Finding Joy in the day, Day 210 (Year 3)

A chance to get out of the house and drive my car

'If you wish to pray well, be faithful in the practice of mortification, avoid dissipation of mind during the day, and never commit any willful faults.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 209 (Year 3)

A transition to a cute house

A new bottle of lovely perfume

Finding Joy in the day, Day 208 (Year 3)

A better than expected breakfast

'He who suffers in patience, suffers less and saves his soul. He who suffers impatiently, suffers more and loses his soul.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Finding Joy in the day, Day 207 (Year 3)

Seeing a friend

'I work here on borrowed money, a prisoner for the sake of Jesus Christ. And often my debts are so pressing that I dare not go out of the house for fear of being seized by my creditors. Whenever I see so many poor brothers and neighbors of mine suffering beyond their strength and overwhelmed with so many physical or mental ills which I cannot alleviate, then I become exceedingly sorrowful; but I trust in Christ, who knows my heart. And so I say, "Woe to the man who trusts in men rather than in Christ.'

St. John of God

Finding Joy in the day, Day 206 (Year 3)

A little fresh air

'A helpful word indicates an understanding mind; a good action reveals a saint-like soul.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 205 (Year 3)

Church and communion

'May the Sacred Heart accomplish in you all His designs and be Himself your strength and your stay, so as to enable you to bear courageously the weight of your responsiblity.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 204 (Year 3)

Name sign from a friend

'Let all involuntary suffering teach you to remember God, and you will not lack occasion for repentance.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

Finding Joy in the day, Day 203 (Year 3) Feast of St. Padre Pio

Decent appointments

'Impel your intellect continually to prayer and you will destroy the evil thoughts that beset your heart.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 202 (Year 3)

A mild morning

'Fearful afflictions await the hard of heart, for without great sufferings they cannot become pliable and responsive.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 201 (Year 3)

Seeing my sister

'The relics of the saints ought to be venerated, and we may laudably keep them in our room; but it is not well, unless for some grave occasion, to wear them on our persons, because it will often happen then that they are not treated with all the respect which is becoming.'

St. Philip Neri

Finding Joy in the day, Day 200 (Year 3)

A tour of the Cathedral

'Let him who is consoled see to humbling himself and lowering himself as much as he can, thinking how little he is able for in the time of desolation without such grace or consolation. On the contrary, let him who is in desolation think that he can do much with the grace sufficient to resist all his enemies, taking strength in his Creator and Lord.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola, 'Spiritual Exercises'

Finding Joy in the day, Day 199 (Year 3)

Priest visit

'When Abraham entered the promised land he bought a sepulchre for himself and by means of this tomb, he inherited the land. . . [The tomb is] the place of tears and compunction.'

St. Poemen

Finding Joy in the day, Day 198 (Year 3)

Mass and confession

'And it may be indeed asserted, without fear of contradiction, God was more beloved in one century after the coming of Jesus Christ than in the entire forty preceding centuries.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Finding Joy in the day, Day 197 (Year 3)

Sunny afternoon

'When, on the contrary, you do not feel this interior peace, or this recollection, the soul can no longer meditate. Make no effort to do so; you ought, however, always to keep up a loving attention to God in the superior part of the soul. In this case, remain before God, detached from all consolation, like a statue in its niche.'

St. Paul of the Cross

Finding Joy in the day, Day 196 (Year 3)

Nearing the end of the day

'Be ruled by God and rule over your senses; and, being on a higher level, do not give authority to what is inferior to you.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 195 (Year 3) Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

Getting something off my chest

'Ever since Blessed Alan de la Roche re-established this devotion the voice of the people, which is the voice of God, called it the Rosary. The word Rosary means "Crown of Roses" that is to say that every time people say the Rosary devoutly they place a crown of one hundred and fifty-three red roses and sixteen white roses upon the heads of Jesus and Mary. Being heavenly flowers these roses will never fade or lose their exquisite beauty.'

