If Dark Clouds Hide You

'With bold surrender, I wish to remain gazing upon You, O Lord, my divine Sun.  Nothing will frighten me, neither wind nor rain, and if dark clouds come and hide You from my gaze, I will not change my place, because I know that beyond the clouds You still shine on and Your brightness is not eclipsed for a single instant....

St. Therese of Lisieux

Painting:  Nikolai N Dubowski, in US public domain due to age

Do Not Forget Him in Prosperity

 'When you receive some pleasant news, do not act as certain unfaithful and ungrateful persons are wont to do.  They pray to God in adversity but forget and abandon Him in prosperity...

'Go at once to God and tell Him of your joy, praise and thank Him for it, and thus acknowledge that it is entirely a gift from His bounty.  And rejoice in this happiness, because it has been bestowed on you by His good pleasure.'

St. Alphonsus de Liguori

Painting: Charles Courtney Curran, Peonies, in US public domain due to age

The Scars of My Sins

 

'O most excellent and all powerful Lord, 

I consider attentively the scars of my sins, 

with which I have been wounded since childhood.  

I weep because time has gone by uselessly.  

My strength is not enough to sustain my weariness, 

because it has been exhausted in vanity.  

Since You are the source of all goodness and mercy, 

I implore You to have pity on me.  

Touch my heart with the hand of Your love, 

because you are the best doctor, 

console my soul, 

because You are the good consoler.'

St. Bridget 

Painting:  Arthur Hacker, The Drone

Oh My Lord, What a Day

                               'Oh my Lord, what a day
                               when I shall have done once and for all with all sins,
                               and shall stand perfect and acceptable in Your sight,
                               able to bear Your presence, nothing shrinking from Your eye,
                               not shrinking from the scrutiny of angels and archangels,
                               when I stand in the midst and they around me.

                               'Oh my God, though I am not fit to see or touch You yet,
                               still I will ever come within Your reach,
                               and desire that which is not yet given me in its fullness.' 

                               Blessed John Henry Newman

                                         Painting:  Thomas Cooper Gotch, The Awakening

I Changed This Blog, and Look What Happened!

I have been busy.  Changing this blog.  Freshening its appearance.  Making the background entirely white.  Smart.  2014.  Airy.  Fresh!  Fresh!  Fresh!

Not only that, I worked on mechanics.  Took things off the sidebar.  Tried to unclutter.  Made things clean.  Sleek.  Bright.  Trendy, but not ultra.  Youthful, but not childish.  Friendly, but not too. 

And all because I'd read an article, and realized I was doing everything wrong.  EVERY. THING.  Goodness, I don't even have a single sidebar ad.  Nothing shimmers, nothing flashes, nothing moves.  Anyway, I've been looking at some really smart blogs myself lately.  You know, the ones that look like magazines.  Sooo up to date.  And I say that with admiration - I think they look pretty cool (do people still use phrases like "pretty cool?").

(have you left yet?  left me talking to myself while you google "Catholic blogs" to find something much more pretty-cool on which to spend your time?)

At least I had one thing "right" (according to the article).   Whether I'm rambling (as right now) or sharing a quote, the posts here are brief ones.  We can blame that on my own short attention span.  You might be like me, I figure, and may appreciate just a thought, a prayer, a painting.  And I must admit that I love thoughts of saints, I love prayers, I love art.  Combining an appropriate painting with a great quote is downright thrilling to me, and in that I do not exaggerate.  I love this kind of blogging.  It's like digging for treasure, and then being able to share it.

Oh - and that new stark white background?  You might have noticed that you don't see it.  It took me about five minutes to realize that my improvements were no such things. 

Let's face it.  That's a great look for lots of blogs.  But it's not such a good match for one with paintings from the 1800s and quotes from people who wrote four centuries ago.

So here I sit, still comfortable in my same beige surroundings.

And oh, I'm so happy to keep digging for treasure.

Thank you, You, for sharing the discoveries with me.

George Goodwin Kilburne painting, in US public domain due to age

Why Wait?

'With what procrastination do you wait, since from this very moment you can love God in your heart?'

St. John of the Cross

Painting:  Czachórski; Pensive

40 Day Road

'O Jesus, Who were obedient unto death, You would not have one

that loves You well take any other road than that which You Yourself took.'  

St.  Teresa of Avila

Painting: David Friedrich Caspar

The Martyrdom of Me

Today I realized something about myself.  I don't mind suffering!  Physical distress, poverty, pain:  none of these bother me at all, as long as I'm not inconvenienced or uncomfortable. 

I've read gripping works about Christians in horrid circumstances.  St. Therese on her deathbed, Ignatius of Antioch on his way to martyrdom, John of the Cross imprisoned, Immaculee Ilibagiza huddled in a bathroom.  I usually read these things at night, under soft blankets in my cozy house.  From my comfort zone, I am inspired and challenged and ready to endure anything for God.

