Scrupulosity - from the Diary of St. Faustina

The second year of the novitiate was approaching. Whenever I recalled that I was to make my vows, my soul shuddered. I did not understand what I was reading; I could not meditate; it seemed to me that my prayer was displeasing to God. It seemed to me that by approaching the Holy Sacraments I was offending God even more. But despite this, my confessor did not let me omit one single Holy Communion. God was working very strangely in my soul. I did not understand anything at all of what my confessor was telling me. The simple truths of the faith became incomprehensible to me. My soul was anguish, unable to find comfort anywhere. (23)


However, in all these sufferings and struggles, [Saint Faustina was undergoing intense spiritual trials] I was not omitting Holy Communion. When it seemed to me that I should not communicate, I went, before Holy Communion, to the Directress and told her that I could not approach the Sacrament, because it seemed to me that I should not do so. But she would not permit me to omit Holy Communion, so I went, and I understand now, that it was only obedience that saved me. The Directress told me later that my trials had passed quickly, "and this solely because you were obedient, Sister: and it was through the power of obedience that you struggled through this so bravely." It is true that it was the Lord himself who brought me out of this torment, but my fidelity to obedience did please him. (105)

Once I desired very much to receive Holy Communion, but I had a certain doubt, and I did not go. I suffered greatly because of this. It seemed to me that my heart would burst from the pain. When I set about my work, my heart full of bitterness, Jesus suddenly stood by me and said, My daughter, do not omit Holy Communion unless you know well that your fall was serious; apart from this, no doubt must stop you from uniting yourself with Me in the mystery of My love. Your minor faults will disappear in My love like a piece of straw thrown into a great furnace. Know that you grieve Me much when you fail to receive Me in Holy Communion.(156)
On the following day, I had a clear awareness of the following words: "You see, God is so holy, and you are sinful. Do not approach Him and go to confession everyday." And indeed whatever I thought of seemed to me to be a sin. ...when the day for confession came, I prepared a whole mass of those sins of which I was to accuse myself. However, in the confessional God allowed me to accuse myself of only two imperfections, despite my efforts to make a confession according to what I had prepared . When I left the confessional, the Lord said to me, My daughter, all those sins you intended to confess are not sins in My eyes; and that is why I took away your ability to tell them. I understood that Satan, wanting to disturb my peace, has been giving me exaggerated thoughts. (1802)

~ The Diary of Saint Faustina

St. Augustine

"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. "

"God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering."

"Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others. "

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. "

-St. Augustine

St. Maximilian Kolbe

"He remains among us until the end of the world. He dwells on so many altars, though so often offended and profaned."

"The culmination of the Mass is not the consecration, but Communion."

"You come to me and unite Yourself intimately to me under the form of nourishment. Your Blood now runs in mine, Your Soul, Incarnate God, compenetrates mine, giving courage and support. What miracles! Who would have ever imagined such!"

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

- St. Maximilian Kolbe

"Let us give ourselves to the Immaculata. Let her prepare us, let her receive Him in Holy Communion. This is the manner most perfect and pleasing to the Lord Jesus and brings great fruit to us."

- St. Maximilian Kolbe


- From the writings of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe:

"Niepokalanow is a home like Nazareth. The Father is God the Father, the mother and mistress of the home is the Immaculata, the firstborn son and our brother is Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar. All the younger brothers try to imitate the elder Brother in love and honor towards God and the Immaculata, our common parents, and from the Immaculata they try to love the divine elder Brother, the ideal of sanctity who deigned to come down from heaven to be incarnated in her and to live with us in the tabernacle...

"The whole world is a large Niepokalanow where the Father is God, the mother the Immaculata, the elder brother the Lord Jesus in all the tabernacles of the world, and the younger brothers the people."

"My aim is to institute perpetual adoration," he said, for this is the "the most important activity."

"My aim is to institute perpetual adoration," spoke St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Franciscan priest and founder of the Knights of the Immaculata. For he said that this is "the most important activity," and "if half of the Brothers would work, and the other half pray, this would not require too much."

"God dwells in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar"

- St. Maximilan Kolbe

(thanks for these quotes belongs to: http://www.acfp2000.com/Saints/St_Maximilian_Kolbe/st_maximilian_kolbe.html)

St. Therese of Lisieux Novena

I would like to include this link to a novena to St. Therese, as I posted a quote by her a few weeks ago. God Bless, 

 http://www.ewtn.com/therese/novena_printer.htm#pray

St. Alphonsus de Ligouri

"Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: "Charity is the bond of perfection;" and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God's: "The principal effect of love is so to unite the wills of those who love each other as to make them will the same things." It follows then, that the more one unites his will with the divine will, the greater will be his love of God. Mortification, meditation, receiving Holy Communion, acts of fraternal charity are all certainly pleasing to God -- but only when they are in accordance with his will. When they do not accord with God's will, he not only finds no pleasure in them but he even rejects them utterly and punishes them."

  -Uniformity With God's Will (by St. Alphonsus de Ligouri)

St. Therese of Lisieux

"'Because you have an extremely simple soul; however, it will be even more simple when you become perfect. The closer we come to God, the more simple we become.' 

"How right she was; it was because I was so simple that I found it so difficult to lay open my sould to anyone, but this did not make it any less of a martyrdom. To-day I can express myself without the slightest difficulty, and without losing any of my simplicity. 

"Jesus, as I siad, has been my Spiritual Director. No sooner had Fr. Pichon undertaken the care of my soul than his Superiors sent him off to Canada; reduced to recieving only one letter a year, the little flower which had been transplanted to the mountain of Carmel soon turned to the Director of directors, and she blossomed in the shadow of His cross, having His tears and His Precious Blood for a refreshing dew, and His adorable Face for the son. 

"I had not realised till then the richness of the treasures hidden in His adorable Face, and it was you who taught me how to find them; you, the first to penetrate the mysteries of love hidden in our Beloved's Face, just as you were the first of us to enter Carmel; you revealed them to me now, and I understood - understood more than ever before that here was true glory! He whose 'Kingdom is not of this world' taught me that the only royalty that counts consists in 'being willing to be ignored and despised,' and to 'find one's joy in self-contempt'"

-The Story of A Soul: A New Translation of the Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux (by Michael Day, Cong. Orat.)

Welcome!

"Saint: The "holy one" who leads a life in union with God through the grace of Christ and receives the reward of eternal life. "

- CCC (glossary) 

On this blog I will be posting writings, biographies, reflections etc... of saints, I hope you enjoy! Please email me if there are any specific writings of saints that you would like posted.