Finding Joy in the day, Day 271 (Year 3)

Fun care package

'Patient endurance is a continuous effort for the soul; it is born of suffering freely chosen and of trials that come unsought.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 270 (Year 3)

New boots

'Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.'

St. Francis de Sales

Finding Joy in the day, Day 269 (Year 3)

Getting some things mailed 

'By the cross God perfects the loving soul that offers Him a fervent and generous heart.'

St. Paul of the Cross

Finding Joy in the day, Day 268 (Year 3) First Day of Advent 2016

More time with my family

'That which would have easily been remedied at first, becomes incurable by time and habit.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Finding Joy in the day, Day 267 (Year 3)

Seeing my family again

'Seek in prayer only righteousness and the kingdom, that is virtue and knowledge - and all the rest "shall be added unto you" [Matthew 6:33].'

St. Nilus of Sinai

Finding Joy in the day, Day 266 (Year 3)

Spending some time with dad on my birthday

'I will remember those who have confidence in thy prayers, so that thou mayest be entirely occupied and taken up with My love.'

The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 265 (Year 3)

Hearing from a friend

'If, during life, we have been kind to the suffering souls in purgatory, God will see that help be not denied us after death.'

St. Paul of the Cross

Finding Joy in the day, Day 264 (Year 3)

A new future brother in law

'Prayer is an activity becoming to the dignity of the mind, or rather, is its real use.'

St. Nilus of Sinai

Finding Joy in the day, Day 263 (Year 3) Feast of St. Cecilia

Good session

'O Lord, my God, who will seek You with simple and pure love and not find You are All he desires. . .'

St. John of the Cross

Finding Joy in the day, Day 262 (Year 3)

2 blue jays in the sky

'No one can experience suffering and remorse in a way that accords with God's will, unless he first loves what causes them.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

'And as Adam opposed his own will to the divine will, so we must seek to have the will of God as our only object, and by it to have our own disposed and annihilated. And as we cannot by ourselves discover our own evil inclinations, and our secret self-love, nor possibly annihilate our own self-will, it is very useful to subject our will to that of some other creature, and to do its bidding for the love of God.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

'A little drop of simple obedience is worth a million times more than a whole vase of the choicest contemplation.'

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

Finding Joy in the day, Day 261 (Year 3)

Support and understanding of a friend

'The Gospel not only teaches the faith, it is the school of morals, the mirror of conversation.'

St. Ambrose of Milan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 260 (Year 3)

Sharing in my brothers appreciation of things

'One of the ways most pleasing to God of keeping ourselves in His holy presence, is to enter into the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to commit to Him all the care of ourselves. We must abide therein as in an abyss of love, and lose in it that which is of ourselves, so that He may substitute that which is of Himself.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 259 (Year 3)

A roof over my head tonight

'Our sweetest Jesus allowed Himself to be clothed and stripped, as it pleased His executioners; they bound Him and unbound Him, pushed Him from one side to the other, and the innocent Lamb submitted to all.'

St. Paul of the Cross

Finding Joy in the day, Day 258 (Year 3)

Good news with insurance

'Just as love and self-control destroy evil thought so contemplation and prayer destroy all self-exaltation.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 257 (Year 3)

Huge rising moon on my drive home

'Preparation for Holy Communion.

The best preparation is meditation. I do that so badly. Renew and strengthen the resolutions I have made in this regard.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

Finding Joy in the day, Day 256 (Year 3)

2 pairs of practically free earrings

'Unexpected trials are sent by God to teach us to practice the ascetic life; and they lead us to repentance even when we are reluctant.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

Finding Joy in the day, Day 255 (Year 3)

Beautiful Shrine visit and bright moon on the way home

'Take advantage of little sufferings even more than of great ones. God considers not so much what we suffer as how we suffer. . . Turn everything to profit as the grocer does in his shop.'

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

Finding Joy in the day, Day 254 (Year 3)

Good trip

'Prayer is the sure way that leads to holiness.'

St. Paul of the Cross

Finding Joy in the day, Day 253 (Year 3)

Good talk with a friend

'If three men meet, of whom the first fully preserves interior peace, and the second gives thanks to God in illness, and the third serves with a pure mind, these three are doing the same work.'

St. Poemen

Finding Joy in the day, Day 252 (Year 3)

Looking forward to massage

'Humble yourself whenever opportunity offers with true humility of heart. This is all, I think, that the Heart of our Lord asks of you.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Finding Joy in the day, Day 251 (Year 3)

Warm cinnamon in the morning

'He wishes to lead them by the way which his Son walked, who, as we know, from the time of his birth to his death, always walked the way of the cross.

And therefore God loves them with a father's love.'

St. Catherine of Bologna

Finding Joy in the day, Day 250 (Year 3) Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica

A surprising result

'The glory of one who knows how to suffer is so great that Heaven, angels and men, and even God Himself, gaze on him with joy as a most glorious sight. And if the saints in Heaven desired anything, it would be to return to earth so as to bear some crosses.'

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

Finding Joy in the day, Day 249 (Year 3)

New socks

'Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.'

Pope Bl. Pius IX

Finding Joy in the day, Day 248 (Year 3)

Waking up on time

'When the intellect devotes itself continually to divine realities, the soul's passible aspect becomes a godlike weapon.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Finding Joy in the day, Day 247 (Year 3)

Sunny Packer game day

'The man who possesses spiritual knowledge and understands the truth confesses to God, not by recalling what he has done, but by accepting patiently what comes.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

Finding Joy in the day, Day 246 (Year 3)

Better feeling each day

'It is the uneven quality of our thoughts that produces changes in our condition. For God assigns to our voluntary thoughts consequences which are appropriate but not necessarily of our choice.'

St. Mark the Ascetic

Finding Joy in the day, Day 245 (Year 3)

Surprise from my parents

'Very often over a period of several years I was more occupied in wishing my hour of prayer were over and in listening whenever the clock struck than in thinking of the things that were good. Again and again, I would rather have done any severe penance than anything that might have given me the practice of recollection.'

St. Teresa of Jesus

Finding Joy in the day, Day 244 (Year 3)

All the love and support of family and friends

'To pray well requires the whole man.'

St. Philip Neri

Finding Joy in the day, Day 243 (Year 3)

Safety!

'Brothers, we must follow such examples. For it is written: Follow the saints, because those who follow them will become saints.'

Pope St. Clement I of Rome