And then I wonder if someone might have misunderstood something I wrote about prayer.  Or if I might be getting a headache.  Or maybe I'm asked to go a teeeeeny bit out of my way to help someone else.  Alas and alack.  Such things can feel like the very martyrdom of me.  

(back of hand to forehead; long sigh........)

This is not my first blog post about this kind of thing.  Shouldn't I be getting 'better' by now?

I would say yes and no.  Yes, in that I should be growing in acceptance of God's will, whatever that may entail.  Hopefully that is happening.  

And no, in the sense that I will surely always dread suffering.  That is only human, only normal.  I would even say that the dread and misery makes the gut-wrenching acceptance of God's will (when it involves suffering) all the more valuable.  It is a matter of choice, and I can choose God's will regardless of how I may feel.  

I do not have the grace to endure facing lions or being imprisoned, because at this moment I don't need it.  If a lion ever comes for me, God will provide all the lion-grace I need.   

The grace to endure a headache?  Yes, that I am frequently given.  I'm sorry to say that all too often I've been too busy fretting or complaining to see and accept that grace as the gift it is.       

So I shall sit back against my fluffy pillows, maybe with a cup of tea, and let God inspire me with words like these.....

'Permit me to imitate my suffering God... I am God's wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become the pure bread of Christ.'  (St. Ignatius of Antioch, just before his martyrdom)

'In temporal crosses let God touch and strike whatever string on the lute He chooses.  Never will He make but a good harmony.'  (St. Francis de Sales) 

'Three times I was beaten with rods; I was stoned once, shipwrecked three times; I passed a day and night on the sea.  I traveled continually, endangered by floods, robbers, my own people, the Gentiles; imperiled in the city, in the desert, in the sea, by false brothers; enduring labor, hardship, many sleepless nights; in hunger and thirst and frequent fastings; in cold and nakedness.  Leaving other sufferings unmentioned, there is that daily tension pressing on me, my anxiety for all the churches.. if I must boast, I will make a point of my weaknesses.'  (2 Corinthians 11:25-30)

'If we only knew the precious treasure hidden in infirmities, we would receive them without complaining or showing signs of weariness.'  (St. Vincent de Paul)

'You are quite willing to have a cross, but you want to have the choice; you would have it common, physical, and of such or such a sort.  How is this, my well beloved daughter?  Ah no, I desire that your cross and mine be entirely of Jesus Christ.  As to the imposition of them and the choice, the good God knows what He does and why He does it, all for our good.'  (St. Francis de Sales)

Painting:  Ferdinand Max Bredt

This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz

Everyday Work

'The fullness of life that God rightly expects from His children 

means that they have to have a careful concern for the quality 

of their everyday work, because it is this work, 

even in its most minor aspects, 

that they must sanctify.'

St. Josemaria Escriva

Painting: Charles Courtney Curran, Shadows

Don't Wait...

'Don't wait until tomorrow to begin becoming a saint.'  

St. Therese of Lisieux

Painting:  Schmaltz, Portrait of young girl with red umbrella

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 

God is an Embrace

   

                                  'To most, even good people, God is a belief.

                                   To the saints, He is an embrace.'

   Francis Thompson


Painting:  Wilhelm Bernatzik, Vision of St Bernard, detail

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

Give Us A Smile

'God deliver me from sullen saints!'

St. Teresa of Avila

Painting: Dos Niñas, Pere Borrell Del Caso

To Find Him

'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








Painting:  Edward John Poynter, Sweet Pea Blossoms

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

By Whatever Means

'What matters it, to a truly loving soul, whether God be served by this means or by another?'

St. Francis de Sales

Painting: Viktor Schramm, The Fitting, 1900

Ice and Snow, Bless the Lord

'Frost and chill, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt Him above all forever.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt Him above all forever.
Nights and days, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt Him above all forever.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt Him above all forever.
Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt Him above all forever.
Let the earth bless the Lord;
praise and exalt Him above all forever.'

Daniel 3:69-74, 
from Azariah's hymn of
praise in the fiery furnace 
  




Painting:  Endogurov Zimniy 

Sanctity Achieved

'Our Lord has created persons for all states in life, 

and in all of them we see people who have achieved sanctity 

by fulfilling their obligations well.'

St. Anthony Mary Claret

Painting:  Samuel Melton Fisher, Flower Makers 1896 

This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz

On Candlemas Day

'The light has come 
and has shone upon 
a world enveloped in shadows; 
the Dayspring 
from on high has visited us 
and given light
to those who lived in darkness. 
This, then, is our feast, 
and we join in procession 
with lighted candles 
to reveal the light 
that has shone upon us 
and the glory that is yet 
to come to us through him.

So let us hasten all together
to meet our God.'

St. Sophronius; from Candlemas Day OOR


El Greco painting; digitally enhanced