What is the Nothing?

                      'Let me ask myself to whom my thoughts turn oftenest - God or self?
                      As I go about my daily tasks, passing from one place to another,
                      thinking, so to say, of nothing -
                      What is the nothing?
                      What is the subject of my daydreaming and castle-building?
                      Is it how I might help Christ to save souls and defeat satan, or
                      how I shall add to my personal comfort and happiness?' 
  
                             (from Fervorinos from the Lips of the Master, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1940, p. 57)

                             Painting:  Ethel Porter Bailey, Reflections

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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


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