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

Finding Joy in the day, Day 194 (Year 3)

Compliments on granola

'He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.'

John 6:57-58

'I love so much a soul's desire to receive Me, that I hasten to it each time it summons Me by its yearnings.'

The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 193 (Year 3)

A sweet friend visit

'We must be content with and conformed to His most Holy Will, stripped and destitute of pleasure, friends, consolation, talents, and aware of our lack of virtue.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 192 (Year 3)

Refreshing Praise and Worship

'A precious crown is reserved in heaven for those who perform all their actions with all the diligence of which they are capable; for it is not sufficient to do our part well; it must be done more than well.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Finding Joy in the day, Day 191 (Year 3) (15 year anniversary of 9/11/2001)- 9/11/16

A nice talk with my sista

'He wishes you to conform your heart to the virtues of His own. If you only knew how much your grieve Him when you fail in charity or humility, or when, through cowardice, you neglect to use the lights He gives you to make you withdraw from dissipation and self-introspection.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

'Love Him with all your strength, think always of Him, let Him do with you, in you and for you whatever He wills, and do not be anxious about anything else.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 190 (Year 3)

An outing

'It is well to deny ourselves that which is permitted, in order to avoid more easily that which is not.'

St. Benedict

Finding Joy in the day, Day 189 (Year 3)

Momma and Daddio come to town

'When the intellect gives its attention to sensible objects, withdraw your senses from them, bringing the objects into direct contact with the intellect.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 188 (Year 3) Happy Birthday Mother Mary 9/8/16

Ok sleep

'Prayer frees the mind of all thought of the sensory and raises it to God Himself, Who is above all, to converse with Him and daringly ask Him for anything. Thus a man spends his life in purity, as one who, having already experienced communion with God, is thereupon again preparing for this communion.'

St. Nilus of Sinai

Finding Joy in the day, Day 187 (Year 3)

A day off from the Dr.

'The more numerous the gifts we have received from God, the greater the account we must render to Him.'

Pope St. Gregory the Great

Finding Joy in the day, Day 186 (Year 3)

Decent appointment
Prayers from family and friends

'A person who is not detached from worldly cares can neither love God truly nor hate the devil as he should, for such cares are both a burden and a veil. His intellect cannot discern the tribunal which will judge him, neither can it foresee the verdict which will be given at his trial. For all these reasons, then, withdrawal from the world is invaluable.'

St. Diadochos of Photiki

Finding Joy in the day, Day 185 (Year 3) Labor Day 2016

Visiting friend

'Prayer and communion are not to be made or desired for the sake of the devotion we feel in them, for that is seeking self, and not God; but we must be frequent in both the one and the other in order to become humble, obedient, gentle, and patient. When we see these virtues in a man, then we know that he has really gathered the fruit of prayer and of communion.'

St. Philip Neri

Finding Joy in the day, Day 184 (Year 3) Canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta Sept 4, 2016

Working on a project

'To cling always to God and to the things of God - this must be our major effort, this must be the road that the heart follows unswervingly.'

St. John Cassian

Finding Joy in the day, Day 183 (Year 3)

Good chat with my momma

'Give me a person of prayer, and such a one will be capable of accomplishing anything.'

St. Vincent de Paul

Finding Joy in the day, Day 182 (Year 3)

Affirmations

'Let us pray God, if He gives us any virtue or any gift, to keep it hidden even from ourselves, that we may preserve our humility, and not take occasion of pride because of it.'

St. Philip Neri

Finding Joy in the day, Day 181 (Year 3)

Someone to talk to

'Oh how happy should we be, did we but take as much pains to gain heaven and please God, as worldlings do to heap up riches and perishable goods! By land they venture among thieves and robbers; at sea they expose themselves to the fury of winds and storms; they suffer shipwrecks, and all perils; they attempt all, try all, hazard all but we, in serving so great a master, for so immense a good, are afraid of every contradiction.'

St. Syncletica