Tag: heart
Take from Me …
Take from me, O Lord, my heart of stone. Take away my hardened heart. Take away my uncircumcised heart. Give me a new heart, a heart of flesh, a pure heart! You who purify the heart, you who love the pure heart, possess my heart and dwell within it, enclosing it and filling it, higher… Read More ›
God is a Fire that Warms the Heart
God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil – for the devil is cold – let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but… Read More ›
Using the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Faith and love which are gifts of the Holy Spirit are such great and powerful means that a person who has them can easily, and with joy and consolation, go the way Jesus Christ went. Besides this, the Holy Spirit gives man the power to resist the delusions of the world so that although he… Read More ›
The Suffering Women in the World
As we contemplate this Mother, whose heart “a sword has pierced” (cf. Lk 2: 35), our thoughts go to all the suffering women in the world, suffering either physically or morally. In this suffering a woman’s sensitivity plays a role, even though she often succeeds in resisting suffering better than a man. It is difficult… Read More ›
Five Paths of Repentance
Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven. A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I said:… Read More ›
Christ has no Body but Yours
During his time on earth, Jesus met and talked to many people. Some of those meetings were private; others were public, and had far-reaching effects. Some were both. For example, Jesus turned water into wine for the sake of a young bride and groom who were not too good on planning. But that wine was… Read More ›
Have in Your Heart the Words of the Gospel
One of the Fathers told a story of a certain elder who was in his cell busily at work and wearing a hair shirt when Abba Ammonas came to him. When Abba Ammonas saw him wearing a hair shirt he said: That thing won’t do you a bit of good. The elder said: Three thoughts… Read More ›
The Word is near you…
‘The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’ Believing is having found. The faithful know that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith. What could be nearer? Therefore seek him confidently, seek him faithfully. ‘The Lord is good to the soul who seeks him.’ Seek him in your prayers, follow him… Read More ›
Listening Carefully
. . . it is Christ who speaks through human agents-the less overpowering they are, the more attentively the abbot must strain to hear what they say. The same principle applies here that Benedict enunciates concerning the poor: The terror that great ones inspire assures them of respect (53:15), but it is in listening carefully… Read More ›
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Oh, Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future! From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable… Read More ›