"Some who had been cured of evil spirits" by Fr. de Caussade

The Master always begins by making himself known, loved, and appreciated in a sensible manner. Later he deprives the soul of these consolations in order to withdraw it from the grossness of the senses and to bring it into more excellent, more intimate, and more enduring union with himself in pure faith and pure spirit. To complete this purification, these deprivations must be followed by sufferings (interior if no other), interior rebelliousness, diabolical temptation, distress, helplessness, and distaste for all good, which themselves can sometimes amount to a kind of agony. All these serve admirably to rid the soul of its self-love and to give it certain features of resemblance to its crucified Spouse. All these agonies are so many blows which God levels at us to make us die to ourselves.The more self-love resists this spiritual death, the more savage these blows appear and the more cruel the agonies. The divine love is a double-edged sword that smites self-love until it is completely destroyed. Our pain has its source in that stout resistance offered by this accursed love of ourselves which hates to relinquish the control it has acquired over our heart and to allow the love of God to reign there in peace. If that love of God finds no obstacle to its divine ardors and no foe to resist it, it will make none but sweet and delightful impressions upon the heart.

Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J. (died 1751) was a French Jesuit, a writer, and a revered spiritual director.

Protecting the Seed, St. Catherine of Siena

Without light you cannot walk along the straight way of the spotless slain Lamb. This is why my soul longs to see you and the others honest and courageous, not whipped about by any wind that might come along. See that you don't turn back, but always go forward, keeping in mind the teaching you have been given. Return every day to the garden of your soul to root out any brambles that might choke the seed, the teaching you were given, and to till the soil. I mean, every day strip your heart clean. You really have to do it continually. I've seen many people who seemed to have been stripped clean, but I've found--more by their actions than by their words--that they are not. It is their actions that show where their heart is, though their words might show the opposite. So I want you truly to strip your heart clean by following Christ crucified... The pain of being deprived of all creaturely consolation has called me [to look at] my lack of virtue, to recognize how imperfect I am and how utterly perfect is the light of gentle Truth, provider and acceptor of holy desires, who plays no favorites. He has not withheld his kindness from me because of my ingratitude or because of my dearth of light and knowledge. No, he has regarded only his own supreme goodness.

St. Catherine of Siena (died 1380), Doctor of the Church, was a Dominican, stigmatist, and papal counselor.

"She kept all these things in her heart"

His mother kept all these things in her heart. (Lk 2:"51)

Mary "kept" the word of God in two ways: by reflecting on it often and by living it with utmost fidelity.

Matthew 26:41

Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Acts 17: 28

In him we live and move and have our being.

John 19:34

One soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

The Cross: a paradox

The cross, instrument of torture and death, raised aloft as a sign of glory, continues to confound the wisdom of this world. God's work of salvation stands human expectations on their head: humility is exaltation, wounds are healing, death is life.

Galatians 6: 14

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Veneration of the Cross

Behold the wood of the cross,
on which has hung our salvation: come, let us adore!

The Heart of True Wisdom, by Dom Guillerand

There is no need to wait for that knowledge which is the result of study before acting in the region of our relations with God. Religion is belief: but above all, it is practice. It is not knowledge. It is a mutual exchange of love, and it is in this exchange that God reveals himself. He reveals himself in the measure in which we love him, not according to our learning, even in the matter of religion. It is not necessary to know precisely all the perfections of God, nor to be able to expound eloquently all the arguments which prove his existence. How many souls pass the whole of their lives without knowing these things, and yet how profound is their knowledge of him, how warm their fervor, and how intensely real their relations with him. These souls look upon God as a Father, who is unceasingly communicating to them his thoughts and desires, and it is by these thoughts and desires they live. He becomes, as it were, their very soul and their innermost life. His Spirit abides in the depths of their spirit, enlightening, encouraging, and directing all the inner resources that they possess. And they love the Father, and hold converse with him. They share with him their joys and their sorrows, and he is the secret confidant of all their hours. He is there, in the depth of their soul, waiting to receive them into his intimate dwelling-place the moment they turn to him. They recognize him, and they know it is he who is calling them, whenever an interior voice invites them to think of him. Their minds meet inevitably, and thus they enter into a relationship at once living, continuous, and full of delight -- a relationship between the soul and its divine Guest, which grows in intensity.

Dom Augustin Guillerand, O.Cart. (died 1945) was a French Carthusian monk and a revered spiritual author.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
   In verdant pastures he gives me repose.
Beside restful waters he leads me;
   he refreshes my soul.

He guides me in right paths
   for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
   I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
   that give me courage.

You spread the table before me
   in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
   all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
   for years to come.

Luke 7:31-35

Jesus said to the crowds: "To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.'
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is vindicated by all her children."

Jeremiah 5:14

Behold, I make my words
in your mouth, a fire.

Latin quotes from "Rose Round"

Benedicite lux et tenebrae Domino.
Light and shadow bless the Lord.

Lux umbra Dei.
Light is the shadow of God.

Pereant et imputantur.
They perish and are counted up.

"What perish and are counted?"
"The hours," said Theo. "The days, all our time, our times, our journeys round the runs."
Alix said, "I don't like that motto."
"They do perish, though," said Theo. "We can't bring back what has gone."
"Counted," said Matt. "Who counts them?"
"They are counted," said Theo. "Not necessarily against us."