Before I Open My Mouth...

Painting: George Inness, Gossip

I Will Trust You

Painting: Winslow Homer, 1868

To Hold Communication

'What is it to pray? To pray is to hold communication. The creature, in prayer, communes with its Creator. Such is the essence of life, for he alone who prays truly lives.'

(from In Love with the Divine Outcast, by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1934, p. 129)












Painting: Federico Godoy Y Castro, Girl Praying

To Nourish This Love

                          'Everything leads us to the love of our Lord.
                          All things nourish and feed this love...
                          It lives on our sorrows and consoles them; 
                          It lives on our sufferings and rewards them;
                          It lives on our sacrifices and makes them precious;
                          It lives on our pleasures and adds to them;
                          It lives on our hopes and fulfills them;
                          And in a word it will create our happiness,
                          Now and for ever.'


                                          from 'Listening to the Indwelling Presence" by a Religious, Pellegrini, , 1940, p. 5





                                 Painting: Henri Fantin-Latour, Still Life with a Carafe, Flowers and Fruit
                   

Until it Sings

'Lord! The hurt Thou sendest me,
    help me to bear
in silence; nor let others see
    how sad I fare.
Help me to keep it just for Thee,
    to clip its wings
and guard it close within my breast
    until it sings.'

from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence,"
compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, p. 110 





 

Painting: Chaplin, A Beauty with Doves

Bonds of Love's Union

'Sacrifices 
made in secret,
trifles performed 
with none but God 
for witness -
these are 
the bonds 
of Love's union.'

(from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, 1936, p.287)








 









Painting: jules Breton, Harvester

For Distant Bells that Tumble on the Wind

'For songbird answering song on topmost bough;
for myriad lark that carol up the sky;
for that low fluttering on the summer night;
for distant bells that tumble on the wind;
for great ground organ notes that rise and fall,
entwined with earthly voices tuned to heaven,
and bear our hearts above the high-arched roof.
For Thy great voice that dominates the whole,
and shakes the heavens, and silences the earth...
We thank Thee, Lord!'

(from Fervorinos from the Lips of the Master, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 431-432)



Painting: Walter Moras

To Love and Revive Them

'Dearest Jesus! How I long to love You and make You greatly loved! 

During Your life on this poor earth, You made, of a few loaves, 

life and nourishment for a crowd. 

Let me be, in Your divine hands, the instrument for another such work. 

Give me... to souls, to love and revive them.'

(from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, p. 237)

Painting: Roland Delaporte

You're Sure You'd Haste to Martyrdom

                                  'You read of saints in ecstasies,
                                  in rosy bowers of prayer,
                                  You think it were your heart's delight
                                  to live among them there...

                                  You'd go to China willingly,
                                  to foreign lands you'd roam,
                                  but still you must have everything
                                  you want or like at home.

                                  You cannot bear a chilly breeze,
                                  an over-heated day,
                                  but you're sure you'd haste to martyrdom -
                                  Now, can you be astray.......?

                           

                     (from In Love with the Divine Outcast, by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1934)

                            Painting: James Tissot, Young Lady in a Boat

The Purpose

'Life's purpose 
is not
to gratify us, 
but 
to purify us.' 

from The Living Pyx of Jesus 
by A Religious, Pellegrini

























Painting:  Nikolaj Alexejewitsch Kassatkin, Girl near Fence

It Will Pass

'Let us not be turned from prayer because of dearth of feeling, 

or even because the mind is weighed down by discouragement 

and distressed by the thought of utter unworthiness.  

This mental gloom will pass.  

It is something over which we hold no control; 

the less attention we give it the better.'

(from In Love with the Divine Outcast, by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1934, p. 123)

Painting: Edmund Charles Tarbell, Across the Room, 1899, in US public domain due to age (PD-US)

My Eyes Are Dazzled

"O ever-present God within me....
How seldom do I remember
that at any time, in any place,
I can find You, commune with You,
by simply turning towards You
the eyes of my soul.
Forgive me, Holy Spirit,
for behaving as if I had never heard of You!

Now, as one just awakened, I say
'God is here,
and I have been unaware of Him.'

I confess it with shame:
Every moment of my day
is filled with other interests.

My eyes are dazzled
by the sight of things and people.
I have little time,
little attention,
little love
to give You, the indwelling God...

O God, the Father,
God, the Son,
God, the Holy Ghost,
forgive me!"


(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 55-56)


 Painting:  Nicolas Regnier Truaer

So Insidious an Evil

'Criticism...
how surely does it
disrupt harmony
and ruin peace!
Like the moth,
it consumes
quickly and quietly,
before the damage
is perceived.
May our dear Lord
preserve us from
so insidious an evil
as a critical tongue!'

(from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, 
compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, p. 113)

















Painting:  William Merritt Chase

The Very Air

'This is the earth He walked on;
The air we breathe, He breathed - the very air
that took the mould and music of His high
and Godlike speech.  Lo!  The sun that shone
on Him, shines now on us; when day is gone,
the moon of Galilee comes forth again,
and lights our path as His; an endless chain
of years and sorrows makes the round world one.'

(from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, 
compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, p. 22)









Painting:  Gustav Bauernfeind, Wailing Wall

The Mirror of Conscience

                       'Many persons are fond of looking at themselves in a glass, 
                       to observe and improve their bodily appearance.  
                       Few are fond of looking at themselves in the mirror of conscience, 
                       to observe and improve their spiritual condition.  
                       They dread to meet their souls face to face, 
                       or to behold them reflected in their lives.  
                       Like Adam after his fall, they would fain hide themselves, if they could, 
                       from their own eyes, as well as from the Eyes of God.

