Set my heart on fire! ...

"My God, take my heart.  Set it on fire!" 
- St Bernadette Soubirous

"Hovering over creation, the Holy Spirit made the universe.

Hovering over the Virgin Mary, the Spirit gave flesh to the Word.

This same Spirit, hovering over bread and wine,

transforms them into the sacramental Body and Blood of Christ.

And this Spirit hovers over me!"

Msgr Lawrence F Corcoran, SJ

"Come to my help." ...

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

... I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched.

My eyes fail, looking for my God.  - Psalm 69: 1, 3 

 

"Go and find Him when your patience and strength 
run out and you feel alone and helpless.  
Jesus is waiting for you in the chapel. 
Say to Him, 'Jesus, you know exactly what is going on.

You are all I have, and you know all things. Come to my help.' 

And then go, and don’t worry about how 

you are going to manage. That you have told God about it
is enough.  He has a good memory."

St Jeanne Jugan

Sr Mary of the Cross

France ~ 1792 - 1879

Foundress - Little Sisters of the Poor

Feast Day - Aug 30

“God will help us; the work is His.” - St Jeanne Jugan
"The Hail Mary will take us to heaven." - St Jeanne Jugan

Click here: St. Jeanne Jugan - YouTube (2 mins)

Sayings of Jeanne Jugan - Little Sisters of the Poor

St Jeanne Jugan, pray for us!

"...the never-ceasing silent appeal of the Tabernacle"...

In him and through faith in him we may approach God

with freedom and confidence. – Ephesians 3:12

J.R.R. Tolkien's personal piety was simple: Confession before Mass, Mass every day and Rosary before bed. The sole ultimate focus of his devotion was the Blessed Sacrament.

Here is the conclusion of a very moving letter 

he wrote to his son, Michael, in 1941:

''Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth..." (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, no. 43)

In another moving letter, written 22 years later 
to the same son, Tolkien writes:

''But I fell in love with the Blessed Sacrament from the beginning - and by the mercy of God never have fallen out again: but alas! I indeed did not live up to it...Out of wickedness and sloth I almost ceased to practice my religion - especially at Leeds, and at 22 Northmoor Road. Not for me the Hound of Heaven, but the never-ceasing silent appeal of the Tabernacle, and the sense of starving hunger. I regret those days bitterly (and suffer for them with such patience as I can be given); most of all because I failed as a father.

Now I pray for you all, unceasingly, that the Healer (the Hælend as the Saviour was usually called in Old English) shall heal my defects, and that none of you shall  ever cease to cry Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.'' (Ibid. no. 250).

God gives His ALL...

 "To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; 
to seek Him, the greatest adventure;
to find Him, the greatest human achievement." - St Augustine 

"God in His omnipotence could not give more, 

in His wisdom knew not how to give more,

in His riches had not more to give, 
than the Eucharist."

St Augustine
North Africa ~ 354-430

Bishop, Doctor of the Church

Powerful intellect, stirring orator, prolific writer
Feast Day - August 28
 

“If you believe what you like in the gospel, 
and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel
you believe, but yourself.” - St. Augustine of Hippo 

Click here: St. Augustine - YouTube  (2 mins)
33 Powerful Saint Augustine Quotes on Love, Beauty, God, Sin, Time, Wisdom, Hope, Patience, and More | The Unbounded Spirit

 

"In 397, or twelve years after his conversion, Augustine wrote his Confessions, the greatest spiritual autobiography ever written. It is the work of a teacher who  explains, a philosopher who thinks, and a theologian who instructs. It is the  work of a poet who achieves chaste beauty in the writing, and a mystic who pours out thanks for having found himself in peace. " - Ven Fulton J. Sheen in his  biographical work,  St Augustine of Hippo

Confessions by Saint Augustine of Hippo (FULL Audio Book)

Excerpt (Confessions 10.27): "Too late have I loved You, O Beauty
so ancient and so new, too late have I loved You. You have called to me,
and have cried out, and have shattered my deafness. 
You have blazed forth with light and have put my blindness to flight!
You have sent forth fragrance, and I have drawn in my breath,
and I pant after You. I have tasted You, and I hunger and thirst after You.
You have touched me, and I have burned for Your peace." 

St Augustine, pray for us!

May it be said... of you and of me...

My heart is steadfast, O God ... - Psalm 108, 1a

 

St Augustine has left us this praise of his mother, St Monica:

"She did not let a day pass

without being present

at the Divine Sacrifice

before Your altar, O Lord."

St Monica

North Africa ~ 333-387

Mother of St Augustine

Patroness of Married women and Mothers

Feast Day - August 27

"Nothing is far from God." - St Monica

As recounted by Augustine... before his mother died she told him:

"There was indeed one thing for which I wished to tarry a little 

in this life, and that was that I might see you a Catholic before I died. 

My God hath answered this more than abundantly, so that I see you 

are now made His servant and spurning all earthly happiness. 

What more am I to do here?"

   Click here: St. Monica - YouTube (2 mins)

 

Prayer for St Monica's intercession

Exemplary mother of the great Augustine, you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray. Amen.

St Monica, pray for us!