Fr Doyle’s advice to others. He is correct …
August 25, 2011
St Rose of Lima Look upon the grace God gives you as a talent you must work with and increase. The Master in the Gospel gave his profitable servants twice as many talents. In like manner will God double your grace if you make good use of it. He will give you “grace for grace”. (John 1. 16) COMMENT: Fr Doyle was most certainly a profitable servant, who carefully “invested” …
August 23, 2011
Instead of a thought for today, I thought it might be worthwhile to share some recent links to other websites that have recently featured Fr Doyle, especially last week around the time of his anniversary. Readers of this site might like to visit these sites and see what others have to say about Fr Doyle. Fr Mark Daniel Kirby OSB – Vultus Christi blog http://vultus.stblogs.org/2011/08/father-willie-doyle-sj-a-pries.html Anita Moore OPL – V …
August 22, 2011
St Pius X There are two patron saints to whom I have a tremendous devotion: a sheet of paper and a lead pencil. Mark down at least once a day everything you do and every time you do it. It will not make you proud to see all you do; but it will humble you by showing you all you don’t do. COMMENT: Fr Doyle was extremely methodological in his …
August 21, 2011