                       And yet, what could be more profitable to all of us,
                       than to observe and improve our spiritual condition?  
                       What more conducive to our happiness, in time and in eternity?'

(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 159-160) 

                                  Painting:  Charles Edward Perugini, in US public domain due to age


                                 This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz 

Thank You...

It's still awards season in the blog world.  I suppose it always is, as long as someone has been kind enough to pass along such treasures as the Semper Fidelis Award.  Thank you, Anabelle at Written by the Finger of God, for nominating The Breadbox Letters for this!

But alas.  It seems this blog does not technically qualify.  Intrigued by the words 'may you never howl alone,' I checked on the award, and from what I can tell it's for Word Press blogs.  Which The Breadbox Letters is not.  However, I hope no one minds if I slip a teeny picture of the award on this teeny post, along with a teeny bit of information about ... well, about never going it alone.

Semper Fidelis is Latin for always faithful.  Wolves are used to exemplify this (here) because they have strong links with their pack.  Put simply: they need one another.

A quick look at blogs listed under 'we have mail' on my sidebar will reveal a number of bloggers whose companionship I 'need.'   There is quite a variety.  Homeschoolers, crafters, prayer-sharers, apologists, priests, cooks, poets, nuns, grandparents, painters, photographers, and a few who cause their readers to laugh out loud.  Different ages, personalities, writing styles; yes, it's a remarkable mix.  But all have the same core goal.

Sainthood.  

'The most wonderful thing about the saints, after their dissimilarity, is their similarity, which is a golden chain binding them all together.  In the Calendar of saints we find all sorts and conditions of men: all trades and professions, from the tramp to the king, from the former wanton to the virgin, from the child to the centenarian.  Some particular vice, or tendency to vice, had to be overcome by nearly all of them.  But when all is said and done, the bedrock principle underlying each life is an intense, personal love of God, showing itself outwardly in sanctity of life, and in zeal to bring souls to Him.  To get to Heaven each of us must be a saint...

'The saint is one who makes Christ his Friend, Confidant and Companion; who walks arm-in-arm with Christ through life; who makes God's opinion his opinion, God's laws his laws, God's judgments his judgments, God's will his will...

'Is this easy?  By no means.  Try it for awhile, and see what daily, hourly repression of self it implies; what stabs of self-love and self-esteem, what patience and sweetness with others.'  (from Fervorinos From the Lips of the Master, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 339-341)

I thank God for the faithful bloggers who help me on the path to heaven.

And I thank God for the saints who have already made it Home.  They are the ones who inspire and pray for us as we continue to stumble along. 

If I were able to accept this award, I'd pass it on to some of my friends the saints.  I would link to their stories and their writings.  So thank you, Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal, Margaret Mary, Faustina, Teresa of Avila, Paul of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux, John of the Cross, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, the writers of the Gospels (and dear Sts. Peter and Paul), and all saints of Heaven.  Thank you for your prayer, your witness, and for the writings you have left us (and we all know you're the primary writers of this blog, so this one's definitely for you).   

I've only mentioned a handful of your number, but you are our Heavenly family.  You are our 'pack.' 

Thank you that we need not walk alone.

Painting:  James Sant, A Thorn amidst the Roses 1887

A Life in Tune

'Happy are those souls
who have learned not only
to ask all things of God
in the Name of Jesus,
but whose whole life
is in tune,
as a prayer might be,
with that Sacred Name.
On this earth,
their one longing
is to allow Him to dwell in them,
to be identified with Him,
to be absorbed in Him.'

(from Fervorinos From the Lips of the Master, 
compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1940, p. 177)



 

Painting:  Degas, l'orchestre

Though I Do Not Understand

                         'In pastures green?
                         Not always; sometimes He
                         Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me
                         in weary ways, where heavy shadows be;
                         out of the sunshine, warm and soft and bright,
                         out of the sunshine into darkest night.
                         I oft would faint with sorrow and affright,
                         only for this:  I know He holds my hand.
                         So whether in green or desert land
                         I trust Him, though I do not understand.'

                  (from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, p. 227)


Painting:  Vasnetsov Snegurochka; in US public domain due to age

This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Linkup

What To Do When Envy Bites

                           'In this land of exile, when our path is often steep and rugged,
                           a word of encouragement... is an untold treasure.
                           Let us then be quick to see the good done
                           by those with whom we live,
                           especially in the case of those whose talents and attractions
                           are superior to our own.
                           Maybe we have basked in the sunshine of approval and appreciation
                           till another comes along and puts us in the shade.
                           Let us beware, then, of envy with its killing power,
                           its positive fury, the sharpness of its tooth, the depth of its bite....
                           When we feel we are put on one side,
                           and another who takes our place is much more loved and appreciated,
                           let us not only love and thank God for it all,
                           but pray fervently that God will bless that other,
                           and make her work a great success for His glory.'

(from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, pp. 110-111)

Painting: Degas, danseuses

I Learned to See, When Groping Through the Night

                     'Tonight I am remorseful, and I stand
                     a shame-faced mendicant before Your door,
                     humbly surrendering a world-scarred hand,
                     to pick the crumbs that fall upon the floor.
                     Forget the day I marched out proud and cold,
                     unmindful of the sacrifice You made;
                     and unabashed, I scorned the humble fold
                     and its mute harmony.  Still unafraid,
                     my spirit fled through dark that knew no dawn.
                     Oh, bid me stay where strife dare not intrude.
                     Dissolve the past into oblivion,
                     and let me rest once more in solitude.
                     No longer will I shun Your Guiding Light;
                     I learned to see, when groping through the night.'

           (from Fervorinos From the Lips of the Master, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1940, p. 244)

           Painting:  Leighton, The King and the Beggar-Maid 

           This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Linkup