@OldRomanTV #TheOldRoman
The Practice of the presence of God is justly called the foundation of the spiritual life. The spiritual life consists of three things: the avoidance of evil, the practice of virtue, and union with God. The practice of the presence of God preserves the soul from sin, leads it to virtue and unites it to God in holy love.
We should have recourse to the Divine Mother with the greatest confidence. Why did Jesus Christ deposit in the hands of His Mother all the riches of Mercy that He intends for us, unless it was that Mary might therewith enrich all her clients who love and honour her and have recourse to her with confidence. With me are riches … that I may enrich them that love me (Prov. viii. 18, 21). Thus the Blessed Virgin herself assures us that it is so, in this passage which the Holy Church applies to her on so many of her Festivals.
A brief meditation for Christians from Bishop ✠Richard Challoner for everyday of the year.
This holy lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor was born around the turn of the 15th century to poor Spanish parents who placed him under the direction of a hermit living in the neighbourhood of San Nicolas del Puerto, his native town…
St. Anselm speaks of the life of the Blessed Virgin in the Temple, and says that “Mary was docile, spoke little, was always composed, did not laugh,” and that her mind was never disturbed. She also persevered in prayer, in the study of the Sacred Scriptures, in fastings, and all virtuous works.
Mary offered herself to God promptly and entirely, for she well understood the voice of God calling her to devote herself as a perpetual victim in His honour. Arise! Make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one and come! (Cant. ii. 10). Let us this day present ourselves to Mary without delay and without reserve, and let us entreat her who was the delight of her God to offer us to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ.
Through fear of losing his kingdom the wicked Herod sought the life of the Divine Child. St. Fulgentius contemplating little Jesus flying into Egypt, tenderly exclaims: “Why art thou troubled, O Herod? The King Who is just now born comes not to overthrow other kings by force of arms, but to subjugate them by dying for them.” As though he had said: The King of Heaven is not come to conquer us by war, but by love; He is not come to put us to death, but to rescue us from death by dying for us. Hence it is that Jesus may indeed be styled the King of Love.
A brief meditation for Christians from Bishop ✠Richard Challoner for everyday of the year.
During this brief period, the Church no longer dwells on the mysteries of our Lord’s infancy. She listens to His teachings and admires His miracles, but she selects no special circumstances of His life…
Whosoever loves God, loves solitude. There the Lord communicates Himself more familiarly to souls, because there He finds them less entangled in worldly affairs, and more detached from earthly affections. Hence, St. Jerome exclaimed: “O solitude, in which God speaks and converses familiarly with His servants.” O blessed solitude, in which God speaks and converses with His beloved ones with great love and confidence! The Lord is not in the earthquake (3 Kings, xix. 11).