Most noble, most profitable, sweetest...

     The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

yea, I have a goodly heritage.

... in thy presence there is fullness of joy... 

 Psalm 16: 6,11b

"The devotion to the Eucharist is the most noble

because it has God as its object;

it is the most profitable for salvation,

because it gives us the Author of Grace;

it is the sweetest, because 

the Lord is Sweetness Itself."

St Pius X

"Pope of the Eucharist"

Italy~ 1835-1914

257th Pope - 1903 to 1914

Papal motto: "To renew all things in Christ"

To his credit: Extended age of First Communion to age seven.
Advocated frequent Communion, continual Catechesis for all, 
daily Scripture reading by all.

Reformed the liturgy, promoted clear and simple homilies,

brought Gregorian chant back, condemned the Modernist heresy.

Feast Day:  August 21

 

Describing St Pius X, an historian wrote that he was

“a man of God who knew the unhappiness 

of the world and the hardships of life, 

and in the greatness of his heart 

wanted to comfort everyone.”

Click here: St. Pius X - YouTube (2 mins)
Click here: TOP 25 QUOTES BY POPE PIUS X | A-Z Quotes

 St Pius X, pray for us!

Finding rest, providing rest...

    Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; 

my hope comes from him.  

... Trust in him at all times, O People; 
pour out your hearts to him, 

for God is our refuge. - Psalm 62:5,8 

 

"We find rest in those we love,

and we provide a resting place

for those who love us."

St Bernard of Clairvaux

Clairvaux - the "Valley of Light" 

 France ~ 1090 -1153

Cistercian Abbot

Founded 40+ monasteries in lifetime

Eloquent preacher

Mellifluous ("full of honey") Doctor of the Church

Feast Day – August 20

Photo:  St Paul Catholic Church - Madison, Wisconsin ~ USA 

"The reason for loving God is God Himself. ...

The measure is to love Him beyond measure." 

St Bernard of Clairvaux

_____________

Prayer of St Bernard: "May I never forget that You, my 

divine Redeemer, died for me; may I die to all that is not You,

that hereafter I may live eternally with You.  Amen."

Click here: St. Bernard of Clairvaux - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: St. Bernard of Clairvaux: Medieval Psychologist - Crisis Magazine

Some of St. Bernard's writings can be downloaded here.

St Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us!

The unceasing work given to us...

  Prayer by St. John Eudes 

to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O Heart all lovable and all loving of my Savior, 

be the Heart of my heart, the soul of my soul, 

the spirit of my spirit, the life of my life and the

sole principle of all my thoughts, words and actions, 

of all the faculties of my soul, and 

of all my senses, both interior and exterior.  Amen.

"Your most loving Heart, O Jesus,

dwells in this Sacrament

burning with love for us.

It is there continually performing

thousands of good deeds towards us."

St. John Eudes

France ~ 1601-1680

Priest, gifted preacher and confessor

Encouraged devotion to Twin Hearts of Jesus and Mary 

Central theme of his writings: 

Jesus as the source of holiness, 
Mary as the model of the Christian life.

Dedicated to counsel & defend morally endangered women, 
founded an association of priests (Eudists) and religious -

Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity 
(later known as Good Shepherd Sisters)

Feast Day - August 19

“Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation 

must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make His 

spirit, His devotion, His affections, His desires 

and His disposition live and reign there. 

All our religious exercises should be 

directed to this end. It is the work which 

God has given us to do unceasingly.”

From: The Life and Reign of Jesus in Christian Souls

St. John Eudes

Click here: St. John Eudes - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: TOP 12 QUOTES BY JOHN EUDES | A-Z Quotes

St John Eudes, pray for us!

Learning par excellence...

   In quietness and trust is your strength... 

Isaiah 30:15

"I have learned more from prayer 

before the Blessed Sacrament than 

from all the books I have studied." 

St. Thomas Aquinas

____________

Painting:  Prayer - John Phillip

Love's Choice...

  "Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is.

Love is bound; and the more it is bound

the less it is blind." - G.K. Chesterton

  

Love's Choice

a sonnet for Corpus Christi

 by Malcom Guite

This bread is light, dissolving, almost air,

A little visitation on my tongue,

A wafer-thin sensation, hardly there.

This taste of wine is brief in flavour, flung

A moment to the palate's roof and fled,

Even its aftertaste a memory. 

Yet this is how He comes. Through wine and bread

Love chooses to be emptied into me. 

He does not come in unimagined light

Too bright to be denied, too absolute 

For consciousness, too strong for sight, 

Leaving the seer blind, the poet mute; 

Chooses instead to seep into each sense, 

To dye himself into experience.

_____________

Published in Sounding the Seasons,

a cycle of seventy sonnets for the Church Year.

Photo: Gordonphoto/Shutterstock