Dear children, may this springtime be an encouragement for personal conversion for you, that with your lives you may pray and love God above all, for all those who are in need. Little children, be my hands of peace and prayer; be love for all those who do not love, do not pray, and do not want peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” -Our Lady of Medjugorje, in private revelation given to Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, on February 25, 2025
An excerpt from “The Art of Living: The Cardinal Virtues and the Freedom to Love” by Dr. Edward Sri:
A man is made for more than pleasure. He is made to give the best of himself in his relationships. A lack of temperance prevents a man from loving his God, his spouse, his children, and his friends as well as he could. When a man lacks self-control, he becomes a slave to his desire for pleasure, always selfishly focusing on pleasing himself. Such a man will have difficulty sacrificing for others. He will often put his desires and preferences before others. He might be so focused on entertaining himself that he does not even notice the needs of those around him. He might even use other people as a means to experience the pleasure he seeks.
Sadly, this is how many people live today, seeking one pleasurable experience after another. Think of a teenager, for example, who may spend many hours on the weekend constantly entertaining himself: playing video games, watching YouTube videos, updating and checking social media, and messaging friends, all while filling himself up with multiple drinks, meals, and snacks, never letting the first sign of thirst or hunger linger for more than fifty-five seconds. When a young person is enslaved to his passions like this—drifting from one moment of amusement to another, one moment of pleasure to another—it is no wonder he has a difficult time having true friendship and meaningful conversation with the people around him. He has been trained to be so focused on pleasing himself that it is not easy for him to enter into other people’s lives and give the best of himself in friendship to them.
An excerpt from “A Treatise on Perfection: Saintly Counsel on Obtaining Salvation” by Cardinal Richelieu:
In the purgative life, through the motions of grace, we prepare and correct ourselves by developing a genuine hatred of sin and a heartfelt aversion to the vices. In the illuminative life, we dispose ourselves not merely to refrain from sin but to the active cultivation and habitual exercise of the virtues. By progressive steps, this exercise of the virtues facilitates the imitation of the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in following His footsteps, the rule and standard of moral perfection is to be found.
Thus, the purgative stage of the spiritual life may be likened to cutting down the visible tree of sinful actions. This cutting down the tree, though, remains an incomplete work, since the roots of the plant still remain concealed within the earth. In the illuminative stage, these roots of vice, which are the propensity to sin, are uncovered and eradicated, as far as possible. But there remains a third act—that of planting a new tree, nourishing it, and cultivating it assiduously. This new tree is one that shall transcend the bounds of its earthly origins and verily reach unto the celestial heights! Like the heliotrope or sunflower always striving after the golden light of heaven’s sun, so this tree aspires to the radiance of the Divinity. It is held to this Divinity by gentle but unbreakable bonds of love that draw it into an ever closer and more intimate relationship. And the fruit it bears is nothing less than complete union with the Will of God!
“Now is the time to clear the eyes of the heart of every speck of weakness, ignorance, and jealousy by weeping, zeal for justice, and perseverance in works of mercy; and then to those purified eyes the promise of Truth will be fulfilled: ‘Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God.’ (Matthew 5:8)” –Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
An excerpt from “Where There Is Love, There Is God” by Saint Teresa of Calcutta:
No one has been more unwanted than Jesus Himself. We will never experience what Jesus experienced. We read on the first page of St. John’s Gospel: “And the Word came into the world, among His own and His own did not receive Him.” (John 1:11)
Read carefully: all the four Gospels speak of Jesus being unwanted by His own people. I think in all the crowd of people, only our Lady understood Jesus, wanted Jesus. And if we are the spouses of Jesus Crucified, we must share that. We must become more and more like Him by accepting humiliations and accepting them with joy. Today I have an opportunity.
Sisters, it is wonderful if we get into the habit: when humiliations come, grab the chance. Say you are blamed for something you have not done. Naturally the words come right up, and you answer back. Instead, wait a second; if it is true what Sister says, if your heart is clean, if there is no sin in your heart, immediately you have the answer. If the answer is yes, say, “Sorry Sister, I will not do it again.” If it is not true, grab the chance, Sisters. It is a wonderful humiliation, and that humiliation will make you a humble sister.
Mother can sit here all day and all night and talk about humility—and you will probably feel tired and will sleep—and you can read all the books about humility, but still you will not be humble. But when those little humiliations come, grab them. You must experience the joy of being a humble sister. Be humble like Mary.
